Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing for entertainment purposes

Spoilers: No Humans Involved

It is still scary, but there will be sunshine in the next few days. I am still on track and can post one chapter a day. Your feedback has been wonderful, and it inspires me to keep going.

Sheila

Chapter 7

"Come on now. What are you busting my balls for, huh?" The bald man threw his hands up into the air. Overweight, with a madras shirt hanging over a faded pair of slacks, the man sat in the midst of junk, piles of junk. Around him were hundreds of vendors sitting among their extensive piles of junk. "You're spooking my customers."

Nick looked around the old drive-in parking lot. "Sorry, Bennie. Doesn't really look like your crap is in particularly high demand around here."

Warrick wore shades against the punishing Nevada sun. He stared silently at Bennie, arms folded stiffly across his chest. Bennie kept stealing worried glances at him.

"Listen, I barely know the guy." Bennie wiped a handkerchief across his brow.

"Three people say different. They say you and Sammy are like brothers."

"Right." Bennie shook his head. "This is a guy who would steal food from a starving child. What do I want with a creep like that?"

Warrick put his hands down flat on the rickety card table and leaned forward. "Bennie, you need to start talking to us right now. Do you understand?"

"Look, we hang out sometimes. Every once in a while, I get a hankering for some powder, and Sammy knows where all the treasure is buried. I don't do it much because I can't afford it."

"Last time you saw him?" Nick felt a small grin tug at one edge of his mouth as he watched Warrick stand point over Bennie.

"Two weeks ago. We went to a house. Scored some blow. Got high. Then we went home."

"Where, Bennie?"

"Somewhere out in the boonies. A subdivision called Hortense Point, I think. I can't remember anything else. Houses, brush, desert. Sort of a pit, really. Sammy drove and I was pretty wasted."

"You haven't been there before?"

Bennie shrugged. "Sammy goes to lots of different places."

Warrick allowed a slow smile. "Good job, Bennie. Now, we're going to sit down with a map, and you are going to start pointing at locations. Then you're going to take a ride with us, and point out houses for us."

"I can't leave my stuff."

Nick leaned forward. "It's okay, Bennie. One day is all we need. Tomorrow you can be back here setting the world on fire with your collection of junk."

"Will you reimburse me for time lost? This is a buyer's market you know."

"Right, Bennie. For that, we'll have you write a letter to our illustrious mayor. I'm sure he will get right on it."

……………………………….........................................................................................................................

Grissom read his screen again for third time. His hand pulled absently at his beard. With every word, he heard her voice inside his head. He could feel the emotion in every sentence. It was overwhelming, and he struggled to keep his composure.

The e-mail would have to be shared. Others needed to see it. Read for things that he might overlook. He was reluctant to share as her letter felt very private to him, intimate even. Catherine would be the one he'd go to first. She was the best at reading people. Always seemed to know what was going on even before anyone had to say anything. Plus, she was the one he could most trust with his vulnerability.

He wanted to reach for the phone, but couldn't yet leave the e-mail. He read it one more time, and then hit reply.

……………………………….........................................................................................................................

Sara sat on the front steps, her knees drawn up to her chin, and tried to stop trembling. The heat of the midday sun on her bare arms did nothing to stop her shaking. A piece of paper was rolled up in her hand, but she was having some trouble ingesting the words. Everything was conspiring to overwhelm her: the drugs, lack of sleep, poor diet, dehydration, and the constant memories swirling around in her head.

Memories of her mother had come to visit her today. She remembered things she hadn't thought of in almost twenty years. A picture came to her of how her mother used to licked her lips with a faraway look in her eyes. Sara knew that her mom craved something that was more important to her than even her own daughter. Then her mother would disappear: two days or three. And when she would come back, she looked old and tired. Her bright, brown eyes would be hazy and unfocused. She would sleep day and night. Sara would wake her to eat, Kraft macaroni and cheese being the extent of her culinary repertoire at that age, but often couldn't keep her conscious through an entire meal. The first time, Sara saw the ugly, tortured veins in her mother's arms, she had screamed. She had tried to get to a phone and call an ambulance, but her mother's thin arms held her tightly. Her mother had rocked her that night, whispering 'I'm sorry' over and over into her ear. Even as a child, Sara knew that while her mother was sorry, she was also in the grips of something more powerful for her than the bond between a mother and daughter. Sara had listened to the whispered apologies that night, but knew that the words would not make any impact on her mother's behavior.

"Hi Sara." Sammy's voice broke her reverie.

