A/N: There is one more chapter after this. Thanks to everyone that has reviewed and offered suggestions on improvement. Constructive criticism is always welcome. As always, 1000 thanks to Alison and Alicia for beta reading!
Chapter 7
Jake tensed beside Ron and Michael Richardson as a man stepped towards them. He relaxed slightly when he recognized him. "Everything go okay at Frank's?" Jake asked, referring to Franklin Elementary School.
"Yes."
He nodded and took the keys to the bank out of his pocket. He still thought that it was odd that he hadn't been given the name of the man who had approached him about robbing the bank. "I thought we were going to meet later." He was starting to feel uneasy. He wasn't following the plan.
"I just wanted to check on the situation. Are those the keys?" Jake held them up and the other man took them. He stepped over to Michael and dangled them in front of his face. "Which one?" Michael just stared at him and he received a punch in the gut. He doubled over in pain and the man grabbed his chin in one hand and forced his head up. "Which one?" The man repeated.
Michael shakily brought his bound hands up and pointed to a key. The man turned, unlocked the front door, and led them inside. "Which way to the vault?" Michael gestured to a hallway leading to the rear of the building and tried to say something.
"Shut up," the man struck Michael again, this time backhanding him across the face. Jake and Ron looked at each other. This wasn't part of the plan either.
"Look, let's just get what we came for and get out of here." The nameless man's cold smile sent a shiver down Jake's spine. He would threaten and point a gun but he didn't sign on to hurt anyone.
They started down the hall and Jake looked over at Michael. The older man's head was bleeding where he had been struck and he was gesturing wildly at the other man's back. Jake looked over and saw that he had pulled a gun out and was holding it at his side. He looked back to Michael who was shaking his head emphatically. Jake began to sense that they wouldn't make it out of this building alive.
"How do you open it?" The question startled Jake and his head snapped around to find the gun pointed in his direction.
Michael motioned for them to take the tape off of his mouth. Jake nodded and moved toward him. "Don't try anything." He ripped the tape from Michael mouth and the older man winced in pain.
"I've been trying to tell you. All vaults are on a timed release. I can't open it. It won't open until nine AM." He looked back and forth from Jake to the other man, fearful of what would happen now that they knew they couldn't access the contents of the vault.
"Other people will be here by then." Jake looked at the exit. "We can't do it. Let's just get out of here." He glanced at the gun again and up into the face of the man holding it. Jake grew cold with fear. The man's grip had tightened on the gun so that his knuckles were a stark white and Jake wondered if the hard plastic would break. His face was flushed bright red and a vein stood out on his forehead. Jake took an involuntary step back, moving Ron back as he did so.
"Liar!" The man launched himself at Michael, taking him to the ground. Michael landed on his back with the gunman on top of him. He moved to straddle Michael's chest and began raining heavy blows on the older man's face and shoulders.
Jake stood frozen, unsure of how it had come to this. He was sprayed with blood as it was cast off of the gun and it galvanized him into action. He grabbed the hand that held the gun and tried to pull him off of Michael but the other man was unnaturally strong. Jake was shoved back into the wall. He suddenly remembered the gun he had stuck in his waistband when they had come inside. "Ron get out of here! Get them out of the house!" Ron ran for the exit as Jake pulled out his gun. He aimed at the man still pounding his fists on the now unconscious Michael. "Stop!" he screamed.
Finally his fists stopped making contact with the man under him and he turned to Jake and raised his gun squeezing the trigger repeatedly as he did. Jake felt the white-hot pain as the bullets ripped into his body and pulled the trigger on his own weapon as he fell backward into darkness.
Ron jumped into their car and sped toward the Richardson house. Once he had reached his destination he scrambled out of the driver's seat and ran into the house. He hurried upstairs and burst into the bedroom to find Evelyn untied and talking with Danny.
"What are you doing?" he yelled.
Danny jumped up. "Talking. She was scared and I wanted her to know that we aren't going to hurt anybody." He stopped and took in his brother's appearance. "What happened?"
"He went crazy."
"Jake?"
"No! The other guy went crazy! Jake told me to get you guys out of the house."
"We should call the police."
"Danny are you stupid? We'll go to prison!"
"What are we gonna do then?"
Ron thought about the question and their situation. They didn't have any money. Jake might be dead. Mr. And Mrs Richardson now knew their names. Shit. "Alright," he sighed, defeated. "Lets call the police."
Up until then Evelyn had remained quiet. "What about my husband? What happened to Michael?"
Ron looked at her. "I don't know."
(3:00 AM)
The team of CSI's were packing everything up when Brass walked over to them. "A call just came in." They all looked at him expectantly. "It may be related to the bombing. Three guys broke into the home of the president of the First National Bank and tied them up. One guy stayed with the wife while the other two took the president to the bank. I've got officers headed to the bank now. That's were I'm going."
