Missing
Chapter 4
When Nick awoke it was dark, except for a small stream of light coming from a small window. The floor he was laying on was concrete, he guessed he was inside the storage shed but he couldn't be sure "At least there are no ants" he thought to himself. He noticed his head was throbbing, and when he touched it he felt something warm. He pulled his hand away and saw blood. "Wonderful" he mumbled. He also noticed how hot it was, he figured it had to be over 100 degrees. He laid there for a couple of minutes, trying to get his bearings. Then he heard a very faint moan. He turned his head and saw a girl lying on a bench in the corner, he recognized the girl immediately.
"Kyla" he said as he got up and went over to her.
Kyla immediately put her hands up to her face in a defensive motion.
"It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Nick Stokes, I'm a crime scene investigator and my team and I have been looking for you." Nick said.
"Cop" Kyla mumbled.
Nick smiled. "Yes" he said.
Kyla put her hands down and relaxed.
"I am going to get you out of here." He promised.
The poor girl looked so exhausted, her hair was completely stuck to her head from the heat and she was very flushed. Nick wished he had water to offer her but he had dropped the bottles of water when he had been struck on the head.
Nick saw a door and got up to see if it would open, but he was dismayed to discover it was locked. The window would not work as an escape either because it was too high to reach, and even if Nick could reach it, it was way to small for him and Kyla to fit through. He dug for his phone in his pocket, but that was also useless, there was no service. Nick went to the other side of the room and ran at the door, he rammed into the door with his shoulder hoping it would open, but it did not and Nick collapsed to the floor in pain. "That was stupid" He told himself angrily, grabbing his injured shoulder. He managed to get up and walk over to Kyla and took a seat at the end of the bench.
"We aren't going to get out of here are we?" She asked weakly.
"Yes we are, my team will find us." Nick said confidently.
"Are you sure?" She asked skeptically.
"They found me once when I was kidnapped, and they will do it again." Nick said, firmly believing in his team.
"You were kidnapped once before?" Kyla asked in amazement.
"Yes." Nick said.
"What happened?" She asked sounding genuinely curious.
"I was kidnapped and buried alive by someone who had a grudge against the Las Vegas police department." Nick said. Kyla's eyes grew wide.
"And you didn't retire?" She asked.
Nick grinned "Nope, I'm a glutton for punishment."
Kyla gave him a slight smile. "It's so hot." She said, her voice barely a whisper, she looked very tired, and Nick guessed she was suffering from fairly severe dehydration.
Nick had to do something to help her, he didn't know how much longer she could last in the sweltering heat.
He cleared his throat and said "You know, when I was a young kid growing up in Texas I had to help my dad on the farm. It was often extremely hot and my dad taught me a sure fire way to beat the heat, would you like me to teach it to you?"
"Sure." She answered, at this point she would try anything.
Nick smiled "alright, he told me to close my eyes and think of some place really cold, and just keep thinking about that place, lets try it." Nick said.
She nodded.
"Alright, close your eyes." Nick instructed. She did and so he said "Alright, picture yourself on a ski slope, you are skiing down the hill and all of a sudden you fall. You're lying in the frigid snow, with the cold ripping through your clothes." Nick glanced at her, was it his imagination or did he see her shiver." He smiled triumphantly.
"Is it working?" He asked.
She smiled "Yeah." She said sounding somewhat surprised.
"Good." Nick said returning the smile.
Two more hours went by, Nick knew she was exhausted but he didn't want to let her go to sleep because he feared that if she did she may not wake up again, he had to keep her conscious.
"Kyla would you like to play a game?" He asked.
"What game?" She asked sounding curious.
"How about rock, paper, scissors?" He suggested.
"Ok." She said.
They played 10 games of rock, paper, scissors and Nick managed to lose every single time. He was a good sport about it though,
"My best friend and I use to play that all the time to settle all of sorts of arguments, I always lost when I played with him too." Nick laughed.
"What do you mean you use to play with him, you don't play with him anymore?" She asked.
For a split second Nick hung his head, and then he quickly looked her in the eye. "My best friend died a couple of years ago." He said and left it at that, he figured she didn't need to hear the horrible details, she was upset enough as it was.
"I'm so sorry." She said genuinely.
Nick offered her a slight smile "thank you." He said, and she just smiled.
Another 3 hours past and Kyla was growing weaker by the minute.
"Hang in there Kyla, they'll find us soon." He said.
"Nick, would you do me a favor?" She asked.
"Sure." He answered.
"When you get out of here tell my mom I love her more than anything."
"You can tell her yourself the next time you see her." He said with a slight smile.
"I probably won't get to see her again, so just promise me you'll tell her."
"I promise." He said and then quickly added "But she would so much rather hear that from you, so you have to hang on. Just hang in there, do it for your mom."
She gave him a little smile "I'll try, I promise." She said.
"Good." Nick answered.
Her pretty blue eyes suddenly filled with tears. "Why would Tim do this?" She asked.
Nick wanted to ask her questions about her kidnapping but he did not want to upset her further.
The young girl seemed to read his mind "It wasn't for sex, he didn't rape me, he didn't even try too." She said as tears begin to run down her face.
Nick didn't know how to answer her question so all he said was "Sometimes people are just evil, and they do horrible things to good people."
Kyla didn't know what to say so she just nodded. It was then that they heard a car door.
"Oh god, he's coming back." Kyla said with complete terror in her voice. She clutched Nick's arm.
"It's alright." He told her. He stood up, and stood in front of her, ready to defend her the best he could.
