After walking on the island's woods for a minute, Maggie took her spare hand (the left) and found her flashlight attached in her belt ring, turning it on with one hand. She then twirled it around, making shadows on the spinals and twists of the trees without showing Sara and Catherine in the show of light. Her other hand remained firmly in Nick's grip, unable to let go, unwilling to see him hurt again.
"You still pretty talented with doing that, huh? Aren't you?" Nick teased her finally.
"Huh? About what? What are you talking about?"
"Making those shadows. It's kinda pretty."
"Uh-huh. Now, do you know where we need to meet the Tanners and do the whole exchange thing or are we lost and need Brass?"
"We have to be over there, behind those trees, down in the center." Nick pointed down the path where a group of trees stood, entwined to make a circle of arms and legs. "We do the exchange and off we go. Then, we do the whole 'capture the criminals' thing and we get to the fun parts: interrogation and seeing them off to a cell."
"And what am I supposed to do in order for this to be a success and making sure that nobody is getting hurt or killed in the process?" Maggie asked in a whisper as they neared.
"Just follow it by ear and do as you're told until Brass apprehends them. Sara and Catherine are behind us and Brass and his men are around this island and surrounding them as we speak. We're pretty much safe from all harm, if it makes you feel better."
"Not really, but it's bothering me still. You sound too confident."
"Just be careful, Maggie. You'll be ok. Everybody will be."
"I hope so…"
After Maggie expressed her distantly-worded optimism, silence was kept between the two as they walked to their destination. Without Sara or Catherine within visible sight, Nick and Maggie continued down the pathway until they reached the ring of trees, seeing at least ten people around inside the circle, three of them being the Tanners. As she turned off the flashlight in a fit of caution, Maggie's eyes trained her to see her friend immediately and she could not look away except to check out the situation. Ursula was tied with her hands behind her back while Hannah Tanner held a gun to her head. Quentin Tanner also held a gun, as well as his men around, but he was more interested in looking for Maggie, muttering curses under his breath about her being "late".
As Nick led Maggie to where they were supposed to be – before they could be spotted – one of Quentin Tanner's men came to him, causing them to get out of sight for the moment. Also armed, the tall, burly and balding man saluted Quentin Tanner in a way and coughed, as if something was wrong and he could do nothing about it except tell the person in charge.
"Sir, the men here have found two of them female C.S.I.'s in the woods, looking out for their own, we think," the man reported to Quentin as Nick and Maggie hid behind one of the trees, spying before entering. "The Las Vegas police are here, too, by the load. They've surrounded the island, but we still have our escape route. Brass hasn't found that way out yet."
"God job, Brian," Quentin replied. "Now, all we have to do is wait for Maggie O'Keefe and whoever is with her. I'm pretty sure Gil Grissom wouldn't leave her alone."
"Quentin, please –" Ursula began as a plea.
Hannah hit her sister across the head with her spare hand. "Shut up, Ursula. It's your fault we had to leave Karen and her little brats and they got caught by Detective Brass. They found out everything. Now, we can only hope we can have Maggie O'Keefe here."
"Nick Stokes will be nice, too," Quentin added with a smile. "I'm pretty sure he came too. I saw him in the car with everybody when they parked an hour ago."
Maggie and Nick exchanged glances with each other as the siblings talked. Should we really go out there? They both thought it about it. None of them voiced it and none of them gave an answer. However, sooner or later, they would have to somehow rescue Catherine and Sara and perhaps Ursula and leave as Brass catches up with them.
"Boss, what do you want us to do with the little spies?" another man, who was next to Brian, asked Quentin.
"Tie them up tightly against a tree, for all I care. That might keep them still." The criminal waved his hand with indifference. "After we get everybody together, we can kill them along with O'Keefe."
"Brass won't let her come alone, you know," Ursula, recovering from the last blow, said to her brother. "She'll be well-guarded and not just have a security buddy. Grissom, Brass and even Ecklie will make sure of that."
"Which is why we have more men manning the waters, Sister," Quentin replied.
"Yes, but when she comes and realizes that this is a trap, you'll be sorry, Quentin. I told you from the beginning that this plan wasn't going to work. I only went along with it because I want my children back and Hannah wanted to get it rolling. So, don't tell me about traps and getting away with it, because you won't. We'll all just end up in jail."
