Chapter 14

"Dave Phillips?" Nick asked again.

"That's what Brass said", Warrick repeated for the third time.

Nick thumped the dashboard of the Tahoe, "That cowardly son-of-a-bitch is the cause of all tonight's trouble?"

"It appears so", Warrick said in his typically unphased style. "But we can't be too laid back about him Nick, we don't know what he is capable of, look what he did to Grissom".

Nick looked at Warrick intently "Do you think he has it in him to kill Sara?"

"Who knows man? Since when have we ever been able to tell what the crazies are gonna do?" Warrick said raising his eyebrow. "I think we would be best to continue as if we don't know who it is. It will impair our judgement if we act like we know the guy. The truth is we only talked to him a half dozen times, what do we really know about him at all? We gotta stay objective on this one Nick, for Sara's sake".

"Agreed", Nick said and he resumed chewing his lip in the way that he was most accustomed to when he was nervous or thinking or both.

Warrick looked out the window of the Tahoe to where Dave and Sara were parked in the distance.

"Jesus, this waiting around is killing me", Nick whined.

"He is waiting for good reason Nicky, we just haven't figured out what it is yet".

With that the driver's door of the black Tahoe opened and slowly Dave Phillips emerged. He was looking around him nervously, constantly checking that they hadn't been followed. When he was happy the coast was clear he reached in to the passenger side and dragged Sara out.

"She mustn't be conscious, Sara would never let someone man handle her without any attempt at fighting back", Warrick said, his tone not as steady as before.

"Is she …?" Nick started

"Hard to tell man, we are too far away", Warrick answered reading his thoughts perfectly.

"So then why are we waiting here? Let's go. We still have the chance to save her", Nick said emphatically.

'Not yet Nicky, we don't know what we are dealing with, he could have a number of accomplices in that building, surely you aren't suggesting we go in without backup?"

"If he has a gang of accomplices in there, it is all the more reason to get in there", Nick said the colour starting to rise in his cheeks.

"Nick, we are CSI's not rookie cops, would you go in there under any other circumstances? If this was another case, that was a vic we didn't know and a perp we'd never heard of? You know you wouldn't, so why are you letting your feelings get in the way of your judgement now man?" Warrick continued determinately. "If we march in there now without any backup or even a plan of any sort, we are not only endangering Sara's lives but we are also endangering our own. What good are we to anyone if we get killed?"

"I know you are right Warrick but it is so damn hard to sit here doing nothing".

"What would we do in any other case like this?" Warrick asked him more gently this time.

"I'll call Brass let him know the developments", Nick said surrendering.

Warrick heaved a sigh of relief, he knew that Nick could be hot headed and it wouldn't be the first time it had got him into situations of bad judgement which had left him in dangerous life threatening situations. At least he had made him see sense, it sure wasn't easy, all Warrick wanted to do was go in there and tear that guy limb from limb, but for the sake of Sara's wellbeing he couldn't go in there without thinking it through completely. They needed to get Brass to surround the area with cops and do an old fashioned stakeout. Warrick just hoped that it wouldn't be too late and that Sara would still be left unharmed. Working through the sequence of events in his mind, he doubted that they had much time left.

"And what can we do in the meantime Brass? How can you expect us to just sit hear and do nothing, this is killing us man", Nick shouted heatedly down the phone. "Fine Brass, but if anything happens her it will be on your head", he continued and then hung up.

"What did Brass say?" Warrick asked.

"Not much", Nick answered huffily.

"Well what are we supposed to do?" Warrick asked showing obvious signs on impatience.

"We are supposed to sit here and do nothing while that freak has Sara and is doing God knows what to her", Nick replied his voice starting to shake.

Warrick put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. "It will be ok Nicky", he said a lot more gently.

"How will it? We have no idea what is going on, we don't know if she is even still alive, every minute that passes by, every second that it takes for Brass to get his ass in gear, she could be slipping away Warrick", and with that Nick broke down in tears.

Warrick couldn't stand this for a minute longer, his boss was in hospital having been shot, one of his colleagues was sitting sobbing his heart out from a combination of frustration, fear, worry and exhaustion and his other colleague, well who knew what Sara was being put through by her abductor. After consoling Nick for a few minutes he decided to ring Catherine and check on Gil's progress.

"Hey Cath, it's Warrick. How's things?"

"Hey Warrick, Grissom is doing better than we'd hoped, he is sleeping at the moment, the drugs they gave him for the pain are finally kicking in. He lost a lot of blood though in the attack, he is very weak," she explained.

"Well at least he is through the worst of it, that's good. He gave us one Hell of a scare Cath".

"Yeah I know what you mean, when I got the call I thought he was going to …", her voice trailed off, she exhaled loudly as if she was trying to expunge the notion of Gil's death from her body.

"Yeah but he didn't", Warrick intercepted.

She continued "any word on Sara?"

"Not yet, we are at a bit of a loss to know what to do. Brass has told us to sit tight, but it is damn hard when we know she is so close to us and we can't help. He could be doing anything to her right now. Goddamn it I feel so useless", he said quietly.

"Brass knows what he is doing Warrick, we have never doubted him on any other case, and we can't start now because it is one of our own. We already have one member of the team down and another missing; there is no point you and Nicky going in guns blazing and getting hurt too. Just wait it out Warrick, it will be over soon", she said trying to hard to sound optimistic when in truth she was scared to death about how this case would turn out.

"K I'm gonna go and see if we can get closer to the building and see what is going on. Catherine, thanks", he said softly.

"Anytime." Catherine said and hung up the phone.

Nick composed himself and looked sheepishly at Warrick. "Hey, sorry bout that man, don't know what came over me, suppose it is just getting to me more than I though it would, you know?" he said struggling to find the right words to describe the emotional rollercoaster of the past few hours.

"Sorry bout what?" Warrick asked smiling at Nick.

Nick's cell rang.

"Gentlemen, I would like to invite you both into the Golf Club, you must be frozen sitting in the car for so long. Come in here where it is warmer, you are just in time for the main show", Dave Phillips snarled.

Nick hung up without saying a word.

"Was that Brass?" Warrick asked.

"No, that was Dave Phillips, he knew we were here all the time, he just rang to invite us to come along and see the show", Nick said his jaw set tightly in apparent anger. "What do we do now? We can't stay here now, our cover is blown and now that he knows he has less time on his hands, he won't be hanging around."

"Well it would be impolite to refuse", Warrick said quizzically and added "I'll ring Brass and tell him what's going on. Let's go nail this bastard Nick".

The two CSI's went to the trunk of the Tahoe, got their bullet proof vests on, reloaded their guns and headed towards the club with a new cockiness in their step. They were about to go do what they loved best, putting the bad guys away, and adrenaline was coursing though their veins.

"We're coming Sara, just hold on a little longer", Nick whispered to the night air and the surrounding sands of the Las Vegas desert.