An Unfair Act of Vengeance
Notes: Hope you all like this chapter... It's getting closer to the end, but there is still plenty to go... thanks for all the reviews, they've been really great, so keep them coming! Plus, they help motivate me to update this much...
Summary: Nick wakes up in the trunk of a car, and tries to fight off the effects of the poison. Warrick sits with Grissom as he explains what happens. Catherine, Sara, and Greg process Grissom's house for evidence. Doc Robbins gets back, and tries to comfort Nick's family.
Nick moaned as he finally regained feeling throughout his body. His eyes slowly opened as he fought off a sudden wave of nausea. He tried to bring his hand up to his face, but found that they were cuffed together… It was too dark for him too see anything, but he could tell that he was in a pretty small space. He tried desperately to clear his mind, and he heard what sounded like a motor coming from somewhere behind him. Once more he could taste bile as he tried to keep from throwing up. I need to focus… I just need to know where I am… He managed to relax, but the feeling only lasted a moment when his eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness…
No… no, no… no… His eyes went wide as he realized he was lying in the trunk of a car… He tried to take deep breaths like so many people had told him to in order to calm down, but he found that it was getting harder to breathe…
Carl Alberts smiled as he drove beyond the city limits of Las Vegas. Nick had been easy to get into the truck once he had knocked him out with ether. Not to mention the pyridine that he had injected into the man's body. As soon as he got Nick to their destination he'd enjoy the tape of the CSI suffering the side effects of the poison… nausea, asthmatic breathing, and who knew what else the man would suffer through while entombed in his trunk…
Warrick sat nervously in the hall. He found it impossible to control his fidgeting hands… The doctor hadn't told him anything about Grissom, and he was more than worried about Nick. He had expected Tina to be mad, to yell at him, and he almost wanted her to. He deserved it… after what he had done to Nicky…
The doctor finally emerged from the supervisor's room, and walked up to him.
"You must be Warrick Brown." Warrick nodded, surprised at the irritation in the other's voice.
"Yeah, when can I see him?"
"Look, I advised Mr. Grissom against this, but he insisted on talking to you before he'd agree to take anything to help him rest. I'm here to tell you to make whatever he says short and sweet. He'll be fine, but he still needs rest."
"Warrick… It was Alberts…"
"Yeah, we figured that much already, what happened to Nick?"
"He held us at gunpoint…"
"Hey guys, I think I found something!" Greg called out from the living room. Catherine and Sara immediately walked over to the dark leather couch waiting for Greg to pull out whatever it was that he had seen. They all looked at the small pliers intently, and Greg could still see what appeared to be nearly dried saliva on the metal.
"How in the hell does saliva end up on a pair of pliers?" Sara asked, not really wanting to know the answer; it certainly couldn't be good.
"Swab it, and we'll take it back to the lab with everything else." Catherine answered curtly as she looked at the pile of metal that had once been a cell phone. She quickly walked over to the other end of the room and picked up the phone hanging on the wall.
"Someone cut the phone line… Sara, you go check out the other rooms, Greg you keep processing in here. If you need me I'll be checking all the circuits along with the phone line."
"Sure thing, Cath…" Sara flashed an emotionless smirk, and headed down the hall. She poked her head into the bathroom, as well as two bedrooms, and she froze when she look inside the study that often served as Grissom's office. She could see several shelves had been broken, and books were scattered across the floor. She could see a large dent in the wall by the door, and sighed when she saw the blood… He shot Grissom in here… But what was Grissom doing in here if Nick was in the living room the whole time?
Warrick tried to stay calm as he tried to comprehend everything his supervisor had told him about the events leading up to him reaching the parking lot… I'm going to get this bastard for using Grissom and Nick against each other like this…
"Thanks, Grissom, this ought to help us find him… I promise you… we'll get him back…"
"I'm s-sorry to interrupt, but if you're done Mr. Grissom needs to take his medications and get some rest…" Warrick looked up at the doctor who had apparently overheard everything. He noticed that all irritation had vanished from his voice as he led the CSI back into the hall.
