As they got into the car, Nick, still had not said one word and after 10 more minutes of solid silence, Greg knew it was going to be have to him that broke the ice. He sighed, running over in his mind what he was going to say to the stubborn Texan.

"Nick I..." he started but Greg had barely got out those two words before Nick brusquely cut him off with a hand up, still keeping his eyes on the road.

"No Greg, I don't want to talk about this now, OK? Let's just be professional, do our job and go home, we can talk about this some other time."

"Fine" Greg agreed, although he was still very unhappy with the situation, normally he and Nick shared lots of banter on the way to crime scenes as a way of relieving the tension before they encountered the somewhat gruesome situations they had to process. Tonight, they drove in virtual stony silence, only conversing to confirm the finer details of the case.

They arrived at the scene in a well to do neighbourhood, Detective Vartann was there to meet them and debrief, on seeing Greg, he couldn't resist a dig.

"Well, if it isn't our local celebrity Mr Sanders!" He said jovially.

"Har de har ha ha." Greg replied sulkily whilst Vartann exchanged looks with Nick.

"What have we got?" Nick asked, taking charge.

"Estelle Rivers, 72, widow, woke up, heard banging in her kitchen, went downstairs and discovered the intruder, on seeing Mrs Rivers, our intruder grabbed what he could including her handbag and some jewellery and fled over the back fence. It was all too much for Mrs Rivers who passed out at the shock of it all. She's okay now, she's over there with our officer, recovering." He jerked his thumb towards an elderly lady swathed in blankets, sitting in an ambulance. "One of you might want to go to hospital to talk to her after."

"Sure" Greg nodded, picking up his kit and following Nick into the house, it seemed Mrs Rivers had managed to disturb the intruder before they could do too much damage. Nick quickly made a start on the inside of the house, so Greg took that as his cue to examine the outside. He did his work on autopilot, barely even thinking about what he was doing, he took photographs, laid down evidence markers and searched the surrounding area for any other evidence, eventually finding a couple of gold chains that the thief had dropped in his haste to escape. He clearly wasn't the brightest thief in Vegas and Greg had no doubt from the finger prints, foot impressions and general clumsiness he exhibited that they would soon catch up with him. They finished processing the scene in just over an hour, it was a very straight forward case. As they climbed back into the car, Nick turned to acknowledge him, "so, Estelle?"

"What?" Greg blinked.

"Estelle, the home owner, do you want to go to the hospital or shall I?" Nick said in an exasperated tone.

"Oh right, would you mind? I've just got some things to finish up at the lab, if that's OK?" He enquired tentatively.

"Sure, no problem at all." Nick replied without emotion.

The journey back, was again completed in a dark silence, Greg found himself staring attentively out the window at the world he normally passed by without a glance. Even though it was fast approaching 1am, Vegas, bristled with activity. He watched the couple necking in the doorway, whilst their SUV sat at the lights, until he felt like a pervert. He watched the old, homeless, man curled up on a bench, pulling his poor excuse for a blanket tighter around him as if it would shield him from the cold biting air. Scores of drunken revellers passed them by without even a thought for anything other than their own selfish pleasures. He watched on as an old man took his beloved dog for a late night stroll, obviously feeling the crowded albeit dark streets were just as safe as during the day. In a city like Vegas, Greg knew nowhere was safe, no matter what time of day. As they passed the casinos and the gaudy lights of the strip clubs, he observed bouncers arguing with a wealthy looking man, and a young girl dressed provocatively in strips of fabric that barely passed for an outfit was begging to be let in a sleazy club. Greg slumped back, not wanting to see any more, he knew what went on after dark, he dealt with it on a nightly basis.

As they arrived back at the lab, Nick handed him some things from the scene, then he dropped off Greg without a word and headed to the hospital.

Greg felt as low as he had in some considerable time, he made his way to his lab and shut the door firmly behind him,simply wanting to get his work done and just get home. He was startled out of his reverie by a knock at the door. He hoped it would be Nick, wanting to straighten things out but was sorely disappointed to be greeted by a stern looking Conrad Ecklie.

He inwardly groaned, hoping it didn't show too much on his face. "Ecklie." he acknowledged as politely as he could muster.

"Sanders we need to talk." Ecklie said abruptly, getting straight to the point.

"Oh god Ecklie not now!" He groaned, not caring that his displeasure showed, "Now is not a good time, what happened with Nick was nothing."

"I have no idea what happened with Nick, Greg." Ecklie said, folding his arms "But perhaps you would like to enlighten me?"

Greg quickly wiped the surprised look from his face "Oh it really was nothing, honestly."

Ecklie continued to look unimpressed but didn't press him further on the matter. An awkward silence passed between the two men with Ecklie, continuing to stand in the doorway like a naughty school child, waiting to enter the headmaster's office.

"So, er, what did you want to talk about?" Greg said steering the conversation smoothly away from his bust up with Nick.

"Ah yes, right." Ecklie said, obviously having a few doubts himself what he was there for. "I need to talk to you, in private" he said, sidling in to Greg's lab and closing the door with a swift bang to make his point.

