Poor Greg, has to go on a road trip with the bad guys... :)
The hostage takers were sitting in the front seats, the hostages in the back, with Greg sitting in the middle. Brian, the hostage who pistol-whipped Greg and took the gun from him, was sitting to his right.
"Don't worry, they'll let our friend out of jail and we'll let you go," Corey, sitting in the passenger seat, said, turning around to look at Greg. "There you go, guys," he said as he looked at the other two hostages, handing them guns.
Greg stared at them confused.
"Oh come on, don't look at us like that. Leaving the bank like that was always our plan. We thought taking two hostages with us that are actually one of ours would make this all much more convenient. We couldn't know then that we'd have one of their own among the hostages." He laughed. "That's the best life insurance a bank robber can get! It also helped convince the hostages that we're the good guys and the police are the bad ones!"
It all started to make sense for Greg. They had two guys among the hostages that would talk in their favor, helping the hostages develop the Stockholm Syndrome, and it obviously worked. At least for a while.
"You were the one that started the beating," Greg said to the man to his left. "You didn't do this because of the stressed situation you were in, you did it for fun, right?"
"And I'd do it again, so you better shut up," he replied cold.
"Hey, hey, no need to scare him, alright? It'll soon be over, just relax and enjoy the ride," the driver, Gus, said mocking. Greg sighed, hoping the man would keep his word.
After driving for over half an hour, they stopped in a parking block. It was multi-leveled and they stopped their car in the second last level. They all quickly got out of the car and into another one.
"Why are we changing cars?" Greg asked, pretending he didn't know that they were being followed and tracked.
"You know why," Brian replied. "Don't play stupid on us."
They drove out of the parking block with the new car. Back on the road, Corey started talking to Greg. "I'm sorry for being so rough to you, but you had it coming. It was stupid of you to tell the hostages we were lying. Brave, but stupid."
The apology sounded sincere, but Greg didn't care. "What about the masked men? Were they your partners and you betrayed them?"
"Wow, you're pretty nosy," the man to his left said. He told everybody his name was Lenny.
"Come on guys, be nice to him. Yeah, these jerks were only after the money, they don't care about Neil." Neil was their friend they wanted to get out of jail. "And we don't care about them, so instead of splitting the money with them we decided to betray them."
No such thing as honor among thieves, Greg thought. "I think I remember the case. Neil Donovan, right?"
They nodded.
"I always knew something about this case was off, but I couldn't quite point my finger on it. I was still in training when we worked the case, I wasn't even allowed to talk to any witnesses. That's why I didn't recognize you. We've never met." Part of what Greg just said was true. He was a trainee when he worked with Nick on the case. It was a few months before Ecklie split the team. But he never thought anything about the case was off. It all made perfect sense. Neil Donovan was the murderer.
Corey turned around to him and gave him a sympathetic look. "Guys, why don't you loosen his hand cuffs a bit. He's not going anywhere, anyways."
Brian rolled his eyes, but did. "You better not exploit his kindness, you got that?"
"They found the car..." Brass went into the break room where everybody gathered, waiting for some news on Greg's whereabouts. "They probably knew we were following and tracking them, so they switched cars. We have no idea where they are..."
"...What now?" Nick asked, trying to keep his composure.
Brass sighed. "They're not willing to let a convicted murderer run free. They, uh... won't negotiate with terrorists..."
"What? They're willing to let three people die, just like that?" Nick said aggressively.
"Actually, we have reason to believe that the two hostages they took with them were in on the whole thing."
"What?"
"No one's reported them missing yet. And the hostages all say the same, one of them handed the hostage taker the gun when all of the bad guys were unarmed."
"I don't believe this..." Nick said desperate. "We have to do something!"
After a two hour drive, they stopped. They blindfolded Greg for the last hour, making sure he would not know where they were driving.
They walked him into a house, took the blindfold off and sat him on the floor next to a bed.
"We don't have to tie you up to something, do we?" one of them asked.
Greg shook his head scared. His hands, previously tied in the front, were now tied behind his back. He knew that there was no way the city would free a convicted murderer because some bank robbers wanted them to. They had a strict policy when it came to terroristic orders like that – don't obey them. He thought about telling them, but he feared what they'd do once they found out.
Corey walked over to Greg with a bottle of water. "This would be so much easier if you'd have the Stockholm Syndrome like the others had." He gave him a faint smile and let him drink some water. "You might not believe me, but I am really sorry that we beat you up... We never planned to hurt anyone."
"Thanks for the water..." Greg said. "Can't you just let me go? You have the other two, isn't that enough?"
"I'm sure by now they found out that they're one of us. No, sorry, you can't leave. But I promise, we won't kill you."
"What if they don't let your friend out of prison?"
"I don't think they'd risk your life, would they? We don't want to kill you." He stood up and walked away.
Great. That didn't help him feel safe with them. Just now, Greg noticed a smell. The kind of smell you never forget. The smell of decomposition. It was the smell of the decomposing body of Neil Donovan's ex-wife. As if Greg needed more to fear for his life.
"Did you find something yet?" Catherine asked Sara as she joined her at the light table.
"Neil Donovan's ex-wife, Leslie Donovan, moved to St. George a few weeks ago."
"St. George... isn't that in...?" Catherine asked as Sara finished her sentence.
"Utah. It's a two hour drive from Vegas. Reed tried to find her, but didn't know she moved. It's not official yet, but I contacted her sister, she told me."
"Contact the St. George police department, they need to check her apartment out."
"Already did. It's empty and there are signs of a break-in and a struggle..."
Catherine sighed. "What about the guy Nick recognized?"
"Kevin Dobson," she replied. That was Gus' real name. "He has family in Cedar City, Utah. It's an hour drive from St. George."
"You have an address?"
Sara shook her head. "Nothing in his file. I talked to friends of his, and they claim his mother lives there, but don't know the address. And I found his mother's death certificate. She died three months ago in a nursing home in Reno."
"Great. I doubt they're hiding in a nursing home."
"But maybe in the mother's old home. I'll call the nursing home, maybe they know where she lived."