A/N: Thanks goes to my great beta TangledPencils and of course to all who read and found the time to review. Hope this chapter will be to your liking, lol.

Fire and water

by Nicol Leoraine

Chapter 13

"What's that?" Nick perked up as the silence of the canyon was broken by the fall of some pebbles. Normally, the sound wouldn't have had him reacting in any way, but the encounter with the bullet made him a little jumpy and the fact that there was a sniper above them couldn't be overlooked.

Grissom frowned as he too heard the sound. What made him nervous though was the proximity of it. He looked up, his head peeking from behind the hood of the car, ignoring Nick's angry hiss of warning. Even if his hearing wasn't top notch, his eyes were all right. And thanks to the earlier shooting, he knew where to look.

Still, the shadows made it hard to discern anything and after several long seconds without any motion, Grissom was about to pull back to the safety behind the car, when something he'd thought of as a shadow earlier moved. Grissom stifled a curse and silently turned to Nick.

"We need to move," he whispered urgently, but the tone was enough to make Nick's heart pump a little faster. He wanted to ask what was going on, but he thought he knew and the anxious look on the older man's face told him not to lose time with questions. So he simply nodded and biting his lip at any discomfort, proceeded to follow Grissom.

"Careful, Nick," Grissom whispered just inches from Nick's ear as the younger man stumbled on some rock. He felt the hand on his arm and his first reaction was to shake it off. He wasn't a damn invalid, he didn't need any support, but then he realized that the hand wasn't providing support as much as it was guiding him toward the rock face across the road, silently showing their destination.

To get there, they needed to get across the piece of road that was directly below the place where Grissom saw the sniper the last time, but Nick didn't know that. By the time they reached the rock, his face was covered in cold sweat and he had trouble controlling his breathing, which wanted to come out in loud gasps. But Nick would rather suffocate than alert the sniper of their new location. As it was, he was rather thankful for the descending darkness as it hid his discomfort from Grissom.

The hand on Nick's arm suddenly squeezed, gaining attention even as it silently pointed towards the position they just relinquished. Blinking hard, Nick stifled a gasp when he saw the shadow of a man moving with surprising ease, prepared to strike, only to realize they were not there anymore.

Nick felt another tug at his arm and looked at Grissom, trying to discern this silent communication. The criminalist was nodding up toward the rocks, showing Nick a barely visible path that would lead them above the sniper and maybe give them some leverage. Nick squinted and felt the pull on his arm, knowing Grissom wanted him to move.

He took two steps before he realized that he couldn't do it. To get away was like hiding and he felt the fear that was clutching his insides turn to anger. He couldn't run and let the bastard escape Not after what he did to Jamie, after what he did to Travis. As the anger took hold of his body, Nick drew his gun and pulled away from Grissom.

"What the –" Grissom thought in surprise, before the realization hit him and he couldn't stop the feeling of panic and frustration. "Nick!" he all but shouted in his mind as he blindly grabbed at the air, trying to stop the man from making a fatal mistake.

xxx

"Shit," Travis couldn't help but swear at the situation he found himself in. He was trapped in a upturned car somewhere in the canyon, with no way of contacting help. What was worse, he wasn't sure how he crashed the car and there was that weird feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him the information could be crucialHowever, something more important made itself known to him…the strong smell of gas! Maybe it wasn't enough to make a pretty explosion, but Travis was sure it was enough to catch fire if there should be any sparks.

He needed to get out fast, for more than one reason, and there was nothing he could do but grit his teeth and get moving. First thing he needed to do was to get rid of the seatbelts. They may've saved his life in the crash, but threatened to be more of a nuisance now, painfully digging into his stomach and chest. They were also the only thing keeping him hanging upside down, Travis realized with a painful grunt when he managed to release the mechanism and gravity once again affected his body, dropping him in a tortured heap on the interior roof of the car.

For a minute or two he could only lay in the most uncomfortable position possible, his body crumpled and pulsing with pain as the bruised ribs and other things complained at the sudden change.

Fighting to stay conscious despite the urge to just close his eyes and fall into the blessed world of darkness without the pain, Travis let out several pained moans which changed into grunting once he opened his eyes and started to move.

Whatever he was, a big mouth, a cocky guy with a lack of temper, Travis was also a man with a high pain tolerance. The years in college playing football and later trying out boxing taught him that pain could be pushed to the background. Maybe when it resurfaced later it would be worse and he may whine and cry, but he never let pain stop him from playing. With steely determination, Travis didn't let it stop him now either.

