A/N: I do not own CSI, no matter how much I wish I did.

It had been about an hour and a half since Reichman had called Grissom. Ecklie had finally managed to round up all the available CSI's from days and swing as well as the sheriff, who would be briefing about a hundred uniformed officers on the situation, and all the lab techs that worked on all shifts. Brass was also there looking particularly grave.

In the time it had taken Ecklie to round up the troops, Grissom had hooked his cell phone up to a remote tracer so they would be able to tell where the call was coming from and he had also managed to calm down just a little bit. He didn't think that Reichman would harm his team…not just yet anyway. But either way, time was of the essence and Grissom was making the most of his.

Since the break room in the lab was too small to hold everyone, Grissom had decided they should meet in the garage. Ecklie had managed to procure an amplifier and a microphone to ensure that everyone could hear properly. Grissom was sitting at the front of the assembled crowd waiting for the last of the team to assemble when Ecklie came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. Grissom raised his eyebrows.

"Yes?"

"Uh…listen, Gil," Ecklie said, obviously uncomfortable. "I just got done talking to Brass and he told me that this Reichman character didn't just kidnap Brown, Stokes, Sanders, and Willows. Brass said that Sara Sidle was also kidnapped." Ecklie stopped for a moment and looked at Grissom. Grissom merely stared at the man blankly, unwilling or perhaps unable to say anything.

Ecklie cleared his throat and plowed on. "I uh, wasn't aware that you even knew where Sidle was," the assistant lab director said slowly. "I thought she just left with no indication of where she was going."

Grissom closed his eyes. It looked to Ecklie as though he had fallen asleep. The man had turned to leave when Grissom spoke. Ecklie turned back to him and found that supervisor's eyes were moist.

"I didn't know where she was, Conrad," he said in a rather constricted voice. "I still don't know where she is. I don't even know how Reichman knew I was ever involved with Sara."

Ecklie nodded and opened his mouth to speak when the sheriff interrupted.

"Let's get this party started, gentleman," the man said gruffly. "Time is something we have precious little of."

Grissom nodded and rose from his chair, grabbing the microphone as he went. He cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and then raised the mic to his mouth.

"Approximately an hour and a half ago," he began gravely. "I got a call from a man named Joseph Reichman. Reichman is a former CSI from Los Angeles. We worked together for several years until three of our fellow CSI's turned up murdered in the middle of the lab." Grissom paused to let that sink in. A ripple of shock passed around the room. Grissom took a deep breath and continued.

"I was a CSI level three at the time and was the only one available to investigate my colleague's deaths as I was the only CSI who had, without a doubt, not been in the lab that day. As the evidence mounted, I eliminated suspects, one by one, until my only reasonable conclusion was that Reichman had committed the murders. There was just one problem: I had no physical evidence linking him to the crime. There were no fingerprints, no DNA, his gun had not been used in the murders, and no one could remember seeing him in the lab that day, though he had clocked in. I could not prove that Reichman had done so much as look at the three dead CSI's, much less that he had murdered them. I was forced to drop the case and Reichman walked free, though he had to leave the law enforcement field after the disgrace of being arrested on suspicion of murder." Grissom stopped again, letting them process that information.

"What does this have to do with anything?" an angry voice rang out from the back of the crowd. "And why isn't your team taking care of this, Grissom? It's 4:30 in the morning. This is grave's responsibility, not days or swing."

Grissom looked and saw that one of the CSI's from days, Martin Brubaker, was the one who had spoken. Brubaker's face was red and there were deep bags under his eyes. It looked as though the CSI had been in bed when he received Ecklie's call. Grissom took a deep, steadying breath, trying to control the anger in his voice.

"Why isn't my team taking care of this, Brubaker?" he asked, his eyes blazing. "I'll tell you why." Grissom paused and stared at the man. "My team was kidnapped by Reichman."

Brubaker, and indeed everyone else, looked as though they had been slapped. Faces paled throughout the room and many people gasped audibly. Ronnie Lake, Sara's former partner, looked close to tears. Grissom allowed them a moment to calm down a bit and then plowed on.

