"But-" Nick tried, but was cut off by his best friend.
"No. I'm not letting you do that. It's suicide man. You can't see well, especially at night, and can barely use your hands. How do you think you're gonna fight him off if you have to?"
Nick sighed. "It's the only choice we have."
Warrick shook his head. "No it's not. Why don't we just have some cops wait at your house for Ryan to come back tonight and arrest him then? Why do we have to go through with some elaborate plan, putting your life on the line and hope it works?"
"If he even thinks cops are at my house, he won't show up and kill me later."
"I agree with Warrick more than you on this one Nicky." Grissom said.
"Me too." Jeremy chimed in. "How do you know that Ryan doesn't know you're here right now?"
"I don't." Nick said. "But he doesn't want to kill me. He wants me to go to jail and suffer for the rest of my life. He'll only kill me if he has to."
"How do you know that?" Warrick asked. "This isn't Eric."
"I know. It's his kid. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Besides, he's not a criminal. If he was, he would have worked for his dad instead of being ignored. If he wanted to kill me, I would be dead by now." Nick said, trying to reason with his friends and brother.
Brass was just as skeptical as Warrick and Grissom. "I like where your heads at in this, you're really considering a lot. But you just can't be certain of anything. What if something goes wrong?" He asked.
"Ryan's smart. He found out who I am and where I live. He knows better than to kill innocent people. No one's at risk but me." Nick said.
"And that's supposed to make me feel better?" Warrick said as he unfolded his arms and held up his hands.
"Do you have any better ideas?" Nick asked.
"Yeah. Stay here, where no one can hurt you. We send a bunch of cops out and find this guy and lock him up. Problem solved."
"It's not that easy. We didn't know about him before, I didn't even know he existed until he showed up at my door. He's smart." Nick was trying his hardest to convince the four other men in the room to let him go through with his plan. He felt like he was making some progress.
"Okay..." Grissom said slowly, stopping Warrick from saying anything else so the two friends wouldn't get into a fight. "Let's go through this one more time. What exactly are you planning to do and how Nick?" He asked.
"Ryan said he would be at my house at ten tonight." Nick had just realized how long he had been in Brass' office when Ryan showing up tomorrow turned into tonight. "I'm gonna go out to the warehouse after he tells me where it is. He'll probably make me drive his car out there so you won't be able to follow it with GPS or anything. But I can text you where I am. That way, when Ryan calls it in, you'll already be close enough and get there sooner than he expects. He's not gonna take any chances, so he won't leave until I'm arrested. That's where Jeremy comes in. Get a bunch of cops around me and I'll sneak off and find where Ryan or his car is. He'll see Jeremy get put in the car so he won't expect to see me coming."
"Why don't I just go find him instead of you?" Jeremy asked, not wanting to put his little brother in any more dangerous situations. He still hadn't been able to go home, even after Nick had gotten out of the hospital. He needed to be sure he was gonna be okay.
Nick shook his head. "No. He's not after you, he's after me. So you're not gonna be put in danger, or anyone else. When I find him...I don't really know. There'll still be cops there to 'process' the drugs and whatever, so it's not like I'll be totally alone. I can let them know where he is." When all Nick got in repsonse were four empty stares, he smiled slightly. "Oh come on guys. Haven't you seen enough movies where they say, 'This is just crazy enough to work' ?"
Right now, Warrick wished Nick could be serious all the time. "This isn't a movie. This is real life. This is your life. It's not a game."
Nick sighed, but was still smiling. "I know. Thank God it isn't a game...if it was, I'd be losing by a lot by now."
After another two hours or arguing and then eventually planning how everything was going to happen, Nick was finally leaving Brass' office with Warrick, Jeremy and Grissom behind him. He was glad that he had finally convinced them to let him go through with his plan, and with not too much time to spare. It was almost seven, so Ryan would be back at his house by ten. Nick thought that this whole thing wasn't that big of a deal and was actually kind of childish. Eric's kid wanted revenge, so he devised a somewhat idiotic scheme to get it. Nick thought his plan was a lot better than Ryan's.
Everyone else wasn't as sure as Nick was. Jeremy hadn't agreed to his idea at all, he was just going along with it to be supportive of his little brother and try to be of as much help as possible. He thought it'd be better to stick Nick in a bullet proof bubble and keep him there until his safety was guranteed. Then he could be let out. Maybe.
Warrick had reluctantly agreed to let Nick go through with it, but only because he wanted everything to be over and done with as soon as possible. He didn't want his best friend to be put in danger again, but he certainly didn't want Nick to have to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life because Ryan go away or something. There was no easy way out.
Brass and Grissom were just as scared as Jeremy and Warrick, but were hiding it a lot better thanks to their years of experience with dangerous situations. Grissom was thankful that Brass was handling all the important stuff like making sure the right people were in the right places at the right time. There was no margin for error or second chances. If anything seemed like it might go wrong, everyone would be quickly brought to safety. Brass wasn't going to leave Nick alone anywhere for any longer than he absolutly had to. Grissom was worried sick about his CSI level three's health, and couldn't honestly say he trusted Jeremy. Neither Brass nor Grissom were overly concerned with catching Ryan at the moment.
All anyone cared about was Nick.
Before anyone could have any second thoughts or try to talk him out of it, Nick took his leave, wanting to get back to his house as soon as he could in case Ryan was watching or wondering where he was. The other three men tried to act like Nick was just going home after work and they would see him tomorrow. Brass disappeared back into his office to get everything set along with Grissom, leaving Jeremy to watch his younger brother head back to his house with Warrick. He sighed and told himself he would see him tonight, and then for many years after that.
If anything but that was the case, Jeremy wasn't sure what he would do. He couldn't even bare the thought of losing Nick.
Nick was glad that Warrick was concentrating more on the road than on him. He knew Warrick was worried about him, but it would be a lot easier for Nick to relax if his friend was calm as well. He almost had himself convinced that if the worst case scenario did actually happen, that it could turn out to be the best for everyone. If for whatever reason he ended up dying tonight, Nick thought everyone would be somewhat relieved because they wouldn't have to worry about him constantly. And to be honest, he was starting to get sick of his bad luck.
Warrick turned onto Nick's street, giving them only about two minutes until they go to Nick's house. The older man by only a year decided to take this time to break the silence that had filled the car for the entire ride.
"Promise you're going to be careful." He said, never taking his eyes off the road in front of him.
Nick nodded. "I promise. Nothing's gonna go wrong."
"You don't know that. What if something does? Do you have any idea what-" Warrick stopped himself and forced his mind to think of something other than his best friend's lifeless body lying in Doc Robbins morgue on a silver table in front of him. "Just be careful, okay?"
Nick looked across the car at Warrick and could see the worry in his eyes. He understood how hard this was, and was willing to do anything to ease Warrick's mind. "I promise I will be."
Warrick pulled into Nick's driveway and put the Denali in park before finally looking over at Nick. "You promise you will be?"
Nick smiled. "I promise." He said again.
"Now that's three times you've promised. It's like a sin to break it now." Warrick said, smiling slightly himself. "I'll see ya later bro."
Nick leaned in and pulled Warrick into a brief hug before openening the door and stepping out. "Count on it." He said with another smile before closing the door and heading into his house. Warrick waited until Nick was completely inside and he had taken a good look around to make sure no one else was there before finally pulling out of the driveway and heading back to LVPD to wait.
The worst part was going to be sitting there. Waiting.