Thanks for all of the awesome reviews everyone.
Nicky69: Thanks for the high fives and the great review, hugs and such to you too:-)
Kasey64: Oh yea, he will have to pay for that. Ouch!
crazy4tv:In my real life I'm really not mean. Well maybe a little. Nope.Hmmm not sure. I'll have to ask my kids. ;-)
harryandbrennan: Don't hate me. :-) Thanks for the review. Wait to you see the next chapter you are still going to hate me. Just joking. Maybe.
Diane: Since you are such an awesome reviewer, I feel the need to place your teeny tiny request in my story. Look for it in one of the coming chapters. ;-) Oh and I hope to answer all of your questions and more in the coming chapters as well.
dumbandhappy: Thanks for your review. I did think about mentioning Nigel and the stalking, but decided against it. Just because I was already talking about Grave Danger, I didn't want to confuse the issue. Please keep upwith the suggestions. I really appreciate it.
Lin: Let's just say Nick won't be feeling to good in the coming chapters. Eek! Did I just give too much away? Nah!
Now on with the story.
Nick had just grabbed the doorknob, when he felt a searing pain in his thigh. He struggled to stay standing. He needed to escape. He managed to get the door open and ran out. His escape was short lived. On the other side of the door just feet away two more linebackers were coming towards him.
In desperation and adrenaline, he tried to go through them. That was a big mistake. They both latched onto an arm and slammed him back into the wall. Nick fought them with all his might, but he was getting weaker as the adrenaline slowly wore off.
He heard a string of curses as the four men who were supposed to be guarding him came into view. They were not happy.
He was once again surrounded. The man they called Mav got in the first shot. He kicked Nick in the thigh where the bullet had entered. When Nick bent over in pain, he was punched in the face. Each man took his turn punching him.
They held him up against the wall as they continued to beat up on him. After a few minutes he could no longer stand on his own. He was limp as they dragged him back to his chair. They tied him back up. Punched him a few more times. Then left him as they walked back to their posts.
Between the loss of blood and the beating Nick finally lost consciousness.
The morning two days before Nick's abduction
Supreme Court Justice Bill Stokes walked into his brightly lit office. His office was rather large, but being a simple man he would have been happy with a closet. By no means was he decorator and had enlisted his wife of 45 years to help. She had the uncanny ability to make you feel at home even when one was at work.
His desk consisted of light oak wood. His chair along with the other chairs in the office, were decorated in a South Western theme. He walked over and placed his briefcase on his desk. He opened it and removed a bunch of files, then placed the briefcase on the floor near his leg and sat down.
The top of his desk was littered with various papers, folders, pens, pencils you name it. But what distinguished his desk the most were the family photos. He had several frames full of various pictures of his family. He glanced at one specific picture. It was one with the whole family, him and his wife, his five daughters and two sons. He focused on his youngest, Nick.
It had been a year since Nick's abduction. Nicks' supervisor Catherine Willows had notified him and Jillian, that Nick had been abducted from a crime scene. The kidnappers were demanding one million dollars. They flew immediately to Las Vegas and were prepared to do or pay anything to get Nick back, within the law.
It turned out in the end that the kidnapper didn't want the ransom, he wanted Nick dead, and he wanted everyone to watch him die. Though through the brilliance and great detective work Nick's teammates and second family were able to find him in time. The Stokes family would forever be in there debt.
During Nick's recovery he had returned to Texas to visit with his family and to rest. He needed a break from the attention. Home was just the place to do that.
Both Jillian and him tried to persuade Nick to move back to Texas so that they could be close to him, but Nick refused. Though he was disappointed, Nick was his own man and he accepted his decision. In fact he couldn't have been more proud of Nick.
He sighed as he grabbed one of his folders. He opened it when he heard a knock on his office door.
"Come in."
The door opened and there stood a woman middle-aged woman, wearing a black skirt and white blouse. She had short blond hair with a few touches of gray. She walked into the room holding a bunch of mail in her hand.
"Good morning your honor. I collected your mail while you were out. I trust you had a nice time."
He had decided to take a few days off before the big trial started for Michael Mitchell.
Michael Mitchell was being tried on multiple charges, murder, money laundering, and drug trafficking. You name it Mitchell was involved.
Though they knew that Michael's brother Brent was also involved, but with the money they possessed it was hard to prove. Mike happened to be in the wrong place at the right time, and he was arrested. There were multiple witnesses who testified at the hearing. So Mr. Mitchell was held pending trial.
