Chapter Eight: Into the Forest

With a sullen sigh Catherine pulled her sunglasses off, glancing at the area before them. Nick was behind her side, discussing the situation quietly with one of the officers. The small charter plane had dropped them off a little more than two hours ago, and straight after that a rental car had taken them to the lab. From there they had gone straight out the scene, with grim explanations on the way.

The on scene officer had been wounded, and was being treated when they arrived. She could hear Nick sigh behind her as he turned to another page.

"You want to tell me again what happened?" Nick asked him, "This time go a little bit slower."

"I was watching the scene like I was supposed to," he started out, wetting his lips as he did so. He had to pause as the medic wrapped the white gauze around his injured arm, wincing as it came in contact with the wound.

"Everything was going fine…then he started acting weird…"

"Can you be a little more specific?" Nick wondered quietly, jotting down a few sparse notes.

"Well, Mr. Sanders…he started getting angry. He was yelling and started to push the lady around. I tried to break it up…then he pulled a gun out."

"We are currently aware that Mr. Sanders does not carry a gun," Nick informed the officer, feeling a little awkward to be announcing his friend with such formality. He disregarded that notion quickly afterwards. At this point, both Greg and Sara were suspects; he could not bring his on personal feelings into the investigation.

"No," Mckinely shook his head. "He took it from Miss Sidle. There was a brief struggle between them."

"And what did you do during this time?"

"Well, I pulled my gun out. But he already had the gun to her head. I didn't want to do anything to jeopardize her safety. I had no choice but to comply…"

"What happened afterwards," Nick asked him, moving to watch the man's face. It was beginning to sound a little more than fabricated now.

"I don't know for sure…there was a lot of yelling, and screaming…fighting. The gun went off, I returned fire…I was hit with one of his bullets, and that's when it stopped. They were gone."

"Can you tell me what direction they went in?"

Mckinely turned his head, gazing in that very direction, but quickly looked the other way. "North…they headed north."

"Are you sure?" Nick asked him, waiting for the answer.

"Positive."

"Do you have any idea where you are going?" Sara wondered briefly, nearly stumbling over a pile of rocks. "Any at all?"

"Not really," Greg muttered in return, continuing the tiresome trek uphill. "I figured we were going the same way we came."

"Unbelievable," Sara shook her head, scrambling up the hillside after him. She wasn't as flexible as he was when it came to outdoor adventures such as this. "You've gotten us lost again, the second time in two days. TWO days Greg. You're the only one that can manage something like that."

"I guess that makes me special then," he commented wryly, coming to a stop once he reached the top of the hill. "Besides, I know where I am. That defeats the entire purpose of being lost."

"Alright," Sara nodded as she came to a stop next to him, working to catch her breath. "Where are we?"

"Oregon," he answered simply, stepping over a log as he worked his way down the small hill.

She frowned, watching him as he half walked, half stumbled down the grassy side. "Well it's good to know we're still in the same state," she remarked sarcastically, moving carefully to follow him down.

"We need to find a river, or a trail…something that we can follow," Greg mused, ignoring her last comment.

"Well moss grows on the north side of trees," Sara offered up, coming up behind him.

It was Greg who frowned, glancing over his shoulder. "As well as south, east and west, even more so around these parts."

"Sun rises in the east, sets in the west," she offered up next, glancing toward the sky. "If we get a general position of the sun, keep it in mind…"

"Maybe," Greg said with a sigh, lowering himself to the ground. "Or maybe we should just stop walking."

"And do what?"

"Wait for someone to find us," he shrugged his shoulders, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Greg…" Sara drew in a breath, chewing on her lip. "No one knows we're gone. We weren't going to stop at the lab on our way back, and we're not expected back in Vegas until tomorrow at the earliest. We can pretty much assume our officer friend hasn't called anything in either. It's going to be days yet before anyone start to even worry. Even longer before a search is started. We're on our own out here."

