Chapter 4/?
The 4th Variable- Hope
Sara let her head fall against the door. "This is not my idea of a good night." She said more to herself than to the other captive. She couldn't believe this was happening. Things like this happened in the movies or on television, never to the nightshift of Las Vegas. It was supposed to be a routine case. A case to solve and move on. It was becoming anything but "normal".
"I think he would have a code or some way to open the door." Grissom said watching Sara's figure slouch in desperation. "We just have to find it." He went to the victim's desk to find anything that resembled a manual to help get them out of this mess.
Sara leaned against the door but quickly shot forward when a thought jumped into her head. "Our phones!"
Grissom raised a doubtful eyebrow. "I don't think a signal can get through these walls."
"I am grasping for straws Grissom, leave me alone." She quickly dialed but 'No Signal' flashed across the screen. Grissom watched her face change to frustration again but didn't say anything. "Well it was hopeful while it lasted." She put it back on her belt and joined Grissom. "Did you find anything?"
He sighed. "No."
"The only code was probably in his head." She turned her attention to the drawers. "Why would someone want to lock themselves inside?"
"It's not about trapping themselves inside Sara, it's about keeping the outside out."
"An uprising?" She asked removing a slip of paper.
He nodded. "If there was a nuclear disaster a man with heavy paranoia couldn't chance someone risking the lives of many because one got a little stir crazy."
Sara raised an eyebrow. "This isn't the first time you thought about this."
"It's a normal reaction to death; to prevent it that is."
"Grissom you don't have one of these bunkers under your townhouse do you?" She teased.
"No why?"
"Um. No reason." She turned towards the lamp to shed more light on the desk.
"So do you accept death?" He asked.
She looked up but dropped her eyes quickly. "No."
Her answer surprised him. "You are afraid of dying?"
"It's an uncertainty Grissom. I have no control. Any situation that yields vulnerability scares me."
Her words struck a nerve and he forced himself to turn away. "If we can't get out that door. Maybe there is a second entrance, like a fire escape or something."
"Hey I noticed something when I first came in." Sara rushed over to the center of the room and pointed up. "Hand me a flashlight."
Grissom obliged her with his own maglite. "Here."
She pointed the beam of light inside ceiling tunnel. "Bingo. It's our second door." She handed Grissom the maglite to have a look.
At the top of the metal ladder was a circular door resembling that of a manhole cover. He suddenly felt like he was in a submarine instead of a western American bomb shelter. His eyes fell on their first obstacle, the height to the ladder from the floor.
"How do you plan to get up to the ladder?" There was a loud screech as she pushed a barrel beneath the hole. "Oh."
She tested the lid for support and climbed on top. Her hands grasped the ladder and she pulled her feet to catch the last rung.
"Be careful Sara." Grissom's flashlight followed her up as she climbed her way to the top. "I wouldn't trust this ladder. We don't know how long ago this place was built."
She smiled down to him. "I know Grissom." She turned back to the ladder. "It is hot so hot up here."
"Well," Grissom looked around. "It's at least fifteen feet up and hot air does rise."
She reached the door lever and gave it a quick jerk. "Come on open." She begged. She pulled it again harder this time but it wouldn't budge. In frustration she madly jerked it again but nearly lost her balance. Both investigators' hearts stopped.
"Sara it's locked now come down. You are going to fall." He said quickly but added softly to himself. "Please don't fall."
She stared angrily at the locked lid wishing it would crumble before her stare. It didn't. Instead, sweat rolled between her shoulder blades.
"Sara, come on we will just have to wait until someone notices we are missing."
"Do you know how long that could be?" She called down. "We could be stuck in here for hours."
He smiled. "I'm not that bad of company am I?"
Her anger washed away in his smile. "No."
"Come down, we'll find the ventilation system and see if we can't get the air conditioner running."
"If it even works." She added as she slowly began her journey down the tunnel. "You know this reminds me of a time when I fell out of a tree at my grandmother's house. It was about the same height."
Grissom watched Sara make her way to the last rung before safely guiding her boot clad foot to the container under the ladder. He held out his hands for offered support.
"How did you fall?" He didn't know why but the conversation intrigued him.
She took his warm hands then jumped down in front of him. "I was trying to get a kite when I slipped and fell." She released his grasp to show him an almost worn away scar on the palm of her hand where a tree branch assaulted her. "This one too." She turned around and lifted her damp hair. "As I fell, I hit a branch with the back of my head. When the branch broke it cut me."
The scar cut into her hairline in a small diagonal line. Grissom decided it was a deep gash and not a scrape. His eyes traveled it's length. She probably needed stitches when it happened. His mind began to wonder if she cried. He wondered if it was a tender spot. She dropped the curtain of hair back to place which stopped his minor infatuation with the piece of Sara he never knew.
"If the branch wouldn't have broken, my neck would have."
He cleared his thick throat. "How old were you?"
"Seven."
"It must have been a nice kite to risk your life at such a young age."
"Made it myself." She found herself getting lost in his eyes. She abruptly turned away from him. This was boarding on openly flirting with the one man she scolded herself about. She began to push the container back in its place. "So what about you, any childhood memories that come to mind?"
"Nothing that relates to our situation." He said as he helped her slide the container. "Although I did have a goldfish once."
"And?" She was expecting more; wanting more.
He shrugged. "It died."
"They usually do." She said lightly.
"I dissected it the next day."
She couldn't resist the growing smile curling her lips. "And how old were you?"
"I think eight or nine."
She shook her head. He actually dissected a pet. "A scientist through and through Grissom. Through and through."
He actually caught himself blushing at Sara. Her eyes had a certain livelihood in them that drew him to get lost for a moment or two.
"You okay Gris?"
He blinked out of his trance. "Just hot."
Her brows knitted in confusion. "Yeah that's why I asked you if you knew where the air conditioner is about two seconds ago, but you seemed zoned out."
"Lost in thought." He answered honestly. He didn't even hear her ask such a question. He scolded himself for allowing himself to indulge in Sara.
"About the goldfish?" She teased.
"No. Come on let's find that air conditioner. I am sure this place has one." He looked around the bunker. "I mean everything else is well thought out." His eyes searched the room until they fell on a tiny door in the corner. He walked over with Sara in tow.
"Crawl space." He said. "I bet there is a generator in there too."
Sara watched Grissom remove the grate. She couldn't help but lean against him to see inside. That is what she told herself anyway. Grissom didn't mind the contact and actually prolonged it by fumbling with his maglite. The light finally became useable when they saw inside. Two generators and a small heater filled the space but there was no air conditioning unit.
"Um Grissom, I don't see an air conditioner and that heater doesn't seem to be a two-in-one package."
He had almost given up when a switch caught his eye. Through the cobwebs he flicked the switch that gave life to the fans spread around the room. "Fans."
"Better than nothing." She backed away from him and went to the nearest vent. "The air must be circulated and filtered somewhere else in the shelter. I'm not complaining."
He stood up and placed the grate back in its place. "Now we wait."
"Great." She frowned pulling away from the vent. "I can only imagine what we'll look like when the search party finally gets here."
"What search party?"
"My point exactly."
(tbc)