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Carl looked at the clock in the Ballistics lab. There was only ten more minutes until the CSIs met. At that point he would make his move and no one would be the wiser. Harris would have a car, ready and waiting, to take Erin Matthews away from the safety of the lab.
He got up from his chair and headed towards the break room. He wanted to see if the CSIs were meeting. He went in to get a cup of coffee just as Catherine, Warrick and Greg walked in. He nodded and smiled at them as he exited. He passed Sara and Grissom in the hallway and was able to pick up a little of their conversation.
"I left Erin in the A/V Lab. I told her I would be back shortly."
Carl stopped and watched as the two CSIs joined the other three in the break room. He would have to make his move now.
He walked over to the A/V lab that was currently occupied by Erin Matthews. As he suspected the cop was still standing outside … guarding her. He sipped his coffee as he casually walked up the hallway towards the cop. As he got closer he tripped and spilled his coffee down the front of the cop's uniform shirt. The officer looked down at his shirt then at Carl.
Carl acted horrified, "Oh my God … I am so sorry." He said trying to clean the front of the officer's shirt. "Today is just not my day."
The officer stepped back from Carl, "Look it's alright. I'll just go and clean it up."
He leaned his head into the lab, "Miss Matthews, I'll be right back. We had a little collision in the hallway here and I need to clean up. I will only be gone for a few minutes."
Erin smiled, "Use cold water … it always works best and be sure to dab and not rub."
"Will do."
Carl stood there with a sheepish expression as the cop walked away. He turned his attention back to the A/V lab and to Erin. She was watching him from her seat in front of the computer screen.
He put on his best smile and made his way towards her, "I guess I'm a little clumsy today."
She smiled back, "I think we all have our fair share of clumsy days."
"Well God knows I have had enough mishaps to last a lifetime."
She nodded in agreement.
Inwardly Carl was pleased that the encounter was going so well. Time to go for it.
"I was going to go outside for a bit of fresh air … would you care to join me? I'm Carl by the way."
"Erin. Sure I could use some fresh air right about now. I've been stuck in this lab for hours already."
Being ever the gentleman, Carl put his hand out for Erin to grab as she stood up.
"Shall we," he asked.
"Let's go."
The pair walked out of the A/V lab and out into the hallway. Once they got outside the air was crisp and cool. It was known that the days were hot in Las Vegas, but the temperature always dropped at night.
Carl was relieved that they weren't stopped or seen by anyone, which was a rare occurrence. As they emerged from the building he looked over to Erin.
"You know what? I totally forgot that I needed to get something out of my car. Would you like to go for a little walk? My car is just over there." He pointed at a somewhat close parking spot. A dark-colored van was parked next to it. Little did Erin know that the van held three men in its interior. Two men which were waiting just to grab her and a driver.
"A walk sounds nice … even if it is a short one."
The couple made their way into the parking lot. It was another clear night in the city that never sleeps. Erin looked up admiring the stars. It was the most relaxed she had felt all night. Something about the stars always calmed her.
Carl maintained his charade and reached into his pocket just as they both arrived at his car. The two of them had their backs to the van. He turned and looked over to her and found her gazing up at the night sky. She was completely oblivious to what was about to happen to her.
The van door slowly crept open as two menacing figures dressed in black reached out and grabbed Erin. She felt one hand snake around her waist while another hand went over her mouth. She never even had the chance to scream.
She looked to Carl for help as she struggled to get loose. She felt relief wash over her when he stepped towards them, but her hopes were soon crushed when he spoke.
"Bring her to Harris unharmed. He wants to have a little fun with her."
Erin screamed into the hand that covered her mouth. Her eyes widened in fear. Only moments ago she had felt a serene calmness settle over her but now she was living a nightmare. She continued to kick and scream as she was pulled into the van. The last thing that she saw before the door closed was the evil sneer on Carl's face. At the sudden absence of light, Erin lost the battle of wills that she'd been trying to project and tears silently began to fall.
