A/N: Thanks for the reviews, enjoyed each and every one of them.

sherryw: You rock girl. Here´s the answer:-)

Trapped

by Nicol Leoraine

Chapter 11

She would´ve screamed if not for the tape on her mouth. When the hand touched her shoulder, Sara´s heart skipped a beat. But when she saw the face looking down at her, she briefly closed her eyes and thanked that her prayers were heard.

Jenkins wasn´t losing any time when he cut through the tapes binding her to the chair and Sara didn´t so much as gasp when the offending tape was pulled off her face. Rubbing at the irritated skin, she still threw Jenkins one of her best smiles.

"Thanks," she said, her voice a little raspy from not using it the last hours. Sara coughed, clearing her throat, then shot a glance at the monitors, relieved to see that her captor was still in one of the corridors.

"You´re welcome," Jenkins simply said. When she gave him a second look, she saw the dried blood on the side of his head and the small lines around his eyes indicating he had one hell of a headache, but other than that, Jenkins looked to be in good shape. "Come on, we have to go," he said and started pulling her away, but Sara stopped him, her smile turning into an icy glare.

"We have to stop him," she said, convinced that they need to stay. "Or he'll kill the others."

"I'm sure the others are quite capable of taking care of themselves," Jenkins opposed but quickly corrected himself: "I mean, that my first priority is to get you out of here, then we can think of helping them. This man is dangerous - and he isn´t alone. Your other friends are in trouble, too, and I think we could help them more."

"Warrick and Cath," Sara muttered, her face blanching at the mention of the two. She already lost them from sight of the camera and had no way of knowing what happened to them. Curtly, she nodded.

"Okay. But first I need to do something." With that, she picked up the chair and with all her strength and anger, swung it at the monitors. Jenkins cringed at the sound of the breaking glass and the sparks that suddenly flared from the electronics. He glanced at the doors and really prayed that it wouldn't open until they were gone.

Satisfied that the monitors were broken and of no use anymore, Sara quickly leaned over the keyboard. She had the chance to watch her captor add several commands so she had a pretty good idea of the system he was using. Her fingers running through the keyboard, she pushed off Jenkins, who was once again trying to get her away.

The cop growled and nervously gripped his gun. Sure, they could´ve waited here and he could probably subdue the other man with his gun. But there was still the other guy and now that they lost the cameras, thanks to Sidle´s little revenge, they couldn´t know what was going on.

"Uhm, just how did you get here?" Sara suddenly asked, turning away from the computer. "There was no way you could´ve found this room and not be seen on the cameras."

"Well, I used a little shortcut," Jenkins said with a sheepish grin.

"Huh?"

At Sara´s confused stare, Jenkins pointed toward the only other door in the room.

"You came from the toilet?" Now she was openly frowning at him and Jenkins snickered.

"Toilet? No, it´s an elevator. I discovered it in the security room on the ground floor, you know, where we were heading when..."

"Cool," Sara exclaimed as she opened the door and saw the small car. "Oh, but it´s a little small, isn´t it?"

"Well, it´s obviously for one person, but I'm sure we'll manage." Sara rolled her eyes, but didn´t comment, rather she returned to the computer and gave it a final command. With that, the screen went blank.

"What did you do?"

"No time to explain. If you want to use that car, we need to do it fast." With that, she walked inside it. Jenkins didn´t give it a second thought before he joined her.

"Uh, it´s kinda crowded," he tried to joke as the car door closed and he towered over Sara. She blinked as she felt his body touching her, but anything she would´ve said was stopped when the soft humming announced that they were moving.

xxxx

Warrick Brown wasn´t a soldier, nor did he claim to be one. But the streets taught him enough to know how to survive and even though he wasn´t moving through a crowd of people in the city of Las Vegas, he knew his way around. And obviously, their sniper didn´t. If the man had any real experience, he would´ve stayed on his post and waited. But something spooked him and now he was trying to get away. Well, Warrick wasn´t about to let him go.

Moving like a shadow, even his tall form couldn´t stop him from getting lost in the darkness. He was now only a few feet from the building and the cover it offered. The last time he saw the sniper move, he was heading toward the parked cars. Warrick knew they were probably the same distance between them. Even if he didn't manage to get to them first, it didn´t matter. He had his gun and was sure he could use it in a better way than the sniper.

As he silenty made his way toward the cars, he thought how ridiculous the whole situation was. Someone wanted to kill them and he didn´t have a clue as to why. It also troubled him that there was no sign of the others. How possibly could three CSIs and a detective get lost? Or were they in too deep trouble? If so, the sniper didn´t have much to do with it. That meant only one thing - there was at least one more threat inside the building.

Warrick turned around the corner, finally getting a clear sight of the front of the building, with the entry door. He could see that it was dark inside, the flickering lights died away sometime earlier, while he and Catherine were trying not to get hit.

The area was empty. The cars were in their places, but there was no one trying to get in. No motion, no sound. Warrick tensed, his back to the wall.

"Maybe he isn´t so stupid after all," he thought, frowning into the darkness and trying to spot some movement.

There weren´t too many places where a man could hide. If he didn´t get inside the building, which Warrick doubted because the sniper was clearly intent on getting away, there were only the three cars. Or if the sniper was really fast, there were several smaller boulders to the right from the building. Warrick swalloved a curse as he realised his own mistake. Still, the darkness was protecting him, but that was only until the sniper looked into the night vision.

