Chapter 4

The first thing Sara thought after locking eyes with Brass was, Hmm, Jim doesn't look too good. His face was entirely too pale and she thought his eyes might bug out of his head. She also never thought a mouth could drop as far as his did. She thought that he kind of looked like a Pez dispenser. Interesting. Sara shook her head to clear her thoughts and gave Brass a small smile to let him know she was unhurt and okay. She saw out of the corner of her eye all the news media. She decided she needed to let Brass in on what the situation was inside. As she moved to where the food was she stealthily moved her right hand to show the number 3. She then moved her hand to show the number 5 and flashed it twice plus a 2. She hoped he would understand. 3 of them to 12 of us. She bent down to pick up the food and signed something to Brass before she picked it up. She knew that Brass wouldn't catch it but someone else would. Then she backed back into the bank.

Oh.My.God. That was Brass' first thought upon seeing none other than Sara Sidle coming out the front door of the bank. What in the hell was she doing there? How? Why? Too many questions and not enough answers. But damn, she was good, he'd give her that. She silently let me know how many robbers and how many hostages. After the initial shock of seeing Sara had worn off, Brass walked back into the van.

"Get that video feed working, Now!" he shouted.

Detective Vega, who had been standing outside, followed Brass into the van. He was visibly shaken. "Captain, did you...I mean...was that...oh god."

"My sentiments exactly." Brass responded.

"How did Sara get caught up in this mess? I mean do they know who she is? Could this have something to do with a case she's working on? Or was she just in the wrong place at the wrong time?"

"I'm going to guess the latter. They would have already used her as a pawn if they knew what she did. They would know that she would be the key to get whatever they wanted, but all they had her do was pick up the food. I think she's safe." For now Brass thought, but kept that to himself. The SWAT commander was now entering the van holding a set of blueprints.

"Sir, we wanted to go over the layout of the bank with you."

"Give me one minute, I've got a phone call to make." And it was one Brass was dreading making.

CSI LAB

Gil Grissom was still at the lab. He was waiting for the results on some DNA testing that Greg had been running for him on a case that came in early that morning. He had yet to go home and he thought he might be coming down with a migraine. He knew what the cause of it was. Sara. It wasn't anything that she had done, it was more of what he had done to her. If he could go home and get some sleep maybe his mind would stop thinking and he'd be able to come up with some conclusion to whatever "this" was. Just as he thought this he heard footsteps running in the hall. He looked up in time to see Greg and Hodges running to the break room.

"Hey," he yelled, "Where's the fire?"

They completely ignored him as they stood outside of the break room. The investigator in Grissom got the best of him and he went to see what all the fuss was about. It looked to him as if no one was working and everyone was gathered around the TV. He looked over Greg's shoulder to see what was going on.

"This is Jorja Fox with KTV-12 and we are on the scene of a hostage situation. Details are scarce but from what we can determine a bank robbery was being committed when the police were notified and got here just in time to be welcomed with a barrage of bullets by one of the suspects."

Grissom saw as the camera panned to Jim Brass. This must be serious for the Sheriff to call in Brass on his day off Grissom thought.

"Wait a minute, I see movement coming from the front of the bank. Hold on back at the studio, John, can you get a closer shot so we can see what's going on. It looks like a SWAT officer has placed a bag near the door. Okay, now we've got the door opening and wait...it looks like someone is coming out. Yes, there's a woman coming out of the bank. She must be one of the hostages. It looks like the suspects have sent her out to retrieve the bag. Yes, now she's picking it up and she's backing back into the bank. We'll stay here until the resolution of this and continue to update you at home as to this very dangerous situation. Back to you Brian."

Everyone in the break room stood still. Grissom thought his eyes were playing tricks on him or maybe he was dreaming. But, he thought, there's no way I'd have Greg or for that matter Hodges in my dreams. Nightmares, maybe, but not dreams. Then again, as far as Grissom was concerned this was a nightmare. Once Grissom's mind comprehended that this was real his emotions hit him full force. He had to grab hold of the door jamb to keep from falling down. My God. Sara. What? How? He thought maybe his heart had stopped beating. Just then Grissom heard his cell phone ringing, without even looking at the caller ID he answered, "Grissom."

"Gil, its Jim. I've got something I need to tell you and I promise you're not gonna like it."

"I know Jim, I just saw it on Channel 12. What...Sara......how...Jim..." Grissom stuttered.

"I don't know all the details yet Gil but she's in there. She did good."

"What do you mean she did good?"

"When she came out of the bank she signaled to us that there were 3 suspects and 12 hostages." Grissom heard Jim but his mind was back to the television. They were reshowing Sara coming out of the bank and that's when Grissom saw it.

"Jim, that's not the only thing she showed us. She signed something before she picked up the food and went back into the bank."

"What did she say?"

"Aim for the head."

Brass sighed, "Oh just freaking great."

TBC