Greg leaned against the counter and tried to appear as casual as possible, when the truth was that he was disturbed by this sudden visit. Conrad Ecklie was easily his least favourite person in the whole building and they had barely exchanged more than a paragraphs worth of words in all the years that he had been there. He got the distinct feeling he was in trouble.

"Greg, I've seen that article, it is on the verge of bringing the lab into disrepute, we do not like our employees to become tabloid fodder and the subject of fevered speculation, your actions stoked that speculation tenfold." he said bluntly.

"I know Ecklie, all I can do is apologise." Greg said sincerely, "It was never my intention to bring harm to anyone."

"But that's not why I'm here" Ecklie continued. "I was there." He said mysteriously.

"Sorry, Ecklie, I'm not following?" Greg said with a hint of confusion, "you were there where?"

"Today, I was there" He repeated, still not making himself any clearer.

"Ecklie is this supposed to be a challenge to guess what you're talking about, because I gotta say I need more clues." Greg joked.

"I was there," Ecklie said, his expression stoic, moving closer to Greg to make him understand. "At the execution."

Greg was absolutely floored by the simple statement, his mouth opened and closed, not knowing what to say. Eventually he managed to find the energy he needed to form the word "Why?"

"Well, you're not the only one who had unfinished business." Ecklie replied smoothly

"I don't know what you mean." Greg said, still reeling from the shock.

"Well you obviously have issues because of your previous friendship with Jack but I was the one who hired him in the first place." Ecklie said.

"But I still don't understand why you feel bad Ecklie? He wasn't a killer when you hired him, so I still don't follow?" Greg replied.

"That still doesn't make me feel any better." Ecklie muttered quietly.

Ecklie was behaving very strangely, he was suddenly unable to look Greg in the eye. "Truth is Greg, I feel responsible for what happened to you. I was responsible for hiring both of those men, for bringing danger into your life, I felt obliged to see this through to the end. I never thought that someone I hired could turn out so bad, I never thought I could make such a poor character judgement twice."

Greg still wasn't following Ecklie's process of thought and in all honesty, had never seen Ecklie exhibit such humanity before, he never thought he had a conscience. He found himself feeling a little compassion for the man. "What was it like?" He blurted out suddenly without thinking. "Watching him die?"

"It was an execution Greg." Ecklie said stonily, "What did you think it would be like? It was absolutely awful, I placed a lot of trust in that man. It was indescribable Greg, you don't want to know."

Greg immediately looked ashen-faced.

"You mentioned a bust up with Nick? I guess it was over the visit. I understand why you had to go, the others, they'll understand in time. I wouldn't take it too personally". Ecklie said almost kindly.

Greg was a little taken aback, in that moment he half expected Ecklie to hug him, he wasn't known for his personal displays of affection.

"Thanks Ecklie, I appreciate you telling me."

Ecklie nodded and turned to go, but something seemed to stop him, he hovered in the doorway, his mind obviously awash with indecision. He finally turned back to face Greg, looking suitably embarrassed. "Look Greg, I feel I need to tell you the truth now, there is another reason why I feel partly responsible."

Greg raised an eyebrow, Ecklie was definitely hiding something big, he had never seen him look so awkward, switching his weight from one foot to the next. "There's something you need to know Greg..."

Flashback – Night of the abduction.

Conrad Ecklie was sat in his office, with a mountain of paperwork to get through, all he really wanted to do was get home, perhaps run a bath and curl up with the latest novel he was reading. The lab was surprisingly quiet, the graveyard shift were all out on cases and only a few lab technicians remained. He preferred the peace and quiet like that. He finished filing a report, pausing to swallow a mouthful of coffee. He was preparing to take a bathroom break, when the lights went out before he could reach the door. He sighed and fumbled in the dark for the doorknob, about to call out when he heard the unmistakable voice of Greg Sanders yell "I'm on it!" and jog past his door at speed. Ecklie stood in the dark for a few more minutes, impatiently waiting for Sanders to come back from the mains room. He flipped the switch on and off and still the lights didn't come back. Sanders what's taking you so long! he thought irately, going to open his door and bawl out the young technician to find out what the problem was. He was broken from his thoughts by what sounded like a scream, swiftly followed by a gunshot. It wasn't uncommon to hear the muffled sound of gunshots from the ballistics area, but that wasn't from ballistics and definitely wasn't muffled. "What are you doing!" was a panicked cry from a lone female before the sound of a gunshot tore through the building again. Ecklie was stunned and immediately began fumbling around in his dark office for his pager, he crouched behind his large desk and tapped out a message 'Shots fired. Assailant in building. Send Help'

He didn't mind admitting he was absolutely terrified as he hid behind his desk, hearing more commotion, and sounds of a struggle followed by a desperate, terrified scream for help. Greg Sanders. The commotion was getting nearer and nearer, were they coming for him next? His door was wide open, so he pushed himself right under the desk. Footsteps were definitely getting closer, more than one. He watched stunned as a security guard challenged whatever scene was in front of him, the close range shot exploded in Ecklie's eardrum, before he saw the guard's body slam to the floor, almost in Ecklie's eye line. He had to put his hand over his mouth, to keep from screaming, he just prayed to god, the gunman wasn't coming for him and help would get here soon. The man who had delivered the gunshot, callously stepped over the body, dragging something with him, no correction someone. Ecklie watched in quiet disbelief from his hiding spot in the darkness as the gunman hauled a terrified Greg Sanders with him down the corridor. As they passed the office, Ecklie was rooted to the spot with fear, all he could do was watch helplessly as the young lab technician was brutally dragged from the building at gunpoint.

