Kenzimone I love Greg angst too! I hope I added enough in this chapter to make it tasty.
Sillie Well… I'm not completely certain who actually locked the door.
Matteic Don't do what? Torture Greggo? Leave my readers with a cliffie? Show Hodges as an evil mastermind? Evil laugh
Espina Oscura Well mean old Hodges did do something mean…
Lins Yep, Hodges is a jerk huh?
Emmithar You know even your reviews are like an epic read! Can I steal that line 'Feeling so weak, and wanting to be strong' and use it in one of my fics?
ladyjr16 Yikes! You know if I didn't think Hodges was such a jerk I might warn him about your temper
Annibal Really? Sometimes I think it's too predictable but then again the muse hits me with stuff that makes me go :WAITAMINUTE! It's weird but I meant for McKenna to be just a minor character but he's turning out to be really interesting. I thought this fic would only be a couple of chapters long but the muse keeps whispering and I'm still excited about it!
Nkfm Glomps nkfm Thanks, I'll take VERY good care of him! snuggles Greggo tightly
Xombe HeHeHe, I love suspense and angst!
ScribbleDream I'm glad you're still enjoying it. I'm a N/G shipper with a little Sara tossed in sometimes just to shake things up.
aLeX24 Pook Hodges, he's on a list… should somebody warn him? Nah!
xCrimsonxBlackxBloodx Aha! Another impatient person! I have very little patience and a short span of attention so really a fic this long is like a once in a lifetime thing for me. Is your muse hanging out with my Andromeda muse? My 'drom muse deserted me before giving me the final chapter and I have people threatening me and my Harper clones!
And to my wonderful, marvelous, ever patient, kind, intelligent, talented beta FWE: I'm sorry I told you this would be a short fic only a couple of chapters long. Thanks for sticking with me and keeping me on the right track with this. You're amazing!
Chapter 10- Old Wounds ---
Greg allowed himself to be pulled to his feet; numbly he followed the man outside to the parking lot. Only when he was pushed toward the red pick up did he begin to resist. He tried to return to the lab but was
pulled back by a savage yank on the collar of his lab coat. He pulled free of the garment and made it half way back to the building when something heavy struck him on the back of the head and the last thing he saw was the pavement rapidly coming up to meet him.
"Dr. Grissom!" Jodi called as she jogged down the hallway trying to catch up with the CSI supervisor. "Dr. Grissom, wait!"
"Agent Duncan." Grissom slowed, smiling. "Back so soon?"
"I have some new evidence and I thought you might want to sit in while I interview McKenna again."
"It'll have to wait; McKenna has been at Desert Palms," he checked his watch, "for the last three hours."
"Three hours?" Jodi whistled softly, "Why?"
"He had a petit mal seizure so they sent him down for an MRI."
"Three hours for a brain scan? McKenna probably doesn't have enough brain cells left to need a half hour MRI." Grissom stopped walking and Jodi almost ran into him.
"Excuse me?"
Duncan handed Grissom a thick file, "I talked to his foster mother, she said her ex-husband used to discipline Brad by putting a taser to the back of his head and shocking him unconscious."
Grissom looked sickened by the news, he opened the folder and paged through it, "This went on for six years?"
"At least. Mrs. Rhodes said Brad ran away about two years ago and her husband left her shortly after that." Jodi followed Grissom into his office and sat down in the chair she'd occupied yesterday. Grissom sat down, continuing to page through the folder.
"Does she know where Mr. Rhodes is now?"
"According to her, he's a paramedic with Reno EMS." Jodi leaned forward, pointing to one of the pages, "I think that taser you recovered from Sander's car may have belonged to Rhodes. It fits the description Mrs. Rhodes gave me of the one her ex-husbanded owned."
"So if Mr. Rhodes is alive and well living in Reno how did Brad wind up with the gun?"
"Good question." Jodi smiled grimly, "One I'd like to ask McKenna."
"I think we should." Gil picked up his phone and dialed Brass' office. No one answered so he flipped through his rolodex and found the police captain's cell number.
"Take it easy," said Jodi, wincing at the force Grissom was using to punch in the numbers, "You're going to break something."
