As happy as Greg was that Ray had gotten the help he needed, as scared was he now that he was all alone. He decided to keep a low profile and do anything not to upset anyone, neither the hostage takers, nor the hostages. Just wait until it's over, he thought.
As Greg was sitting there, bored, nervous, scared and impatient, leaning his head against the wall and staring at the clock, six hostages, both men and women, walked over to him. He quickly got up, looking scared, fearing to receive another beating, or even worse.
"No," one of the female hostages said, "We don't want to hurt you. We want to talk to you."
Greg looked at them both confused and distrustful.
They sat down and asked him to do the same. He did, still looking distrustful, trying to keep a distance. Why would they suddenly want to chat with him, he thought.
"One of the others mentioned a hostage situation in Texas, where everybody but one died last week..." the female hostage said, "Do you know what went wrong?"
Greg looked at them baffled. "Well... I've heard about it on the news, but... I don't think the hostage taker ever planned to leave the building alive..."
"But didn't the police shoot him and some of the hostages?" one of the male hostages asked.
"I think he started shooting the hostages when the police tried to get in, and then shot himself," Greg said, trying to explain the situation. "That's what they said on the news."
"How do you usually handle these situations? Are they planning to storm the bank right now or do they wait until the hostage takers want to leave?"
They all seemed to have many questions Greg didn't really have an answer to. "You know, I'm not a cop, I'm a CSI. I don't deal with these kind of situations... But the police always wants to have a happy ending. They want to get everybody out alive and right now they're working hard to help us."
"Oh yeah? How? We're in here for hours and nobody tried to free us yet," a male hostage replied. He was one of the guys that beat up Greg and Ray.
"I... I don't know how to answer that question, I'm sorry... I know they try to negotiate with them, try to get them to give up..."
"That's it? And if they won't give up, what then?"
"I don't know... I'm sorry..."
"You don't know," the hostage laughed humorlessly. "Well then, how often do hostage takers surrender? How often do the hostages get shot?"
"Depending on the hostage taker's agenda, they usually give up. It's rare that hostages die. It's important to stay calm, though."
"We are calm. It's not exactly these guys we worry about," he pointed at the hostage takers. "I'm scared that the police will storm the bank and kill us all."
Greg shook his head. "That's not gonna happen. They won't risk any lives. As long as the hostage takers don't do anything to give the impression that we're in immediate danger, they'll stay out of here."
"So... If we want them to rescue us, we need to get in immediate danger?" one of the female hostages asked.
"What?" the man said, "You'd rather endanger yourself than wait for this to end?"
"Wait for what? It's already taking too long, I want to get home to my kids. They only need to fire one shot, right? And they'll storm in?"
"...I don't think it's a good idea to provoke..." Greg stopped talking when the male hostage attacked the woman.
"You're NOT gonna risk our lives so that you can get out of here!" he yelled, grabbing her face.
"Don't!" Greg yelled, grabbing the man by the shoulder and pulling him off of the woman. A short scuffle between Greg, the man and two other hostages followed. For a change, the hostages were on Greg's side.
Gus, the more aggressive hostage taker, walked up to them. "Stop it," he said with a calm but determined voice.
They did.
"I don't want to see something like this again, am I clear? I overheard your conversation. No one's going to get hurt. I don't gain anything from hurting you people. I need you, and you need me. It's best if we work together, okay?" He helped the woman up with a smile on his face. "You want to get home to your kids, you say?"
She nodded with tears in her eyes.
"People, this won't take much longer now. But I will need your help." He went on to explain his plan.
Much to his surprise, the hostages didn't like it and didn't want to help him.
"They'll just shoot us! They don't care about who they take down, they just want YOU dead, no matter what!" one of the hostages argued.
"No. They're reckless most of the time, but there are news cameras out there! They wouldn't dare killing innocent people in front of the cameras. Trust me, it'll work."
Some of the hostages shook their heads. They didn't want to do this, but others, like the woman, nodded.
"Alright, I'm in," some of them said.
Finally!
Greg was at least as excited as worried. The hostage takers decided to finally end this. But how? He wasn't in on the plan. He just hoped it would end without anyone getting hurt. The hostage takers didn't show too much aggressive behavior, but he feared it was all an act for the hostages.
Hour 14 arrived.
"Brass," Brass said as he answered the phone.
"Hey Jim. We kept a little secret from you. Money's not the only reason we're all here today."
"Oh yeah?"
"I'm offering you a trade."
"Really? What kind of trade?"
"I want to trade hostages."
"What do you want in return?"
"Here's the deal. I'm offering you two hostages and in return... I want a CSI."
"You want to trade hostages? Good. How about you take me instead of another CSI?"
The hostage taker laughed. "No thanks. I want a CSI."
"Why?" Brass asked a bit confused.
"I don't want just any CSI. I want Nick Stokes."