As if the thought alone initiated the action, Warrick saw the telltale red light moving across the wall, quickly making it´s way toward his chest. Not losing time, Warrick fell to the ground before the sniper saw him in his night vision sight and could use his gun. For several seconds, the tall CSI now lay still on the ground and once again breathed in the dirt. He could almost hear the confused thoughts of the shooter, but he resisted the urge to smirk. Maybe he bought himself a minute or two, but that was not nearly enough. Slowly and as silently as it was possible, Warrick started to crawl - right toward the sniper.

xxxx

Catherine was starting to get fed up with all the macho things her colleagues were doing for the sake of a case. It wasn´t enough that she saw Warrick being shot (even though there was no more than a bruise left), now he had to run off, right into the sight of the sniper.

At first she followed him, but then she realised it would be stupid for both of them to take the same path. She still had a feeling it could be a trap. And as she slowed down, she had enough time to see the shadow lurking and waiting for Warrick. She opened her mouth to shout a warning, but then she lost Warrick from her sight. He just vanished in the darkness, merging with the night.

The sniper fervently searched for his victim, and Catherine was getting closer and closer to his back.

xxxx

He didn´t know what was going on. One minute he was on the ground, looking for the guy who was supposed to follow him here, the next thing he saw was movement two yards ahead of him. He awkwardly moved the rifle, trying to adjust it the best he could in a split second, but the man was just too close to him.

He shot out blindly, then rolled over, just in time before Warrick jumped, and landed several feet from the place where his head was. The sniper saw the gun in his hand, but wasn´t ready to capitulate. He grabbed a handful of dirt and threw it into the cop´s face. When Warrick started blinking, his eyes watering, the sniper used the second and kicked out, catching Warrick in the knee, which quickly gave away.

The sniper launched himself at Warrick and they started fighting. Each of them landed several succesful blows, but the sniper was smaller and obviously not so experienced in fighting. Warrick managed to land two good blows and subdue the man. He quickly turned the man on his stomach and knelt on his back to stop him from any movement.

"Need any help?" Catherine asked with a smirk. She watched the fight and was ready to intervene at any moment, but it wasn´t needed in the end. Warrick glanced at her then shook his head, snorting.

"You know you could´ve just told - Police, freeze! two minutes ago. I am sure he would´ve just listened to you."

"Oh, but what would be the fun in that?" Catherine jibed. Not waiting for a reply, she threw Warrick a pair of handcuffs. Once being secured, Warrick turned their sniper over and Catherine used her flashlight to take a look at the stranger's face.

"God, it´s just a kid," she mumbled and shook her head in disgust.

"Yeah, but a kid that was ready to kill us," Warrick reminded her, then looked into a pair of wide open eyes. "Now you will tell us what´s going on here, before I show you how it feels to get shot."

xxxx

When he rushed out of the laboratory, the ID card was still in his hand. Kevin unconsciously rubbed his hands against his pants, trying to get rid of the prickling sensation that started in his fingertips. He hadn´t paid much attention to it. He started running, the drug already coursing through his system, as his heartbeat became faster, pumping the blood right into his brain.

At first he didn´t realise something was wrong. It was impossible to keep up the speed in the dark corridors and Kevin didn t even know why he was running. Slowing down, the young cop tried to get together his thoughts. He now knew that Sara Sidle, one of the CSIs, was captured - if not outright murdered - by the killer. He really needed to tell it to detective Brass, but how was he supposed to find him?

That was when one of the shadows moved and Kevin involuntarily yelped. It wasn´t a movement any normal person would do. The shadow practically floew through the air several yards in one smooth jump, then vanished around the corner. Kevin swalloved and headed toward it - more carefully than he thought was possible. All of a sudden, he felt goosebumps enveloping his whole body and he tried in vain to shake it off. The air became humid and unbelievably hot and Kevin´s lips felt parched.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" Kevin silently asked himself as he turned the corner. It looked empty and Kevin let out a sigh. "It was just your imagination, Kev," he thought, but before he could relax, the shadow appeared again. This time, it had more of a human conture, but the white glow coming from it was just too eerie for Kevin to handle.

"S-stop!" he shouted, aiming his gun at the shadow. But it only gave an unearthy laugh and vanished, leaving Kevin alone in the corridor.

The shiver running through his spine warned Kevin that someone was behind his back and he spun around - only to see nothing. His breathing became faster as his body tried to handle the stress and although he felt as if he should be drenched in sweat right now, his skin was dry.

Kevin blinked and tried to calm down.

"It´s nothing, just your imagination," he mumbled to himself and for a moment thought that it would work. Then something behind him crashed and he spun around with a yelp. Kevin blinked, not quite believing his eyes. The walls were moving. At first they were just shimmering, like in scifi movies with all the teleportation stuff, then they started to dance and Kevin swayed, trying to gain his balance. It was to no avail. The walls just kept coming closer, the shadows slowly but surely descending on him.

Kevin´s fingers curled around the cold handle of the gun, and he squeezed the trigger. Once, twice... but nothing changed. The sound of the shots reverberated inside his skull long after he fired the last bullet.

He didn´t hear the voices calling at him. The only thing he sensed was the sickening feeling in his stomach. Then he gasped as a sharp light pierced through his brain and Kevin couldn´t hold it anymore. He screamed.

TO BE CONTINUED

Aye, few more chapters to go:-)

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