Disclaimer: I obviously do not own CSI: NY. I just own my car, my laptop and my crazy muse who seems to want to write 4 different stories at a time. I also do own any characters that you do not recognize. You can borrow them if you ask permission first!
A/N: Okay. Thanks to everyone that read and reviewed! Here's the next chapter!!! Many thanks to Aphina and Axellia for the beta. I don't own the chapter title either. That belongs to Pearl Jam. Also, Hathaway Prep belongs to Axellia, so I don't own that, but I am very grateful to her for letting me use it!
Chapter 17.
Jeremy
About a month later, at the end of May, Cory was feeling less stressed. Her and Danny had worked together to try to finalize the major details of the wedding and thankfully their caseloads were making that easy. She hadn't gotten any more anonymous notes and Etienne seemed to have gone underground. She had spent her free time either listening to Lydia about what she wanted to do about her feelings for Hawkes and Morgan or baby shopping with Lindsay, who was feeling increasingly uncomfortable with her due date looming. Cory thought back to the baby shopping spree they had been on the previous weekend where she kept trying to trip Lindsay up to get her to reveal the sex of the baby. Needless to say, she hadn't succeeded.
As she sat musing at her desk, she let her mind wander, recalling any bit of information that may have escaped her. It was in that introspective mood that Lydia found her, the other woman looking slightly breathless. Cory looked up at her, instantly deciding that something big had happened. "Okay, spill. What's wrong?" she asked Lydia bluntly.
"School shooting," Lydia began before Cory's cell phone rang.
Cory raised her eyebrow when she read the caller ID. "It's Mac. Hold on," she told Lydia before answering. "Reid?"
"Cory, its Mac. Have you seen the news?" Mac said abruptly.
"Lydia just told me there was a school shooting, but other than that, nope," she responded.
"Not one school shooting. There've been three. Hathaway Prep, a high school in Queens and one in the Bronx. Flack is on his way to Queens, I'm on my way to the Bronx, but Hathaway Prep has requested the FBI on this."
"What?!" Cory asked, flabbergasted. "Mac, you're not going to believe this. For months I was getting notes alluding to a school shooting, but I couldn't find any evidence to back it up. I'll grab my team and get over there immediately." Cory was standing up as she was talking, grabbing her gun out of her desk and nodding to Lydia to get the team ready.
As she walked out of the office, she made a stop by Agent Michaels' office to let him know what was going on. Within moments her team was loaded into two department issued SUV's and on their way to Manhattan.
Cory deftly wove through the traffic, her sirens for once making people get out of the way. When she arrived at the school, a haven for some of the wealthiest children in Manhattan, she was greeted by a mass of flashing lights from police cars, fire trucks and ambulances. She quickly put the SUV in park and climbed out, flashing her badge to the uniform standing in front of the tape.
As she walked towards the command center, she saw Angell standing there, a rebellious look on her face. She walked up next to her and said, "Hey, Angell. What's the situation?"
Angell turned, a relieved look on her face. "Cory, I'm so glad you're here. The Headmaster, Anton Williamson, is absolutely uncooperative with the NYPD. He insists that he will only deal with the FBI." She shook her head, obviously upset at the man's lack of confidence in the police. "From what we've gotten from students that escaped, the perp is Preston Lords III. The entire school was in the auditorium for an end of school talent show when he walked in. Looking like someone out of Rambo," she looked at Cory's raised eyebrow. "Student's words, not mine. Anyway, he opened fire and then managed to lock himself and fifteen students in the auditorium. We're at a standstill now. No contact from him and with the headmaster not cooperating, things are…interesting."
Cory nodded as she turned to find the headmaster. "Don't worry, Jess. I'll take care of him."
Angell just smiled as the small by feisty redhead walked away, wishing that she would be a fly on the wall after Cory got done with him.
As Cory walked up to the distinguished headmaster, she chanted to herself to keep calm. She knew that she would not accomplish anything by allowing him to take emotional control of the situation. She nodded to the uniform that was standing next to the man as she flashed her badge. "Mr. Williamson, I'm SSA Corinne Reid. I was told that you only wanted the FBI to handle this situation." She saw his swift appraisal of her and was thankful that she had chosen to wear something that was understated elegance. She knew that in this situation, just presenting herself as coming from the same social circle as he was in would help to reinforce her authority.
Mr. Williamson took in her attire; suit by Chanel, shoes by Jimmy Choo and knew from the way that she walked that she was from a moneyed background. Immediately, he felt more at ease. "Agent Reid. Preston is a good kid. I don't know what could have caused him to do this."
Cory nodded. "I understand. Can you tell me what he's like? Is he a loner?" she probed him.
He shook his head. "No, nothing like that. Preston is the Student Council president; he's on the basketball team. He's really popular. Like I said. A good kid."