"Jim? It's Gil. Agent Duncan is back with some new evidence and we'd like to question McKenna some more." He listened a moment, anger twisting his mouth into a hard line. "And who's responsible for that? Keep me posted." He slammed the phone down, cursing softly. At Jodi's curious look he said, "McKenna's gone. He walked out of the exam room. They're searching the hospital now."
She threw her hands up, "Well that's just great!" She got up and began to pace, "Why wasn't he secured or at least have a uniform watching him?"
"The officer transporting him deemed him not a threat. He didn't think McKenna would wander off since he seemed to be so fascinated with the MRI machine."
"Idiots." She continued to pace, arms crossed over her chest, "You can never predict what they'll do next." She grumbled.
"Are you talking about McKenna or the officer?" Grissom asked. Jodi stopped and looked at Grissom; she couldn't help but smile at his grin.
"Both I suppose."
"Brass has a car checking McKenna's house in case he goes back there."
"If he has left the hospital that's where he'll go." She picked up the folder from Grissom's desk, "If we can't talk to McKenna, let's ask Greg what he remembers." They didn't find the young tech in his lab nor was he in any of his usual haunts. Grissom found Catherine, Nick and Sara in the break room, "Has anyone seen Greg?" he asked.
"This is like déjà vu." said Catherine. "Haven't we had this conversation before?"
"He was moving some stuff into the storage room the last time I saw him." said Sara.
"He can't have gone too far," Nick laughed. "I found his keys in the doorknob." Grissom raised his eyebrow and Nick laughed again, "Who else has a goth Hello Kitty key ring?"
"He must be here somewhere then." Grissom shook his head, "I'll check the closet."
"You can't accidentally lock yourself in there." Said Nick. "It only locks with a key from the outside." Jodi laid a hand on Gil's arm, there was a peculiar expression in her eyes.
"Wouldn't hurt to check it anyway."
Out in the hallway Grissom turned and softly asked, "Do you think he's hiding?"
"It's possible," Jodi replied just as quietly. "Fear can make a person do things that seem unlikely at other times." Greg's keys were still hanging in the knob, the door was not locked. Grissom opened it slowly.
"He's not in here." He started to close the door when something caught his eye. "Could you wait right here? Don't let anyone touch anything in here." Grissom asked Jodi. "I'll be right back."
Jodi looked curious but nodded, "Sure." Grissom hurried back down the hall and quickly returned carrying a small flashlight and several swabs.
"What is it?" Jodi asked as Grissom returned. "What did you find?"
Grissom shined the flashlight on the edge of one of the lower shelves.
"See that?"
"Is that blood?"
"We're about to find out." He moistened the swab and wiped it across the dark stain. Putting a few drops of phenolphthalein on the swab, he watched as it turned blue. "Positive for human blood." He said.
"How would it get in here?" she asked. "You don't store evidence in here do you?"
"No."
"Do you think it's Greg's?"
"It's pretty fresh. I'd say the odds are high that it is." Grissom shone the light on the floor but found no more blood. He carefully searched the rest of the closet but found nothing more. Looking up, he saw Hodges peering out the door of his lab. Grissom gritted his teeth and headed for the lab. When Hodges saw him coming he ducked back inside.
"I didn't do anything to him." Hodges said.
"You are being awfully quick with the denials David." Grissom crossed his arms and stared angrily at the tech. "Is there anything you'd like to share with me about Greg?"
"I didn't touch the little punk." Hodges averted his eyes and busied his hands with the samples on the desk.
"Did you lock him in the storage closet?"
Hodges shrugged, "I may have accidentally kicked the door closed."
"That's all you did?"
"I did not lock the little crybaby in there." Hodges turned and looked Grissom in the eye. "All I did was close the door on him and walk away."
"So where is he now?"
"He left." Hodges voice sounded suspiciously guilty.
"Alone?" Jodi asked, aghast at the other man's indifference.
"One of the uniforms was with him." Hodges said defensively.
"When, Hodges?" Gil asked.
"An hour ago maybe."
"You self-centered son of a …" Grissom had to grab Duncan's arm and pull her away as she was about the strike the lab tech.
"We're not helping Greg like this." Grissom said. "We need to find him."