"Mr. Brown… I hope your friend is ok…" the doctor called after him as the CSI walked down the hall while fishing around his pockets for his cell phone.
"I hope so too…"
Catherine jumped as her cell phone began to ring. She quickly answered, glad for the distraction.
"Hey Catherine, I just talked to Grissom, and he told me everything that happened at his place tonight…"
Greg and Sara were surprised that Catherine had called them into the kitchen so she could talk to them. Her cool exterior was beginning to go away, and they could see a deep sadness in her eyes.
"Ok, Warrick just called, and gave me the details, so I'm here to give them to you. When we're done I want you to go back and reprocess with new eyes. According to Grissom's account of what happened Nick was hiding by Grissom's front door waiting for him to get home. Grissom let him in, and they were sitting on the couch when Alberts came from out of nowhere with a gun. He pointed the gun at Nick's head and forced Grissom to beg for Nick's life…"
"Damn it…" Sara muttered under her breath.
"We all know that Grissom isn't very good at handling these types of situations, and even though he did his best it apparently wasn't enough. So Alberts used the pliers to pull Nick's tongue out of his mouth in order to pressure Grissom into talking. Apparently, Grissom got mad, and started talking… after a while he forced Grissom to go into the office. After that Grissom said he heard Nick cry out, and then Dr. Alberts came and the two struggled. Grissom lost, and the last thing he remembered was Alberts saying that he had abandoned Nick when Nick needed him most… Then Grissom woke up a few hours later, couldn't call anyone, saw his neighbors were either asleep or gone, so he drove to the lab…"
"Oh God…" Greg sighed as the words formulated a lot of horrible images in his mind.
"Are you guys going to be ok? Because, we've got a lot to process, and we need to do it as fast, and effectively, as possible. Warrick is going to stay at the hospital, and said he was just about to check on Ecklie's condition. Right now we're the only ones available. Sofia is on her way over, and with her experience it ought to be helpful, but I really need you guys…"
"I'll be fine." Sara piped up, and grimly set off towards the office.
"Yeah, I'll be fine too, but I can't stop worrying about him Catherine…"
"Its ok Greg… we're all worried, but I need you to keep going, to be strong… ok?"
"Yeah… I'll do whatever it takes to catch this asshole…"
"I'd expect nothing less, Greg." Catherine flashed Greg a smile, but both knew it was fake. The two stood there for another moment before they left to continue their processing.
Brass had taken Catherine's call badly. He was pissed at what this creep had forced his two friends to do to each other… He sighed, trying to calm himself down as he walked towards the break room. He could see Nick's family through the window, and shuddered. He wished desperately that he wouldn't have to give them more bad news. He wished they didn't have to hear that their son had been abducted by a man who had used a knife to extract a living man's eyes…
Doctor Al Robbins had not expected to see crime tape blocking off the entrance to the morgue; neither had he expected to see crime tape blocking off most of the parking lot. After several minutes he found David setting up another room for the labs' remaining autopsies. David looked up, and sighed with relief at seeing his fellow coroner, and friend, back.
"What the hell happened here David, why is the morgue and half the parking lot taped off?"
"Oh, uh… I guess I ought to fill you in…"
Practically nothing could've prepared him for the story that David told him. It seemed unreal… He felt a shiver run down his spine at the thought of the poor CSI being forced into the damn crawl space those repairmen used on rare occasions… It wasn't right.
"What about Nick's family?"
"From what I hear they're in the break room, and it doesn't seem like they're holding up too well… I think Brass just went to tell them what happened tonight at Grissom's place…"
"Ok, David, get back to work, I'll be back down soon…"
He walked out of the room, and immediately headed for the CSI break room. He was rarely seen around other parts of the building, but he easily ignored the curious heads that turned to face in his direction. Mia watched him walk by, and could hardly hold back.
"Hey, Doc…" she called out after him, and he stopped to look at her.
"Yeah?"
