Here ya go... Chappie Nine... Please enjoy, and review!

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Chapter Nine: Victory... And Tragedy

This time, all of them were cursing every Californian who came to Vegas on the weekends. They hadn't gotten Daisy to talk, but Catherine had figured it out. The chalkboard, the chalk, the chemistry book, the hair leading right to a teacher... The girls were at the highschool.

Something strange was going on though... there were already cops there when they arrived. Not to mention the men in the Bio-hazard suits. Something was definately wrong. When the group approached, they were stopped by one of the bio-hazard guys.

"I'm sorry, but you have to leave," he said, not sounding the least bit sorry.

"We're with the Las Vegas crime lab," said Sara, "I think you'll find that as a matter of fact we don't have to leave."

"The crime lab has no reason to be here," said the man, getting grumpy, "Just a bunch of kids, playin' a prank is all. Mixed up a few things from the chem lab, tossed 'em all around the area..."

'What?" said Warrick, "And you haven't gone inside to see if anyone's in there?"

"We assumed anyone with half a brain would come out on their own," the guy snapped.

Catherine reisted the urge to slap the man, "Did you ever think that maybe they might not be able to?"

"Well..."

"There are four people being held in there!" Grissom said.

The man let out a scarcastic cough, "Sure... And just how do you know that?"

"that's it," said Brass, "I have low tolerance for idiots, so either get out of our way, or be made too." That was when Warrick's watch started beeping.

"Shit..." he muttered, "I had this set to go off at 10:05... We've missed the deadline... again."

That was when the screams started. Horrible high pitched screams, that sounded like someone in mortal agony. Awful, heartwrenching screams that chilled everyone to the bone.

And that was only the beginning.

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The man in the Bio-Hazard suit's name was Frankie. And Frankie wasn't the brightest of souls. He did his job, exactly as he was told. He had been told that under no circumstances was anyone to be allowed in the school. And despite the screams, he wasn't going to allow the seven people who'd showed up to get in. They weren't cops. They were scientists. Let the cops, who were already heading for the building, handle it. He continued to tell the troublesome seven that they weren't getting anywhere near the building, when one of them, the short, heavy detective, hit him... Hard. He felt something crack, in his jaw when the man's fist made contact.

He dropped to the ground, pain blinding him. He saw feet going past him, and heard arguments going on, but he wasn't sure who was involved. All he knew was that he was wishing he'd never gone to work that night.

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The doors were locked of course. Nick and Warrick took care of that in a matter of seconds. A few good kicks was enough to knock the front doors in. Guns drawn, and ready, the group went into the school building. The screams had stopped now... somehow no one took it as a good sign.

Catherine was able to lead them to the chem-lab. That door was locked too. Again, that was easily taken care of. The sight they got when they opened the door nearly made Brass throw up. Ellie was in the center of the room, cuts all over her body, handcuffed to a chair. Standing over her was a tall, thin man. He was adding more and more cuts to her body, with razor blades. He didn't seem to notice that fact that they were here, nor did he notice the fact that his torture victim wasn't breathing.

"drop that!" Brass shouted, and the man looked up.

"You're late..." he said calmly, "Too bad really. If you'd made it a few minutes before, you might have saved Ellie..."

"Where are the other girls?" Nick spat.

"They're here... But you're not allowed to find them. You missed the deadline."

"We don't give a damn about your little deadline," said Catherine, trying hard not to look at Ellie, or Brass, "Where are the others?"

The man still didn't answer. He just stood there, staring at them, until he finally spoke, "No one's ever figured it out before... Even after their time was up. I congratulate you for your great effort."

"WHERE ARE THEY!" Sara shouted, nearly giving in to the urge to pull the trigger of her gun. A muffled cry from one of the two closets stopped her. All heads turned towards the closets.

"Officers," said Grissom, to the cops who came running up behind the CSIs, "Give me a hand..." to his CSIs, he said, "You guys get those closets open." He approached Eli Shaun, and the body of Ellie Brass, the cops close behind him. "Eli Shaun, you are under arrest. I don't think I need to tell you the charges, but just in case, we're starting with Murder, and kidnapping." The officers cuffed the man, shocked by his lack of resistance.

There was a happy yell from the direction of the closets, and Grissom turned. Blindfolds were being pulled of the eyes of three very alive people. Grissom went over to the small crowd, that was quickly becoming a shower of tears. He had Summer, and Sara wrapped in a tight embrace before even he knew it. The little girl shook with sobs of relief, and happiness as she held on tight to her parents, and right then, Grissom didn't care about anything else, other than that he had her back. All Sara knew was that she, like her daughter, was crying. Crying because Summer was safe, because she had thought she'd never see her alive again. And Summer... Summer was glad it was over, and glad to be back in her parents arms.

Lindsay was hesitant to hug her parents... As if she were afraid they'd disappear the second she touched them. She and the others had gone through alot in the past two days, and she didn't even want to remember it. It was going to be awhile before she slept, she knew that much, but when she finally rushed to Catherine and Warrick, she knew that at least she wouldn't be alone. Catherine didn't cry. No. She held it in, and just held on to Lindsay tight, muttering something even she couldn't understand. Warrick didn't think anything just then. The overwhelming relief at finding Lindsay had his mind rendered comepletey blank for the time being.

