Hey guys, here's the latest update from me. It's been slow but I'm getting there. Chapter fourteen was finished finally this afternoon and I've made a start on chapter fifteen. Apologies that these last few chapters haven't been very long, hopefully chapter fifteen will be longer. Hope ya'll are still enjoying it.

"Sidle and Sanders, you both have precisely 60 seconds from the time I finish speaking to make your way downstairs and leave through the front door..."

The three CSIs upstairs froze in their progress along the corridor as the voice boomed commands from the speaker above their heads.
"What the hell..." Greg muttered, a stern 'shush' of reprimand quieting any further protests. At the word 'IED' the three friends exchanged alarmed looks; Sara shook her head as she read between the lines of the following admission - of course Grissom would try to save the rest of them at his own expense. She chanced a glance at Catherine; the blonde's expression was unreadable.

"Sidle and Sanders, your 60 seconds start... NOW!"

In an instant Catherine's whole demeanor changed. She set her jaw and pushed off from the wall, grabbing Greg's wrist and nudging Sara sharply ahead of her in the direction of the stairs.
"Cath?"
"You need to move. Now."
As they rounded the corner and approached the staircase Greg dug his heels in, causing Catherine to grind to a halt and Sara to turn and see why she was no longer being nudged.
"Cath we're not doing this."
"Greg you need to move!"
"We're not leaving you!"
"THERE'S NO TIME!"

Both Sara and Greg were stunned by the intensity behind the older woman's words; she used their momentary distraction to her advantage and had ushered them to the bottom of the stairs before they quite realised what she was doing."
"Catherine..."
"30 seconds!"
"You need to go. Now. If you stay we all die."
Sara and Greg shared a look and started for the door, only making it a few steps beofre realising Catherine hadn't moved.
"I'm staying here. Last thing we want is this bastard thinking I'm coming with you and blowing us all to hell." She smiled at them from the bottom step, her blue eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

Her friends moved as one, rushing back towards her and enveloping her in a fierce embrace. A few tears escaped as she hugged them back.
"We'll get you guys out of here, but you're going to need this," Sara whispered, sliding her gun between Catherine's and Greg's bodies before tucking it into the other woman's waistband, grateful that for once she'd worn a baggy t-shirt instead of the skin tight ones she usually did. With one last squeeze Greg and Sara released their friend and dashed toward the door, the former yanking it open. The brunette risked one last glance at Catherine before allowing herself to be pulled outside and letting the large door swing shut behind her with a click.

No sooner had it closed than a loud buzzer sounded, making Catherine jump out of her skin and release the sob she'd been trying to suppress.
"Asshole," she muttered, swiping angrily as the few tears that had slid down her cheeks while trying to calm her racing heart. Taking a deep breath she descended the last step tentatively; she didn't trust this son of a bitch as far as she could throw him. She'd made it half way across the entrance hall, staying as far away from the front door as she could, when the voice rang from the speakers.
"Ms Willows, if you'd be so kind as to join us in the den I'd be most grateful."
"Screw you," she muttered but complied, heading down the hallway and entering the den.
Both men turned as she walked through the door, pushing it shut behind her. Grissom's eyes locked with Catherine's as she moved further into the room, silent questions passing between them. She gave one short sharp nod of her head, confirmation that their friends had indeed made it out of the building. He visibly relaxed, but the feeling of relief was short lived as Martin's voice surrounded them once more.
"Thank you for joining us Ms Willows. Now the real fun begins."

Greg and Sara ran down the long driveway away from the house, the former glancing over his shoulder as they moved while the brunette checked her phone every few feet, waiting for the moment they were out of range of the signal jammers. They finally stopped running as they passed under the brick archway where the gravel of the drive met the asphalt of the main road.
"Anything?" Greg gestured to the cell phone in Sara's hand, breathing hard. The woman shook her head and bent at the knees, inhaling vast lung fulls of oxygen even though the chilled night air burned her windpipe on the way down.
"How could we just leave them there?"
"You heard what he said Sar. If we'd stayed he'd have blown the whole house to smithereens. At least this way we've all got a chance."
She turned to face him and Greg swore he could see the cogs of her brain turning. "What is it?"

She straightened and looked back to the dark house before glancing down at her phone then finally meeting his gaze.
"The bomb in the lab was detonated remotely using a cell phone." Greg nodded but stayed quiet as she continued. "With the siganl jammers he's set up to stop us calling for help, it means he won't be able to make the call to set off the bomb here. He'd have to detonate it manually."
Her companion's eyes widened as realisation began to creep in.

"After Warrick... He didn't leave the house. He's still in there with them and they have no idea."
Sara nodded grimly, barely registering the faint blue and red lights approaching in the distant darkness.

"It also means he has nothing left to lose. This is a suicide mission and he plans on taking Cath, Grissom and Brass with him."
*********

Thanks for reading

Lily
-x-