Thank's for the reviews! Hehe, idiot, I may be, nasty cliffhanger writer? DEFINATELY!! Muahaha, don't you just love this chapter's ending???
Oh, and for the PRTF readers, Conrad Ecklie in the last few chapters is the 'night' shift supervisor, and the sheriff's full name is Sheriff Brian Mobley.
Chapter 20: Time Out
Gil Grissom had his headphones on, listening to his favourite musical pieces. It was the start of the shift, everyone else wasn't here yet. Grissom was just taking this time to relax.
Suddenly, he was disturbed when his cell phone started vibrating in his pocket. Sighing, he sopped the disk and fished out his cell phone.
The ID read, 'Sheriff', Grissom frowned, now what?
He put on a fake cheery voice and said,"Good morning, Sheriff!"
"Gil, I'm calling on an important matter,"
"No wonder. It's only 6 a.m. What's up?"
Sheriff Mobley cleared his throat and said,"You should know, a traffic officer has spoken to me. Last night, he caught one of your CSI's drinking and driving, with a very high alchohol level. Not to mention, this is not the first time, is it?"
Grissom frowned,"What? Who?" dreading the answer.
"Sara Sidle. What happened, Gil? This will ruin the image of cops all around!"
"For one thing, we aren't cops, Brian, for another, Sara is going through a hard time now. She..."
"I don't care. In my opinion, she should be fired. Suspended at the very least! This is not the first time she was caught, you remember that, don't you?"
"Brian, I'm sure Sara has an excuse for this. I'll talk to her,"
"You had better. Call me back. Goodbye,"
Grissom hung up, sighing.
Sara slipped into the empty break room. Her head was really aching badly. She had used the back door to get in so she won't have to pass Grissom's office. He probably knew about last night already.
Sara didn't mean to drink so much but she really needed to drown her sorrows. She slumped down onto a chair and covered her eyes with one hand.
Her other hand brushed against a piece of paper. Curious, she picked it up and read, 'Find Nick Stokes and make sure he dies,'
"What?!" she blurted.
She knew immediately that someone had just put that message in the bible, wanting their suspect to see it. 'How could they put Nick in danger like that?' she thought.
'Whose writing is this?' Yup, not Nick's. Sara knew only one person in the entire crimelab that looped his 'k's like that, a certain dirty-blond haired, British guy...
"Hey, Sara. Early today too?"
Before Wes knew it, Sara had him flat against the wall,
"WHY???!!!'"
"Why what?" asked the surprised Wes.
Sara waved the note in front of him. Wes said, "Oh, that! So that's where it went... well,,, uh, you see... uh..."
"SAY IT!!"
"Woah, Sara... you've been drinking? You're breath..." muttered Wes, wrinkling his nose.
"DON"T CHANGE THE SUBJECT! EXPLAIN!"
"It was Nick's idea! Not mine! Honest!"
"Really?"
"Scout's honour! He wanted to catch the guy so he made me write that message in the bible!"
Sara looosened her grip on Wes and asked,"Where is Nick now?"
"Dunno. Er... funny thing... I haven't seen him since yesterday, when our suspect saw the message.... so, uh..."
"Nick could be attackedright now?!"
Nick parked his car in the basement parking lot of a shopping complex. The building was only a few blocks away from the Crime Lab so Nick prefered to park here and walk over.
The car park was quite empty since the complex wasn't opened yet. Nick walked towards the stairs, wondering whether the masked phantom got the message or not. It's been two days since nick had made Wes add that message.
Suddenly, a whirring sound caught Nick's attention.
He turned around, trying to locate the source of that robotic whirring. He caught sight of a samll robotic toy, wound up and whirring away.
Nick recognized it, it was the same modal as the one Michael had begged him to buy. Nick bent down to pick it up, memories of his beloved son flowing back.
That's when his head was strucked with a heavy object again, for the upteenth time this month.
Nick fell to the floor, fighting the urge to black out. So the masked phantoom got the message.
Nick stared up at the man who killed his son with mounting anger. The yellow and black mask glared back, with a brand new hat, bat in hand, the guy seemed almost sneering.
He did not attack again, he waited for Nick to get up before laying a punchon Nick's face.
Nose bleeding, Nick pulled out his gun. But the masked man was too fast, in a flash, he wrenched the gun out of Nick's hand, shoving Nick againt a pillar.
The masked man held the gun right in front of Nick's face. Nick could almost see the bullet in the chamber, ready to kill.
He could also see the mechanical toy on the floor, still whirring away. not a single car entered the lot.
Nick knew it, this was the end, he could only think of two words, 'Sorry, Michael,'.
The masked man's gloved finger slowly moved closer and closer to the trigger, the guy was enjoying the moment.
Nick shut his eyes, waiting for the pain come. This was it, he was as good as dead...
TBC