Feeling his hostage stiffen, Mario smiled. "Recognized the voice finally huh, Stokes?"

Nick nodded slowly, breathing hard. He flinched when the other man put his hands on his shoulders and squeezed tightly. Moaning into the gag, Nick tried to pull away but couldn't move because of how he was tied to the chair.

"It's not very… fun… when you can't talk back to me. One-sided conversations are so boring." Mario removed the layers of cloth from the captive's mouth but left the blindfold in place. "So how've you been, Nick?"

"G… go to hell…" Although grateful he could talk again, he wished the blindfold had also been removed.

"Come now. I'm trying to have a nice conversation with you. Don't go ruining it." Balling his fist, Mario punched the other man hard in the stomach.

Nick groaned in pain, bowing his head. "What do you want from me this time."

"Ah, a pertinent question at last. Well, first thing - you're bait. Grissom. He's who I really want this time. Although I will be keeping you once we get Grissom. After all, we have to keep him in line somehow and something tells me he'll do anything to keep you alive. How's your knee?"

A sinking feeling formed in Nick's stomach, knowing he would be used as leverage against a man he saw as a father figure. "Why are you asking about my knee…"

"We might have to have some fun later. I like to know how previous injuries are. Is it fully healed or still a work in progress?" Mario chuckled softly, watching Nick move his head around blindly as if trying to face his foe.

"None of your damned business." Nick inhaled deeply. "And why did you take all my stuff?"

"Well… because I can. And by now my boys are dumping everything either in the landfill or in Lake Mead."

"What?! WHY?" Nick struggled in his restraints again at the news. He'd spent a lot of money on furnishing his house and everything else he owned. To hear it was all being destroyed completely gutted him.

"Again - because I can and because it causes you pain." He chuckled, using one hand to caress his victim's hair. A grin plastered itself on his face when Nick yanked his head away from the touch. "Well… I guess we should make a phone call."

"I won't lure Grissom here."

"You don't have a choice."

Nick grimaced when a couple of the gag layers were put back in place. Mario smiled at his helpless victim, delighting in the fact that he had him in his grasp once again. Taking Nick's cell phone out, he opened the phone book it housed and chuckled when he found the number he sought.

"Awww so sweet. You have him as your emergency contact. Only fitting given the circumstances, huh Stokes?" Mario raised an eyebrow at the angry shout from behind the gag. "Ooooh temper, temper Nick. Now, shhhhh, it's ringing."

"Nick?" Grissom's concerned voice sounded over the speaker phone. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, Nick's a bit tied up right now I'm afraid."

"Who is this? How did you get my friend's phone?"

"You don't recognize my voice? I'm hurt, Gilbert! It's only been a couple of months, after all. Oh hang on, I have someone here who is dying to say hello to you." Mario tugged the gag out of his hostage's mouth.

"Gris! Don't do anything he says!" Nick groaned when he was punched in the stomach again before the gag was replaced.

"Tut tut tut, Nick, and here I thought you were going to be good. Now, Gilbert Grissom, come to Nick's house. Alone. I'll know if you're not alone - I have eyes everywhere outside this place. And I'll send you a photo to prove he's here with me hang on…" Mario wrapped an arm around his captive's shoulders and took a selfie with him then sent it to Grissom's phone. "Did you get it?"

"I got it. Mario." Gil said in a tightly controlled voice which indicated just how angry he was. "Let him go and I'll come to you. He's been through enough." Seeing his CSI and friend bound to the chair, blindfolded and gagged had been enough to make Grissom's blood boil.

"Now, Gilbert, that's not how this works. You should know that. If you're not here in an hour, I kill Nick. Simple as that. And you know I have no qualms over doing so."

Clenching his teeth, Gil closed his eyes. "I'll be there in 20 minutes."

"Alone?"

"Yes."

"Excellent. See you soon." Mario hung up the phone and patted Nick's shoulder. "You did good, Stokes. Very good indeed."

Nick ground his teeth together, wishing he could free himself somehow but he had nothing sharp that he could easily get to. His knife was in one of the front pockets of his jeans. He heard Mario leave the room which made him frown a bit for he had to wonder what the other man was up to. There was no way for him to know how much time had passed until he heard familiar footfalls enter his hallway followed by a string of curses when the emptiness of the house was realized. Gil couldn't believe his eyes when he saw everything Nick owned was gone without a trace. Rushing to the kitchen where he knew his friend was restrained, Grissom stopped in his tracks with wide eyes. Mario stood behind Nick with a finger to his mouth to indicate the newcomer should remain quiet… and a gun pointed at the back of his hostage's head.

"Guess what, Nicky…" Mario chuckled cruelly when the bound man jumped in surprise, having had no idea his captor was right behind him. "Grissom was true to his word. He's here. And he came alone. Despite you telling him not to do anything I said. So tell me, Gilbert, what would you do to keep you friend here alive?"

