Part 10
Grissom had never driven so fast in his life. He was totally unaware of the speed limit, the other cars swerving out of his way, the honking, and the swearing. The only thought on his mind was Sara, he had to save her. He turned off the headlights two blocks before he reached his destination. He didn't want to be spotted if he could help it. He parked haphazardly across the street and got out of the truck, and looked up at the two story house before him, where he knew Sara was. As he stood there collecting his thoughts, wondering what to do, he heard a scream come from the house. Sara! She was in trouble. The thought of her ending up like Mara Sever cut into his heart like a knife. Somewhere, mixed in with the anger at this man and all other men like him in the world, the realization that perhaps he felt something for Sara that he had been ignoring was taking hold. For a brief moment he had a flash of a picture of himself riding up to the house on a white horse and rescuing Sara, then carrying her off into the sunset. That was ridiculous; the sun had set hours ago. As quickly as the thought came, it was gone; it was time to get down to business.
Grissom pulled his gun and moved closer to the house, careful to stay behind trees and bushes whenever possible to protect himself from view. He then began to circle the house to find a way in. In the back of the house he found what he was looking for, the backdoor was unlocked. Was this all a little too easy? Could this be a trap? The thought barely crossed his mind; all he wanted was to get Sara out of there. He entered the house and found himself in a mud room off of the kitchen. But the door to the kitchen was locked. So much for the trap idea, this wasn't even a way in. He went back out to the backyard.
On the other side of the house he found a window that was open just a crack. If he could just pry it open, then he could slit the screen and climb in. He looked around the backyard. The shed. Grissom jogged over to the shed to look for something that he could use to pry open the window. He grabbed a hedge trimmer and ran back to the window. The blade of the trimmer just fit between the window and the frame. He slowly tried to pry open the window as quietly as possible. If he heard Grissom trying to break into the house, Sara was done for. Just the thought of that made Grissom shiver. Eventually the window began to give way, and open. Once he got it open far enough, he used the Swiss army knife in his pocket (never leave home without it) to slit the screen, and he climbed into the house. The whole process couldn't have taken more than five minutes, but it felt like and eternity, he hoped that he wasn't too late.
He slowly made his way through the rooms, finding everything empty and dark. He had yet to hear a sound in the house since the scream. Could that have been his imagination? Was the house really empty? No, that was impossible; he had seen Sara's Tahoe in the driveway. At that moment he heard a loud thud come from somewhere above him in the house, followed by a crash, and he silently moved towards the stairs, praying that he wasn't too late.
***Meanwhile, upstairs in the attic***
Sara awoke to find herself bound to the bed and gagged with some sort of cloth. God did her head hurt. Alex/Benny was nowhere in site. Good, maybe she would have a chance to get herself out of this mess. She took a second to assess her situation. Her arms and legs were bound to the bedposts with the leather straps that she had seen just before he knocked her out. She couldn't move enough to reach anything to cut herself out, so she was just going to have to pull. She started working on her left wrist. She could feel the leather stretching, but it didn't seem to be enough, she couldn't quite get her hand to slip through. Then, just when she was about to give up and try to find a different way out, she felt her hand begin to slip, and it came free. The pain was intense. She was pretty sure that she had dislocated her thumb, but she would just have to live with that for now. She pressed her hand against her side and popped her thumb back into joint, swearing under her breath.
She reached into her pocket and was relieved to feel the familiar metal lump, her Swiss army knife. It was good to be prepared. She used the knife to cut her other hand free, and then her legs. She stood up and looked around the room. She had no idea what Alex/Benny had done with her gun, so she would need to find some other way to protect herself. She saw the sledge hammer that he had used on her sitting on a table by the door, and she went and picked it up. Just then she heard movement below her, and she moved to stand in the shadows next to the trap door. When that bastard came up the ladder she was going to nail him.
She saw his head rising up into the attic. Fortunately, he was facing away from the bed so he had yet to see that she was no longer bound there. She raised the hammer, took aim, and struck him dead on in the middle of the skull. He fell to the bottom of the ladder like a rag doll, landing with a loud thump. She looked down at him, satisfied with her work. That is until she saw his hand move up to his head.
'Shit! I can't believe he is still conscious.' She quickly grabbed the top of the ladder, pulling it up and shutting the trapdoor with a crash. Time for plan B. She jammed the hammer under the ladder so it was holding up the trapdoor like a sort of lock. Then she ran to the closest window. If she could just get to her truck she could call the police and they could take care of him, right now she just wanted out. She opened the window and looked down. Her vision was a little blurry, and her head hurt like hell, but she was thinking clear enough to know that it was way too far to jump; there was no way that she would make it without breaking both legs. He would catch her for sure then. There was a lattice on the side of the house, but it stopped five feet below where she was.
Sara ran back to the bed and ripped off the sheer curtains. "Damsel in distress, my ass," she said, "I'm getting myself the hell out of here." Tying the curtains to the bedpost, she prayed that they would hold and began to lower herself out of the window. When she reached the lattice, she let go of the curtains and climbed safely down to the ground. She had to stop and kneel on the ground for a moment until the yard would stop spinning. Hmm, I guess watching all of those MacGyver re-runs did come in handy after all, Sara thought to herself as she lurched towards her Tahoe. Once in the truck she locked the doors and grabbed for the cell phone she had left in the glove box, before she could dial 911, it rang.
"Sidle." She said. It was Nick.
"Sara! Where the hell are you? Grissom thought you were in trouble."
"I was, I sort of am. I am in my truck, but my keys are in my jacket in the house, so I can't go anywhere. I came to question a possible witness on the case Grissom and I are on, and he turned out to be the perp. Call the police and send them to 8430 Northway Drive, and step on it."
"Is Grissom there with you?"
"No, isn't he with you at the lab?"
"No, I came in to talk to him about the case. Something I said set him off and he told me to send police to the address on the paperwork he threw at me, which was the Vic's address. He thought you were here and in trouble. We got here and neither of you are here, and now Grissom isn't answering his cell phone."
Sara adjusted her rearview mirror and her breath caught in her throat. Grissom's truck was parked across the street. She looked back at the house. He must have gone in after her.
"Damn!" Sara pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. That blow to the head she took was giving her one hell of a headache. "Nick, he must have given you the wrong paper, come to the address I just gave you, I think Grissom is in the house with the killer. I'm going to try to help him, but hurry." With that Sara hung up the phone and stepped out of the truck. Without the slightest hesitation, she jogged towards the house.
On the other end of the phone, Nick was in shock. Now not only was Sara in trouble, but Grissom, too. He ran over to where Brass and the other officers were, they had better hurry.