Chapter 6

A/N: Okay, my bad. I believed all of the New York cop shows that threaten perps with the death penalty. I just now found that the practice was declared unconstitutional in the Fall of 2004--right about the time of CSI:NY's pilot episode. No way could I jack with the timelines to get Lindsay on the team yet still have a legal death penalty. What to do, what to do ... I'm committed to this story line, so please suspend belief and go with me on this, okay? I apologize for not thoroughly researching the situation and promise to do better in future.

"How long until we can see what's happening in there?"

Adam Ross brought the low-riding cart to a stop and unloaded a half-dozen black or silver aluminum boxes and cases. Some five feet away stood the wall of the break area's storage room--a solid structure as opposed to the more vulnerable and dangerous front-facing glass. From this location, they were protected from sight and weapons fire but close enough to effectively work the surveillance equipment.

"Depending on how fast I can thread the wire underneath the door," Adam replied, his voice a soft, not-quite whisper, "I'd say three minutes. Five max."

"Optimal view would be from a high vantage point," Lt. Robbins replied equally as soft. He pointed toward the front of the break room, where glass joined with the solid masonry wall. "I say run it through up there, the uppermost corner of the glass."

Shaking his head, Adam knelt on both knees, hunched over the smallest aluminum case. He opened the container and removed a thirty-foot ribbon of fiberoptic cable stored inside a thick layer of gray foam padding. He laid the slender, silver coil down and moved onto the next container.

"Even if I could cut a hole in the glass without him hearing me, which might be possible if I were very, very careful," the A/V tech continued to shake his head until he finished challenging the SWAT leader's suggestion, "the vertical blinds extend over the top of the windows. I couldn't thread the fiberoptic through without moving the blinds. One plastic panel hits another and another. Next thing you know, the whole wall of blinds starts to sway back and forth, clicking and clacking against each other. No way he'll miss seeing--or hearing--that."

"What about going even higher," Rollins pointed towards the white acoustic tiles directly overhead and made a squiggly motion with his fingers as through turning a screw, "running it under the ceiling tiles? We did that in the Lewiston Industries hostage situation last month."

Again, the A/V tech shook his head even as he unloaded an external power unit from the fourth container. "Totally different architecture and situation. That section of ceiling isn't designed to bear anybody's weight. There's no way to get someone up there to cut through or lift the acoustical tiles."

"The outside windows?"

"Same problem as before--the blinds will move, either from camera insertion or from external wind blowing through the opening. Not to mention the noise we'd make either rappelling down the side of the building or operating the window cleaner's rig." Seeing the SWAT leader about to voice another suggestion, Adam cut him off with a sharp slash of his left hand. "Trust me on this one, Lieutenant, I know what I'm doing. If I could get you a high view, I would, but there is no other place we can do this. Either the camera end of the snake goes under the door or we don't see in at all."

Rollins growled once then stalked away, leaving Alan to assemble the surveillance equipment in relative peace. He stacked the storage containers against the wall, well out of the way then laid out the devices in an optimal order--cable, signal booster, receiver, recording unit, secondary data storage device, a slender Dell laptop and a peripheral 26-inch high-def plasma monitor. A small, portable power supply with multiple jack points sat near them all.

Adam assembled each piece with as much speed and care as he dared, all the while trying very hard not to imagine his friends being held at gunpoint only twenty or so feet away. It was too easy to empathize--he clearly remembered being held hostage by an Irish gang determined to recover their mega-shipment of drugs. His right hand still bore scars from cigarette burns used to torture the lab's security codes from him. Nightmares still plagued many nights. He could still feel the terror and pain and the absolute certainty that he, Danny, and the two uniformed cops were only minutes away from dying.(1)

Danny Messer kept me sane during that whole ordeal, Adam remembered. He let those bastards beat the living shit out of him just to buy me time to grab a bottle of sulfuric acid from my kit. That bottle later saved four lives, including our own.

I owe you, Danny. I'll do whatever I can to get you, Lindsay and Sheldon out of there alive. Hang in there, buddy. Just hang in there.

He tested the system by angling the camera end of the cable around the corridor. Images sprang onto the plasma screen. Now all he had to do was put the business end in place.

Breathing deep to steady his nerves, Adam Ross stood up, cable in hand, and took one step toward the break room door.

Rollins grabbed Adam by the scruff of his white shirt collar. Yanked backwards, the A/V tech's feet slid on the slick floor, forcing him to scramble to remain upright. He clutched the rolled cable tight to his chest to keep from dropping it.

"Whoa there, cowboy," Rollins hissed, "where are you going?"

Ross gave the SWAT leader a look that screamed 'duh'. "Ummmm, to run the cable under the door?"

"Like hell you are."

"Why not!"

"You're not armored, for one thing." Rollins held out his hand. "Give me the cable. My men will slide it under the door."

Adam stared from the flexible, metal-encased cable to the nearest SWAT members to Rollins. Without another word, he passed over the coil. He then fished a roll of 1-inch duct tape from his pocket and handed it to Rollins.

"You'll need to feed a minimum of three inches beneath the door, preferable in one of the corners. This will help stabilize it and keep it from rotating, as well as making it harder for Collier to notice. I'll be over by the monitor. Once it's in place, I can adjust the angle by remote. Use the tape to hold the cable in place."

Two members of the heavily armored SWAT team alpha belly-crawled to the door. One of them unrolled the fiberoptic cable behind him while the other provided armed cover. Once they arrived at the door, it took ten seconds to slide the camera end beneath the sill and tape it down with strips of tape. They both gave thumbs-up to their commander and retreated to safety.

The instant the wire went under the door, Adam activated the camera and remotely adjusted the angle.

The color image was grainy, hard to focus, and distorted with a characteristic fish-eye effect, but he could see enough detail to fully appreciate the situation. Despite the break room furniture that rested between the camera and the room's occupants, the video showed Sheldon Hawkes seated on the floor, his back against the lower cabinets, one hand reaching out to check Lindsay's pulse. A pile of bloody material--gauze, cloth, empty wrappers, etc.--lay not too far from Sheldon.

Danny Messer lay belly-down on the floor, as close to Lindsay Monroe's other side as he could get, his arm resting across her lower back as he whispered directly into her ear.

Because of Danny's position, all he could see of Lindsay was her legs and feet. Her limited movements were sharp, jerky, twitchy with pain. It hurt Adam to see her in such pain, but at least he had proof that she was still alive. They all were.

Nathan Collier sat in a chair next to the window, his weapon aimed directly at his hostages. A bandage was visible on his left forearm.

Adam blinked tears from his eyes. He whispered, "They're all still alive, but ... it doesn't look good."

(1) episode "Snow Day"