:::A fourth Chapter:::
The bloodcurdling scream emitted from the terrorists' throat echoed throughout the aircraft. From their positions on the floor Grissom and Sara looked at each other over Catherine's sobbing form. The first signs of his fear began to seep into the expression on Grissom's face and what little colour that was left in Sara's face promptly left it, to be replaced with a carbon copy of her former self.
Drawing her weapon, Sara stood and began to jog off throwing a quick "I'll be back" to Grissom over her shoulder, as she rounded the corner her body froze at what she saw. Nick now had the terrorist pinned up against a wall and was dripping methylated spirits over his wounds, causing him to shriek with even more pain.
Then in a weird half dream she watched as someone brushed past her and took the half-empty bottle from Nick's hands. As if realising what he'd just been doing he recoiled in horror and sank to the floor to stare at the girl kneeling opposite him expertly checking for a pulse, then she stood back and went to Sara, gently removing her gun from where she clutched it in her hand.
"Are you ok?" she asked Sara and without waiting for a reply added, "What's your name?"
"S-Sara" she managed to stutter her name still transfixed at the amount of blood on the ceiling
"Sara, I'm Dani. You left your colleagues alone back down the corridor; they'll be worrying about you. Go and tell them that everything's fine." Dani steered her away and around the corner. Sara shook herself and nodded taking a second to gather her thoughts and went back to Grissom and Catherine, blocking out what she'd just been witness to.
As Dani watched Sara take her seat near Grissom she turned back to Nick as the man he'd been torturing gave a moan, she was amazed that he was still conscious let alone alive, he'd obviously lost a lot of blood and there was nothing that she, or anyone could do to bring him back. With an emotionless expression she lifted the gun and killed him, watching as he twitched for a few seconds, gargling his own blood before falling back and remaining silent.
"Wh-what'd you do that for?" asked Nick, his voice barely above a whisper as Greg emerged from the cockpit with the pilot behind him
"He'd never have lasted another five minutes, trust me, it was easier this way" the girl looked them over "are any of you injured?" Greg and the Pilot shook their heads, Dani turned to Nick "what about you?"
"No" he told her defiantly standing back up "I don't know what happened to me"
"Trauma, temporary insanity, I'm guessing it was your buddy back there that he put a hole in" It wasn't a question, merely a statement of facts, again there was an awkward silence as Dani began to drag the motionless form toward the emergency exit "well, are you gonna help me or am I emptying this plane on my own?"
Two hours later ......
...there were twenty-three people lined up on the beach, fourteen were wrapped up in tarpaulins, the closest thing they could find to body bags. Eight others, including the CSI's were standing in the shade of the plane unsure of what to do next. Dani dropped down beside them, her clothes covered in blood.
Motioning for Grissom's help she took a hold of a small body wrapped in a tarpaulin and carried it over to lay it by the others with his help. It looked too small to belong near the rest of the full-grown bodies, like it wasn't meant to be there. But none of them were meant to be there. As the two returned to the group the pilot dropped down to meet them.
"I'm going to be straight with you all, because I have never been placed in a situation like this before" began the pilot "to be blunt we've come down on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, we didn't send out a distress signal, nor do we have a working radio in our possession. I, Lt. David Gray must take the burden of responsibility. We lost fifteen people, they're people you and I know and were close to, and I'm sorry that it happened."
Four of the remaining CSI's exchanged glances, but Catherine, still hysterical from losing Warrick lashed out at Lt. Gray, screaming obscenities and tearing at his bloodstained clothes as if trying to take back what he'd just said, some of the group began to inch away, the Lt. Just stood there, letting her gouge long lines in his arms with her fingernails, punching him in the face with all of her strength.
Nick, Greg and Grissom tried to pull her away, but in an almost mirror image of what Nick had done to the dying terrorist, rage kept her going. Gray's nose was dripping blood and he spat out a tooth as Dani intervened as before and threw Catherine away from him, she sprawled in the sand and Dani slapped her across the face with her open palm.
TBC