Rating: NC-17 for language and content.
Saints and Angels
Chapter 5
She wasn't alone anymore. She knew that it was only a matter of time before Tate and Mike came back for her. Her worst fears come true, for the first time in her short life. She was used to working with the victim, not being one. She couldn't remember the door opening, or the dim light that was now cast on the room.
Her shoulder no longer hurt. Everything was more a dull ache now. Tate had his hands on her, caressing her face forcefully.
"Do you know how long it's been since I've had something this close to perfection in my hands?" he asked.
"I'm not perfect-"
"You're the closest thing to perfect that I'm ever gonna get, Lady."
Sara didn't say anything in return. He just wanted to get it over with. 'Why can't he just kill me?' she thought to herself.
"Please-"
He was kissing her hard on the mouth , his tongue finding entry at her protest. She was pinned to the hard, cold floor now. She had no intention of making it easy for him. She brought her knee up, but couldn't make contact like she wanted to.
"Oh yeah, baby. Fight back, I like it. Not as much as Mike, though."
'Shit,' she thought, 'I forgot about the other guy. Fuck.'
She stopped fighting at the thought. They might let her live if she could just make it through this. 'They might let me live,' she thought, 'but what kind of life would it be? Is it worth it- not putting up a fight? Now's not the time to be a coward, Sidle! Choose….'
Tate was unbuttoning her slacks, she realized when she snapped out of her thinking. She tried to clear her mind, relax her body. She was suddenly very cold.
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The break room at the lab was quiet for the first time all night. Grissom, Warrick, and Nick sat quietly, going over what little evidence they did have.
The meeting with the Sheriff and Ecklie went as planned. They weren't going to pay the ransom. Even if all three through in, they would still be short on the cash. Very short.
"How did you find the money for-" Nick began to ask.
"Catherine talked to her father."
"Not that it made that big of a difference anyway."
"It made a big difference until the guy blew it up."
"Why don't you ask me again?" Catherine asked from the doorway.
All three men's heads shot up. They pushed away form the table, all coming very close to her.
She took a step back.
"Evidence," she said simply.
She was covered in blood and dirt. It was obvious that she had been crying- through dirt on her face, there were tear stains.
"Catherine-" Warrick began, taking a step towards her.
"I need to be processed."
"The case went to days. Ecklie is heading up the investigation. Sophia volunteered to work over time to help us out. I'll call her, okay?" Grissom asked softly.
Catherine shook her head. She took a good look at all three men in front of her. A promise was a promise.
"Sara wanted me to tell you," she stopped to gain some composer. "She wanted you to know that she loved you guys, and that she was glad that she got to work with-"
"STOP. Catherine, do you know for a fact that Sara is dead?" Grissom asked harshly.
"No. They made us choose who-"
"Choose what?" Nick asked soberly.
"Who got to go, and-"
"And what?"
"LET ME FINISH!"
"There were two guys- Tate and Mike. They took us from the scene over at Baltimore Heights. Sara was hurt, Mike had shot her in the shoulder, but she tried to put up a fight. She tried to get them to leave me there-" she sobbed out, finally sitting down at the table.
"They drugged us, and then took us to…I don't know where. It was an old abandoned building. We were trying to find a way out, when-" she stopped to wipe at some of the tears that were now flowing freely.
"When they came back for us. Sara's shoulder was getting worst, but she was trying to be tough. Tate told us that the lab wasn't going to pay the ransom, which we knew already," she said, looking up at Nick now.
"They told us that one of us could leave. That we needed to choose it was going to be. Sara didn't even hesitate when she said that she was staying."
"And you let her? Without so much as an argument, Catherine?" Grissom asked angrily.
"Grissom-" Warrick began.
"No, Warrick. I understand." Catherine looked directly at Grissom. "I did argue, but she told me to think of Lindsey, and to promise that I would come back and tell you guys all of this, and try to come back for her. She wanted me to tell you-"
"How can we go back for her, Catherine? Telling us that it was some abandoned building-"
"I need to finish telling you the rest, okay? She asked gently.
"Yes," Sophia said from the doorway, "anything you tell me can help."
Catherine shook her head, knowingly.
"They planned on…having their way with her. They made it perfectly clear before they told us to choose. She knew when she told me to go."
All three men looked away from her. Sophia was the only one that was still completely engaged.
"They came back for me. When we got outside of the room, they blindfolded me…it was a dirty rag, I could smell the oil on it, even. When we got into the vehicle- it had to be a car, because I felt for it's height before I got in. Anyway, when we got in, I began to count. One mississippi, two mississippi, that kind of thing."
"How many seconds did you count?" Sophia asked.
"From the time that I got in, until the time that I got out, I counted give or take 1500 seconds."
"So about 25 minutes. It was a smart thing to do," Sophia mentioned.
"I hope so."
"Let's get you processed. I've got a jumpsuit-"
"No, that's okay, I have a change of clothes in my locker."
"I know the combination, I'll get them. I'll meet you in the locker room, okay?" Warrick asked.
"Okay. Thanks."
After Sophia and Catherine had left for processing, all three men went there own separate ways. There was no sense in talking about it to each other. They all knew what needed to get done. Nick went to trace, to examine the blindfold. Warrick went to the locker room to get Catherine's change of clothes. Grissom went to Archie to check the surveillance outside of the lab, and then to meet with Ecklie.