A/N: Thanks for the reviews, appreciatedevery one of them. Enjoy the story:-)

Trapped

by Nicol Leoraine

Chapter 9

Grissom worriedly looked at his companion, whose sickly pallor was even more pronounced in the illumination of the car. Nick was standing in the corner, trying not to lean too heavily against the wall and at the same time not stumble over. He felt a little nauseous but he doubted it was motion sickness. Maybe the shortness of breath or the tightness in his chest had something to do with it, but Nick was trying hard not to let Grissom know just how miserable he felt.

But it was hard to hide something from Grissom and the scientist kept frowning at him. At last the car stopped and the door opened, only to show them utter darkness. It didn´t pay off to be careful - there could´ve been a whole army hidden in the darkness and they wouldn´t see it, while they were in the lit car, practically unprotected. And there wasn´t a whole lot they could´ve changed about it.

"Come on, we better get out of here," Grissom said in a hushed tone and grabbed Nick´s arm, steadying him as he stumbled. Nick didn´t get a chance to protest, he just wanted to get as far away from the elevator as it was possible. Even if it meant to blindly follow his chief, who was practically dragging him off. They stopped only when the door to the elevator closed, leaving them in darkness. Without having to be asked, Nick turned on the flashlight. He turned around, lighting up the strange corridor. Both he and Grissom took their time to take in the picture, to notice the two cameras - one pointing toward the elevators, the second to the U shaped corridor. At least they were alone.

"Maybe you should sit down a little while," Grissom noted with concern as Nick took in another ragged breath.

"I´m okay," Nick said not so convincingly and Grissom shrugged. He knew when not to push the man.

"Then at least stay here."

"Where're you going?" Nick asked with a frown and Grissom nodded toward one of the cameras.

"Do you realize they are on every corner? And he´ll still know where we are."

"Yes, but not what we´re doing. Give me the flashlight." Nick relented and while Grissom took care of both cameras in their near vicnity, he leaned against the wall and slowly slid down into a sitting position. He didn't planned on falling asleep but the darkness and quiet, combined with the eerie tiredness he felt lulled him into a slight slumber. He startled awake when Grissom touched his shoulder, and apologizing, rubbed the sleep off his eyes.

"Sorry, just zoned out," Nick mumbled and was about to stand, when Grissom pushed him back down. He was about to protest, when he saw Grissom shake his head and put up a finger to his mouth to indicate silence. Nick, his eyes getting wide from the sudden rush of fear, simply nodded. Getting the reply, Grissom turned off the flashlight and Nick felt him move next to him, still standing but getting as close to the wall as it was possible.

For a moment, Nick didn´t hear anything but the beating of his heart. Then Grissom squeezed his shoulder, as much to assure him as to still his movements. Nick swallowed and tried to relax, but his good hand slid under the jacket and he pulled his gun from the holster.

From the web of the corridors, they could hear several running footsteps. Grissom supressed a sigh when he realised they were heading towards them.

xxxx

Sara was alone and she couldn´t do a thing about it. Her captor left several minutes earlier with her ID card smeared with God knows what and she could only watch in silence as he moved toward her friends. At first she saw Grissom and Nick get out of the elevator, but they soon turned the cameras off and she lost them from her sight, though she knew they were still near the elevators, because the other cameras worked. Well, all but the ones by the staircase, which were "gently" turned off by Brass. Although she felt relief over the fact that they were still alive and obviously looking for her, she was afraid it would take too long and something really bad would happen.

Sara watched with trepidation how the man lurked through the corridors, once or twice only barely missing Brass and Kevin. He had a chance to simply shoot them from behind, but didn´t do it and that told Sara more about his motives than anything the man said before her.

He was clearly out for revenge, though it wasn´t clear against whom - as they were all targets at some time. The man had a plan and until now was probably keeping to it. But the arrival of Warrick and Catherine brought on a problem. Maybe not unexpected, but surely not welcome. As Sara dared a look at the monitor taking in the open area before the building, she couldn´t help but cringe as she saw the precarious situation the other CSIs were in.

She was so engrossed with it, she didn´t hear the door open. When the hand landed on her shoulder, it was too late to react. Sara looked up with wide eyes, trying hard to stop her heart from jumping off her chest. But the face looking down at her wasn´t the one she awaited.

xxxx

They were running through the corridors, following some ghostly figure who was just too fast for them and knew the complex too good. Detective Jim Brass was in the lead, not really thinking about anything just that he wanted that man - wanted to know why this was all happening.

Kevin wanted to know it, too, but not at the expense of his own life and he slowed down enough to see they were probably somewhere in the middle, completely lost. And there was not much keeping him from losing Brass from his sight either.

Brass knew his past wasn´t ideal and that when he left New Jersey, he also abandoned several angry people. If he didn´t count his own family - wife and two daughters, there was probably a whole police department left. The department he helped to clean up.

