Authors Note ;Please see chapter one for disclaimer and the legal stuff
SEVENTEEN
'You find anything yet?' shouted Sara across the line of criminalists and one Vegas cop towards Warrick. Brown smirked as Nick pushed his baseball cap back on his forehead in relief as yet another stange scratching sound turned out to be Vega sliding his foot along the dusty stone floor in the hope of finding a loose slab that might warrant further investigation. Shining his light directly into the detectives face he gave him a stern glare,prompting Sam to hold up a hand in apology.
'Nothing unusual,' yelled back Warrick in answer to Sara's question.
'Unusual!' exclaimed Nick. 'This whole Goddamn place is unusual. Gives me the creeps.'
'Quit whining you big girl.' They move forward another few paces. The sweeping light from five strong Mag-lites illuminating a full row of solid oak pews, dusty floors and the whole array of cobwebs that had accumulated during the 'diuse' period of St Jude's chequered history.
'I can't get that Cath and Jim might be here somewhere,' continued Nick. 'I mean this place is HUGE. They could be anywhere.'
'I think this a red herring,' concluded Warrick.
'Why?'
'Why would a guy who was out to get a cop and a criminalist lead us directly to them?'
'You call this direct?' Suddenly a hiss came from the opposing end of the line.
'Keep it down,' hissed Grissom. 'We need to listen for any sound if we're to find them.'
*******************************************************
Catherine slid her perfectly booted foot along the side of the passage wall. Suddenly it dipped into nothing. Stopping abruptly, Brass all but collided with her in the dark.
'Easy there Jersey.' She touched a hand against his cheek which now had two days growth, stopping him in his tracks. He was so close to her she swore she could smell the faint aroma of mint on his breath.
'What is it?' he asked in a low, barely audible voice.
'Not sure. Passage stops. Might just be a step.'
'Well why don't we turn the torch on?'
'Because we need to save the batteries. Mine's not too good and we have no idea how long we'll be here.'
'A quick flick won't harm.' He snapped his light on. About a foot below them was a set of five well worn stone steps. The light went out. 'A step missing,' he thought out loud as Catherine felt him push past her and drop with a thud onto the step below. She let out a squeak as a large pair of hands grasped her waist and pulled her forward. There was air between her feet and the floor for a moment, then hard stone under her heel and a body sliding against hers. Catherine placed her hands against square shoulders to steady herself.
'Brass,' she gasped.
'Yeah?'
'You can take your hands off my hips now.'
************************************************
'GRISSOM!' sang out Sara as she lifted the dirty canvas depicting Christ on the cross which in turn hid the wall behind the high altar. Grissom appeared at her shoulder as the others jogged up closely behind. 'Disturbed ground.'
'Could be rats,' offered Vega.
'Do rats have size nine shoes these days?' Asked Grissom with a trace of sarcasm in his voice. He brandished his torch along the bottom of the wall taking in the scuff marks and shoe print by the far side of the panels. As silence descended on the gathered group, Grissom produced his tweezers from the inside of his jacket pocket and knelt. Picking up the small mass he raised it to the light. 'Someone is a nervous nail biter.' Suddenly Vega, Nick and Warrick drew their guns at the sound of scrapping and shuffling from the back of the church. All three broke away from behind the canvas. Warrick took position behind a stone pillar, Nick took the opposite column. Vega crouched behind the lower altar and removed the safety from his weapon. The silence was deafening as what seemed like an eternity passed. Darkness decended upon the church again as the shuffling got louder and closer.
With a yell of 'LVPD, HOLD IT!' from Vega and illumination from both Grissom and Sara, the shuffling form froze like a rabbit in the car headlamp.
'GREG!' Sara gave a strangled cry more of annoyance than fear.
'What are you doing here?' Grissom also sounded mad.
'I....I....' Greg stuttered whilst shielding his eyes from the angry blaze of two torches blaring into his face. 'I heard from Doc Robbins about what you guys were up to. Thought I could help.' He ended almost sheepishly. Grissom walked forward and thrust a small envelope into his hand.
'Good, you can get this back to the lab and see if you can determine wether our kidnapper or our Captain doesn't look after their nails.' The dismissive tone of the CSI supervisor made Greg shrink back and silently withdraw from the scene.
