Authors Note ;Please see chapter one for disclaimer and the legal stuff

Thank you for the reviews and encouragement.

THIRTEEN

The siren screamed and mixed easily with the loud buzz of Las Vegas nightlife as Brass piloted his car through the evening traffic. Once off the busy main 'Strip' he shut off the noise but the red beacon balanced on the top of his car flashed angrily into the early darkness of a winters night in Nevada. Turning away from the main populated area, he drew up slowly by the looming building that had once been St Jude's Catholic Church.

The delapidated structure was near a disused section of the railway line and next door to a long row of arches that had once seen the hub of freight trains loading and unloading their precious cargos. Now the yard stood empty, the arches crumbling and covered in graffiti, the fence long torn down and the church with its broken windows left unchecked to the elements of time. Even the homeless didn't sleep in this part of town anymore.

Jim stood by the car surveying the scene in the semi-light. He went to the rear of the vehicle and removed his flash light and LVPD windbreaker from the trunk. Just for good measure, he also slipped an extra bullet clip from the metal lock-box into his trouser pocket. The radio crackled but there was no message for him. Sense told him to wait for back-up and the CSI team, but sense wasn't his strong point today. With flashlight in one hand and gun at the ready in the other, he pushed back the loose boards and entered the church.

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'Can't you go any faster?' asked Nick.

'Hey we're going too fast as it is,' snapped back Sara. She turned right at the next juncion causing Nick to turn his head sharply.

'Where the hell you going? St Jude's is that way.'He jerked his tumb in the opposite direction.

'Yeah, and Grissom's this way.'

'Yeah about eight miles this way Sar.'

'Come on Nick. Brass isn't so dumb as not to wait for back up. We'll get Gris and Warrick and then head on over there.' Nick flipped open his cell phone and dialed.

'No signal.'

'There never is near the railway lines. Too many power cables.'

'Well let's hope Jim has the patience we all know he has deep down.'

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The dust hung thick in the damp air. Brass coughed several times as he felt his way carefully into the main chapel. All the art treasures, stained windows and anything else of value had long been stripped away. As he shone the light towards the altar he saw a torn canopy behind the higher structure depiciting a crucified Christ being prodded in the side by a Roman spear. With the eearily silent night, his heart pumping until he thought it was going to jump out of his chest and the foreboading atmosphere he found himself in, Jim suddenly felt an involunatry shiver run along his spine. Tightening his grip on the gun, he pressed forward, deeper into the building.

tbc.............