Gil couldn't take his eyes off Nick, as if trying to reassure himself the other man hadn't been harmed. "How do you mean, exactly."

"Why don't I let Nicky here tell you…" Mario reached over and yanked the gag off again.

"Gris?" Nick had hoped he heard wrong. He didn't want his supervisor here.

"I'm here, Nick." Grissom looked at Mario. "You can take the blindfold off him."

"Nah. It's better if he's disoriented. Go ahead, Nick, tell Gilbert here what's going to happen."

"He… he's going to use me as leverage against you. Make you do things to keep me safe and alive. He thinks you'll do anything for him as long as he threatens me if you don't."

"If I'm wrong, Gilbert, I can kill him here and now…" Mario armed the gun and pressed it against the back of Nick's head.

"Grissom don't do what he wants! Not for me!" Nick grunted in anger when the gag was put back in place, wincing as the barrel of the gun pressed harder against the back of his head.

"Put the gun down, Mario." Gil kept his eyes on his friend. "You know damned well I won't let you hurt him if I can help it."

Nick's shoulders slumped in defeat when he heard those words although he was quite relieved when the gun was taken away from his head and disarmed.

"Good. Kevin! Come on in! It's time for all of us to get going." Mario moved to Grissom and handcuffed his hands behind him while Kevin entered the room and went straight over to Nick. Grissom kept his eyes on Kevin the entire time.

Nick felt his ankles being freed then struggled as they were bound tightly together. "Mmmph!"

"Ah shut up, Stokes." Kevin muttered under his breath, removing the rope securing the other man to the chair. He then lifted Nick out of the chair and threw him over his shoulder, taking pleasure in the pained moan from the hostage. He wrapped his arm around Nick's legs to keep him in place then led the group out to the moving truck which had returned, now completely empty except for two benches which had been installed against the long sides of the truck. Kevin unceremoniously dumped his load into the truck then climbed in after him. Grabbing Nick under his arms, he dragged him to one of the benches then lifted him up and sat him down on it. Once he was situated, Kevin grabbed a moving strap, attached one end to an anchor on the truck's wall, pulled it across Nick's chest, then anchored the second end to another point on the other side of the man. When that was complete he tightened the strap until Nick moaned in pain behind the gag then he tied it off. "How's that boss?"

"Will he shift during transit?" Mario held Gil's arm tightly, feeling the other man trying to get into the truck to his friend.

"Nah, he's secure. Nice and tight"

"Excellent. Help Gilbert next please. But be gentle with him. It's only Stokes you can be rough with."

"Yessir." Kevin pulled Gil up into the truck, sat him down across from Nick and proceeded to secure him the same way but left the moving strap a little looser as instructed. Once both men were restrained properly, Kevin hopped out of the truck and pulled the door closed, locking it in place.

Nick squirmed, trying to get see if he could loosen the strap holding him in place but it wouldn't budge.

"Nick, don't." Gil watched the younger man. "All you'll do is hurt yourself."

Groaning, wishing the gag had been removed, Nick leaned his head back against the truck's wall. He could hear Grissom trying to get loose himself and sighed, wondering at the man not following his own instructions. Then realized the other man had a better chance since he could actually see what he was doing. When he heard something snap, followed by Grissom's quiet 'yes!' of triumph, he realized his friend had managed to get the moving strap to snap.

Gil smiled to himself before standing from his bench and going over to his friend, shifting his weight every so often in order to maintain his balance. "Nick, lean your head down a bit for me, will you?" He watched the younger man comply, knowing he was undoubtably wondering why, then Gil turned around and used his cuffed hands to slip the gag out of his friend's mouth. Once that was done, he sat down beside him, shoulders touching so he knew where he was. "I can't get the blindfold, sorry."

"Thanks for the gag." Nick said softly. "How did you get loose?"

"Kevin didn't check the strap for wear before he put it on me. It was close to snapping, just needed a bit of encouragement. How're you holding up?" Grissom watched Nick's face closely, glad this truck had a small skylight to let some light in.

"Honestly? I'm scared shitless. But I won't give Mario the satisfaction of knowing that."

"Good. Any idea what he wants with me?"

Nick shook his head a bit. "None. He just said he wanted the both of us back in his clutches. My guess would be he wants you to do what he had me doing last time."

"Clean his crime scenes."

"Yeah. Only for some reason he doesn't want to hurt you. He made that clear to everyone who was in my house."

Gil frowned upon hearing that. "I wonder why. Even when he had us the first time, he went out of his way to make sure I wasn't harmed."

"Yeah I noticed that too. Maybe you remind him of Giovanni."

"It's a possibility. And if that's the case, maybe we can use it to our advantage."

"How?"

"I don't know yet. But I'll come up with something."