"Talk about your encouraging thoughts," Greg muttered lightly, letting out a yawn.

"You want to hear more?" she wondered, not waiting for him to respond. "We have no food, no water. We have our phones, but without service that doesn't do us a lot of good. To top everything off, we have no idea where we are."

She stopped to find Greg laughing, frowning as she did so. "You find this amusing?"

"You want to know what the best part of this is?"

She raised an eyebrow waiting for him to continue.

He laughed again, shaking his head. "I'm paying 300 dollars a night for a hotel room I'm not even staying in. Isn't that great?"

She nodded slightly, still frowning. "I think the heat's getting to you." Sara lowered herself to the ground as well, sitting cross-legged in front of him, deciding to take a break as well since it was obvious Greg was in no hurry to go anywhere soon.

"Something on your mind?" Sara asked quietly, being the one to break the silence.

"Just thinking," Greg muttered quietly, staring at the ground now.

"Obviously," Sara laughed, earning a brief smile out of him.

He shifted, supporting his weight with his hands as he leaned back. "About Mckinely…why he wanted us dead…why someone's paying him to kill us off. I'm trying to remember if anyone had any grudges against the department. The scene was staged, obviously…so was everything one big plan to get back at someone?"

Sara shook her head, growing grim. "I honestly don't know Greg, I can't remember off the top of my head. I'd need to pull files, use resources."

"Just makes me wonder if we could have prepared for it," he muttered quietly.

Sara was quick in shaking her head. "No one knew about it," she told him. "How could anyone?"

"I don't know," Greg looked up at her. "It's just…hard to imagine this might be it."

"You're not giving up already are you?" Sara asked shocked, "It's been, what? Twelve hours since we've been out here, and you already have one foot in the grave."

He gave her a meek smile, tilting his head. "The odds are against us Sara; I'm only sticking to facts. You know them as well as I do."

"That doesn't mean anything," she reminded him. "We may be outnumbered, but we're not lost…well, we are lost, I meant metaphorically..."

"I know what you mean," Greg cut her off with a little smile. "We should keep walking," he finished quietly, moving to stand up. "We won't be able to see much when the sun goes down, so if we're going to get anywhere, we need to keep move."

She grasped the hand that was offered, giving him a comforting smile as he pulled her up. "You lead, I'll follow."

He as on medical leave; his department had made sure of it. Partially due to his injury, the other? Traumatic stress. He would argue, normally, but this only served to help him, give him time to think. It had taken less then ten minutes to come up with a reasonable plan, but had taken a lot more than guts to follow through on it.

Mckinely had waited a full two hours, pacing back in forth in front of the forested area. When he felt sure that the duo would not return in the same manner they had left the officer had discarded the CSI's gun, tossing it violently in the forest. There was only one thing left to do now. He turned his own gun on him.

The pain had been incredible, making him regret the action a second later. In the end it was necessary. If he returned without the CSI's it would arouse suspicion. And if he didn't come back at all, it would cause panic. The only way to get out of the mess was to create a problem.

Mckinely was good at lying. He had been doing so for the last few years now. Lying to his wife, to his children. Lying to his department. There were so many lies now it was hard to imagine how everything was still holding together. One lie led to another…this was the entire reason that he had gotten into this mess.

No one saw him as he drove away, glancing over his shoulder continuously as he did so. Luckily he had been able to convince everyone that he could drive home himself. He didn't need any escort. Twenty miles into town, a late night store where he bought essentials. Twenty minutes back.

He took care coming along the back side of the crime scene, taking care not to notice as he parked his car out of sight. Taking a moment to double check everything, Mckinely made his way out slowly, avoiding the lights, the sounds, and the commotion.

It would take him twice as long to reach the area as before and even longer to track the pair down. But it was necessary; he had come too far to turn back now. With a breath he clutched the fully loaded weapon in his good hand, heading deeper into the forest.

TBC