********************************************************
'Now what?' asked Catherine dejectedly slapping a hand against the damp stone wall then leaning back and slumping to the floor. Jim Brass ran his hands over the rock and remained silent.'I mean, we could go on for ever and not get anywhere.'
'We'll get out. There has to be somewhere this opens.'
'But where?'
'Well if you help me by turning a light on, I can see what the lay of the land is. And don't complain about batteries.'
Catherine smacked her fingers together brushing the dust away and stood next to Brass. Flicking the dimming light on in her hands, she found Jim now on his hands and knees, running his hands through the dirt along the bottom of the rock. Taking a step back as the torch lit up she found a black, denim clad backside sticking in the air, facing her, the handle of his gun protruding from the pouch on his belt.
'Not bad I guess.' Catherine didn't realise she had said this out loud until the detective whipped his head about.
'What did you say?' he asked screwing his features into a rather ugly grimace.
'Not a bad guess,' she lied back. 'Not bad how you guess there might be an opening down there.' Jim went back to his minor, penknife excavations giving her the 'WOMEN!' roll of his eyes gesture.
*********************************************************
'There has to be something down.........' Grissom's words trailed off as he saw the lock on the panel then the finger marks through the dirt on the wood. Close by he saw a blue heap by the panel furthest away.
Warrick picked the jacket up and ran the light across the bright yellow letters L.V.P.D.
'Looks like Brass has been here,' he commented dryly.
'But he wasn't alone.' A second, larger footprint was clear next to the policeman's smaller one.
'We got ourselves a Big Foot.'
'We've got ourselves a kidnapper and possibly killer.'
'Hey guys,' Nick butted in but Grissom and Warrick carried on their analyzation of the scene.
'Call it Warrick.'
'My guess is that Brass was definately by this wall.'
'So where did he go?'
'Hey guys.........' Nick sounded a little more urgent.
'Had to be through the w..........'
'GUYS!' Nick snapped louder. Grissom gave him a frown and the shrug of his shoulders asked the 'What' question. 'Does anyone else smell that?'
The group began sniffing the air like animals looking for a scent. They found the unpleasant aroma of burning wafting through the church and getting stronger by the second.
'My God,' said Grissom, 'Everyone out....NOW!'
tbc...................................
'
SEVENTEEN
'You find anything yet?' shouted Sara across the line of criminalists and one Vegas cop towards Warrick. Brown smirked as Nick pushed his baseball cap back on his forehead in relief as yet another stange scratching sound turned out to be Vega sliding his foot along the dusty stone floor in the hope of finding a loose slab that might warrant further investigation. Shining his light directly into the detectives face he gave him a stern glare,prompting Sam to hold up a hand in apology.
'Nothing unusual,' yelled back Warrick in answer to Sara's question.
'Unusual!' exclaimed Nick. 'This whole Goddamn place is unusual. Gives me the creeps.'
'Quit whining you big girl.' They move forward another few paces. The sweeping light from five strong Mag-lites illuminating a full row of solid oak pews, dusty floors and the whole array of cobwebs that had accumulated during the 'diuse' period of St Jude's chequered history.
'I can't get that Cath and Jim might be here somewhere,' continued Nick. 'I mean this place is HUGE. They could be anywhere.'
'I think this a red herring,' concluded Warrick.
'Why?'
'Why would a guy who was out to get a cop and a criminalist lead us directly to them?'
'You call this direct?' Suddenly a hiss came from the opposing end of the line.
'Keep it down,' hissed Grissom. 'We need to listen for any sound if we're to find them.'
*******************************************************
Catherine slid her perfectly booted foot along the side of the passage wall. Suddenly it dipped into nothing. Stopping abruptly, Brass all but collided with her in the dark.
'Easy there Jersey.' She touched a hand against his cheek which now had two days growth, stopping him in his tracks. He was so close to her she swore she could smell the faint aroma of mint on his breath.
'What is it?' he asked in a low, barely audible voice.
'Not sure. Passage stops. Might just be a step.'
'Well why don't we turn the torch on?'
'Because we need to save the batteries. Mine's not too good and we have no idea how long we'll be here.'
'A quick flick won't harm.' He snapped his light on. About a foot below them was a set of five well worn stone steps. The light went out. 'A step missing,' he thought out loud as Catherine felt him push past her and drop with a thud onto the step below. She let out a squeak as a large pair of hands grasped her waist and pulled her forward. There was air between her feet and the floor for a moment, then hard stone under her heel and a body sliding against hers. Catherine placed her hands against square shoulders to steady herself.