He started crawling out of the wreck, sweeping away the broken glass when it bit into his arms, but he was soon rewarded by the fresh air on his face. Taking several deep breaths - well as deep as his ribs allowed - Travis took one look at the wreck he'd just left and with wide eyes started scrambling away. For the first time he could see the real damage and as the darkness descended, the white sparking of some severed cables became more than visible. What made Travis backpedal from the car was the growing puddle of gas slowly making it's way toward the sparks.

He'd barely managed to get a safe distance between himself and the wreck when the gas reached the cables and the sparks lit the puddle. Travis watched in fascination as the puddle ignited, the fire making it's way to the innards of the car, consuming the leather seats and plastic, making it's way toward the hood and it was then that Travis remembered there was a plastic jerry can full of spare fuel in the back. He raised his arm to cover his face just as the car exploded.

xxx

"Drop your gun!" Nick was about ten feet from Grissom when he aimed the gun at the shadowy figure. He thought he heard his name but shook it off, tuning out Grissom as easily as if the man was never there. His only concern was the sniper before him, who upon hearing the words froze.

"I said... drop your gun," Nick reminded, his voice stronger than he felt, but he was sure the night hid the slight shake of his hand holding the gun.

"I would do as he said." The voice next to him surprised Nick, but also made him a little calmer when Grissom took his stance and aimed his own gun at the figure. They both heard the resigned sigh.

"Okay." The single word was said with as much levity as it could be, which made Nick frown but he didn't waver.

"Put it down, slowly." The figure did as he was told, seemingly undaunted by the whole situation.

"Now kick it over." The gun was kicked all right, just a little in the wrong direction, ending up mere feet from the edge of the road.

"Oops," the man said in a mocking voice and Nick had to fight the urge to pull the trigger just to see him squirm. He wanted to see his face, to finally know who they were dealing with. As if reading his thoughts, Grissom turned on the flashlight every good criminalist had with him and aimed it at the sniper. For the first time the man grunted, his eyes squeezed shut against the sudden light attacking senses used to the darkness.

"Watch it, man," he hissed and blinked, his hand already reaching up to shade his eyes.

"One move and I will shoot you," Nick warned and the safety of his gun clicked.

"Geez, relax," the man said, his voice just a little tad patronizing. Nick gritted his teeth.

"What's your name?"

"Ah, friends call me Master. For everyone else, I am Mister Master," he chuckled and Grissom shot a confused look toward Nick. The man was too cocky under the circumstances, something Grissom didn't like. By the way Nick's stance became more alert he assumed the younger CSI thought the same.

"Griss," Nick said as he gave his handcuffs to the entomologist. "Can you make sure his hands won't move around freely? And keep to the right," he added in a whisper that couldn't be heard more than a few feet away. The last thing they needed was for Grissom to get in the way between Nick's gun and the guy. Grissom nodded and carefully made his way over to the man.

"On your knees, bastard," Nick said to the 'Master' who snickered but did as he was told.

"Now lay down, face on the ground and hands spread." The only reply was a snort. No signal that the man planned to take the order. Grissom was already beside him and he nudged the man with his own gun.

"Down," Grissom said and he could see the man had opened his mouth to say something, but it was lost in the sound of an explosion. When the blast occurred, several things happened at once. Nick's aim wavered in surprise and he had to scrunch his eyes at the sudden light, much like the Master had just a minute ago. Grissom jerked as he too had to squint at the sudden light, the sound like a sledgehammer on his ears. And the Master used the factor of surprise to his advantage.

One moment Grissom was aiming at the man, the next the gun was knocked from his hands. He didn't havetime to think, he was thrown backwards and ungracefully landed on the ground, while the 'Master' lunged for the gun that now lay in the dust of the road, only two yards away.

"Nick!" Grissom managed to shout a warning and the young man half-blindly pulled the trigger, taking a wild shot. The bullet hit the ground only inches from Grissom and he cursed, loudly.

"Ten feet to the left, Nick!" he shouted and this time when the CSI squeezed the trigger, the bullet hit something more substantial than dust. They both heard the pained grunt and saw the 'Master' stop his hunt for the gun, instead scrambling to his feet and starting to run. Nick chanced two more shots, but his sight was still off just as his aim. By the time Grissom goton his feet and the flashlight was once again pointed toward the sniper, the man was already climbing the rocks, at the same time using them as a shield from Nick.

Another two shots failed to hit their target, when Grissom spoke up.

"Let him go, Nick. We won't get him now. We will get him later. "

The younger CSI let out a frustrated growl when he realized that Grissom was right. He ran a shaky hand through his hair, trying to calm down, but the anger and frustration didn't abate, it couldn't. Not when one look toward the edge told Nick that they were too late, that Travis was already dead, had to be. No one could survive the explosion if he was still in the car. And who knew if he even survived the crash.

TBC