"I-if you're going to talk to Nick's family… let them know how much Nick means to all of us… They didn't exactly take Brass's news very well, and they're not too happy about everything that's happened…"
"They shouldn't be… I'll let them know how much you guys care though…"
"Thanks…" Mia whispered and turned back into the lab as the coroner continued on his way. She went back and began to run a few more tests… The order and precision here helped keep her calm, but she couldn't help but worry about Nick and his team…
He stopped in the doorway as everyone's attention was suddenly on him. He could see the streaks of tears on all their faces, even Nick's father had been unable to control his emotions when Brass had given them the bad news. The only one who didn't seem to have been crying at all was the man whose physical appearance made it obvious that he was Nick's brother, and he appeared to be extremely furious.
"H-Hello… I'm Doctor Al Robbins… I'm one of the coroners, and I uh… just got back from a short vacation… I just wanted to let you know how sorry I am for everything that has happened to Nick. And, if any of you need someone to talk to I'm all ears. Nick is a great guy, and i-if anyone can get through this I-I'd put my money on him…" He was answered with complete silence until Nick's brother finally managed to say something.
"Th… thank you… that really means a lot to us right now… but I'm not sure any of us are ready to talk about this yet…"
"That's fair enough… but it is an open ended offer. I'll be down on the first floor if any of you need anything…"
Everything seemed to fog over, and Nick found it much harder to focus on keeping himself calm… He was gasping for air in the confined space, and had vomited several times over the past half hour of riding in the mobile tomb…
The car slowed to a stop. Carl Alberts swiftly exited the car, but slowed as he unlocked the trunk, relishing the excitement he felt at what he was about to see. He gave a satisfied chuckle as he finally opened the trunk and observed the horrified man within. Everything was going perfectly, and easily pulled the Texan from the trunk, which smelled of vomit. He grabbed a rag from a nearby shelf, and used it to wipe the CSI's face.
"We ought to have you looking your best for your friends… I think they'd be awfully disappointed to see you with vomit all over you… of course I'm sure they'll be disappointed seeing you at all."
Nick managed to glare at the man standing over him, but he was too weak to stop him. He moaned in pain as Alberts hoisted him up over his shoulder and carried him down a long hallway.
Warrick had decided to leave the hospital… Grissom would be released the next morning, and he needed to do something to help his missing friend… He pulled up into the lot, and found his way quickly inside where he saw Brass and a delivery guy yelling at each other. Warrick quickly stepped in, and with the help of a few other concerned lab technicians they separated the two.
"Brass, what the hell got into you?"
"Damn it, Warrick, they guy just dropped off a package!"
"What?"
"It's just like the package that Walter Gordon left after he buried Nick!"
"Where is it now?"
"I secured it and gave it to Hodges to take upto the lab for processing, but I told him to wait for one of you guys before proceeding…"
"Ok, ok, get him into an interrogation room, and don't let him leave, I'll want a piece of him when I'm done processing the package."
Warrick immediately took off down the hall, and found Hodges waiting impatiently for someone to show up. The two didn't bother with any pleasantries and Warrick immediately placed the package under an x-ray scanner, and after a few minutes determined it was safe to proceed.
He printed one end on both sides, and when he saw there were no prints he used an Exacto-knife to slit it open and watched as a flashdrive, and a cassette tape fell onto the desk. He quickly checked both for prints, but wasn't surprised when there were none.
"I've got to get these to Archie and fast; I need you to call Catherine and have them get back here; fast."
"Sure thing…" Hodges muttered, and in seconds he had his cell phone flipped open, and was dialing the number.
"Hey, Sara, Greg! Pack up, we've got to go, now!" Catherine called into the house loudly. "Sofia, I need you to finish up here, but we've really got to get back!"
"Cath, what the hell is going on, did they find Nick?" Sara asked, concerned at the frenzy the CSI was in collecting their evidence bags.
"No, Hodges called, he and Warrick just opened a package about Nick that contained a flash drive and a cassette tape!"
"This isn't going to be good…" Greg mumbled as they finished grabbing their bags and headed toward their SUV.
