AN: Enjoy this wicked chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own CSI. I wish I did, cuz I have a lot of ideas that I wish that they'd put in the show.
In A Plexiglas Prison With You
Chapter 10: Of Life and Death
Silence had overtaken them when they decided to conserve their hoarse voices. Silence had driven him to stare at the pale face of the woman next to him. She was looking out the side of their prison, unaware that she was being watched. He enjoyed these moments where he could stare at her without her knowing. It was these moments that he saw just how much she had changed since their younger days in the '80's, where he'd devote what little free time he had to help her with her degree or take her mind off of her nights as a stripper.
Tonight, he saw all of their years together, the special moments in their lives that had brought them together. He could recall vividly her movements as she drank her coffee that night they had met. If he closed his eyes, he could still see the pride in her eyes as she showed him her new baby daughter. Every time he breathed, he felt like he was breathing in her scent as she hugged him in the hospital before his surgery. He could still feel her convulsions as she clung to him the night she had caught her husband cheating. He relived every moment spent with her as he stared down at her.
He remembered the first time he was able to enjoy a moment like this. It was the first night that he had realized that he did not know what he'd do if anything ever happened to her.
He gently lay her on the sofa, covering her pale form with a blanket. For a moment, he stood there, looking down at her sleeping form. She had cried herself to sleep. He wondered how she had found out about Stephanie. He assumed that it was Jimmy Tadero who had been the one to drop that nasty bomb.
He allowed himself to slink to the floor beside the sofa as he relived those past few hours. It had been a normal night until he got the call about a 419 at the French Palace. He was sure that the detectives and cops heard his heart pounding as he arrived on the scene. When he had heard about the case, he immediately thought of her. He had wondered if Eddie had gotten fed up with her dancing. He wondered if some pervert had stalked her after the show, wanting more than just a show. He wondered how he would react to seeing her slender body laying in a pool of blood, her once vibrant eyes dead and empty.
As horrible as it sounded, he was relieved when he saw dark hair instead of Catherine's strawberry blond. The lifeless eyes were brown not blue. He had sighed in relief and processed the scene with Ecklie and Tadero.
As he sat on the floor in his own home and gazed at her sleeping form, he realized just how broken he would have been if it had been her. She was his best friend; the only person who had taken the time the get to know him in years.
He knew very well that there was danger everywhere in this world. He knew he had no right to tell her that her job as an exotic dancer was wrong, but he knew that it placed her at an increased risk of winding up like Stephanie. Men ogled her every day. Some wanted more than a look. There were drunks, who got kicked out for being rowdy and violent. There were drug addicts, who could supply her with anything under the sun. There was Eddie Willows, a moron who's big mouth spelled trouble for both himself and Catherine. Hell, that club wasn't even in a good part of town, yet she insisted on parking her car at the coffee shop. He wished she'd make it easy and park somewhere where she could get in her car and go home. It was okay the times that he'd show up at the club and take her for a coffee afterwards, but it was the nights that he couldn't be there that fear gripped him with every call. Her life was precious to him; her death would devastate him.
"I told you that you had a staring problem," she said, surprising him. He sighed.
"I was thinking," he told her. She turned and looked at him.
"About what?"
"You. And the night Stephanie died," he admitted. She started.
"I thought about that too," she said, "I shouldn't have stormed out on you. You only wanted to keep me safe."
"It's okay," he shrugged, then he stared into her eyes and admitted his thoughts of that night, "When I got the call about a murder outside the French Palace, I thought that it was you. I wouldn't have been able to survive your funeral."
"I didn't know that I meant that much to you, Gil," she replied, touched by his sentiments.
"Well, you do," he revealed. They stared into each other's blue eyes for a long moment. All was still. His lips were only inches from hers. The moment was broken in an instant.
There was red in the water around them. They tore their gazes away from each other as saw chunks of blood and fish fall into the water.
"What the hell?" Catherine asked, scanning her surroundings. Grissom looked up at the top of the water, searching for the source of the bloody mess. More fish parts fell from the white underside of a boat.
"They're chumming!" Grissom cried in cold realization. They were trying to attract sharks.
Catherine screamed as a massive shark swooped in on a bloody clump of fish. She gripped his arm, hard. All of a sudden, hundreds of grey fins were thrashing towards a free meal.
"Oh my god!" Catherine breathed.
"They can't hurt us, Catherine," Gil told her, "We're in a box. They can't hurt us."
He was wrong. A long shark zoomed past to a piece of meat, his tail hitting a transparent hose. Gil and Catherine felt the prison move slightly.
"That hose…" Catherine gasped, "It's attached to here," she pointed to a small hole in her side of the coffin where she could see the air hose. There was a circular metal ring around the opening, preventing water from leaking into their prison.
"Cath!" he shouted from beside her, watching through the top as a piece of fish fell dangerously close to the tube. As soon as he said it, a shark swooped upon the meat, taking their air hose with it. With a violent shake of its head, the beast ripped the hose off of the coffin with a force so tremendous that it sent the prison and its occupants rolling across the ocean floor.
"Oh GOD!" Catherine shrieked as cold water gushed across their bodies.
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"The signal flashed out!" Lindsey cried from the backseat of the speeding Denali.
"What?" Nick asked, craning around from the front seat.
"They're back and- OH MY GOD!" Lindsey screamed, placing a hand on her mouth.
