Chapter 7

Sara was sitting cross legged on the floor as Mark picked out the 4 hostages to be released. She felt like she was back in middle school and they were picking who was going to be on the dodge ball teams. Never failed she was always one of the last two to be picked. Nobody ever wanted the "geek" on there team. She had the urge to raise her hand and yell Pick Me! Needless to say she fought it.

"Oh, what the hell," Johnny said," I'm feeling generous. Give them 5. You, "he pointed at the bank manager," Go with the other 4, and tell Captain Brass to call me in 30 minutes. I'll have a list of demands for him by then.

Moose led the 5 hostages to the door and let them out one by one. Hostages 7, Robbers 3. Kind of an uneven ballgame, if you want to know the truth Sara thought. I wonder if Grissom knows I'm here yet. Wonder if he cares. He'll probably only care if I'm late for shift. She could hear him now, "Sara you're late. What did you do to get held hostage?! The lab needed you here not out playing cops and robbers." Can't let down the lab. Can't get too emotionally involved. Can't take a risk. Can't. Can't. Can't. She remembered a line from a movie Johnny Depp was in, "Are you a Mexi-CAN or a Mexi-CAN'T." She knew all too well which one Grissom was. But there was a little part of her that was 100 certain Grissom was somewhere outside. She couldn't explain it, it was just a feeling. She looked up at the camera.

Grissom was still watching the monitor when he saw Sara look up at the camera. It was as if she knew he was there watching over her and he could have sworn she was looking right at him. At that moment he would have given anything to hold her and tell her everything was going to be just fine and he wasn't going to let anything happen to her. "I'm right here Sara."

One of the officers that had led the hostages to safety came up to Brass and told him that the suspects wanted him to call them in 30 minutes for their list of demands. Just wonderful, Brass thought. Brass and the SWAT leader had arranged a course of action. They would have snipers on the surrounding rooftops and a team of six would be dropped on the roof of the bank and would make there way in through a series of air ducts. They had determined that the air ducts were big enough and strong enough to support the SWAT team. There were already news helicopters flying overhead so one more wasn't going to draw any suspicions. Once the teams were in position then they'd wait until they got the signal. Brass was a little apprehensive about moving so quickly but the Sheriff had called and told him to end this quickly, with as few civilian casualties as possible of course. That's easy for him to say he's not here. The Sheriff was conveniently out of town for a conference. Lucky Bastard.

CSI LAB

Warrick parked the Tahoe in front of the Lab and ran inside. The receptionist yelled at him that he couldn't park there. The look he gave her as he ran by shut her up. As he ran by the break room, he caught a glimpse of Catherine and Nick. They saw him too and immediately took off after him. Warrick found Greg in trace.

"Greg, I need you to run these photos through the database and see if we can come up with anything on these three."

"I'm on it." Greg said determinedly as he took the photos and scanned them into the system. "How's she doing man?"

Before Warrick could answer Catherine and Nick ran into the trace lab and immediately bombarded him with questions.

"How is she?" "What happened?" "How's Gil?" "How did she get involved in this?" "Is she hurt?" Do they know who she is?" "How are they gonna get her out?"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down, one at a time." Warrick said. "First off, she's okay right now, although one of the suspects hit her when they found out who she was and what she did."

Catherine gasped as Nick looked horrified.

"Right now, " Warrick continued," we're of the assumption she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Brass is doing everything he can to get everyone out safely."

"How's Gil" Catherine asked.

Warrick shook his head, "Cath, it's the damnedest thing I've ever seen. When that guy slapped her, I thought I was going to have to physically restrain him from going into that bank. And as strong as I know I am Grissom would have swatted me away like a fly. That guy had better hope Griss doesn't get his hands on him."

"Really," Catherine smiled. "Hmm."

"I'm serious. I know we've all joked about the 2 of them but this situation has certainly opened his eyes. I've never seen him like this. It's almost scary to see him so open about what he feels for her. But guys, if something happens to her, I..." Warrick paused not wanting to think about what might happen," I don't know what it'll do to him."

"That's why we're gonna stay positive. Nothing and I mean nothing is going to happen to her." Nick said with conviction.

As this was said the computer started beeping.

"Got 'em!" Greg yelled triumphantly. "First guy is Jonathan Mitchell. 35. Did 10 years in San Quentin for drugs and breaking and entering. Second Guy is Mark Freeman, aka, "The Mark". What a Dumbass. 32. Did 12 years in San Quentin for 2nd degree sexual assault and the third guy..." Well that's weird Greg thought, "I got nothing on him except this big red classified blinking on my screen. That can't be good. What do you guys make of that?" Warrick, Nick and Catherine had never seen that before. "Don't know." Warrick said puzzled.

Nick grabbed himself a copy of the report and was reading through it. "So Sara's being held hostage by a Breaking and Entering Drug Dealer, a Rapist, and someone who no one knows who he is or what he's capable of."

Oh this is just freaking great

TBC