"Here's what we know," he said, slipping into his role as lead CSI and supervisor. "Reichman lured my team away from the lab with a staged triple homicide. Though we haven't had a chance to process the scene or, indeed, even go to the scene he probably took them once they were inside. Detective Brass checked with the officer that was on the scene shortly after I notified him of the kidnapping and the officer said he hadn't even realized that they were missing. I need three volunteers to go and process the scene."

Immediately, seven hands shot into the air. Grissom felt his knees go weak with gratitude.

"Thank you," he said softly. He selected Karen Marks and Randy Jenkins from days and George Emerson from swing. As the trio left to collect their field kits, Grissom put the mic back up to his mouth. "Next, we need two people to do background checks on Reichman and find out everything about him: where he sleeps, where he eats, what he likes to do in his spare time, financial records…everything. I'd like Ronnie Lake and Ernie Roberts to handle that."

Ronnie and Ernie, both from swing, nodded and headed out the door to start the background check. Grissom continued on and assigned the various other people to their various tasks. When the room was empty of everyone but him and Brass, he looked over at the detective and let the mask of surety and calm that he had been wearing slip off.

"You okay, Gil?"

Grissom took a shaky breathe and then shook his head. "No, Jim. I'm not okay," he said. He sounded exhausted.

Jim felt a pang of sympathy for his friend. "Gil…are you sure you shouldn't recuse yourself from this case? You're obviously emotionally involved in this case. I mean…this is your team, Gil. A good defense attorney is going to say that you weren't able to look at this case objectively."

Brass watched as pain clouded Grissom's face. The man looked so downcast that Brass suddenly wished he hadn't said anything.

"I know I should, Jim," he said slowly. "But I…I can't. I have to do something, I have to be involved. Otherwise…I'm going to go crazy. Reichman has my team, Jim…and my fiancé. I can't just sit back and watch while they're in danger."

Brass nodded. He had already known how Grissom would answer the question. "Here's an idea for you. Why don't you name Ecklie as the supervisor for the case? He can take care of all the legalities and you can coordinate everything."

Grissom started to shake his head, but after thinking about it for a minute he changed to a nod. "I think you're probably right, Jim." Grissom ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his eyes blearily. "I think I'll go back to my office and see if I can find anything out about this staged murder that lured my team into a trap."

"I'll come with you and give Ecklie a call."

Grissom nodded and he and Brass made their way back towards Grissom's office. As quiet as the lab had been earlier in the morning, it was now a bustle of activity as everyone worked their hardest to try and find the missing CSI's. It was just after 6 AM, about 3 hours since Grissom had received the initial call.

When Brass and Grissom reached Grissom's office the latter seated himself behind his desk and the former sat down at a chair in front of Grissom's desk. Grissom opened up his laptop and logged in. He had just started looking through the case database when a sharp trill rang out through the office. Brass looked down at his cell phone and shook his head. Heart pounding, Grissom clicked the window on his laptop that brought up the call tracing program and flipped the computer around so Brass could see it. Hands shaking slightly, Grissom flipped open his cell phone and answered as calmly as he could.

"Grissom."

"So good to hear your voice, Gil," said the sneering voice of Joseph Reichman.

"Where is my team, Joseph?"

Reichman laughed harshly. "Now, really, Gil… Do you think I would actually tell you that?"

"No, but it was worth a shot." Grissom glanced up at Brass who was focusing on the computer. He shook his head slightly, indicating that a trace hadn't been made yet.

"You should know better, Gil."

Grissom didn't reply, but continued to watch Brass. The detective's eyebrows were knitted together in concentration, his eyes searching the screen, waiting. Waiting…

"Anyway, I told you that I would let you talk to another of your team members and I'm a man of my word. Here's a little treat for you." There was a sound of the phone passing through the air and then Grissom heard Reichman say something in the background. Finally, someone spoke.

"Gil?"

Grissom felt his heart stop. "S…Sara?"

Dun, dun, dun! Cliffie! TBC. Reviewslove ;)