Water came down from the sky in a light drizzle. Sara felt her heart drop. Time seemed to stand still. Nobody moved: Warrick had his hands still raised by his car; David held his gun to Sara; Sara, still in a headlock and tried to catch her breath; and Roger stood firm, both of his hands trying to steady the weapon.

"Drop it, fool," sneered David, giving a small but nervous laugh. "Who do you think you're kidding?"

"I'm not kidding," said Roger. "Let the girl go."

"You're not scaring me, Roger," David scoffed. "You didn't have the balls to kill that Greg kid, you didn't have the balls to kill Sara, and you don't have the balls to kill me."

Roger stepped closer and whispered, "You willing to take that risk?"

The look in his eyes discouraged David's jeers. He had never seen that look in him before - it was maddening determination: the look of a killer. David silently opened his hand and let the gun drop to the pavement. He released Sara from the death hold. As soon as she was free, Sara doubled back and immediately attempted to punch her captor, but Roger shot her warning look.

"Sara, you stay out of this!" he said threateningly. "This is between me and him!"

She went over to where Warrick stood, watching in horror. What exactly was he planning to do with her gun? She never thought he'd attempt to use it; she was under the impression that he was only trying to free her. But it seemed his anger got the best of him. Warrick phoned the police captain, Jim Brass. "Get out here now!" He shouted. "Like, right now! We have a showdown here!"

David put his hands out in mockery of his brother. "It seems we are at an impasse," he smiled. "I don't have a gun, and you won't use yours. Just put it down, we'll go, and I'm sure over time I will forget this idiocracy -"

"Shutup!" Roger cried. "You've always treated me like shit! I don't want to hear what you have to say! I just want you out of my life!"

"Well, if you kill me, you're going to jail," said David, who was starting to look less and less confident. "You'll be treated like shit there too! Because that's what you deserve! Look at you! You kidnaped 2 CSIs, but let them both get away! You're no good for anything! You suck at being the good guy and you suck at being the bad guy! Now put down the gun, you irritating moron. You're best off the way you are now."

"You're wrong! Stop it!" Roger fired a warning shot that whizzed past David's ear. He looked star-struck and was now positively unnerved. Roger cried out, "It's all your fault!"

David took a step back. "W-wait," he pleaded, "I'm your brother. Remember?"

"You're no brother of mine!" He held the gun steady. "No more slander. No more lies. No more David Mason!"

"Roger, no!" Sara cried, running forward to push the gun out of his hands and stop him from committing another heinous act. But Warrick held her back just in time. Roger pulled the trigger. David fell back onto the hard ground, and did not move.

A sudden call rang out. "Police! Drop your weapon and put your hands on your head!"

Sara and Warrick turned around and saw 5 or 6 patrol cars with at least 20 people standing behind them, firearms all aimed in the same direction, towards the man with the gun.

Roger gasped, his eyes darting from the smoking barrel to his fallen brother. He whimpered, and lowered the weapon. A tall cop followed closely by Nick jumped into the scene at once. The cop grabbed Roger's arms and cuffed him as he continued to stare open-mouthed and wide-eyed at the body on the ground. Nick walked over to check David's wound.

"Sara, you alright?" asked Warrick, putting his jacket across her shoulders.

"Yeah, yeah," she said, trailing off and not paying attention to him. She was busy watching the cop struggle to get Roger into the squad car as he tried to get over to help his kinsman. Warrick went over to one of the officers to get her a cup of coffee when she ran off to the struggling man. "Wait, what are you doing?" she asked the cop who was using all his strength to stop Roger from lunging forward.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he answered, pushing down on Roger's head until he could fit him into the car. He slammed the door shut with his foot and wiped his forehead. "You'd best stand back, Miss Sidle. You've been through a lot today, and this man could be dangerous."

Sara raised her eyebrows. "Dangerous? Him?" The cop watched her tiredly. "He's not dangerous, Tom, he's just..." When she couldn't think of the right word to describe him, she started over. "He may have been responsible for this whole mess, but he helped me and Greg escape. And he saved my life."

Tom seemed uninterested in the dilemma. "Listen, Miss Sidle, and I told your friend Greg the same thing before I left. I'm just following standard arrest procedure. I can't just let this man roam free on your word alone. If ya got an argument, don't take it up with me, take it up with the county. I especially can't let him go because you, me, and a score of county law enforcers just witnessed him murder our number one suspect -"

"Hey, this guy's still breathing!" Nick called. "And - bleeding - argh-!" He stood up to get away from the blossoming bullet hole, but not quick enough, David's blood stained his CSI vest and dripped from his hands, forming small, red puddles on the already wet ground. "Oh, God," he mumbled, taking a look at his crimson hands and coming close to being sick. "Can I get some help here!"

Brass ran over to help with the young and twitchy coroner, David Berman. The coroner David lifted the criminal David onto a gurney and strapped him down. He took out his emergency kit and tried to remove the bullet as they wheeled him down to his van and got into the back.

"Hospital's just down the I15, on the left," Sara said, remembering the first thing David Mason told her when she first got into the Nissan Altima. It seemed now like it was hours and hours ago.

"Thanks," said David Berman. "See ya around, Sara." He signaled to the driver to take off. Sara though how ironic it would be if David the criminal was lying about where the emergency room was - that lie could cost him his life.

"Right then," said Tom, leaning against his car. "Attempted murder."

Sara opened her mouth to say something, but Warrick took her by the shoulders. "Come on," he said. "We have to get back. I'm sure a little spiky-headed someone would like to see you." As she was dragged away towards Warrick's car, she gazed through the patrol car window at Roger. She saw his glossy tear-stained eyes as Warrick said, "It's okay, Sara. The nightmare's over." Yes, it was over thanks to that would-be murderer sitting with the handcuffs on his wrists. Sure, it was his doing that the CSIs of the Las Vegas Crime Lab endured hours upon hours of terror, but he righted his wrongs. The contemplation of Roger's guilt was enough to drive any CSI up the wall. She tried to stop thinking about it, but that was impossible. By the time she made a decision, they were already heading back to Las Vegas. She turned to the driver.

"Warrick," she said, "I'm going to testify at Roger Mason's trial."

"That's great!" He said. "I'm glad to see you're ready to face him and see he gets what he deserves."

She shook her head sadly. "No. I'm going to testify on his behalf."