Susan had lept on Nick, and kissed him, before he even had the chance to register that she was there... that she wasn't an illusion. And he had her wrapped in a hug so tight that she had to remind him she did need to breath. They, like the others, just sat there, enjoying being back with the ones they loved ... Everyone, but one.

Jim Brass stood next to the lifeless body of his daughter, clutching her hand, staring blankly at her pale, dead face. He couldn't break down here... not here. But the one thing that kept going through his mind was; if we'd gotten here a few minutes earlier... just a few minutes... That's all... There wasn't anything he wouldn't have given to have her back right then... To tell her that he was sorry... To tell her how much she meant to him. That was the one thing he wanted, and the one thing he wasn't going to get, no matter how much he wished, no matter how badly he wanted it, and no matter how many what ifs came to mind. His chance to make things right with his daughter had long since passed. He'd just been to much of a fool to notice.

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Sara got the honor of the interogation this time. Brass had wanted to do it, but the chances of Shaun getting out of the room alive were slim if he were to do it, so Brass had been turned down. They left the processing for the scene to Swing Shift. Shaun had turned down the offer of a lawyer. All the better, really. Sara hated dealing with them.

"You're Summer's mom, Sara," the man said, so calmly it was disturbing.

"I'd prefer Miss Sidle," Sara managed to make her voice not quite sound like a hiss. She waited a moment before she asked, "So, why the name 'Puzzle Master'. huh?"

"Nick name I got in school. It stuck. So I used it," he replied, still cool and calm, "Why don't you ask what you really want to ask?"

"Okay, I will. Why? Why did you do all of this?"

"To test you. Testing, teaching, it's what I do. Just like what you do is solve crimes, simple as that."

Sara tried to hide the fact that she was shaking with rage. She didn't know how well she was doing, "Teaching, and testing huh?" She opened the folder containing photos of Ellie Brass, lying on an autopsy table, "You call torturing a young woman teaching? You call cutting her with drug-tipped blades teaching? You call taking five people from their homes, and terrorizing them teaching?" Her voice rose in volume with each word.

"Yes," he told her simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Sara wanted to scream at him, call him crazy, but some thing told her this man wasn't crazy... That he knew perfectly well what he was doing. Sick, maybe, but not crazy.

"You've killed twenty-six people, Mr. Shaun," she spat, "and you say it's to teach, and test? One of my colleagues had to listen to his daughter scream until she died, tonight. How could that possibly be teaching?"

"Someone so close-minded as you wouldn't understand Miss Sidle."

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Brass, Grissom, and Doc Robbins stood over Ellie's body. Brass was remaining silent.

"COD is massive drug overdose," said Doc Robbins, "Learned that much from Tox. They also found traces of a heavy sedative in her blood-stream, so I'm guessing she wasn't awake for most of it. Other than the bruises, that's all I can really tell you... I'm sorry, Jim."

"Thanks, Doc... At least we got the guy," said Brass, sadly. "Gil, shouldn't you be home with Sara and Summer?"

"I wanted to make sure you were okay, and that we had the guy, beyond a shadow of a doubt. All the ladies are at the hospital, getting checked out now, so I've still got time."

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Meanwhile, Sara was getting very close to losing control, and either hitting, or killing Eli Shaun. It wasn't anything it was saying. It was the way he was looking. That superior, smug look. He felt no remorse for what he'd done, and that had never been something Sara could comprehend.

"It was that hair, wasn't it?" he asked, finally, "the one I left at that house that led you to Daisy."

"Yes, it was. You sound surprised," it was Sara's turn to look smug, "You should have been more careful."

"Careful had nothing to do with it. I meant for you to find it. I just didn't expect you to find it that fast."

"You said it yourself, Mr. Shaun, we solve cases other labs render unsolvable. You should have known just who you were fucking with."

"That's not any way to talk to someone, now is it?" he scolded, only further annoying Sara.

"You kidnapped my daughter," she spat, "I think that gives me the right to talk you however the hell I want."

He only smirked, "why not just have me taken away now, Miss Sidle... I can see you're starting to lose control... You hurt me, and you'll have a hard time getting out of trouble."

"Not a single person here would fault me for killing you, right here and now," Sara warned, "But, I'd rather see you rot in prison for the rest of your life. Twenty-six murder charges, not to mention kidnapping? You're looking at a long time behind bars. And believe me, I am sure that some of the people you've hurt here can find ways to make your prison life so bad you'll wish that I'd killed you." She shoved herself away from the table, and left the room abruptly. Outside were her friends, getting ready to leave. All but Brass.

"Don't bother Brass," she said, "There are other ways of getting revenge." Even though she said that, there was nothing more she would have liked to do than to take a leaf out of Lady Heather's book, and beat the shit out of the man.

But that didn't matter right then. What mattered was that she and the others had to get to the hospital. Well, except for Greg, he had to get home. From the smile he wore as he talked to Beth on the phone, he was going to get a hero's welcome.

"Come on, guys... Let's get out of here. " said Warrick, "And not come back, for a week or so."

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No that's not the end. Two chaps left.