She gave him a tight smile.

"Woke up and you were gone. I was worried."

"Yeah, about that, Sammy. I appreciate you scoring for me last night, but I am afraid that I don't reciprocate in trade. Understand?"

Sammy threw his arms up. "Hey! I thought you wanted a good time is all."

"Yeah, well, I'm just trying to hang onto to whatever remaining dignity I still have."

"You going to hang out here?"

"I thought I might catch a ride into the city with you."

"Sorry. No can do. The candy man is going to stop over here, and I'm going to need to do some business with him."

Sara felt an excitement rise up in her. "Who's that?"

"So now you're the one writing the book, huh?"

"No, it's just that the friend who sent me over to the lounge said I should look out for someone, a foreign guy named Viktor. She said that he could take care of everything for me."

"Well, darling, my guess is that his price is a little too steep for you."

"What does that mean?"

"The girls Viktor takes care of have to engage in some pretty hazardous duty in order to keep his attention. Doesn't sound like he would appeal to your prudish attitudes, shall we say."

"I see." Sara felt her face flush.

"But you still want to meet him, don't you?" Sammy had a strange look in his eye, his teeth were biting into his lower lip.

She could feel the fear strangling her heart. All she could manage in reply was a single nod.

Sammy smiled and jumped up. "Good! Happy to set that up for you. I'm sure Viktor will like the looks of you just fine."

When she was alone again, she remembered the paper in her hands. Embarrassment stabbed her gut when she realized that she had held it in full view of Sammy while he sat beside her. Being careful was becoming more and more complicated for her.

Looking around at the dusty yellow, front lawn, and behind her to the front door, she became satisfied that she was again alone. Slowly, she unraveled the piece of paper, and read again the message she found on e-mail just hours after she had opened the account.

The paper rattled in her shaky hands, and she fought to still them. She wanted to read it again, and try to make better sense of the words.

Dear Sara,

I am so relieved to have this letter from you. It is the only confirmation I have that you are still with us.

It pains me to read about the confusion and fear you are facing. I wish very much that I was there with you right now. I want to hear anything you want to tell me. I think now that I was too stern in holding you off when you tried to tell me your story earlier. I am very sorry for that.

You are convinced that we are working around you here, but you need to know that your contribution to this lab is very valuable, and it is for this reason that your friends and I want to care for and support you. I'm glad you never had an opportunity to resign because it would have been a problem for me, and we would have fought about it.

I understand that you are in the grips of something difficult right now. I respect that. But I am also desperate to make you understand that there are other ways to find Viktor, ways that don't risk your well being. I promise to work with you for however long it takes to bring him down. Everyone will do this for Hannah and for you.

Please Sara, call or write to me any information you have about your whereabouts. I know that I have been distant and distracted for some time now. And I see how that has left me oblivious to your feelings and how they have been impacting you and your work. For this, I am very sorry. I won't let you down like that again.

Right now, I am speaking to you not as a colleague but as a badly frightened man who cares for you. Please let me help you. Let me bring you back here where you are safe and loved by many.

I will be waiting to hear from you.

All of my love,

Grissom

P.S. I heard that Ecklie threatened to take you under his own supervision. This will not happen. I promise you.

She longed to just walk out to the highway, and hitchhike back to the city, but she didn't. she had committed too much of herself, and the promise of Viktor was becoming more and more imminent. The words in the e-mail both excited and confused her, and she wished she could concentrate well enough to better understand them. So she folded up the paper into a tight wad, and carefully slipped it into her shoe.

……………………………….......................................................................................................................

"Bennie, you are a regular pain in the ass." Brass was shaking his head at the man sitting in the back seat of the car with Nick.

"Okay, people. When I want to score, I am not all that concerned about street signs or addresses or architecture, you know?" Despite the air conditioning, sweat was gathering on his forehead.

"I am matching the general locations Bennie gave us with the actual addresses that Narcotics gave you. I have narrowed the possibilities down to 15 houses." Nick was struggling with a map and other paper. Short on space, he was using Bennie as a table. Bennie's earlier irritation with this had been silenced when Warrick had stopped the car, and turned around to stare at him with a grim look on his face.

"Okay, guys, fifteen is too many. Bennie, I swear to God. You pony up with something substantial in the next five minutes or Warrick here is going to do the Macarena on your face."

"Too much pressure like this and I can't think."

"Shut up, Bennie." Nick thrust the unused addresses into his arms.

Warrick looked over his shoulder at the panicked man.

