At the crime labs …

Sara plopped down on the break room couch, Warrick trailing in after her.  He made a beeline for the fresh pot of coffee Greg had made.

They had gotten their confession.  Jimmy Baker had killed Brian Collins because he feared his future as a professional wrestler was in jeopardy if rumors got around that he was gay.  Sara felt utterly disgusted at how little progress humankind had made.

Catherine made her way in and joined Warrick at the coffee maker.  "So, you got your guy huh?"

"Yeah," Warrick sighed.  "O'Riley's booking him as we speak."

"God," Sara sighed.  "How pathetic is our night?  We close both cases with less than two hours to spare in our shift.  And Nick's working a simple case of a drive-by, which will probably be wrapped up by the end of the shift one way or another."

"You're exaggerating Sara," Grissom chided light-heartedly as he walked into the room.  "It will probably carry Nick through the next shift."

The corner of Ballard and Moss …

Nick approached Brass hoping the man would be willing to call it a night.  He'd already collected samples to take to the lab and he'd searched with Brass' officers for two hours without finding a trace of the murder weapon.  There was less than a barely an hour left to the shift and Nick figured he could at least take the samples into the lab and call it a night.  Then he'd get a fresh start on them his next shift.

"Hey Nicky," Brass said in his usual understated tone.  "No gun."  It wasn't a question.

Nick nodded in agreement.  "No gun."

"You wanna split, don't you?"

The younger man gave a tired grin.  "Yeah."

"Just give me a second to talk to the boys and get their interview notes for you, then you can take off."

Nick opened his mouth to say thanks when he heard the sound of tires squealing as two cars barreled around the corner.  He and Brass, along with the other officers turned toward the sound. 

Brass found his mind kicking into high gear as he instinctively took mental notes on the vehicles while he reached for his gun.  He knew something was not right.

At the crime labs …

Greg was in the AV lab with Archie Johnson as they tried to escape the boredom of a slow shift.  They were sharing funny stories while listening to the police scanner, wondering if there'd be another case before shift was over.

A frantic voice shouting over the scanner caught their attention.

"Shots fired!  We have shots fired at the northwest corner of Ballard Street and Moss Avenue!"

Greg and Archie barreled out of the lab towards the break room.

The corner of Ballard and Moss …

Nick and Brass ducked behind the nearest black and white as bullets started flying.  Brass raised his gun and fired off a round at the shooters.  Nick managed to squash the natural urge to panic and checked his weapon.  He absently noted the blood dripping off Brass' gun.

Then three more cars raced down the street that ran parallel on the other side, where Nick and Brass were exposed to them.

Brass turned and joined Nick in firing at the new comers, ignoring to burning in his right shoulder and the blood running down his arm.  He was too focused on the shooters and his injury could wait.

Nick was focused on their attackers when he felt an agonizing pain rip through his gut and he glanced down and saw blood.  He knew he was shot.  The tears of fear and anger that he'd been blinking away began to blur his vision as he tried to continue firing back.  Or maybe I'm blacking out, he thought vaguely.  His gun slid out of his fingers when a bullet hit him in the lower right arm.

Brass grunted next to him as another bullet hit his left leg, but kept firing.

Then as quickly as it started, it stopped.  The five cars left the scene at high speed, as sirens that had gone unnoticed grew closer.  Three cruisers skidded to a stop while four more flew by in pursuit of the shooters.  Brass let his wounded arm drop wearily to his side as he surveyed the damage.  He swallowed as he turned toward Nick.

Nick was clutching at his stomach with the lost look of a child.

"Aw, shit Nicky," Brass hissed.  "Hey!" he shouted when he saw Lockwood exit another cruiser that arrived, radioing for assistance.  "Get the paramedics!"

At the crime labs …

The other four CSIs looked up in surprise when Greg and Archie flew into the break room.  Greg slid to a stop, panting for breath unable to speak, while Archie slammed his hand down on the counter next to the scanner and turned it on.

"We have multiple officers down!  I repeat, multiple officers down.  We need paramedics now!" Lockwood voice came over the scanner, filled with urgency.  "We have officers down at the northwest corner of Ballard Street and Moss Avenue!"

Warrick came to his feet and Catherine clamped a hand over her mouth in shock.

"Oh, God!  That's where Nick is!" Sara cried out.

"Get the goddamned paramedics in here now!" Brass' pained voice sounded over the scanner.

Grissom clenched his fists.  If anything happened to Nick …

O'Riley rushed into the room then.  "I heard what happened.  Let's roll!"

*****

Author's notes:  Hello!!!!!  I'm back!  Dude, I've been gone the last two weeks.  First I was a counselor at my church's Youth Camp.  Then I was doing respite care at a conference in Idaho.  I just got back Sunday.  So the last two days I've been recovering. 

As for the story, yes, I did wrap up the other two cases too easily, but I wanted Nick's case to be the focus of the story.  I hope I didn't disappoint anyone.  As you can see, this simple, straightforward drive-by shooting just became something a whole helluva a lot bigger.  Heehee!

And I wanted to thank Mairi-Clare for pointing out my mistake with the whole blood clot issue.  I've thought about going back and correcting that, but I just haven't got the energy to do so right now.

Thanks everyone for your continued support.  I enjoy the feedback!