"Nicky." He heard Catherine scream.
"Nick." Sara's voice followed.
He quickly ran and banged on the door. "In here." He called frantically.
"Hang on Nicky we're going to get you out of there." Catherine said, sounding very relieved.
"Nick, back away from the door." He heard Greg say.
Nick moved and seconds later the door burst open with a thunderous thud. The entire CSI team, several other members of law enforcement as well as paramedics ran through the now open doorway.
"Are you alright?" Catherine asked, grabbing his hands.
"I'm fine, but she needs paramedics immediately." Nick said nodding towards Kyla.
The paramedics rushed to her side. They got her on a stretcher and took her to the awaiting ambulance outside. Once they had her loaded into the ambulance Nick jumped in the back with her.
"I'm going to stay with her. As soon as you are able to get cell service call Brenda" Nick said looking over his shoulder at Catherine.
Before Catherine had a chance to respond one of the paramedics shut the door and then they were off to the hospital.
"Where's my mom?" Kyla asked Nick weakly as she clutched his hand.
"Don't worry she'll meet us at the hospital." Nick said with a comforting smile on his face.
Nick was correct, just minutes had past after he and Kyla had arrived at the hospital Brenda Hamilton burst through the hospital doors.
"How is she?" She asked frantically, literally running at Nick.
"I'm not a doctor, so I can't say anything about her medical condition but I can tell you that she was awake and coherent on the ride over here, and she asked about you."
Brenda breathed a huge sigh of relief.
"She really loves you." Nick said.
Brenda smiled and tears filled her eyes "I know, and I love her more."
Nick offered her a nod of understanding and a smile.
Just then a doctor appeared "Are you Kyla's mother?" He asked.
"Yes, how is she?" Brenda asked immediately.
"You're daughter is severely dehydrated and so we are giving her fluids through an IV, and she is suffering from heat exhaustion which we are treating by applying cool wash cloths to her skin." The doctor explained.
"Is she going to be alright?" Brenda asked sounding scared.
The doctor smiled "She should be just fine, we'll keep her overnight and possibly tomorrow but I see no reason she shouldn't make a full recovery."
"Oh thank God." Brenda said. Then she asked "Can I see her?"
"Yes, follow me." The doctor said.
Brenda turned to Nick and said "I can not thank you enough for what you and your team did for my daughter."
Nick smiled "We were just doing our jobs." he said humbly.
"Yes but you did so in a kind and compassionate manner, you truly cared about finding Kyla. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you"
"Don't mention it." Nick said.
Brenda smiled and then she turned and followed the doctor so she could go see her daughter.
Nick sat there lost in his thoughts until Catherine's voice made him jump. Nick looked up and Catherine was sitting next to him and Ray, Greg and Sara were standing around him.
"Sorry Nicky, I didn't mean to scare you." Catherine said, and then she asked "How's Kyla?"
"She's gonna be just fine." Nick answered with a smile.
"Good." Catherine said.
"How are you?" Sara asked, concerned for her friend, Sara knew all too well what it was like to be kidnapped, and thinking that Nick had to experience yet another kidnapping made her shutter.
"I'm fine." Nick assured her.
"I think you should get checked out by a doctor just to be sure." Sara said.
"Sara, believe me, I'm fine." Nick insisted.
"I agree with Sara, you should go get checked out, it's better to be safe than sorry." Catherine said.
Nick sighed but just to avoid further arguing he agreed.
As it turned out Nick needed 3 stitches to close the wound on the back of his head, and he had a sprained shoulder but it was nothing serious.
When he was finished getting his stitches Catherine gave him a ride home, and then he went straight to bed.
A couple of nights later Nick felt as good as new, and was back at work. At the beginning of his shift he and the rest of the team were in the conference room and they were just about to receive their case assignments for the night when there was a knock on the door. They all turned around and saw Brenda and Kyla standing in the doorway and Kyla was holding something in her hands.
"Hi, I just wanted a chance to meet all of you and personally thank you for everything you did for me. There are no words to truly express how grateful I am to all of you for saving my life. And I would also like you to know that before all of this happened I wanted to study journalism in college, but now I want to study criminal justice. I want to be able to help someone like all of you helped me. I hope I can be half the CSI you all are." She smiled and then added "I made cookies for you guys, they are double chocolate chip, I hope you like them."
She laid them on the table. And then she walked around and gave every member of the team a huge hug.
When she got to Nick she whispered "I'm really glad didn't retire."
Nick grinned at her "Me too."
After everyone had gotten a hug she thanked them all once more, as did Brenda.
Catherine told her "don't be a stranger, and when you graduate college come back here and apply for a job, we are always looking for compassionate CSI'S and I think you would fit that very well."
"Yeah and that way you could stay close to your mom." Nick added.
"That sounds great to me, thanks so much." Kyla said flattered.
After that Kyla and her mother walked out of the room with Brenda's arm around Kyla's shoulder. The CSI'S smiled at that, it was a happy ending, something unfortunately they did not get to experience often.
After they had left Nick reached over and grabbed one of the cookies.
"Oh my god these are heavenly, she should forget her career as a CSI and become a baker."
His friends laughed at him.
Then Catherine gave them their assignments for the night. Nick and Sara got a 419 in one of the hotels downtown and Catherine, Greg, and Ray got a double 419 in the desert. The CSI'S all stood up and left to go to their respective crime scenes, but before leaving Nick grabbed one more cookie.
The End! Thanks for reading