"WHAT?" Nick and Warrick yelled, as Warrick slammed on the breaks as he skidded into the marina parking lot.
"Water's gushing in!" Lindsey cried.
"Fuck!" Warrick growled, jumping out of the SUV.
"What's going on?" Brass called as he slammed his door as he, Annie, and Lily hopped out of his Taurus.
"We have to find them fast!" Nick cried, "Water's leaking into the box!"
"Oh no!" Lily gasped, her knees failing her. Annie caught her before she hit the pavement.
"Ms. Flynn and Lindsey are going to stay here!" Brass ordered, "The rest of us are going on the boat!"
Before Lindsey could protest, Nick, Greg, and Warrick broke into a run towards the docks, Sara, Brass, and Annie on their tales.
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The ocean looked like on large blue mass. The task of spotting the White brothers on the open sea seemed impossible. Sofia could see the waves rock small buoys. No one in their right mind would attempt to fish in that.
The helicopter flew over coves as waves licked the rocks, Sofia growing more and more agitated. Finally, several miles from the harbour, she spotted a white boat gliding over the wave tops with all the speed of a shark.
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"They're seven miles south of the harbour!" Sofia announced through the walkie.
"You heard her!" Brass shouted to Matt Glazer. The police boat cruised the waves as they sped towards their suspects. Warrick, Nick, Greg, and Sara waited with baited breath as a small white fishing boat came into view. This was it.
"Halt!" Glazer demanded through the loud speaker, "On behalf of the LAPD, we request that you stop and prepare to be boarded. Miraculously the boat stopped.
"What does the LAPD want with us?" Mark White questioned as he moved onto the deck. His tie was over his shoulder and blood lined his forearms and the cuffs of his rolled up shirt.
"Keep your hands where I can see them!" Brass shouted, pointing his gun at the man. White held up his hands in surrender.
"Miss your friends?" a second voice questioned. Annie and Glazer pointed their guns at Karl White, who was casually leaning on the rail of his boat.
"Hands where we can see them," Annie demanded. Like his brother, Karl raised his hands. He was still smirking, however, as Glazer and two uniforms pulled alongside of the vessel, ready to board it.
"Where are they?" Warrick growled, hopping onto the fishing boat with the rest of the law enforcement officials. In two strides, he reached Karl White.
"You'll never reach them in time," White chuckled. Warrick seized him by his shirt.
"Tell me, or I'll make it my business to watch both of you die by lethal injection!" he threatened.
"Warrick, my friend, are you hot for Willows? Is that why your marriage failed? Pity she's always ran to Grissom, though. Not you," White taunted. He barely flinched as Warrick raised a fist and decked him.
"Warrick!" Brass shouted, holding the younger man back.
"You think you're so smart, you little son of a-"
"I know more about all of you than you know about yourselves," Karl shot at him, "Why else do you think I put them in a box together?" he asked, "None of you dumb fucks have any idea that it'd kill Grissom to watch Willows die. I do. Hell, the bastard almost got himself killed when Charlie stuck a gun to her head. Dumbest thing I've ever seen."
"Alright, you've said enough," Glazer stepped forwards, putting the younger White brother in cuffs, "Why don't you follow your brother's example and shut the hell up?"
"Yes, Karl, shut up!" Mark hissed at his brother. It didn't take a CSI to figure out that Karl was more at ease with this arrest than Mark. Perhaps Mark hadn't even been informed that they'd be toying with the police. He had intended to flee and enjoy their perfect revenge. Karl merely smirked as he was led onto the police cruiser behind his brother.
"Make things a little easier on yourselves," Nick requested, appealing to Mark, "Tell us where our CSIs are and we can cut you a deal."
"Where are they?" Sara pleaded desperately.
"I'd rather watch them die for what they did to my family," Mark spat at him. Nick roughly shoved him into a seat.
"Here, here, bro!" Karl cheered, "For Charlie!" and with that, he broke away from Glazer and ran the length of the police boat. He was going to jump in the water! Greg and Brass attempted to chase after him, but before they could take two steps, Karl White ran headlong into Sara, sending them both into the icy ocean.
"Sara!" Nick shouted, rushing to the side. Sara's head broke water and she tried to swim one-armed to the boat. Then, there was a splash as White got his cuffed wrists in front of his body and heaved himself onto Sara, dunking her under water.
White was too strong. He easily overpowered her. She could feel the metal of the handcuff chain around her neck. Her cast made it impossible to fight back. It was like a dead weight, acting in conjunction with White as he dragged her to the ocean floor. The pressure of the chain around her neck and the water constricted her breathing. The more she struggled, the tighter White held her. She couldn't breathe. Everything swam in and out of focus. She was going to die.
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"Put it in the hole!" Grissom ordered, removing his damp shirt and passing it to Catherine. She grabbed it and stuffed it into a tight ball at attempted to wedge it on the opening, against the gushing water. It was hard.
Then she felt his hands over hers, helping her push the shirt deeper in the hole. Inspiration struck as she removed her hands and undid her own shirt, clumping it together with his in the growing opening. The harder they pushed on the shirts, the less water flowed into their prison.
Grissom knew that it was only a matter of time before the water would fill the coffin, but they had bought themselves some time. As he watched a crack start to spread around the gaping hole, he only hoped that they had enough time to fight for their lives.
TBC
AN: Please review if you want to know what happens next. I'd really appriciate it. It cheers me up to know that something I do is actually appriciated. Note: Sara still has her cast.