The tears continued to fall as they tied her hands and feet together. She tried to scream again when she felt her mouth uncovered, but they quickly replaced the hand with duct tape. She closed her eyes and the words that Sara had told her popped into her head. 'Sara … you said that you'd protect me.'
Carl watched in deep satisfaction as the van drove off with their newest guest. His plan had gone off without a hitch. He turned back towards the lab. Harris asked him to find out as much info he could and that was what he was going to do.
The break room table looked like the floor of a circus tent after the clowns went crazy with confetti. The table was covered with pictures, papers and file folders.
Each member of Grissom's team sat in front of him … minus one. This meeting was called to discuss the evidence they had so far. He looked down at the organized chaos then back at his team.
"OK. Who wants to go first?" Grissom asked looking around the table.
Greg took the opportunity, "I'll go first. I checked every database I could and only found one reference to a 'pit bull' tattoo. Unfortunately I was not able to get much as it was in the military database and labeled as 'classified'. But being the man that I am I was still able to get a little information." The others in the room smiled. "There is only one military group that has the 'pit bull' as their insignia and it's a small group of marines. These men were trained to do the impossible. Most, if not all, of their missions are marked as classified. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the names of the men in the group, but I do know that they all have matching 'pit bull' tattoos on their right forearms."
"Thanks Greg."
"Sure." Greg replied back as he spilled his coffee on his lap. "Ow! That's hot." He said as he jumped up, tripped over his chair and fell back onto the floor.
Warrick tried to hide the smile, but the stress level was so thick the past few hours that you could have used a knife to cut through it. At the expense of Greg's pride the group had a small chuckle.
"I'll be right back." Greg said getting up off the floor. "Just need to clean up."
"Don't be gone too long Greg." Grissom replied.
"No more than five minutes tops." Greg walked out of the break room and headed towards the men's room. He just wanted to wipe some of the excess coffee off and wash his hands. He would change his clothes later.
He shook his head as he wondered towards the men's room, 'Way to impress Grissom … idiot' he said to himself.
Carl knew that the group of CSIs were still meeting and he wondered how long it would take for the officer to realize that Erin was no longer in the building. If the officer found him all he would say was that he left her in the A/V lab since no one saw them leave the building.
He noticed Greg coming down the hall and walk into the men's room. Was the meeting already over? Carl followed the CSI into the men's room. Greg was at the sink as Carl walked over to the urinal.
"The meeting over already?" Carl asked innocently.
"No, not yet. We are still going over a few things. I accidentally spilled coffee on myself. I'm just getting cleaned up then heading back to the meeting."
Carl zipped his pants and walked over to the sink next to where Greg stood. Greg was still wiping the front of his shirt as Carl rolled up his sleeves to wash his hands.
"So do you have any leads so far?"
"Nothing conclusive." Greg said as he looked over at Carl in the mirror. He tried to remain calm when he spotted the 'pit bull' tattoo on Carl's right forearm. 'How come I never noticed that tattoo before?' Greg thought to himself.
"Well good luck. I hope that you guys get a lead on Nick. If I can do anything to help let me know." Carl said drying his hands and walking out of the men's room.
"You may be helping sooner than you think." Greg replied watching the door close.
"So where do we stand with the hairs?" Grissom asked.
"We still have not received anything from Wendy yet, but she will bring by the results as soon as she has them."
The words weren't even out of Catherine's mouth before Wendy came to the break room door and knocked.
"Catherine, here are the results to the hair samples you collected at Nick's house."
"Thanks Wendy."
Catherine took the paper from Wendy and skimmed over it, "Well so far nothing is jumping out some of the hairs belonged to us and to Nick of course. Wait a minute … Warrick how close are you guys to Carl Stenson?"
"Not super close. Why?"
"Do you know if he's ever been over at Nick's house?"
