When Warrick opened the door to the van he heard beeping.
"Bomb!" he screamed.
Everyone ran for cover, moments later the van exploded. Pieces of metal littered the area. The van was ablaze.
Warrick, Greg, Catherine and Brass all peeked over their vehicles to get a look at the inferno in front of them.
"These guys are really starting to tick me off." Warrick said.
"Come on guys let's get to it. We still have a crime scene to process here. Greg, why don't you start looking around before the fire department gets here and messes up our scene."
Greg looked at Catherine and nodded he grabbed his kit and camera and started processing farther down the alley.
Minutes and one gas tank explosion later the fire department arrived. They pulled the truck up as four fire fighters jumped out and hooked the hose up to the nearest fire hydrant. They had the fire out within minutes. As soon as they gave the all clear the remaining two CSIs, Warrick and Catherine stepped closer to the van.
"Warrick see if you can find any of the bomb fragments. I'm going to try and get a VIN number."
Warrick looked at the van, "So much for it being easy." He walked over to the van and started to process.
Catherine pulled out her phone and dialed Grissom.
Sara and Grissom were sitting in the A/V Lab as Archie queued up the recorded videoconference. He had just pressed play when Grissom's phone rang.
"Grissom."
"Hey Gil, its Catherine. The van was booby-trapped."
"What! Is everyone alright?"
Sara jumped when Grissom screamed that had gotten her attention. Now she focused on the one-sided conversation.
"Yes. We all made it to cover in time, but our van is charcoal now. We are still processing the alley to see if we can find anything. I have Warrick going through the van now to see if he can find any traces of the explosive device. How are things on your end?"
"We are just sitting with Archie now. Keep me informed of you progress."
Grissom hung up the phone and looked at Sara and Archie.
"The van was booby-trapped with an explosive device. It blew when they opened the door. No one was hurt. They are going to remain at the scene and see what they can recover."
Sara and Archie nodded.
"Shall we continue?" Grissom asked.
"The videoconference has been queued up. Let's see what we got here." Archie said.
Archie once again pressed play and the screen came to life. It was hard the first time to see Nick being treated that way, but to see it again was even more difficult. Again Grissom pushed his feeling inside and paid attention to the details. 'What kind of building were they in? Is there anything in the background that could help us? Are there any background noises?'
Archie made some adjustments to his equipment as the tape ran through.
Grissom and Sara watched with resolve. They knew that this was there only chance to locate Nick. They hoped that this guy would make a mistake. So far he was smart. They didn't have anything. Then he saw it.
"Archie, stop the tape."
Archie stopped the tape.
"There in the background. Do you see those boxes?" Grissom pointed in the direction.
Archie adjusted the screen and magnified the area that Grissom was looking at.
"Hannah's Honey." Sara read.
"I think our guy just made a mistake and we got him." He got up from his seat and ran out the door. Sara followed him hot on his trail.
"Sara, pull up what you can on Hannah's Honey, I'm going to call Brass."
"You got it." She turned the corner as Grissom ran into his office and dialed Brass's number.
Detective Jim Brass surveyed the crime scene as he leaned up against his car to take a break. Warrick, Catherine and Greg were busy collecting evidence from their charcoaled van. It was a close call the van had blown up just moments after Warrick opened the door. He mentally kicked himself again. Not only was he responsible for Nick's abduction he was also responsible for nearly getting three CSIs killed.
He had been going full throttle since Nick's abduction and with reason, it didn't give him time to stop and think. Like he was doing now. Brass took a deep breath and looked at his watch. They had less than two hours left before the next videoconference.
He started to walk towards Catherine when his cell phone rang. He put his hand in his side pocket and fished the cell phone out and answered it.
"Brass."
"Jim it's Gil. We found something on the tape. Grab Warrick, Catherine and Greg and come back."
"You got it, be there in a jiffy." Brass hung up the phone and with the energy he didn't know he had ran over to Catherine.
"Catherine I just received a call from Grissom. He said that they found something and that he wants us to return to the lab."
"Did he say what they found?"
"No only that it was something on the tape."
Catherine nodded she turned and located both Warrick and Greg.
"Warrick, Greg pack it up. We've got to get back to the lab now."
Warrick and Greg looked at each other confused.
"What's going on?" Warrick asked as he walked up taking off his gloves.
"Grissom just called Brass and said that they found something on the tape. He wants us to return to the lab right away.
"Well what are we standing around for? Let's go." Greg said.
They grabbed their kits and the evidence that they already collected and headed back to the lab.
When they arrived at the lab they walked into the conference room. Already seated were Grissom, Sara, Archie and the Judge and Mrs. Stokes. They all took their seats. Grissom stood up.
"Sara, Archie and I went over the earlier videoconference and came up with a lead. Archie if you will."
Archie stood up and walked over to the monitor and pressed play. The videoconference came up on the screen. Archie fast-forwarded it, then it came to a stop and he started talking.
"When we were going over the earlier broadcast we were able to locate something in the background."
He clicked on the screen then magnified the area behind Nick where there were a bunch of stacked boxes.
"Hannah's Honey?" Warrick asked.
"Yep, this building looks like it used to be some sort of factory. I did a search and found that there was a company called Hannah's Honey about ten years ago. The company went bankrupt. Good news though is that the factory is in Las Vegas." Sara smirked as she gave the news.
"We think that Nick is being held in this old factory." Grissom added.
"It's enough for me." Brass said. "I will call dispatch and get a swat team over there as well as regular black and whites."
They all started to get up.
"Wait." Grissom said. "We all can't go. Now this guy is going to be calling in less than two hours. Some of us will to have to remain here so that he's not suspicious. We are going to have to really have to try and time this so that we arrive when the meeting is about to take place. Catherine, Sara and Greg you three stay here with the Judge and Mrs. Stokes. Warrick, Brass and I will head over to the factory. OK, let's get going."
Everyone filed out of the conference room. Grissom watched as everyone of his team left the room, and then whispered to himself. "Hang on Nick. We're coming."
Nick was making progress on the robes he could feel them loosening. The blood coming from his wrists was small price to pay if it meant surviving and Nick was a survivor.
He could hear Brent's men moving about the videoconference equipment that meant only one thing his time was almost up. He worked faster.
He stopped when he heard Brent's voice talking to one of his men.
"Are we just about ready?"
"Yes sir."
"OK. I'll be back in ten minutes."
Nick sighed in relief. Ten more minutes that's all he had. That's all he needed.
The police cars pulled into the abandoned factory district. They had gone in silently so they wouldn't alert anyone to their presence. They knew that the factory they were looking for was on the West end. They divided up and went searching.
Catherine, Sara, Greg, the Judge and Mrs. Stokes entered the conference room. It finally came to this. Judge Stokes fell heavily into his chair. He wondered if he made the right decision. Did he make the decision as a judge or as father? He had thought he did both. He only hoped that his son would forgive him. He looked at his watch, five more minutes to go. He held in a deep breath closed his eyes and prayed that Brass and Grissom arrived on time.