Yeah, dirty cops took away several years of his life but he took so much more from them. Their work, their families and in some cases, their freedom. He never regretted it though the action cost him more than he bargained for. First his own reputation - there was not many cops left who liked him after the trials and truth be told, he didn´t wonder. Most dirty cops were in reality cool guys, having plenty of good friends. That didn´t help them in the end - not with all the things Brass found on them, but still... Jim Brass quickly become persona non grata and in the end, it cost him almost as much as those dirty cops. He lost his family.

But it was all twenty years ago, and he had moved on. Las Vegas welcomed him with open arms, as much as it welcomed every other loser. He didn´t play, despite the urge to simply stop and drink away the pain, to drink away the feeling of betrayal. Why did everyone hate him when he just did his job?

Brass didn´t give into temptation, though, and he soon discovered that the best way to forget was to work. Now, after twenty years, he finally found something he could call family again - the other one. The group of people who he worked with. Even though after the death of Holly Gribbs he found himself been thrown out of the CSI, he had become a detective and to his own surprise, he enjoyed the job even more. He was a cop after all - and putting the bad guys behind bars was one thing he really missed.

Today, though, there was someone from his very own past, threatening those people who trusted him with their lives everytime they were on the scene, someone who probably wanted only him. And he felt the engulfing need to get them all the hell out of here, before they get hurt. Because Brass doubted he could find his peace ever again, if something happened to them today.

"Detective!" Kevin practically shouted after Brass when he lost him from his sight. He wanted to stop, to get a second to catchhis breath and for the man to acknowledge that they lost the suspect several minutes ago. But Jim Brass didn´t stop and Kevin was left in darkness, panting for breath somewhere on the crossing of three corridors. Cursing his "boss" as well as his own eagerness that got him into this mess in the first place, Kevin looked around - as much as a person could in utter darkness. He still heard the footsteps, now quickly retreating from him and couldn´t think how a foolish, grumpy man like Brass could made it to detective.

Shaking his head in frustration, the young man leaned against the wall, his eyes resting on the line of light. It took him several seconds to realize what he was seeing and he rubbed at his eyes, making sure it wasn´t just his imagination playing games with him. The light stayed and he followed it to the door. Debating whether to try and find the detective, Kevin snorted. As if he had a chance to locate the man in this labyrinth.

With all the courage of a 24-year-old guy, his hand blindly groped for the handle. Without thinking, Kevin pushed the door open - first uncertainly, then with more force as it gave way. He practically stumbled into the lit room with his gun ready. But there was no one to shoot at - the room was empty. Well, as empty as a laboratory room could be. There were microscopes, computers, even a centrifuge. Only one thing, though, was familiar to him and Kevin quickly walked through the room. There, on the counter right next the mini fridge was an ID card. It looked greasy, but Kevin didn´t notice - he was too focused on the photo and the name below it. The card belonged to one Criminal Science Investigator Sara Sidle and without a second thought, Kevin picked it up.

xxxx

"Damn it," Warrick cursed as another series of shots sent a spray of shards from the rock behind which they were hiding. Catherine already learned she should stay low, but Warrick from time to time raised his head and looked out.

"Well, what´s your plan, Mister?" she asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm. They tried in vain to get the man distracted again by the bag, but he obviously wasn´t so stupid. The moment they waved with the bag, the man started shooting at the other side of the boulder.

"I thought about waiting it out. You know, he shouldn´t have much more ammo left. He´s been shooting at us for the last hour."

"It´s only been ten minutes, Warrick," Catherine corrected and Warrick threw her a grimace.

"Feels like forever, though. Well, it´s not like he could do much harm to us from there..."

"Not to say what happened to the others, though. For all we know, they could be hurt, or-" Catherine´s voice hitched but they both knew what she couldn´t say.

"I don´t think they´re dead, Cath. But you´re right - they need help."

Another round of shots died away and they were left in the eerie silence of the night. Warrick once again tried his cell, without success. He didn´t even curse now, just put the useless thing back into his pocket with resignation. Help wasn´t coming anytime soon and he hated to think over the possibilities for the others. Were they really alright?

He once again poked out his head and was rather surprised there were no shots coming. He squinted, trying to make out the details of the building, maybe spot some movement, but all he saw were blurry, unmoving shadows and the stars above them.

Warrick risked waving with his hand, then turned to Catherine, who was watching him with a frown of her own.

"What´s going on?"

"Dunno. Maybe he really doesn´t have any ammo left."

"Or he´s just trying to get us out of hiding, then kill us."

"Could be," Warrick nodded, then popped out his head to take another look. He tensed as he saw a shadow move on the farthest side of the building. Warrick watched the figure slowly creeping toward the parked cars.

"He´s trying to get away!" he realised and before Catherine could stop him, Warrick left the safety of the boulder and took off running.

"Warrick!" she hissed, too afraid to scream, but too angry to just stay where she was. "Damn the man!" she cursed and followed him.

TO BE CONTINUED

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