"Okay, okay. One house was on the same street as a Popeye's. I remember because we walked down there once for some chicken."

"Which area?" Nick thrust the map at him. Bennie pointed. Nick nodded and leaned forward. "Got to get me a phone book, Jim. Need to find out where the Popeyes are in this area and match it with one of these addresses."

"Okay, can I go now?"

"Not a chance, doughboy. Gotta pull some more memories out of that thick head of yours." Brass gave Bennie a sinister wink.

"I'm hungry."

"Well, I bet you are. Make you a deal. You bring us to two more solid addresses, and I will supersize you at the McDonald's of your choice."

"Okay. About two months ago, we were at a place near 7th avenue. I remember 'cause there was a Subway on that street.. And it was maybe a two block walk from the house we were at. I remember that I got a 12 inch chicken Caesar with--"

"Brass, will you find me a damn phone book already?" Nick growled as he pushed more of the map on top of Bennie.

………………………………......................................................................................................................

"Wow," was all Catherine said when she first read the e-mail. Never taking her eyes off the page, she settled into a chair.

"I wrote back to her. You can see that one too if you need to." Grissom hovered nearby, watching her carefully.

Catherine looked up from the paper, and cocked her head at him. "We'll leave that one for just the two of you."

"What do you think?"

"She's a mess, Grissom. We need to find her now."

"Anything in there you think we can use?"

"I don't know, Griss. Give me a minute."

"So do you see the part where she says she's scared, and then up here, she mentions how out of control she feels, and--" He was gesturing at things over her shoulder.

Catherine used her elbow to bat his arms away. "Knock it off. I need some space, okay? Check your e-mail again or something."

"I just checked it fifteen minutes ago."

"Well, you never know when another one is coming. The point here is that you need to get the hell away from me so I can concentrate."

Grissom nodded and wandered back to his desk. He settled in and pulled up his mail again. New mail symbol flashed at him. Letting out a deep breath, he pulled it up. Another missive form HelpHannah stared back at him. It was only a few words, but a chill shuddered through his body.

Hi,

Thanks for writing me so quickly. Your words are what's keeping me going right now. Almost set out for the highway after I read it, but then I found out that Viktor was coming. Sammy says he will do an introduction. I will mail as soon as I see him. Don't want to risk giving you the address now, and then having you show up too early. Sorry.

I'm not feeling so good so believe me when I say that I will be wasting no time calling in the cavalry once he shows up.

I really need you right now. Stay close to your computer. Please.

Love,

Sara

"Griss? You got something?" Catherine noticed the shock look on his eyes.

He nodded slowly. Blinking hard, he reached over and swiveled the screen in her direction.

"Shit!" was the only analysis he got from his old friend.

………………………………..................................................................................................................

"We have four maybe five places we need to hit."

"Come on, Jim. I told you three."

"Bob, right now, I don't give a shit what we talked about five hours ago. We've been getting e-mails from her. She's in a world of hurt and we need to find her."

"Wow. Virtual suffering. Ain't technology a bitch?"

"Yeah, whatever. I need your people now."

"They'll be ready within an hour. Meet us at the fifth precinct."

"Thanks, Bob."

A dial tone sounded in his ear, and Brass turned to Warrick. "It's on. We need to get to the fifth precinct.

Warrick executed a sharp u-turn at the light and speeded up.

"Hey, what about me?" Bennie was covered in maps and sheets of paper as Nick now worked to triangulate the locations.

"What about you, Bennie?"

"I'm hungry, remember."

"Yeah, Bennie. Your appetite is right there at the top of my agenda." Brass kept his eyes on the road ahead.

"There's a McDonald's coming up in, like, two blocks."

"Come on Brass," Nick joined in. "If you don't want to do it for him. Do it for me. I'm dying back here."

Brass let out a sigh. "Pull over, 'Rick." He turned around and flipped a five dollar bill onto Bennie's lap.

"I'm going to need dessert too."

Brass rolled his eyes and threw another five in the same direction.

"This is like five miles from my house. Are you guys going to wait for me? You know, so I can get a ride home."

Warrick turned his head to look at Bennie, dark shades and all. "Bennie, you could use the exercise. You know what I mean."

Bennie looked at Warrick and swallowed hard. "Yeah, man, I do. Um, thanks for everything." Bennie scrambled out the door like a bat out of hell.

"Aw, jeez, Bennie." Nick threw his hands up as maps and other paper fluttered about the back seat in the wake of his escape. "And I had a system and everything going on back here."

………………………………......................................................................................................................

TBC