"Nah. We've gone out drinking a few times, but he's never been over to either of our houses … why?"
"The short, blond, hairs I found over at Nick's belong to Carl Stenson."
Warrick didn't have a chance to respond as Greg came dashing back into the break room.
"You guys I just saw Carl Stenson in the men's room and you'll never guess what he has on his right forearm."
Grissom looked at Greg and answered, "A 'pit bull' tattoo."
"Bingo." Greg said as he sat down in his chair.
"It looks like we have a suspect."
"Oh my God!" Sara exclaimed as she jumped from her seat.
"What is it Sara?" Catherine asked concerned.
"If Carl is part of this … then he could have access to Erin." She said running out of the break room with the other CSIs on her tail.
The group got to the A/V lab to find it empty. The officer wasn't there and neither was Erin.
"Sara relax. Maybe Erin had to use the ladies room or went for a drink." Greg suggested, but as he said that the officer came around the corner.
Sara stormed over to the officer, "Officer where is Miss Matthews?"
"She was here just a few minutes ago. One of your people accidentally spilled coffee on me. I went to wash up and left her with your technician."
"Do you know which one?" Grissom asked.
"He had short blond hair. If I recall correctly I think he worked in the ballistics lab."
"Carl Stenson." Catherine said.
"Well if anyone would know where Erin is … it's Carl. Officer would you please come with us? Grissom asked.
Nick woke up again, but this time it was to a lot of pain. He was sprawled out face first onto the cot with his arm handcuffed to the railing. His attempt to sit up was thwarted when he felt a sharp pain in his ribs. After a quick assessment of his injuries he found that he had a few minor abrasions on his face as well as a split lip … plus a few broken ribs.
He didn't remember his ribs hurting like this when he was conscious the last time. The man Carl had called Harris must have done this to him after he was out. He slowly sat up, this time trying to be careful not to jar his ribs.
His surroundings hadn't changed at all since the last time he occupied this room. He slowly reached up to feel his forehead. Nick knew that the gun was no longer there, but he could still feel it as if it were being pushed against his forehead that very instance. He took a shaky breath and tried to calm himself. There was no way he could get out of here if he was basket case.
Nick knew that if he lived through this that he would be plagued with nightmares. It seemed that nightmares were a part of his everyday life. No matter how much therapy he went through there was just no stopping them. Medication was never a consideration with him either. He would deal with them as best as he could and with the help of his friends.
He heard a familiar jingle from outside the room and turned his head over to the door as it opened. Three armed men dragged a woman into Nick's room. She was tied up and gagged. She looked over at Nick as she was escorted in and couldn't hide the look of recognition when she saw him sitting on the bed nursing his ribs.
The men pushed the woman to the floor and walked out without untying her. Nick looked at her and could tell that she had been crying. She sat up the best she could with her hands tied behind her and looked at Nick.
"If you come over here I can try to untie you. Normally I would get up in a lady's presence, but I'm kind of tied up at the moment." Nick said lifting his arm to show her the handcuffs.
She nodded in response and slowly stood up and walked over to Nick. She bent over and Nick tore the tape off.
"Thank you."
"Your welcome. Now let's see if I can untie your hands."
She turned around and waited for Nick to start.
"Um … it might work better if you sit down."
"Oh I'm sorry." She sat down and could feel him start to work on untying her hands.
Within minutes Nick had been able to free her. She rubbed at her wrists and turned to look at the man that had freed her. He looked a lot more roughed up than the last time she saw him. If was obvious that these men weren't kind to him.
"Thank you for that." She said her voice shaky.
"Your welcome. Gee … you wouldn't happen to have a handcuff key would you?" Nick replied trying to lighten the mood.
"Sorry I don't." she smiled.
"That's OK. It was kind of a long shot asking anyway." Nick held out his hand. "Nick Stokes."
She grabbed his hand and shook it, "Erin Matthews and I know exactly who you are Mr. Stokes."
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