Sorry for the late update, everybody. Things have been pretty crazy here again and the semester, like I probably said before, has started up again. I might not post as often as I want to, but I'll try as hard as I can. Thank you!
Brass and his men had finally reached the end of the line: the boat dock where the Tanners were going to leave their prisoners until death. On the other hand, capturing Quentin and Hannah Tanner and their men had been easy – too easy, he thought, as they met them on the way – and the only problem remained in finding his co-workers, his stomach clenching especially after seeing Ursula Kearns dead at the meeting spot. Then, tying his sick feelings in a knot, he paid more attention to the underground pathway, which had led him and his men to a pier. At the end, there were numerous boats tied up, all of them ready to bring the group to shore and out of the park. How many Quentin and Hannah Tanner employed for this one purpose, Brass could not imagine.
The two questions on Brass' mind, as Grissom, Greg Sanders and Ecklie cleared the last scene, was: Where were they? And had they survived?
"Sir, the C.S.I.'s proceeded the last scene and are about to leave soon," one of the officers, who came up to Brass, said as the Detective studied the boats with anxiety. "The female body has been removed already."
"Good, good," Brass replied, trying to keep his nervousness – the nagging fear in the back of his mind that, this time, his teammates were hurt and/or dead – down and out of his voice entirely. Succeeding to some degree, he added as he motioned to the boats tied up, "Has anybody swept this area or seen anything?"
"No, Sir, but we can get a few men to do it."
"That won't be necessary, Sergeant. Just tell Grissom to get down here when he's done with the crime scene. I'm sure that the Medical Examiner is here already and calling out his preliminary findings."
"As well as some reporters and a few more of our men, Detective."
Brass swore under his breath. "Ecklie can handle the reporters. Just get Grissom over here. We can find the rest of the team."
"Yes, Sir…" The Sergeant hesitated, just for a moment in seeing his boss look so uncertain and lost, but thought the better of it. So, he left.
~00~
"What is it you need me for, Jim?" Grissom asked as he met up with Brass at the pier. "It seems like you can't find the rest of the team without –"
"Yeah, yeah, Gil, I know what you mean and it's not that. I just need the back-up." Brass smirked. "Besides, this is your team, might I add."
"Catherine can –" Grissom began.
"We don't know that, Gil. We don't know where they are or who is holding them right now. Any one of them can find their ways out, but we can assume that, remember? Catherine can get out of anything, as can the others, but do we know that?"
"Naturally, you are right," Grissom agreed, nodding. "However, I would have thought that, by now, we would have seen one or all of them flagging us down."
"Again, we can't assume that."
"I'm aware. Shall we get going?"
Still bickering about whether Sara, Catherine, Maggie and Nick escaped their captors and were hiding as they walked to the dock, Grissom and Brass stood at the end, looking up and around the boats, deducting where the team could have gone. After safely assuming that the four could not be on the single-riding boats or the row boats, the twosome looked to the only one that had a large deck and a lower one as well. It was situated on the far end and anchored off in the middle of the park's lake, set far apart from the others. Both thought the worst when they saw it.
"Do you think we've found them yet?" Brass asked as he and Grissom spotted it at the same time.
"I don't think you want to swim to find out," Grissom said as a sort of reply.
"We could borrow one of the rowers instead of swimming, you know."
"Yes, and carry all of them? Those are too small for a group of people, Jim."
Brass sighed in frustration. "Sometimes, I wonder why I bring you places."
"I wonder the same thing, Jim. Shall we wait a few minutes and see if one of them comes to us before we go to them?"
The Detective shook his head. "If they do, then fine, Grissom. If they don't, I'll be tempted to swim the way. And I wouldn't mind doing it in this damned heat."
"And possibly drown because of fatigue and exhaustion?"
Brass was tempted to pull his hair out because of Grissom's obvious observations (indeed, the Detective was tired and fatigued from all that running around, but he didn't think that the heat was helping either), but decided against it. He was frustrated enough with the case and had spent hours at it: babysitting, lying in some way or leading Maggie in another direction. He barely had any sleep and was bothered by the heat.
"Furthermore," Grissom continued as he searched the boat from their spot and smiled as he heard a couple of splashes and saw a few shadows coming towards them in the lightly clouded moonlight, "I think we wouldn't have to wait long for somebody anyhow."
"Did I just see what you just saw?" Brass then asked as he followed the C.S.I.'s gaze, seeing two people jump overboard and quickly swim towards them.
"I think that's Maggie and Nick now," Grissom said, walking calmly and kneeling at the end of the dock. Then, holding out his hands, one wet hand below grabbed and was pulled up in a dramatic show of water. Another hand was held up frantically and Grissom grabbed it before the other could slip, the both of them safe again. Brass was only amazed that the C.S.I. was correct again and the two lovebirds were once again before them…alive.
"What took you so damned long?" Maggie sputtered as she crawled towards Brass weakly, coughing up water. "We were out there for over an hour and waited for as long as we could. Then, we had to swim. We had no choice anymore. We couldn't wait for you or for some squad to come over and get us."
Nick, also coughing, tried not to laugh, but failed. "Why…didn't you…wait? We had everything under control."
"Ok, who did it and what's going on?" Brass asked, slightly amused, but missing their panicked and nervous looks and motions.
"Catherine started it," Maggie replied, calmer as she talked. "There were two guards. One came down when Nick called for him and, well, it went from there. They're both under Catherine and Sara's supervision for the time being, until they also jump. They have a few minutes and they all have to jump ship too."
"So, why did you two decide to swim to shore after all?" Brass then asked. He suddenly knew that something was up and that was why the two ran for it, quite literally.
"There's an explosion onboard, which is why we got out first," Nick added, panicking a little as he got up and not hiding it. Helping Maggie up as well when she recovered, he tried getting everybody away from the boats and to the island's safety before debris flew. "Catherine and Sara insisted that we go first. They'll be behind us soon."
"The two guards of ours were supposed to defuse it with Catherine and Sara, but I don't think they're doing a good job of it," Maggie said, looking back to the boat as the foursome walked to the island. Then, hearing two splashes, she sighed with relief as the two women quickly swam to shore and climbed up to the dock, two men behind them.
Apparently, Catherine had both of them under control. They behaved after all, even if they couldn't get rid of that bomb that was supposed to kill us.
"I thought you'd never come back," Nick joked as Catherine and Sara came to the group, silence reigning until they all came.
"I thought you'd never listen to me," Catherine replied.
When Grissom raised an eyebrow and became curious, Sara explained as she wrung out her dark head of hair, "That couple was determined to stay with us, no matter what. Catherine persuaded them to swim for it before the bomb went off."
"Hey, what about –?" Earl began.
"Remember our deal, honey buns?" Catherine interrupted, elbowing the man in the ribs as the other guard cringed and almost backed away. "You tell the police about your involvement and the D.A. could cut you a deal and reduce your jail time."
"I take it that their hands weren't too bloodied this time?" Brass asked, looking at the two men, oddly behaving themselves for the C.S.I.'s.
"No, but they needed some persuading of their own," Catherine replied calmly, smiling a grin that only Grissom and Sara could decipher: one of triumph and confidence.