"I had a nice time with the Misses thanks Millie."
Millie handed him the mail and walked out of the room. He thumbed through the mail. There were various pieces of junk mail that he threw out. He then came upon a handwritten envelope addressed to him. Curious he opened it. Inside the envelope was a piece of paper with a note written on it. It read:
Throw the Mitchell case out of court or you will regret it.
He shook his head and laughed at the threat. As a judge he received threats all the time. He crumbled up the piece of paper and threw it in garbage and went back to work.
Little did he know just how serious the note actually was or what his son was about to endure.
Back to the present
The sun was slowly creeping over the horizon. Grissom, Sara and Warrick were still working the crime scene. While Brass interviewed potential witnesses.
Sara had collected Nick's water bottle for analysis, maybe they would get lucky and get a print off of it. Though they already knew what make and model of the van that took Nick she still collected the tire marks. They wanted to match the treads from the earlier murder to see if the two cases were related.
Grissom and Warrick located 5 bullets in the brick walls of the buildings across the street from the convenience store. They located another 3 bullets in the side of Brass's car.
They pulled the bullets out of the walls and bagged them. They then placed their trajectory lasers in the holes and turned them on. This gave them the path that the bullets traveled.
Grissom and Warrick followed the beam across the street.
"Warrick you said that the van was parked here in this vicinity right?"
"Yea." Warrick answered
"O.K. so it definitely looks like the gunfire came from the van and not a sniper.'
As they finished up, Brass walked over. Grissom looked at him.
"So were you able to find any witnesses other than Warrick and you?"
Brass sighed, still angry with himself. "Nope not a single one."
"Well we've done what we could here. Let's get this stuff back to the lab."
Brent Mitchell was sitting at a desk, when a kid in his early twenties walked in. He wore a green shirt with baggy blue jeans. He had shoulder length brown hair pulled into a ponytail.
"So did you do it?" Brent asked as the kid.
"Yea, I left the package exactly where you told me to." The kid replied leaning back and putting his feet on the desk.
"Did anyone see you?"
"Nope no one."
"Good work." Brent said as he pulled his gun out and shot the kid. Brent screamed to someone standing outside his office. "Someone come in here and get rid of this body."
In another room down the hall Nick was still unconscious.
Catherine Willows made her way over to the Cadillac. That seemed like the logical place to start. She pulled on her gloves. Then bent over and looked into the driver's side of the car and took a picture. She grabbed her flashlight, and directed its beam into the car. The airbag had been deployed in the accident and had a trace of blood on it. She swabbed the blood and put the sample back into her bag.
The beam was then directed across the dashboard to locate any other blood splatter, she didn't see any. The beam of light swung over towards the bucket seats of the Cadillac. She went over the drivers' seat inch-by-inch. She smiled when she found a few hairs near the headrest.
She went over to the passenger side and repeated the whole process. After she was certain that she had recovered all evidence. She sat down on the passenger seat of the car and began going through the glove compartment.
She struck out, there was no insurance or registration there. She began to rifle through the middle compartment and struck out once again. She pulled down the visor, nothing there.
She then printed the steering wheel, the dashboard in front of the passenger seat, as well as the door handles on both the inside and outside of the car. She hoped that these guys would already be in the system.
She climbed out of the front seat and into the back. She put her hands in the crevices of the back seat and didn't find anything. She was about to get out when she noticed a tape recorder at her feet.
Before she picked it up she took a picture of it. She didn't know why but she got a slight chill. This seemed a bit all too familiar. She reached down and picked it up then pressed play and listened. A disguised voice started talking.
"By the time you hear this recording Mr. Stokes will be in our possession. A package will be arriving via courier to the Las Vegas Crime Lab; this package will contain an untraceable videoconference number. Please extend an invitation to his Honor Judge William Stokes. All of youwill need to be on this call by 8pm this evening or Nick will suffer the consequences. Remember 8pm sharp."
Catherine took in a deep breath, pulled out her phone and dialed.
"Grissom."
"Gil its Catherine. I found something."
O.K there's Chapter 9. I'm sorry I hurt Nick but it was necessary for the story to continue on its destined path. Oh please I sound ridiculous. Let's just say I felt like hurting him. That's better. Please share your thoughts and honest opinions.
P.S. I had no idea what that name is ofpiece of equipment with the infrared beam, or if there is such a thing. So I just made up a name.