"It's about damn time you guys got here… we put the flashdrive in, but it said not to continue until the four of us were here, and the cassette just had a copy of Walter Gordon's message on it…"
"Ok, well then, let's play the rest of this flashdrive…" Catherine said as they hurriedly pulled more chairs around the large computer monitor.
Archie punched several keys, and they quickly read the message on the screen.
I believe I can trust whoever receives this to not continue past this page until Warrick Brown, Catherine Willows, Sara Sidle, and even Greg Sanders are all present. I mean I wish Grissom could see this, but as it is being recorded I trust he'll see it someday. I do hope he was a quick recovery, after all he wasn't supposed to get shot. It worked out rather nicely though. Everyone on your team played their parts beautifully…
A button titled next appeared on the screen and Archie quickly clicked on it. Another screen popped up with a new message.
Nick Stokes… He really is a good guy, overall, but he is about to undergo horrors that probably rival your darkest nightmares… Vengeance is mine, and you can only watch him suffer…
They stared blankly at the screen for a view moments until a new button appeared.
You Can Only Watch…
"Damn this son of a bitch…" Warrick hissed as they all saw the similarities of the screen to that of the one Walter Gordon had created for them.
Archie hesitated before clicking the button, but they were only greeted with a black screen…
"The other feed isn't turned on yet…" Archie stated, a look of concern on his face, "that means that this is a live feed though, which I guess is lucky, and I can start trying to track down it's signal…" But he fell quiet as they heard someone laughing, and the black screen was replaced with what appeared to be some type of odd workshop. One wall in the view was overflowing with strange items, tools, and along one wall they could even see surgical tools hanging from hooks. The only thing that all the items really had in common was the fact that they could clearly cause someone pain.
Dr. Alberts smiled when he heard the camera start up, he had everything ready. And once he determined the people on the other end had gotten a good look at his arsenal of tools; he turned the camera around so they could see his brilliant set up.
All their eyes went wide with shock as the camera slowly turned and centered on Nick. Their friend was bound with his arms wide against the wall of the room. They could clearly see a noose hanging limply around his neck, and they cringed as the commentary began…
"I'm so glad you finally decided to join us… now if you're all ready we'll get this show on the road." He smiled as he imagined their shocked reactions… they'd be nothing to the reactions he'd see on the Texan's face though.
"You ready Cowboy?" He asked mockingly. When he didn't get a response he grabbed the rope that he had expertly rigged so that it passed over the large rafters and came back down to rest around the CSI's muscular neck. He pulled down and watched with satisfaction as Nick's head was thrust upwards. He lowered the rope, and pulled it down again, pleased at how well it worked.
Greg clenched his fists to try to stop their shaking… Sara fought back tears, and could hardly bare looking at the screen… Catherine let out a sigh as she watched Nick's head unwillingly move up and down… Warrick silently watched his friend as his head lowered once more to rest on his shoulder. Their eyes all went wide as in a flurry of movement they saw Dr. Alberts dressed once more in black begin to furiously beat his fists into Nick's body… They weren't sure how long they had been watching when they heard the door open behind them and turned to see Nick's brother standing in the doorway his eyes glued to the screen in shock…
He felt the pager in his pocket begin to vibrate… It had already been an hour… it was a pity, he stepped away from the Texan, and he quickly raised the man's shirt to reveal his bruised upper body. He once more lowered Nick's shirt, and walked over to the camera, stepped aside to allow one more glimpse of Nick before he turned it off. They'd see more in a few hours, but he had some more preparing to do.
Nick let out a sigh as the man left the room; he was feeling better and whatever he had been injected with seemed to be wearing off. Yet, when his eyes focused on the variety of ominous objects stacked across the room he couldn't hide the look of terror in his eyes…
To Be Continued…
Next Chapter: The team waits for the feed to start up again, but when it does they aren't ready for the scene that is played, and they are left with the demand that Grissom must be present in an hour or Nick will die. Greg tries to console Nick's brother, and the rest of Nick's family. Warrick retrieves Grissom from the hospital, and they wait anxiously for the feed to start up once more…