Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Spoilers: Nothing specific, set mid third season.
A/N: Each chapter is told from a different point of view. I owe enormous thanks to M and J who are two wonderful beta readers. Also, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed and provided constructive criticism. It helps me to write better.
Hostage situations are not my usual area of expertise. I'm an old-fashioned homicide investigator, who had a stint once as CSI Supervisor.
During my career, I've only dealt with two hostage negotiations, and I can't say I envy those who routinely deal with them. The first one was almost fifteen years ago, when a bank robbery had turned into a hostage situation. Then it had ended fairly well, the robbers had been easily overpowered by the police, none of the hostages had been harmed. But that isn't the norm. I knew that when I was standing in the makeshift command centre, watching the surveillance footage. The guys in the bank were heroin addicts without a plan, suffering from a bad case of withdrawal, they had never planned on taking hostages and all they had were two handguns. This here was different. The cultists were heavily armed, as we could tell from the empty boxes of ammo found on their farm. They had a plan, even though we were not entirely sure what it was. And they were willing to die for their twisted beliefs. But the worst difference was that there are people involved that I know. Everything gets worse when anonymous victims and innocent bystanders are suddenly co-workers. I had learned that painful lesson from my daughter's involvement in a homicide.
"Okay, this is the plan," Agent Richter had sounded like he knew what he was doing. I just hoped that he did.
"Our first objective is to establish contact with the cultists, assess the situation of the hostages and learn whether they have any demands. This will lay the ground for the determination of our strategy. Since the phone lines appear to have been cut, we will attempt to establish contact via cell phone. Detective Brass, do you have the cell phone numbers of the hostages?"
I gave him the numbers, keeping my comment about this being a bad idea to myself. Bickering and complaining wasn't going to help them at all. And I had to agree with Agent Richter, there was no other way to find out quickly. The lab would eventually crack the computer, but that could take time they didn't have.
Agent Richter asked the technician to set up the connection.
Richter was wearing a headset, as he was going to do the talking, but it was set so that the entire room could hear what was being said.
Only after maybe the tenth ring, someone picked up.
"Yes?" an angry male voice asked.
"This is Agent Richter with the FBI. To whom am I talking?"
The question was ignored. "What do you want from us?"
"First of all, we would like to make sure that the hostages are alright,"
There was a pause. "They are fine," he said, but his tone did not convince me.
"We'd like to have some form of reassurance for that. Would it be possible for me to talk to Mr. Grissom?"
Another pause. Hoping normally isn't my style. I don't believe in it. But this time I seriously hoped that the silence on the other end was a good sign. There was muffled talking in the background, the guy was probably talking to someone. Then he got back on the phone.
"All right," There was the sound of someone walking on linoleum floor, more muffled words. I could make out something about "police" and "talk to".
"Yes?" This time Grissom's voice filled the briefing room.
"That you Mr. Grissom?"
"Yes,"
"I'm Agent Richter with the FBI. Are you and the others unharmed?"
"Ms. Sidle and I are fine. Dr. Hellman and Greg Sanders are dead. There were more shots, so someone else might be injured as well,"
"Have they made any demands?"
"Yes, they apparently want to take Daryl Marks with them,"
"Don't say that name!" A raging female voice was audible. Then there was a cluttering sound, like the cell phone had fallen to the ground. Then we received nothing more. In spite of the new information we had gathered from this phone conversation, I couldn't help but think that it had done nothing to improve the situation of Grissom and the others.
tbc