"Eight hours, that's all the time we have. What leads do we still have to go on?" Grissom said, pacing the end of the meeting room. His team sat around him, their folders open, still in shock at what he had told them.
"Where are we going to get five million?" Sara whispered, her eyes wide.
"Well we've got the four blocks between our car dump area and the last traffic camera to spot Clara's vehicle," Warrick said, glancing down at the map he had.
"What about the room that she's being held in? Can you tell anything from that?" questioned Catherine.
"No. Alright, Cath, Warrick, take Greg and start the four block radius, Sara stay with Archie, see if anything pans out from the feed. I need to talk to Ecklie," Grissom ordered as the team set out on their new assignments.
"You wanted to see me?" Ecklie appeared in the doorway.
The team lingered, walking slowly away from the room, hoping to hear something.
Grissom went to speak, but Ecklie cut him off,
"We don't negotiate with kidnappers Grissom and you know that. You were lucky last time that the money materialized," he said, glancing at Catherine, "but I don't think lightning is going to strike twice in the same place. I'm sorry Gil, but there's nothing the department or I can do for you right now."
Grissom glared at him, "So you're saying that we just let her die?"
"No, you still have the evidence to follow, there's no saying that you can't catch this guy based on it. I'm just saying that they'll be no money."
"I don't know how you sleep at night Conrad," Grissom growled.
Ecklie glared back at him, then said quietly, "It's not my decision Gil. If it was up to me, I'd find the money. But there's nothing anyone can do right now. I tried last time, but there are no other options. The decision came down from higher powers."
"Then tell them to tell that to Nick and Cassie," Grissom spit out as he stalked off down the hall.
He caught up with Catherine who gave him a quizzical glance.
"Let me guess, the department isn't going to help us with the money."
He shook his head.
"I could try to hit up Sam again, but I really don't think he'll donate, not after it all blew up last time," she sighed.
"I don't want you to go to him again. We'll figure out someway to do this, there's still the primary crime scene to find. We could get this guy based on evidence yet. Go there, I'm going to check on Nick."
Flashlight beams illuminated the nearly deserted road as the three CSI's walked along.
"We've been over nearly the whole four blocks, there's nothing here," Greg whined.
"Keep looking. There's got to be something here. The car was found no more than five minutes from this road. There's got to be something here…" Warrick called out to him.
"Why would Clara be driving this way?" Catherine questioned.
"Back roads can be faster than the main roads if she was in a hurry, say to pick Cassie up from swim practice," Warrick answered.
"But if she was attacked, the window broken, that would mean she would have had to stop. I don't think she'd stop along here. Her tires were fine, so she wouldn't have stopped for that, there were no signs of car problems," Greg said.
"Maybe she stopped for something else. Our guy pretending to have car problems, something at the side of the road, who knows," Warrick pondered.
"Hey! I found a dollar," Greg exclaimed, "Oh, wait. It's Canadian."
Warrick turned on the younger CSI, "Clara lived in Toronto for a couple of years. Maybe she still had some coin left on her."
Catherine came over to them to have a look at the loonie, then shone her flashlight on the ground, "Wait! I've got something," she bent down and took out her tweezers, picking up a couple of small white threads, "I see your dollar and raise you some white fibres," she held them up.
"White threads are nearly impossible to trace," Warrick said.
"We'll see what Hodges can get from them before you discount them."
"So how did this dollar get here?" Greg wondered out loud.
"The way I see it, I think Clara pulled over for something, then maybe was persuaded or forced out of her car. She could have dropped the coin from her pocket, or maybe even from the seat of her car," Warrick explained.
Catherine nodded, "Why did she stop? Wait…her car door was unlocked. I know the window was smashed, but what if that was done later? What if you're right, and Clara did willingly exit her vehicle?"
"The broken window could be to throw us off, make it look like she was attacked. Now why would she willingly get out of her car on a street like this?" Warrick agreed.
"Maybe she knew her attacker," Greg added.
"True, but maybe not. What if her attacker was just someone you would normally stop for-" Catherine began.
"A cop! Grissom's theory about Officer Michaels," Warrick said.
"Whoa! We can't just go accusing this guy of pulling over then kidnapping Clara. What evidence do we have? Remember, it is a theory, but Grissom also has the holy trinity that needs to be completed first," Greg added.
"Then let's prove it. Find out if there are any records of a pull over here. If not, then we discount it. I'm not saying that it's true, just possible. We won't discredit the broken window yet Greg," Warrick replied.
"Have we checked her cell phone records yet?" Catherine questioned.
"Yeah, Sara did. There were no last minute phone calls," Greg said.
"Alright, you two stay here. I'm going to get these fibres back to Hodges, see what he can get for us," said Catherine heading towards her truck.
Nick wandered through the halls of CSI attempting to find Grissom, but his mind was miles away. All he could think about was Clara, about how much he wanted to harm the person who had taken her, the person who was doing to her what had happened to him. He was numb, his body on autopilot, guiding him towards the supervisor's office. He thought about Cassie, how he had to explain to her in gentle terms, that her aunt had been taken away. He remembered the little girl's eyes fill with pain as she associated it with her own night of terror. How tears of fear crept into her eyes at the thought of losing another person she loved.
He had heard about the ransom, the five million that this person wanted, and he was trying to scrape together all he had. He had called his parents, and they were sending more, but it would never be enough. He felt sick to his stomach at the thought.
Before he could get to Grissom's office, he passed the AV lab, and on a whim, looked inside. He stopped in the doorway, transfixed by what was on the screens. It was Clara. She was tied to a chair, her eyes now wide with terror, tears streaming down her cheeks. She was gagged, but she was straining to make noise. Worst of all, there was a bomb strapped around her, with the time ticking away on it. She was alone in the room, in the dark.
He wasn't aware of Archie calling his name, or how he ended up inside. All he could see was her. Nick fell to his knees, and he began to shake violently. He didn't hear the lab tech call for help, or anyone else rush to his side. Nick felt the walls begin to close in around him, felt the ants crawling over his skin. He tried to call out, but his throat closed and he could taste dirt. Then everything went black.
To be continued...
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