Chapter 9

SWAT officer Sanchez had made it to the vent in the women's bathroom. Johnson and his team radioed that they were also in position. Sanchez proceeded to unscrew the first two screws in the vent. Then he heard the door to the restroom open. "Hold your positions, we've got movement.

Grissom saw Mark lead Sara towards the bathroom. He couldn't see her anymore on the monitor. The fear that he first felt when he saw here walking out of the bank returned. It was suffocating him.

"Jim," Grissom said tentatively.

"It'll be okay Gil. Sara can handle herself." Brass prayed he was right about that. Then they both heard over there headsets Sanchez tell the teams to hold their positions.

Sara opened the door to the bathroom and received a not so gentle push from Mark. Wait. Wait. She told herself. Don't let your emotions take control. She fought the urge to laugh as she remembered Grissom telling her that about cases. She focused on what she needed to do. She'd only get one chance to get this right and it had to be perfect. Lucky me, one's all I need. She walked over to the sink and turned on the warm water. She tried not to make eye contact with Mark in the mirror. He was standing a few feet behind her. As she bent over to rinse the blood out of her mouth she could feel him watching her ass. That's right buddy keep on looking. She wanted him off balance. She rinsed her mouth out again and felt him move closer. Keep your breathing even Sidle, let him think he's got the upper hand. Wait. Wait. One more step, one more step. When Mark was less than a foot away from her she did something her weaponless defense instructor would be proud of. She quickly pivoted on her right foot and landed a perfect karate chop to his throat and larynx, rendering him unable to talk. "That was for hitting me." She said quietly. Mark reached his hands up to cover his throat and that's when Sara firmly planted her fist in the middle of his face. She heard the crunch of bones breaking. "And that's for calling me a bitch," she said as he fell unconscious to the bathroom floor." She bent down and whispered in his ear, "How did you like it? Was it good for you?" She nearly screamed when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped up ready to attack and had to step back when she heard SWAT officer Sanchez tell her "We're the good guys." She'd never been so glad to see someone in her life that she almost hugged him.

"Nice job." Sanchez smiled.

"Well he had it coming." Sara responded still a little shaken.

"No doubt, you must be CSI Sidle. SWAT officer Sanchez at your service. Now tell me what's going on in there."

"There are 2 more suspects and 6 hostages still in there. The suspects have been congregating in the middle of the bank where the counter is. The hostages are seated to the right side of that sitting on the floor." Sara tried to remember everything she could.

"Good, we've got another team on the other side in the manager's office. That's exactly what we were hoping for. Right now, I want you to stay in here while we go out and see what we can do to stop this."

"That's not going to work." Sara replied. "Johnny is going to start getting suspicious if I'm not out of here soon. I'm sure he was expecting Mark to make a move and is giving "his boy" a little time with me, but that's only going to work for so long. If I don't get back out there, he's gonna start shooting hostages. I don't know about you guys, but I'm not willing to take that chance."

Sanchez mulled over what she was saying. "Hold that thought. Captain Brass," he said into his headset.

"Go ahead."

"It seems that there are now only two suspects for us to worry about."

"What happened?" Brass asked puzzled.

Sanchez grinned, "Let me just give you CSI guys a little piece of advice, don't call Sidle a bitch. She tends to take it the wrong way."

"Is she okay?"

Sanchez heard a new voice come over the line. "And who might this be?"

"This is CSI Supervisor Gil Grissom, is she okay?" he asked again loudly.

"She's just fine Grissom, better than fine, but we seem to have a difference of opinion." Sara's head shot up at the sound of Grissoms name.

"And what would that be?" Brass interrupted.

"Sidle seems to think that she needs to go back out there to keep the suspect from shooting more hostages. I'm not sure if that's the smart thing to do. What do you suggest?"

"She is not to move under any circumstance! I don't care if you have to handcuff her to the damn sink." Grissom yelled. Brass just shook his head at Grissom and tried to suppress his grin.

Brass knew Grissom wasn't going to like his answer but he said it anyway," Sanchez, I think she might be right in this situation."

Grissom looked at him like he'd grown two heads, "What?!"

"Gil, you don't have to like this but we have to look at the big picture. We have to get everyone out safe. I don't like it anymore than you do but that's what has to be done and Sara knows this."

Brass was right, Grissom didn't have to like it. "Sanchez, this is Gil again, is Sara where I can talk to her for a minute?"

"She's right here, hold on," he said as he handed Sara his headset.

Sara looked confused, "What?"

"Someone wants to talk to you."

"Hello"

"Sara," she loved the way he said her name. "I...just...just be careful. I can't have anything happen to the labs best CSI." he said trying to sound indifferent to the fear that was coursing through his veins.

"Sure thing Griss, wouldn't want the lab to lose their BEST CSI, now would we." she said bitingly as she handed the headset back to Sanchez.

Grissom couldn't believe he'd just said that to her. You idiot! No time to beat yourself up about it now. Plenty of time to grovel once she got out of there. Yeah, lots and lots of begging.

Brass chuckled at Grissom. The man was probably the worst person in the world when it came to expressing something verbally. But once Sara saw all the emotion on his face, he wouldn't need words. That would tell her everything she would need to know.

Sanchez put his headset back on and spoke to Brass. "Okay, so we let her go back in, let her signal to the hostages to get down and then we'll storm in. Everybody on the same page?" Sara shook her head, "Good. now let's..."

SWAT officer Sanchez never got to finish his thought because at that moment the bathroom door opened and he was staring into a pair of shocked green eyes.

Oh this is just freaking great

TBC