Trapped

by Nicol Leoraine

Chapter 10

He lost the killer as well as the rookie and with a disgusted snort, Brass had to admit that he lost himself, too, in the labyrinth of the corridors. For Christ´s sake, he was an experienced cop, yet all the tension and stress of the last hours turned his brain into an useless mass. At least, that was what Brass thought as he stopped in yet another crossing.

Why didn´t Kevin keep up? Or was he really so concentrated on the task that he didn´t notice the kid was missing?

There was also the possibility that Kevin didn´t vanish on his own - that he was taken out by the killer. At the thought, Brass felt his stomach lurch and he tried to swallow the acidic taste of failure. He had to start thinking, Brass reminded himself and nodded as if in silent response, his jaw clenched.

He was sure he heard the steps so that meant someone indeed was on this floor. He also knew it wasn´t Grissom or Nick - they wouldn´t be running wildly through the corridors - not like him, Brass added with bitterness.

Well, Kevin knew that they were looking for the other CSI´s and their plan was to get to the elevators. If the kid just lost Brass from his sight, he would probably head there. And Brass should do the same.

Finally Brass choose his path, hoping he took the right turn.

xxxx

It was weird. The first set of footsteps faded away before they could even sense the person, but their relief was short lived. Nick was suddenly glad for the support the wall gave him, but he would´ve rather been standing - a much better position to fend off a possible attack.

Grissom next to him felt ridiculous, standing in the darkness and waiting for whomever had lured them to this place. He felt unprepared for the situation and when the first steps died away, he almost panicked, thinking his own hearing was betraying him at the worst possible moment. But then he felt Nick beside him relax a little.

"Shouldn´t we... move?" Nick asked in whisper and despite his protesting body, stood up.

"Yeah," was all Grissom said. Truth be told, he wasn´t sure what they should be doing anymore. He thought Nick shouldn´t be moving around at all, but then it wasn´t like they had a choice. And there were still the others. It troubled him that they didn´t encounter any one of them. He would´ve thought at least Brass was trying to find them.

"Which way then?" Nick asked and Grissom needed a second to realise he was asked a question.

"Straight ahead. If there´s someone on this floor, we should learn who it is."

"Could be the second guard," Nick muttered as they slowly moved out. Grissom hadn´t turned on the flashlight yet and Nick wasn´t about to ask him to. Somehow, the darkness felt safer than the light.

"Or the killer," Grissom noted and Nick rolled his eyes, but said nothing more. Grissom was walking ahead of Nick so he could warn him if there was something in the way. Thanks to that, after three minutes of walking, Grissom sported several new bruises and was having to bite his lip not to curse each time he bumped into something. After a moment, he thought he heard the younger CSI behind him snicker, but Grissom quickly waved it off as a hallucination. Nick wouldn´t possibly laugh at his misery, he thought.

Despite his hopes, Nick was laughing. He heard how Grissom tried to muffle the yelp, as his knee connected with a door or when a loud thump announced that Grissom´s head just discovered a fire extinguisher. For a moment, Nick imagined his chief, the almighty genius, standing before the group of CSIs and trying to explain just how he got the bump on his head, while making a good impression of a guide-dog.

But it wasn´t funny, Nick realised after a moment, when his hand throbbed painfully and he was having a problem with what was up and what was down. Being lightheaded was one thing - having the world swaying when you were practically blind was another. Nick reached out with his good hand and trailed the surface of the wall, hoping to get some sense of direction. It was useless, though, he realised as he tripped over his own leg. The only thing stopping his fall was Grissom.

"Whoa there, I think you should sit for a moment," Grissom said in not more than a whisper, one hand circling Nick´s wrist, the other one supporting his body. He felt the quick but stronge pulse under his fingers and relaxed a little, the memory of reviving Nick still fresh in his mind. He guided the man into a sitting position, taking notice of the slightly flushed skin and once again cursed the fact that they ended up in such a position.

"Gris-!" Nick suddenly warned and Grissom could feel him tense up, ready to bolt. He too wasn´t calm as he turned to see what spooked Nick so much. First thing he saw was the shine of a flashlight appearing at the end of the corridor. It had to be L-shaped because the person using the flashlight was obviously around the corner. Grissom instantly realised that if the person turned the corner, the flashlight would reveal them. They had nowhere to hide and Nick was in no condition to go running. The second thing he realised was that he needed to get to the corner first and surprise whomever was coming.There was no other choice and he didn't wanted to play the role of victim anymore. It was time to turn the tables in their favor.

"Shh," Grissom hissed at Nick, squeezing his shoulder, making him aware he should stay put. In the next moment, he was scurrying toward the corner as silently as he could and Nick could only pray that he would get there sooner than the other person.

xxxx

He thought he heard voices, but when he paused to listen, there was nothing, only the sound of his own breathing. Brass shook his head and threw a look back into the darkness, feeling the tingling feeling crawling up his spine. He couldn´t help but shudder and resume his pace.

He no longer bothered with the cameras, his only concern was to find out what happened to the others and who was behind all of this.

The hat badge he found in the victim´s mouth was clear enough evidence that it had something to do with his past. Duty, honor, fidelity - those were the words every cop from New Jersey knew. But why after all these years - and who?