Cory nodded with the knowledge that he didn't fit the profile of a school shooter. "What kind of extracurricular activities besides basketball and the student council did he participate in?"
Mr. Williamson thought for a moment. "Let me think for a minute. He's the president of the French club, he was working on trying to put together a foundation to help those less fortunate and he was participating in leadership workshops aimed at creating the leaders of tomorrow," he responded somewhat pompously.
"Sounds like a pillar of the school. So what happened at the talent show?"
"Um…Alyssa Montgomery was on stage, singing a song when the door to the auditorium flew open. Preston walked in, carrying a couple of big guns with ammunition strapped across his chest like in a movie." He looked at Cory, disbelief evident in his eyes. "He just started shooting. It wasn't like he was aiming for a specific person, he just started shooting."
"What happened next?" she questioned softly.
"The kids started to panic and began to run. I thought everyone was out, but when we did a headcount, fifteen people were missing. I think that they were all backstage at that point."
"How many people were injured? Was anyone killed initially?"
"I don't know."
Cory held her frustration in check. "Do you have surveillance cameras in the school?"
"Of course," he responded in an affronted voice. "We are very high tech here. We have metal detectors at every entrance."
Cory looked up at that. "What? If you have metal detectors then how did he get into the school with a gun, much less what sounds like an arsenal?"
"I don't know," he responded.
Cory ground her teeth together and she fought down her normal response by counting to ten in her head. "Look. I know that this is difficult for you, but I need all the information that I can get to try to mitigate any potential losses. Has he made any demands?" she asked even though she thought that it was unlikely.
"No. He hasn't done anything other than get everyone into a locker room. He's a good kid."
Cory shook her head as she turned to walk away, feeling like the man didn't really grasp the seriousness of the situation. "Please, find me if you think of anything that might be helpful," she said as she strode back to Angell, the irritation on her face matched the detective's.
Angell smiled as she saw Cory walking towards her. "So, did you come down on him?" she asked with a smile.
Cory shook her head. "No, as much as I wanted to, it wouldn't have worked. But I saw the way that he looked me over, so I must have passed his test."
Angell rolled her eyes. "I'm not good enough?" she asked sarcastically, to which Cory responded with a laugh.
"It's not that, Jess, but I was a debutante. He can see that when I walk, so I have that small connection. Makes him comfortable with me, so I get more info. Don't feel bad. But I did get some information. They have security camera and metal detectors. We need to get that feed. I need to get eyes in there." She looked at the other woman. "Is Adam available? Do you think he could hack into the feed?"
Angell shrugged. "Depends on what he's doing. Can't your tech guys do it?"
Cory sighed. "I'll ask, but I'm not sure," she said as Lydia walked up. "Hey, Lydia. Can you get the tech guys on to jacking into the security feed in the school? That'll give us something to work with. Some inside knowledge. I also need the blueprints, so we can determine where he actually is in the school. Can we get a line in there? I want to know his demands."
Lydia looked at her. "Do you think it's what the note was talking about?" Cory just looked at her. "Okay. Gotcha. I'm on it. I'll get Derek on the phone for you as well. He might be able to predict what he'll do."
Cory nodded as she settled back against the command center, trying to figure out what the next move was going to be. As her mind raced, she began making her plans. "Angell? I need to set up a command center. I know that I need to be in contact with Mac and Flack. This is probably a coordinated attack," she instructed the detective.
Angell just nodded. "Okay. I'm on it. I'll let you know when it's set up."
"Thanks," Cory said as she kept making plans in her head.
An hour later and everything was set up. Cory was wearing an earpiece that was keeping her in contact with both Mac and Flack, who were both reporting similar situations. Lydia had set up a line for her, but so far no response to the hostage negotiator. Unfortunately, they had yet to get the security footage. The security company said that somehow the feed was being blocked.
"Mac? Flack? Y'all there?" she asked in the headset.
"Here," they both responded.
"Okay, the latest stuff that I'm getting is that the security feed is being blocked somehow. Is it the same thing on your end?"
"The security cameras are basically non-existent here," Mac responded.
"Same thing here," Flack confirmed.
Cory bit her lip. "Then I'm going to steal Adam and see if he can get me some eyes in there."
"Feel free to use him, Cory," Mac told her. "We'll let you know if we get any more info, but since you've been getting the notes, I'm willing to let you take point."
"Thanks, Mac. I'll let you know," Cory said as she looked up as Angell walked into the small room.
"The negotiator is not getting any response. Lydia asked me to ask you if you'll try."
"Yeah. I just want to make sure that they all walk out of there," Cory said, climbing out of the truck. As she hit the ground, she looked up and was surprised to see Danny and Lindsay climbing out of the SUV. "Lindsay!" she called out.
