Hey guys, ya'll must be shocked at having two chapters posted without a massive gap inbetween haha! What can I say, I've been on a bit of a roll recently. I finished this chapter and ploughed straight into chapter fifteen, which is finished and waiting to be typed up. I've bene trying to make the next few chapters leading up to the end of this fic a bit longer. Anyway, enough from me, here's chapter fourteen.
Vartann knew he's broken God knows how many speed limits on his way to Sam's house but there wasn't one part of him that cared. He'd pulled off the highway and seen the other four patrol cars heading the same way, and the relief he'd felt had been palpable. As he'd made his way to the front of the line he'd signalled to each driver, silently asking that they follow his lead.
Now, as the turned down the long winding road that lead to the property he was incredibly grateful for the bond he shared with his brothers and sister in blue; he killed his siren but kept his lights flashing, and each of the cars behind followed suit. They understood he wanted to retain the element of surprise for as long as he could. Around 600 meters from the driveway entrance he killed his headlights, knowing instinctively that the other officers were doing the same in their own vehicles. Lou slowed as he approached the stone archway, frowning at the two figures that came into view. He was out of the car before it had come to a complete stop, gun drawn by his side. One of them turned and he relaxed slightly, holstering his weapon for the time being.
"The cavalry's arrived." Greg's greeting was uncharacteristically flat. Sara ignored him and stepped toward Vartann, her body tense and her face grim.
"Grissom, Brass and Catherine are still inside. Whoever's doing this announced over loud speaker that Greg and I had to leave within a minute or he'd blow the whole house. He's got a bomb, he must be able to manually detonate as he's got signal jammers round the entire perimeter. You might want to check your phone" Her expression changed suddenly; she blinked a few times and cleared her throat before continuing. "Warrick is dead. The son of a bitch slit his throat and left him in a room for us to find. He's watching the entire house, he's tapped into Sam's security cameras so he can see everything. We don't know who he is or what he wants, and now our friends are trapped at his mercy." Sara finished her update and turned away abruptly, stalking a few feet before fixing her gaze on the house before them.
Greg and Vartann exchanged glances, silently agreeing to leave her alone for as long as she needed. The latter extended his arm, squeezing the younger man's shoulder before turning and walking back to the assembled group of officers, intent on passing on this new information. Within a few minutes Vartann returned, gesturing to Greg to follow as he approached Sara. His eyebrow rose in surprise at the plume of smoke that escaped her lips on the exhale; a beat later he noticed the cigarette clenched between her fingers. He waited for her eyes to meet his, a silent acknowledgement before he spoke.
"Vega is taking a group to scout the perimeter. They're sticking close to the road to hopefully avoid the security cameras. We're also trying to contact Sam. There's some information on the plans that are public but I'm sure he knows more about the house than what's there." He paused for a moment, preparing himself for the reactions he was about to elicit.
"Sophia is interrogating the mole as we speak. It's Judy."
Both Sara and Greg gaped at him.
"Judy?" Greg shook his head. "Small, mousey, works on reception, wouldn't say boo to a goose Judy?"
"Who's know us all, worked alongside us all for years yet still helped this bastard orchestrate this?" Simmering heat filtered off Sara in waves as realisation after realisation washed over her. "She fed him the information about the safe house. Told him when to detonate the bomb in the garage. God damn it!"
She lashed out, kicking hard at a rock and sending it skittering into the night.
"She is the reason Nick is in the hospital and Warrick is lying dead in a room in that house!"
"The last I head from Sophia she wasn't saying much apart from the fact that he wants to kill the whole team. Which begs the question, why did he let you two go?"
"Grissom," Greg spoke up. "We think he must've tried to reason with the guy and get him to release the rest of us while he stayed; just before the timer started this psycho said something about Catherine and Brass having to stay as they'd worked the case with Grissom."
"That means whoever this guy is he's involved with a case from before the four of you worked at the lab." Vartann's brain was running on overdrive as it started piecing things together.
"That's got to be hundreds of cases."
Vartann had already started to move, so Greg had to raise his voice as he and Sara followed behind. The detective didn't stop until he reached his vehicle, pulling open the door and leaning inside. A few moments passed before he straightened, a satelite phone grasped in his hand.
"Archie gave me this before I left the lab." He flipped up the antenna before punching in a number and putting it to his ear. Sara and Greg exchanged a smile.
"A sat phone won't be affected by the signal jammers. God I love that guy."
Vartann rolled his eyes at the younger man while he waited for the call to connect.
"Vartann? What do you need? Is everything ok?"
"Woah. First off, good call on the phone, this guy has blocked all cell phone signals. Is there any way to access the case file database? I know it's a needle in a haystack but search for cases only Grissom, Catherine and Brass worked together before the others joined the team."
"I'm on it. Let me know if you need anything else. I'll be in touch."
Archie rang off and Vartann shut down the phone.
"What now? We can't just stand around doing nothing!" Sara ran a frustrated hand thought her hair, glancing back at the darkened house.
"I want you to tell me everything you can about that place, where the others might be in the building, anything that could help us get in there. When Vega and his team get back we can combine everything we know and try to come up with a plan. We're going to get them out of there, no matter what it takes."
Hope ya'll liked it
Lily
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