Hunters and Collectors
Disclaimer: CBS owns CSI
A/N Sorry but I couldn't kill off Sara, doesn't mean that I can't come close though.
Chapter 8
"Anything Gil? Or have they left?"
"Looks like they left Jim, but they were here and cleaned up after them, something is off in this room but I can't pinpoint it, I'm not overly familiar with it, do we have anyone who is closer to Sara, or at least has been in her apartment at all?"
"Only Sofia, she stayed with Sara for a few days a while back when she was injured on the job, I'll call her."
Sofia was surprised to kept in the loop this much, but it pleased her to be able to help a friend who had helped her when she needed it.
"Hey Jim what do you need?"
"Grissom says something is off in Sara's bedroom but he can't pinpoint it, it's just a feeling he has."
"Get him to describe it to me."
Handing Grissom the phone, Jim let him describe in detail the entire room.
"Dresser, 6 drawers, nothing seems disturbed, bed sheets stripped off and torn up, presumably for restraints of opportunity, nightstands, equally undisturbed, forensics magazines on them, drapes closed, closet open, clothing strewn everywhere, blankets and sheets tossed everywhere, steamer trunk padlocked shut so I can't check it, window closed…"
"Wait Grissom, go back one, steamer trunk, she never locks it, it's never had a lock, the catch won't engage without one. She keeps her blankets and sheets in it. Oh Christ Grissom, get that damned thing open and hurry."
Just then the nurse came into Sofia's room and quite categorically told her to get off the phone, it was getting her too agitated and sending her blood pressure too high.
"If you know what's good for you nurse, you'll get the hell out of here before I have you arrested, I'm trying to save someone's life here."
"Jim get me some bolt cutters quickly and get the EMTs up here now." He knew how Sara hated small dark spaces.
After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, a young police officer arrived with the bolt cutters and Grissom took hold of the lock while the young man clipped the lock off. Wrenching the lid off, the sight of Sara bound and gagged in that small space made his heart break, she wasn't conscious, she was barely breathing. Before lifting her out he removed the gag to allow her more air, Brass used his key to remove the handcuffs which were covered in blood from her shoulder wound and from cutting into her wrists, her ankles were left bound for now until she was out and Grissom could cut it off with his scissors.
All that mattered now was that she lived, and kept living, hopefully with him in her life. He privately thanked God for Sofia's curiosity and her powers of observation.
The EMTs managed to get her out of the trunk and start an IV, set up oxygen and discovered her broken ribs, now this had to be done with care and with a backboard.
"Mr Grissom we'll need your help to get her on the backboard, if you can lift her legs my partner will raise her torso so as not to disturb her ribs too much."
This they did and wheeled her outside to the waiting ambulance, Grissom of course went with her leaving Greg to finish off in the apartment but with assistance on the way in the form of Catherine.
Bruising and broken ribs were not new to Sara Sidle but gunshot wounds were still something of a novelty, if it could be called that, thankfully when she finally regained consciousness she was not in a small dark space but in a large white room with some glass panels and she could see her colleagues hovering outside in the corridor, Grissom was sitting beside her bed holding her hand.
'Looks like you aren't dead yet Sidle'
"Hey Grissom, you aren't hovering like a knight in shining armour are you?"
"Hi honey, sorry but you owe your thanks to someone else, it's hard to know what to look for in someone else's bedroom. Thankfully Sofia did so you are here because of her quick thinking."
"Isn't she still in hospital though?"
"That's true but they invented this wonderful thing called a telephone, I'll tell you all about it later."
Her expression changed from a grin to a frown abruptly.
"Have they been caught yet? George told me who did what and how he'd love to get his hands on the pretty blonde CSI, so if they haven't left the state, Catherine may or may not be in danger, where is she?"
"She's with Greg processing your place, but I'll get Brass over there to check on things, I'm sure they'll be fine."
"Yeah, probably me over analyzing a problem again."
"Can you tell me everything you remember from that night Sara?"
"Most of it you know Grissom, otherwise you wouldn't have found me, but they hated the idea of me being vegetarian, no 'real food' as they put it, for them to eat so Heather slapped me around a bit. George said he wanted to add to my bruises so I kicked him hard somewhere and Heather then tied my ankles together and they carried me upstairs and dumped me that hell hole. I don't know how long I was in there, I lost track of time and thankfully I must have passed out. I do know I was screaming but couldn't catch my breath. How did you know I was in there anyway?"
"Like I said before, it was Sofia really, I only thought something felt off in your room, I described everything to Sofia and she figured it out, the rest was easy. Did they say anything to indicate where they might go?"
"They were torn between Canada or Mexico, they settled on Canada, but I have a feeling that they are still in Vegas, unfinished business, hence why I'm worried about Cath."
"Ok honey, I'll head back to the lab with all of this and be back later, we'll get them, Vegas isn't that big."
-/-
Nicola, Heather and George had stayed in Vegas, as Sara predicted, although only George really wanted to stay. He still wanted the pretty blonde CSI and it is very hard to reason when a man like that thinks with something other than his brain. His crimes had never escalated to murder before, let alone rape, but now he had nothing to lose except his freedom so rape was a no contest, it was less than murder and he'd killed enough for the death penalty anyway.
A/N Well Sara is safe, although traumatized a bit, but it now appears that George has set his sights elsewhere, on Catherine.
I do love feedback, so PLEASE REVIEW!