"Didn't I tell you to shut up?" Hannah yelled, hitting her sister in the head again and kicking her in the side as soon as she was on the ground. The younger hostage only grunted and consented to the order as Hannah shouted out some incomprehensible words, but she knew in her heart that it was the end: the end of the line for her and her friends.
Suddenly, after Hannah took care of Ursula and calmed down, she glanced in Maggie and Nick's direction, seeing the shadows as everybody wondered out loud where they were. "Over there," she ordered calmly to the men. "They're over there. Come on, you two, come on and join the party. We've been waiting for you for quite some time now."
"Party time," Nick muttered sarcastically as he and Maggie surrendered to the Tanners. As expected, though, the two were roughly grabbed as soon as they came to the Tanners and were tied by ropes to avoid them from using their hands and feet.
"Hey, I thought this was an exchange, Mr. Moren," Maggie joked as Quentin's men put her and Nick against a tree – Maggie on one side, Nick on the other – and tied them to it. Next to them, Sara and Catherine appeared, their captors doing the same to them so that they could not escape.
"Well, Ms. O'Keefe, I thought this would be better if I had everything my way." Quentin smiled, not even correcting her on the name given at the White Sands Motel. "You see, you're not the only person who is getting killed tonight. When I get my hands on my wife, she'll be dead too."
"So, there's more to killing us C.S.I.'s?" Maggie tried buying time as she was tied tightly, her body stiff from the abuse and her worry for her co-workers mounting.
"When I get to the others, they'll be gone too. Ecklie, Grissom, Sanders and everybody else are on the list. Nobody is being spared this time, O'Keefe. I'll sink the Las Vegas Crime Lab to its knees before somebody notices anything. And before they know it, crime will come back to Las Vegas and nobody will come back to the city again. It'll be ours!"
"So, beginning with me, you'll have your revenge for Jason Napolitano and then the ways we solved the case and apprehended him? You want this city to be full of crime?"
"Why not? My wife deserved more, to be exalted with the money we will receive for this one deed, as many wanted the Crime Lab gone. However, even now, she can't reap the rewards of seeing her husband's killer dead. I will. I was his friend, O'Keefe. I was Jason's best friend. I knew him since high school. You wouldn't know me, since I went to a different school. But we knew each other well. We kept each other company on Alloy Street and went into show business together. And I can't forget that…or his killer, pictures seen in the newspaper. I can't even forget his face when I saw him at the funeral home, dead as his wife and children wept." Quentin raised his gun. "It'll give me more pleasure to kill you than anything else. The others are a bonus."
"What will we do now, Quentin?" Hannah then asked him as he finished his speech, a predator's grin lighting up her face, anticipation for the next duties warming her up inside. "You're in charge of us here. What will we do now?"
Quentin turned to his sister, men and hostages. "Get the C.S.I.'s to the boat on the planned road and take them out. Carry them down and make sure they don't escape. Brass won't find them after we're finished with them."
As Hannah and the men turned to do their work (Sara and Catherine, quiet, already on their way out and gone before Maggie could know anything), Quentin stopped them, saying that he had an idea for his sister. With only Ursula, Maggie and Nick left for them to take to the boat, he motioned Hannah to come to him. Whispering something in her ear, Maggie saw the smile on her face grow broader and body relax with the next task.
"You understand what to do now?" Quentin asked her as he finished.
"Totally," Hannah replied, walking over to Ursula. Picking her up and dragging her over from the ground to Maggie and Nick as a gun was held to her sister's head, she added, "Say your last words, Sister. Say them to her before I change my mind and shoot you."
Ursula obeyed Hannah, only lifting her head up to look Maggie in the face. "I'm so sorry, Maggs, really I am" she said quietly. "It was not my fault. I only do what I'm told to do or else I'm in deep trouble with my family, as you can see here. I guess you just made everything complicated for me by helping me truly love you as a sister. You were –"
A gunshot silenced Ursula suddenly, a red hole in her head.
"Dump her body in the water," Quentin only ordered quietly, as if he were actually mourning his dead sister. "The others will join her shortly. Good job, Hannah. That's another informant dead and another one to go."