Note: Be sure to check out chapter four! I made a small addition to the end of part one of that chapter after receiving a suggestion and realizing I hadn't quite captured the true Nick...so hopefully it's a little better.
This chapter...just a basic continuation. Still working out a few bumps in the plot...but it's looking promising. Hope you enjoy!

Saturday 4:00 p.m.
"All hands are on deck for this one," Grissom said coming into the break room. The whole team was in. "We're going to divide and conquer."

"What's up?" Catherine asked as she and the others followed their supervisor into the conference room.

"Our robbery/homicide has turned into a serial," he started handing each CSI a folder of information. "They've hit three other stores and killed five more."

"What…the one from Friday night?" Nick asked looking up from the pages in front of him.

"Make that six killed," Brass said glumly as he entered the room. "I just got back from the hospital, the third cashier just died."

"These guys aren't going to stop until they're caught," Grissom said taking a seat at the table with his team. "Warrick I need you and Greg to tackle the surveillance videos from each store."

"You got it," the older CSI nodded giving Greg a pat on the back.

"Sara I need you to process the vehicle coming into the garage."

"The robbers' car?" she asked

"One of them," he nodded.

"We had a lead on a '95 Monte Carlo," Brass said. "A witness from the second scene swore it was what she saw the robbers get away in. She gave us a partial plate number and we put out an APB. We found it deserted out on the I-15. We think they dumped it and picked up another one."

"I'm on it," Sara said with a nod reading through her own stack of papers.

"Catherine I need you to back me up at the third store," he said starting to gather his papers. "I need to go back over there, I feel like there's something I missed."

"What about me?" Nick asked.

"Follow me to my office," Grissom said standing from his seat. The team slowly began to disperse, each to their assigned job.

"How'd you sleep last night?" he asked.

"Fine," Nick shrugged taking a seat in front of the man's desk. "I took a sleeping pill, slept through the night."

"You still take them regularly?"

"No, that's the first one I've taken in over a month. What's up, Griss? You don't think I can handle this case?"

"What can you tell me about the robbers?" he asked ignoring Nick's question.

"I told you all I could last night."

"I know; I'm not talking description. You said the robber knew you. You said you knew his voice. Do you think he's from a past case?"

"Maybe, it's hard to say."

"Go through the files of your past cases. Go back as far as you need to. Do whatever it takes to figure it out. We need to catch these guys before they hit another store."

Nick nodded and rose from his seat.

"We've been through this before, Griss. You know I'd be honest if I wasn't dealing, right?" he said stopping at the door.

"Keep me posted," Grissom nodded from his desk chair. "Hey, Nick," he called stopping the CSI short of shutting the door. "I trust your judgment."

Nick left the man's office and headed to evidence lock-up. He had several years' worth of case files to sort through. Another long shift was breathing down his neck.

Saturday 6:30 p.m.
It had been twenty-four hours since the first robbery. The CSI team, all except Sara, arrived at the fourth crime scene, Brass was already on location. Another market had been robbed, apparently by the same two robbers. One cashier was shot, a fatal blow to her head.

"Damn," Nick said shaking his head as he walked into the store alongside Catherine and Warrick.

"Look familiar?" Warrick asked setting down his field kit to pull on a pair of latex gloves.

"Too familiar," his friend nodded pulling on his own gloves. The two of them made their way to the back of the store to begin processing the scene. The others took the other corners of the store. They'd process their part of the scene working their way to the front of the store.

"I've got blood drops," Warrick called from in front of a set of double swinging doors. "It looks like they're leading into this stock room," he said as Nick joined him and started snapping photos of the blood trail.

"The robbers gathered everyone in the back store room," Nick nodded recalling his own experience.

"Before or after they robbed the joint?"

"After," he said as Warrick pulled out a cotton swab to collect samples of the blood.

"It looks like there's a trail leading into the stock room and then back out," Warrick said pointing to specific droplets. "See the directionality?"

"Yeah," Nick nodded snapping more photos, making sure to zoom in on specific drops.

Four and a half hours later, the graveyard shift was just beginning to wrap up their work. The robbers were starting to hit larger grocery stores; it was taking longer to process each scene.

"Nick, follow up with ballistics on the bullets we retrieved from the first and second crime scene. Have them match those bullets to these," Grissom said handing him envelopes containing not only bullets, but shell casings as well.

"You got it," he nodded. "Warrick and I gathered some blood samples from the back of the store, in the back stock room. Our suspects like to corral everyone into the stock room before they make their getaway."

"Good," Grissom nodded. "Have Warrick follow up with DNA. Have them compare the DNA to some hairs Sara found from the vehicle."

"I'm on it," Warrick nodded joining them at the store entrance.

"I've got more surveillance for you and Greg to watch," Catherine smiled holding up a brown paper bag. It contained at least ten video tapes.

Greg was just finishing up his collection and joining the rest of the team.

"How'd you do?" Warrick asked.

"Well, I got a lot of footprints," he sighed taking a look over at the waiting witnesses. There had to be at least forty people waiting around. Some were waiting to give their statements to Brass; others were simply waiting to be told they could go home. "Should I print them all here, or take their shoes back to the lab?" he asked Grissom taking a look at the weary crowd.

"Quick and painless, Greg," Grissom nodded. "We've already fingerprinted them and gotten DNA samples."

"Grab their shoes and run," Nick said giving his friend a pat on the shoulder. "We'll see you back at the lab," he nodded to Grissom and Catherine. He and Warrick made their way out of the store and climbed into their Denali. It was a warm night for November. Making sure all the evidence was secure in their kits, they rolled the windows partway down and headed back to the lab. Their regularly scheduled shift was just beginning and they could already feel a double bearing down on them.