The heavily pregnant CSI smiled and waved to her as she and Danny made their way over. "Hey, Mac sent us over. He figured that every scene had to have two CSI's. Stella and Hawkes are going over to Flack's scene and Adam is going to join him at his." She saw the question in Cory's eyes. "I'm here because I'm an expert in blood spatter analysis. Don't worry, I promise to be sitting the majority of the time."
"Okay. I'm going to hold you to that," Cory said with a smile as she walked to wear the negotiator has set up shop. "What do you know?"
The trained agent sighed. "He has one of the hostages picking up the phone, but he refuses to make any demands. Says that the time isn't right. This is all coming from the hostage though," he informed her.
"Let me try. Maybe I can get through to him," she said as she picked up the phone. She waited as it rang.
"Hello?" a young female voice answered.
"This is SSA Corinne Reid. May I talk to Preston, please?" Cory waited with bated breath as there was a muffling sound on the phone. Finally, the phone was uncovered and a young male voice rang through the lines.
"Agent Reid, I wondered if you were going to end up here," he said with a sneer in his voice.
Cory raised an eyebrow, but kept her voice calm. "Well you have me, so what can I do to get those people out of there safely," she returned.
Preston laughed. "There's nothing I want that you can provide Agent Reid."
"Really?" Cory drawled back. "You know, everyone who holds hostages wants something, Preston. Since you obviously know what's going on in other parts of the city, why don't you just come clean with me?"
"Not yet," he shot back. "I'll call you when I'm ready to talk." And with those parting words the phone line was disconnected.
Cory sighed in frustration as she put the phone down. Shaking her head, she turned back to Lydia. "Do we have the blueprints? I don't think we have much time and I want a team ready to go in and take him down. And did you get in touch with Derek?"
"They just got here and I left a message for him, but I think he may be in the field," Lydia responded, waving a roll of paper at her. "I've talked to the headmaster and I think that I know where they are." She rolled out the blueprints on the table and pointed to the auditorium. "Here's the auditorium and the headmaster said that he thinks they may be in a locker room. I thought to myself, this guy seem to be very organized. Somehow he got weapons past the metal detector and is blocking the security camera, so if I were him…" she trailed off as Cory's face lit up.
"I'd go to the most secure room that I can. One without windows to the outside and if possible only one way in." She raised an eyebrow. "I take it you found something?"
Lydia nodded. "Yeah. There are a series of locker rooms back there, but they are all new. The school renovated a couple of years ago and one of the old locker rooms was left in place. Kinda like a private bath for the coach. It's big enough to hold fifteen to twenty people easily."
"Okay, so how do we get there undetected? I've got to assume at this point that he is controlling the security and if we try to go in there, he's going to kill everyone." Cory started to continue, but the phone rang. "Reid?"
"Time is up, Agent Reid," Preston said with an almost fanatical edge to his voice. "The revolution is here."
Cory felt the blood drain from her face as she heard him put the phone down and then heard the obvious popping of a gun firing. Without thinking, she pulled her gun and began to go in. "Shots fired," she said lowly, not wanting to alarm the onlookers. She saw Danny withdraw his gun and shook her head. "I need you to stay here with Lindsay," she said to him. "I don't know how he's armed and I only want my SWAT team to enter right now."
Danny nodded his head. "Stay safe," he said as he fought down the urge to kiss her.
"Always," she responded with a wink. Then she made eye contact with her team and drew a steadying breath to enter the school, unsure of what she was going to find. Over her headset, she heard similar conversation going on with both Mac and Flack and knew that this was all orchestrated. As she got closer to the room which they suspected Preston was in, the more she believed that they were going to find carnage.
When they reached the door, she stepped aside, to let the man with the battering ram come to the front, in case it was locked, but it opened easily.
"Damn it," she growled as she followed the men in to a floor full of blood and the smell of death. "Damn it all to hell!"
AN: Duh, duh duh dun!!! This case has been building for so long, that I'm glad it's finally here! Things may start to go fairly quickly here, but updates might be a little scarce. I'm aiming for once a week since I'm working so many hours now! Please, please review! I'd love to hear y'alls thoughts on this!
Axellia - Woot! I posted again and managed to send you 2 chapters today! Work is really kicking my butt. I worked 55 hours last week and will work at least 50 next week. Hopefully, I'll get a break here soon. I liked your side project and you've already posted the first chapter! Whoo-hoo! I understand about your feelings about Lydia, but I think I've decided not to put them back together. I'm just not feeling their vibe. I need to find someone special for Hawkes. I feel bad for him, too. :p
Soccer - Thanks! here's another!
Aphina - Woot! You are back from the dead! Yeah! Hawkes and Prentiss? I never thought of that, but nope. I have a vague idea, but I'm not sure yet, so I'm leaving it up to my muse. I'd almost love to see him with Garcia, but I know I'm not doing that. It will be with someone who is in NY. I needed some good Danny and Cory time and him helping with the wedding just seemed right. I just had to have Mac acknowledge what Hawkes was doing. it just seemed right!