Nick came rushing up to them, clutching a blue lab coat, "I found this in the parking lot," he said breathlessly. "There's blood." He turned the smock to reveal the ID still clipped to the lapel, "It's Greg's." Nick's voice was anxious.
Grissom pulled out his cell phone, pressed the speed dial and got Brass on the line. "Have you found McKenna yet?" He listened for a moment, then turned to the FBI agent, "He never returned to his house, where
else would he go?"
Jodi thought for a moment, eyes widening when she realized what Grissom was thinking. "Dump site. If he's getting rid of Greg, He'll dump him in the desert."
"Meet us off I15 near where the last body was found." Grissom told Brass. He grabbed agent Duncan's arm and headed outside.
"I'm coming with you." Nick said. Grissom didn't waste time arguing, he got in the Tahoe and started the engine. The doors were barely closed as he peeled out of the parking lot heading west.
"You made the mess." Bruce's voice was low and angry. "This time you have to clean it up."
"I did." Brad whimpered, "I did clean it up."
"Not everything." Bruce dragged Greg out of the truck, "There's still the matter of this."
"What do you want me to do?" Brad's voice trembled.
"I get rid of your trash but you have to kill him first."
"No! I don't kill!" Brad protested.
"Really?" Bruce asked sarcastically. "Then how did all those bodies end up in your bathtub?"
"They just die, it's not my fault!"
"Kill him." Rhodes shoved Greg foreword and the tech stumbled and collapsed to the ground at McKenna's feet.
"I can't!" Brad insisted.
"Do it!"
"NO!"
"You want to end up in the desert?" Bruce threatened. "I won't hesitate to leave you out here just like I did the others." He handed Brad a long bladed knife. "Kill him or you'll die out here with him."
Brad took the knife, staring at Bruce with fearful eyes. His hands shook and his lower lip trembled.
Greg refused to die on his knees, he got his feet, swaying and glared at Brad. He lifted his chin, daring the young man to draw the knife across his neck.
Tears spilled down his cheeks as Brad held the knife more as if he were desperately trying to ward Greg off rather than in an attempt to murder him. "I'm sorry!" He cried. "I'm sorry."
Greg looked Brad straight in the eyes, hating him for every moment of torment. Every second of pain and fear he wished he could give it all back to him.
"Finish what you started." Greg said. "Coward."
Time may heal all wounds but he didn't think he could wait; death would end the fear and the shame. He shivered, anticipating the kiss of the sharp steel. Brad stepped back and Greg stepped toward him.
"Kill him!" Bruce demanded.
"I'm already dead." Greg said quietly, "You just have to finish it."
Brad paled, "I want to go home. I just want to go home."
"Kill me" Greg kept advancing even as Brad retreated. "And then" Greg replied tonelessly. "You can go home."
Brad held the knife out and Greg stepped foreword, feeling the sharp steel slide between his ribs. He caught Brad's hand with both of his, forcing the blade in deeper. It didn't hurt as much as he thought it
would, just a pressure that released as he fell. The sand under him was warm and he watched with a sense of detached scientific curiosity as the grains settled in the rapidly growing pool of blood that poured from the wound in his chest. Greg tried to laugh but it hurt, his heart felt like it was trying to leap from his chest. He could taste metal.
His hands clutched into the sand as though he were trying to anchor himself to the ground. He coughed as the wind stirred his hair into his eyes. He began to cry, tears mixing in the sand with his blood. He heard screeching tires, doors slamming. Gunfire and familiar voices. A harsh laugh escaped his lips; at least he'd left the CSI team with an interesting scene to process. And Brass, the police captain would be
furious; how could he charge McKenna with murder when Greg had been the one to drive the weapon into his own heart?
Hands turned him onto his back and he wanted to scream when he realized it was Grissom.
"Let … go." Greg managed to say.
"Shh." Said Grissom pressing his hand over the wound. Greg arched against the pain.
"You're safe now. Everything's going to be alright."
"No." Greg sobbed. "Let me go."
"McKenna can't hurt you anymore, you're safe." Grissom insisted.
"Just… let… me go." He tried to pull Grissom's hand away but other hands caught his.
"Hey," Nick said in his soft Texas accent, "We're never gonna leggo our Greggo."
TBC