Brass was trying to think hard about the suspects, but his mind came up blank. At the time he left Jersey, there were too many cops that hated him. But only a few would hold a grudge and come to get him after twenty years.

And that also didn´t explain the body of the guard. Why kill an innocent man when it was so easy to just deal with Brass himself? It didn´t make sense, and Jim didn´t had the time to figure it out.

He was about to turn the corner, when someone tackled him to the ground, sending the flashlight flying from his hand. Half shocked by the fact he let himself be caught, half stunned by the fact he was lying on the floor and trying to fend off a fist, Brass reacted just a second too late.

The fist landed on his face. The pain in his cheek was enough to bring the detective out of his stupor and he blocked the other a blow, before kicking out and sending his attacker through the air. In the next second he was sitting on the top of the man, the gun pushed against his neck.

"Move and I´ll kill you," he growled, his voice dripping with venom. Nobody could think he wasn´t serious.

"Jim?" the shaky question didn´t came from the man under him, but from someone standing several feet before him. Brass blinked, his breath caught as another flashlight was turned on and pointed right at him.

"Damn it, Nicky, I told you not to shine that thing at my face," he grumbled, recognizing the voice of the younger CSI. Looking now down, he grimaced.

"Gil," he let out a sigh and put away the gun. Suddenly, he had an urge to laugh, but seeing the wide-eyes look on his old friends face, he contained himself. "Damn, but you can pack a punch," he said with a smirk as he helped Grissom up to his feet.

"Likewise," Grissom replied, while he rubbed his stomach, where the detective´s foot caught him.

"Sara?" Nick asked, looking at the corridor behind Brass. His heart was beating too fast and he had trouble catching his breath, though he didn´t know if it was just the adrenaline rush wearing off, or the side effects of the shock. For now, though, he opted to speak in shorter terms.

"She isn´t with you," it was more of a statement than a question and Nick let out a frustrated sigh.

"Nope."

"Where is Kevin? Wasn´t he with you the last time?" Grissom spoke up, taking the light from Nick´s hand.

"I lost him." The simple statement brought two shocked "what?" and Brass frowned, until he realised what the two men thought.

"No, he isn´t dead. At least, I hope not," he added. "We were coming after you guys when we heard some footsteps. I took off running, but it seems that Kevin wasn´t able to keep up."

"Are you sure he wasn´t attacked?" Grissom asked seriously.

"No, I am not sure!" Brass barked, then shook his head in frustration. "Look, there are some things you should probably know. Before the whole building started acting up, we found the body of the guard in the storage room," Brass started explaining. He told them everything that happened from the moment they separated, everything but the badge that connected him with the victim.

"So no word about Sara and Jenkins?" Nick asked again when Brass finished. The first energy rush upon encountering Brass faded away and suddenly he felt tired. Brass noticed it and for the first time looked at Nick.

"No. But what the hell happened to you, Nicky?" he took in the bandaged hand and the haggard look and definitely didn´t like what he saw.

"Didn´t look where I was touching," Nick quickly replied, and before Grissom could say anything, he added: "I'm fine."

"Sure," came the snort from both Grissom and Brass.

"I take it you didn´t encounter any booby traps on your way here," Grissom spoke, looking pointedly at Nick.

"Booby traps?" Brass frowned. "What the hell are you talking about? And what happened to Nick?"

"We found that some of the doors on the first floor were under current. Well, Nick found out."

"Oh God," Brass all but paled at the implication, then as suddenly his face turned an angry red. "That bastard!" he all but shouted at the nearest camera.

Nick cringed and Grissom´s eyebrows went up, his head slightly tilting to the right.

"Jim, is there something you´re not telling us?" Grissom asked after a moment, giving Brass some time to calm down.

"I found something at the body. It was a New Jersey police hat badge. I-" Brass stuttered, nervously running his hand through his balding head, "I think it´s someone from my past."

xxxx

It was going as planned, the man smiled to himself when he shook loose of the detective at one of the corridors. He arranged the ID card before that and was hoping that Brass would be the one to find it, but the damn man was too thickheaded to stop and notice the light in the room.

But when the man was heading back to the control room, he took an alternate route and the risk that came with it and saw the slightly opened door to the lab. Grinning from ear to ear, he saw as the young cop found the ID and rushed out of the room, blindly running into one of the darkest corridors.

The cop should feel the effects of the drug in the following minutes. The man only hoped that Brass would be the one to find him. Speeding up so he could watch it on the monitors, the man came to the door of the control room.

Everything was going like planned, he smirked and opened the door.

His hand froze on the handle and he let out a shriek. This definitely wasn´t in the plan! The chair was laying on the ground, the remains of the duct tape the only evidence of his captive´s previous presence. Most of the monitors were broken, the shards of glass covering the floor.

The computer screen was blank. And the room was empty.

TO BE CONTINUED

A/N: Sorry, no Sara or Warrick there:-) You´ll have to wait for the next chapter to see what happened to them. But hey, finally our guys got together. How long will that last?

Next update is Sunday, but you´re still encouraged to keep the reviews coming.