End of flashback

"You hid!" Greg exploded, unable to control his emotions, as he raged at the boss of the crime lab, "I was abducted and you hid?"

"It was a difficult situation Greg, I didn't know what was going on." Ecklie replied, with little convinction.

"Yeah, the shots fired might have told you, it wasn't a party Ecklie." Greg hit back sarcastically. Greg was absolutely stunned at Ecklie's callousness. "I always knew you were heartless, but you really stood by and did nothing?" He asked, appalled.

"What could I have done?", Ecklie desperately appealed to the stricken young man. "The power was cut, I had no weapon to hand!"

"Er, I don't know, something better than hiding might have been good! I always knew you thought only of yourself, I had no idea you could possibly be so weak-willed." Greg said disgusted.

"Trust me Greg, I felt awful. I did absolutely everything in my power to aid the search to find you, secured all the resources they requested, man power, everything, nobody was happier when you were rescued than me."

"Yeah I bet!" Greg said bitterly. "Eased your guilty conscience."

Greg knew it was unfair to blame Ecklie, if the tables were turned, he wouldn't have liked to bet, how he would react in that situation, though he would have liked to think he wouldn't have hid under the table!

"I'm sorry Greg, I should have done more."

"Yeah, you should, but forget it now, it's all done and dusted, and luckily for you, you don't have my death on your conscience." Greg said, deliberately turning his back on him.

Ecklie remained, standing somewhat pathetically in the room, unsure what to say. "Right, well good night." He said meekly, head bowed and hurried out.

Greg waited for the satisfying slam of the door, and brought his hands up to his face, god what a night it had been! His team hated him, Nick was barely speaking to him, and now he finds out the great Conrad Ecklie, HID while a psychopath was running rampage at their lab, he felt he should be exhausted but in reality was wide awake, probably his brain trying to process everything.

He spent another thirty minutes finishing up, then decided it was time to go, just being in the lab was making him angry all over again. He passed by Ecklie's office without a backward glance. He reached his car and soon realised he was driving without having any real idea where he was going, he wasn't ready to go home yet, he was awake and stressed, he needed to unwind. He tuned to a station playing rave music, it wasn't really his thing but it had a good beat, he found himself drumming along without really thinking, the streets were a little emptier now but there was still significant traffic around. He drove on solidly, eventually making his mind up to have a couple of drinks. He considered going to his favourite bar, but all he could think was that was where he went with Jack.

His cell rang and automatically he signalled to pull over so he could take the call, he reached for the passenger seat where his cell phone rested, flashing intrusively. His hand instead connected with jean-clad legs. He looked up and slammed on the brakes, "FUCK!" he screamed aloud.

"Keep watching your back." said Jack in the passenger seat.

Greg squeezed his eyes shut, still gripping the steering wheel. It wasn't real, you're imagining things he told himself firmly When you open your eyes, there will be nothing there.

Slowly, he opened them again, the only thing on the passenger seat was the cell, breathing deeply he snatched it up, composing himself, he answered it.

"Hello?" He answered trying to ignore the beating of his heart, slowly returning to normal.

"Greg?" Sara Sidle's voice came through clear as a bell. "Are you okay?"

"Oh hey Sara, why wouldn't I be?" He said casually.

"I heard what happened with Nick and wanted to see if you were okay." She answered sweetly. "Do you want to talk about it?" She added.

Greg hesitated a second before he answered, "I'm fine Sara, honestly, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Sure Greg, good night" She said, hanging up.

There was no way Jack had been in the car, Jack was dead, it was just stress, he told himself. He definitely needed that drink.

He wound down the window, and used the fresh air to calm himself. He was starting to lose it all over again, he owed it to himself and his friends to stay in control, he had done so well to battle back from the brink like that, a lesser person would have given in and checked themselves into a clinic for the rest of their lives after surviving what he did. He had to try and view today's events in a positive light, the execution was the endgame, every last living memory that tied him to the ordeal was now executed. Ecklie's revelation was a surprising twist to the tale but he couldn 't afford to hold grudges, he had to take today as the springboard to relaunch his life, starting with repairing his broken friendship with Nick, he considered calling him but figured it was best left alone, he would apologise in person tomorrow. With a renewed sense of vigour, he decided to head for a bar to relax at the end of a long hard night, unbeknown to Greg, fate was to intervene once more and ensure it was definitely a night he would never forget.

To Be Continued..