"So what we got?" Detective Don Flack asked, as he and Sheldon Hawkes came into the bank lobby up Mac and Stella's sides. They shot them a glance as they looked up from their work. "Where are Danny and Lindsay? I thought they were on this case as well?"
"They're in the vault," Stella answered, as she got to her feet and wiped her hands on her pant legs. "They walked into the vault, tripped a trip wire of a bomb, and sealed the door behind them."
"Oh, nice," Flack said, as he looked over at the techs who were working to get the door open. "So what us to do?"
"Run the tapes," Mac said, as he looked over at them. "They got away with more than what was thought of."
"Like how much more?"
"They said like four to five safe deposit boxes. Danny and Lindsay counted between twenty and fifty gone."
"It is true about the snake and the bomb?" Hawkes asked, as he looked over at them.
"Yeah," Stella said, with a small smile. "Seems someone left a rattler inside one of the boxes to protect his diamonds. That was one of the boxes left in there, along with one of the boxes that had explosives in it. Danny got upset at the snake and kicked the box with the explosives and blew it up."
"Go, Danny. They okay?"
"For now," Mac said, as he shot a weary look over at the vault. "They are inside processing the bodies inside. Trying to stay calm, not get on each others nerves."
"That's gotta be fun for them. Lindsay's claustrophobic." Stella looked up at him. "It's in her medical file."
"Yeah, they're gonna be just fine," Flack said, as he slid an arm around Hawkes' shoulder. "Come on, partner. We gotta go look at tapes. This should be fun. You know how many people come to a bank on the daily basis."
"I'm going go have to say, a lot," Hawkes replied, as he followed Flack.
"They'll be okay, Stella," Mac said, as he followed her gaze to the vault. "They're good friends. They'll pull through this. Trust me."
"I know, I just hope that they're doing okay." She then went back to processing the scene.
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"Okay, this is just stupid," Lindsay said, as she struggled to keep her hold on the camera as she sneezed. She felt a hand on her back and she looked up to see deep concern in Danny's eyes. "I'm okay. I just had to sneeze."
"You sure?" he asked, as he hunched down next to her. They had processed two of the four bodies, and were starting to get somewhat tired. "You want to take a break? 'Cause they aren't going anywhere." A smile small crossed her face. She shook her head no, as she turned to face the next body and froze. Danny automatically was next to her and placed a hand on her back. "Linds?"
"Danny," she whispered to him, causing him to look at her, and then over at the man. "He's just moved and he's got a gun." Danny's eyes snapped to the man's hands to see the gun and they widen. "Don't move. He's a security guard for the bank, and I think he's in shock. I don't think he knows what's going on."
"Okay, let's take this easy then," Danny mouthed, as he slid an arm around her waist, and pulled her back into his chest. She automatically tensed up in his arms and he moved his head down so that his mouth was right next to her ear. "Relax, Montana, I won't hurt you. I promise you. You have to trust me."
"I'm staring at a guy with a gun," she replied, as she started to shake. "I really can't relax all that much more."
Danny slid down to the floor and pulled Lindsay into his lap. She kept her eyes trained on the man. "Linds, just relax. I won't let anything happen to you."
"What happened?" the man asked, in a gasp of a voice. Lindsay froze in Danny's hold and he tightened his hold on her. "Who are you? Answer me? Now?'
"My name is Danny Messer and this is Lindsay Monroe and we're with the Crime Lab," Danny began, as he kept his voice level, as he looked at the man. "Do you remember what happened?"
"Yeah, the bank got robbed," the man said, as he started to sit up only to gasp and fall back. "I got shot."
"You shouldn't move," Lindsay said, as she looked over at him. "You're in shock."
"I know that," the man snapped at him, and she jumped. Danny licked his lips as he looked at the man. "My name is Stan Marks. I've been on this job for fifteen years. Probably longer than you've been around, sweety."
"Okay, back off words, man," Danny replied. "We're the only friends you got right now, being that we're trapped in this nice vault."
"Oh, that's just nice," Stan snapped, as he looked over at them. "Well you can get up. You don't have to sit on the floor anymore. I won't shoot you yet." Lindsay quickly scrambled out of Danny's lap and he got to his feet, quickly pulling her back to his side. "Put I want to see your badges. I don't trust your words."
"You're got to be kidding me," Lindsay muttered, as she took off her badge and showed it to Stan along with Danny's. "Happy now."
"Not really." Stan then shot her a smile that made her skin want to crawl. "So what's a girl like you doing here?"
"Blowing up snakes and processing bodies," she said, as she turned to face Danny. "I'm going to call Mac and tell him about Stan. You talk to him." She then moved away from him.
"What's with her?" Stan asked Danny, as he watched her go. "She's cute. I would like to take her home some time." Danny shot him a glare. "What? You take that home?" Stan then chuckled. "No, you just wish you did."
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Mac answered his phone on the third ring. "Hey, Lindsay," he said, with a smile. "It's nice to hear your voice. What! A survivor. A vest. That makes sense. Okay. We're still working on the door. Keep him company. Don't let him touch anything. Keep calm. Don't let him bother you guys too much. Bye." He hung up and turned to see that Stella was looking up at him. "Seems that one of the bodies wasn't really dead. One of the guards' vests saved him. He's hitting on Lindsay and she wants to shoot him."
"Bet Danny is loving that," Stella said with a smile, as she came up to his side. "If that doesn't bring them more together, I don't know what will." Just then one of the techs came up to them with a scared look on their faces. "What's wrong?"
"We just blew the temp controls to hell," he replied. "It's gonna get freezing cold in there."
"You're kidding."
"No, I'm not. You better call your people and tell them."
"I'll do it," Mac said, as he grabbed his phone and dialed Danny's phone.
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"So where you from?" Stan asked Lindsay as she continued to take pictures of the last body. "What? You not going to talk to me now?"
Lindsay bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from yelling at Stan to shut up. She then heard Danny say goodbye to Mac and looked up at him to see a worried look on his face. "What's up?" she asked him, as he came up to her side.
"It's going get cold in here," he said, as he looked around. "While trying to get us out, the techs broke the temp controls. So it's going to get really cold in here."
"Oh, lovely," she said, as she quickly finished taking the last pictures on the roll and put the camera away. "Okay, pictures are taken. Now what do you want to do now?"
"Now we take a little break before we start to process them for fibers and other stuff," he said with a smile.
"Sounds like fun." She moved over to his side. She then dropped her voice so that he could only hear her. "More fun than talking to Stan." He then chuckled, as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
"Oh, Montana, what are we going to do with you?" He rested his head against her and looked deep into her eyes.
"I have no idea." She then gently shoved his shoulder and he smirked as he looked down at her. "Come on, we got to get back to work."
"Right, work. So much for that break."
TBC
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