Ch. 3.
"Jake, Jake Roberts," Gil's head snapped up and he looked at everyone in the elevator. "He was that security officer."
Everyone in the elevator went quiet.
Catherine's eyes went wide when the image of the officer came to mind. "That was him," she said in disbelief that.
"Wasn't he in prison," Nick asked from behind him.
Jim nodded. "Yeah, arson and attempted murder of former Sheriff Atwater."
Gil quickly hit the stop button on the elevator then just as quickly hit the button for the lobby. "We have to get down there."
Everyone agreed and waited in silence as they descended back to the lobby. They were just approaching the roof when they started to descend back.
Jim pulled out his cell phone. "I'll call Ecklie. I don't think Rory has his cell." Jim hit the numbers in and waited for the assistant director to answer his cell. After several moments Ecklie's voice came over the phone.
"Ecklie."
"This is Jim, is Atwater close by," Jim asked as he looked up at the numbers. They were approaching the twentieth floor, halfway there. These new elevators were quick.
"He's across the lobby talking with the new sheriff and his wife. What's all this--"
Ecklie didn't get the rest of the words as the phone went dead. The elevator shook and came to a screeching halt. The lights flickered on and off and everyone stumbled to the floor. After several minutes the lights came back on. Breathing and soft mumbles were heard around the small area.
"What the hell was that," Warrick piped up from the corner next to Catherine.
Gil and Brass shared looks of 'that didn't just happen', but they both knew it did.
Jim looked at his cell then back up at Gil. "Explosion."
Chaos erupted in the lobby. One minute Ecklie was talking to Brass the next he was waking up to fire and blackness. Flames and smoke were everywhere. People were yelling and screaming all around. He slowly got to his feet and made his way through the smoke, fire, and ruble toward the direction of the doors, at least he thought was the direction.
"Rory," he yelled out as he approached the doors.
People were crowded around where the exit should have been. He could see blood and dead bodies spread around. One of the bodies looked slightly familiar. He bent down and his fear was confirmed, it was Rory Atwater.
He quickly stood up and moved some people out of the way as he tried to find a door. After several minutes of trying to locate an exit, he sighed in defeat and realization. There was no getting out. The doors were blocked.
"Why aren't the sprinklers coming on," he mumbled to himself as he turned and faced the destroyed room.
He could only watch as the lobby was being engulfed in flames.
Back in the elevator, Warrick was being hoisted up through the top of the elevator by Gil and Nick. Catherine, Sara, Greg, and Jim were already on top of the elevator helping pull Warrick up.
"Okay, I'm good," Warrick said as he sat on the edge with his feet dangling into the elevator. "Brass, start leading everyone up the ladder. You should be able to pry one of the floor doors open."
Nick looked at Grissom. "You're next."
Gil shook his head. "You're first. It's my responsibility to get you guys out. I'm last," he said in his supervisor voice that made Nick know he wasn't going to take a 'no' for an answer.
Nick sighed and nodded. "Fine."
Gil intertwined his fingers together and leaned the left side of his body against the elevator wall. "Good, now hurry up."
Nick braced his hands against the wall and stepped into Gil's hands. "On the count of three. One, two, three."
And with that Gil lifted Nick in his hands and watched as Nick caught the side of the opening.
Warrick immediately grabbed Nick's hand and held on. "Gottcha."
Nick grabbed the opening with his other hand and swung in the middle of the elevator. He reached further up and grabbed a hold of a bar then peered down at Gil below him.
"You're not tall enough for us to reach Griss. So, grab my legs."
"Nick," Gil warned. "I don't think--"
"Listen," Nick barked out. "Warrick has my right hand and I'm holding a bar in my left. When Warrick pulls and I pull we'll have enough strength to also pull you. It's the only way to get you out of the elevator."
It took a second for Gil to think it over before he nodded. "Okay."
Gil wrapped his right arm around Nick's legs, braced the wall with his left hand, and put his left leg up on top of the hand rail. "To help push off," he said when he caught the look from Nick.
"Are we ready," Warrick asked from somewhere in the darkness on top of the elevator.
"Ready," Gil and Nick said in unison.
"Okay. On three. One, two, three."
Gil pushed off the railing when Nick pulled up on the bar and Warrick pulled on Nick.
Nick was halfway through the opening when the bar snapped and he slightly fell back only to be caught around his torso by Grissom. Warrick gripped tighter and almost fell forward but stopped himself.
Nick grabbed the side of the opening with his free hand and looked over. Gil was gripping a bar on top of the elevator with his left hand and his right arm was wrapped around Nick.
"You okay," Gil asked Nick through a clenched jaw.
Nick saw that Grissom was hanging on with all his strength and his knuckles were turning white. "Yeah. Pull me up Rick!"
Warrick gripped his hand tighter and started to pull. Nick braced his other hand on the top on the elevator and pushed up. Soon he was on top of the elevator. Gil grabbed the other side of the opening while Nick was being pulled up and held on until Nick was completely up.
Before Gil knew it Nick had one arm and Warrick had the other and he was soon on top of the elevator with them. He took a second to catch his breath then followed Warrick and Nick up the ladder on the side of the shaft to wherever the rest had gone.
A light shown several feet above them. As Warrick approached he could tell that Jim had pried a door open. Jim was waiting for them at the top and helped Warrick, Nick and Gil out of the shaft.
Gil started down the hallway to where the other three were at. Catherine was talking on her cell and Sara and Greg were off to the side waiting to here the verdict.
"Thanks, John," Catherine said then flipped the Jim's cell phone shut. "That was John Kuntz."
"What did the Fire Chief have to say," Brass asked.
"No way out through the lobby. I told him about Jake Roberts. He got hold of the security upstairs and told them to keep a look out for him."
"He was in the lobby," Gil said as he leaned against the wall in front of her.
"There's two stairwells off the main lobby and one off the bar area. He could have left through one of them." She took a breath. "There were three explosions, all being synchronized to go off at the same time. The lobby was destroyed and so was the control room, it knocked out the security controls, sprinkler system, and a bunch of others. And the last one exploded on the tenth floor. He thinks there could be another one that didn't go off in the ballroom. The bombs weren't just to destroy, they were fire bombs. The hotel is being engulfed."
Brass looked over at Gil and frowned. "If the security systems are down. No one can get in or out. The hotel goes on immediate lock down."
"Just like the locks we have at the lab. Power goes out, the locks lock into place and you can't leave the building." Gil looked around at everyone as the sudden realization hit everyone.
"Wait," Greg finally spoke up, "so, if we can't get out that means no one can get in, and the fire's spreading. We're in a death trap."
Gil knew it wasn't a question, but he had to confirm it for himself. "It looks that way."
"Grissom. What are we going to do?" Sara stood next to Greg and looked him in the eyes.
Gil didn't know, but he sure as hell wasn't going to wait around to be killed. "First, we need to find the last bomb. Make sure Jake doesn't try to manually set it off. Then," he shrugged, "figure out some way to get the hell out of here."
TBC...