Grissom nodded and said, "We'll meet you there." He turned back to Catherine and Warrick. "You two finish processing the evidence from the school." They nodded and started moving all of the evidence bags into one vehicle. "Nick, go get Greg and go on over to the home. Interview the wife and process the house." Nick grabbed his kit and went to his Denali. Grissom turned to Sara. "We're going to the bank."
Five minutes later they were walking into the bank. Sara looked around and saw Brass kneeling next to a man that looked to be in his mid-fifties. His face was swollen and bloody. He appeared to be in shock. Brass said something to him and hurried over to where they were standing.
"Hey. Ambulance is on the way. His face looks like raw hamburger." He winced and turned to a hallway. "The other two are back here." They walked down the short hallway and came to the vault. Lying dead on the floor in the small entryway were two men both wearing ski masks. Two semi-automatic guns lay near the bodies.
Grissom looked back to the room they had come from. "Is that the president?" Brass nodded. "Did he touch anything?"
"He says no. He just crawled as far as he could to the front office. He's in a lot of pain and keeps asking to see his wife." With that he started back to finish speaking with the survivor of the shoot out.
"Sara go ahead and get started. I'm going to interview the president." She nodded and opened her case as he left the room.
As Grissom was finishing with his questions the EMTs and the coroner arrived at the same time. The EMTs moved to Michael to begin assessment and Sara came toward Grissom. She spotted the coroner, David, and went to talk with him first. Grissom observed the techs while they worked. One of them looked strangely familiar but Grissom couldn't put his finger on it. He looked away from the younger man as Sara and David walked in his direction.
"They're all yours David," Sara was saying.
"Thanks Sara." David smiled at her and went to start packing up the bodies. At the mention of Sara's name the young EMT looked up in surprise.
"Hi Sara."
She turned around to identify the speaker and froze when she realized who it was. "Hank." Until now she had been lucky enough not to have to speak to him. 'Figures,' she thought, 'he would have to show up on the night that Grissom finally asked me out. Sort of. And I haven't even answered him yet! Now I probably won't have to.' She rolled her eyes.
Sensing that she wasn't going to say anymore, Hand turned back to his task. Grissom was frowning in recognition. This was the 'not a relationship' guy. Grissom assessed the EMT. 'Kind of puny,' he thought as he smirked.
Michael was loaded onto a stretcher and Hank turned to Sara once more and quietly spoke to her. "I've missed you. Maybe we could get some coffee later?"
Sara looked at him like he had sprouted horns. "No." His eyes widened in shock at her bluntness.
"I'm -" He was interrupted when Grissom stepped forward and took Sara's arm pulling her to his side.
"She said no." He gave Hank one last glare and led Sara across the room still holding her arm possessively. Hank watched them and headed for the exit. 'That's right, keep walking wussy boy,' Grissom thought nastily. Once he had left the building Grissom looked at Sara who was watching him with amusement. He cleared his throat. "Have you decided about breakfast yet?"
She smiled. "I'll have breakfast with you." He breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn't blown it with his macho act.
"Good." They finished processing the bank and made their way back to the lab.
After the evidence was logged and distributed to trace and DNA everyone met in the conference room. Nick started. "Jake Stevens, Ronald and Daniel Burk halter - brothers." He spread out photos of each suspect.
"That's one of the dead guys at the bank." Sara pointed to the picture of Jake.
Nick nodded. "These three broke into the Richardson home. Jake and Ronald took Michael Richardson to the bank while Danny kept an eye on Evelyn Richardson. According to Ron and Danny they were hired by some guy who wouldn't give his name. That is who Jake and Ron met at the bank."
Catherine provided another picture. "A one Robert Inge. He's the one that set the bomb at Franklin Elementary."
"A distraction so they could rob the bank." Warrick interjected.
"Apparently none of them realized that banks are now on time release."
"And that is what set Robert off. When he found out that his brilliant plan was less than brilliant he took it out on Michael Richardson. According to Ron, Jake tried to stop Robert, and sent Ron back to the house. They must have shot each other after he had run out."
"Danny convinced Ron to call the police. Mrs. Richardson is actually worried about what will happen to them." Brass came into the room. "Mr. Richardson has a broken nose, both clavicles are broken and several ribs. But he'll live.
The case was solved. All they had left to do was tie up loose ends. Grissom looked at the clock. The shift was over in ten minutes. "This has been a long night. Go ahead and take off early. If anything else comes in the day shift can handle it." One by one they said their goodnights and left the room until only Sara and Grissom remained.
She quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Hungry?" He asked.
She smiled and stood up. "Where do you want to go?"
"My place," he surprised them both by saying.
"Okay."