'Brass,' she gasped.
'Yeah?'
'You can take your hands off my hips now.'
************************************************
'GRISSOM!' sang out Sara as she lifted the dirty canvas depicting Christ on the cross which in turn hid the wall behind the high altar. Grissom appeared at her shoulder as the others jogged up closely behind. 'Disturbed ground.'
'Could be rats,' offered Vega.
'Do rats have size nine shoes these days?' Asked Grissom with a trace of sarcasm in his voice. He brandished his torch along the bottom of the wall taking in the scuff marks and shoe print by the far side of the panels. As silence descended on the gathered group, Grissom produced his tweezers from the inside of his jacket pocket and knelt. Picking up the small mass he raised it to the light. 'Someone is a nervous nail biter.' Suddenly Vega, Nick and Warrick drew their guns at the sound of scrapping and shuffling from the back of the church. All three broke away from behind the canvas. Warrick took position behind a stone pillar, Nick took the opposite column. Vega crouched behind the lower altar and removed the safety from his weapon. The silence was deafening as what seemed like an eternity passed. Darkness decended upon the church again as the shuffling got louder and closer.
With a yell of 'LVPD, HOLD IT!' from Vega and illumination from both Grissom and Sara, the shuffling form froze like a rabbit in the car headlamp.
'GREG!' Sara gave a strangled cry more of annoyance than fear.
'What are you doing here?' Grissom also sounded mad.
'I....I....' Greg stuttered whilst shielding his eyes from the angry blaze of two torches blaring into his face. 'I heard from Doc Robbins about what you guys were up to. Thought I could help.' He ended almost sheepishly. Grissom walked forward and thrust a small envelope into his hand.
'Good, you can get this back to the lab and see if you can determine wether our kidnapper or our Captain doesn't look after their nails.' The dismissive tone of the CSI supervisor made Greg shrink back and silently withdraw from the scene.
********************************************************
'Now what?' asked Catherine dejectedly slapping a hand against the damp stone wall then leaning back and slumping to the floor. Jim Brass ran his hands over the rock and remained silent.'I mean, we could go on for ever and not get anywhere.'
'We'll get out. There has to be somewhere this opens.'
'But where?'
'Well if you help me by turning a light on, I can see what the lay of the land is. And don't complain about batteries.'
Catherine smacked her fingers together brushing the dust away and stood next to Brass. Flicking the dimming light on in her hands, she found Jim now on his hands and knees, running his hands through the dirt along the bottom of the rock. Taking a step back as the torch lit up she found a black, denim clad backside sticking in the air, facing her, the handle of his gun protruding from the pouch on his belt.
'Not bad I guess.' Catherine didn't realise she had said this out loud until the detective whipped his head about.
'What did you say?' he asked screwing his features into a rather ugly grimace.
'Not a bad guess,' she lied back. 'Not bad how you guess there might be an opening down there.' Jim went back to his minor, penknife excavations giving her the 'WOMEN!' roll of his eyes gesture.
*********************************************************
'There has to be something down.........' Grissom's words trailed off as he saw the lock on the panel then the finger marks through the dirt on the wood. Close by he saw a blue heap by the panel furthest away.
Warrick picked the jacket up and ran the light across the bright yellow letters L.V.P.D.
'Looks like Brass has been here,' he commented dryly.
'But he wasn't alone.' A second, larger footprint was clear next to the policeman's smaller one.
'We got ourselves a Big Foot.'
'We've got ourselves a kidnapper and possibly killer.'
'Hey guys,' Nick butted in but Grissom and Warrick carried on their analyzation of the scene.
'Call it Warrick.'
'My guess is that Brass was definately by this wall.'
'So where did he go?'
'Hey guys.........' Nick sounded a little more urgent.
'Had to be through the w..........'
'GUYS!' Nick snapped louder. Grissom gave him a frown and the shrug of his shoulders asked the 'What' question. 'Does anyone else smell that?'
The group began sniffing the air like animals looking for a scent. They found the unpleasant aroma of burning wafting through the church and getting stronger by the second.
'My God,' said Grissom, 'Everyone out....NOW!'
tbc...................................
'
