Lassie - Thank you for that! You really put a smile on my face. I think Taylor will be about for a while (if only because it takes me so long to update!)

Aphina - D! Did I have Tinie Tempah on that list of tunes? I meant to ask, but avoided facebook instead!

Thoren - Oh, I hadn't thought about that... Now I feel really mean!

ninjagurl512 - ") Thank you, and I'm sorry to keep you waiting!

DreamerChild88 - First pancakes, next a Baked Alaska... or not...! Sleeping when they sleep sounds like a very good idea

sparkyCSI - well I was excited, but you know the rest. It's my drug problem... It hasn't stopped raining here. I had to mow my lawn this morning because the grass was honestly up to my ankles. I timed it right - it rained when I finished!

meadow567 - Thank you!

Bmangaka - Numb3rs - I have had to watch the first two seasons again (because they're the only ones I own) but I think something is happening in that head of mine... I hope you had fun on your uni visits - did either of them fit with you?

BlueEyedGunSlinger - Thanks for the tip on the profile. I hope I've fixed it now? I was in New Orleans and wow, it was hot! And I re-read the last chapter and I can't for the life of me remember what Hawkes was going to say. That is going to bug me until I remember, grrr

CaitlinTierney - Did you fix where you were stuck? I liked both of your ideas btw and was torn between the two. If you have the time, I would say definately do both!

Trizzy - Oh heck, I hope i haven't kept you bouncing all this time? Your legs will be tired "P I spent the last month listening to 80s music... and then, embarrased myself when in the car with another DJ and didn't recognise the song playing (that had been at number one for two or three weeks - darn you, Neyo!)

Madison Bellows - Melt? I decided to go wandering around the French Quarter in a 111 degree heat index (all because I wanted to see a psychic) and ended up with sun stroke - my own fault. I didn't smell the oil while there, but I did spend a day in Grant Isle shovelling sand (and being attacked by a gull). I hope you had fun in St. Croix?

TVjunkie323 - Hey C! The cooking lessons are top secret but pancakes are about the only thing she can manage. Grace won't be kidnapping anyone, or trying to kill them (at least, at this moment in time, I don't have that planned). And yeah, I really can't remember what he was going to tell her... but he does need time off. I'll have to be nice to him!

xSamiliciousx - I loved that part too. I feel like I really don't write enough fluffy stuff. It all seems to be action or angst. So I'm trying to be better to them and throw a bit in!

Spoilers for Snow Day still

And because I don't think I make it clear just how much I appreciate her - enormous thanks to my beta sparkyCSI!

What The Eyes Can't See

Chapter 237: Under Fire

Taylor had barely settled down in the break room before a loud, blaring alarm sounded. For a brief moment, she was completely confused – the noise sounding unfamiliar in the lab. Then it registered that it was a fire alarm. She stuck her head out of the door. Seeing the employees making their way to the elevator, she frowned. Who in their right mind got in an elevator if an alarm was going off? They were nearly forty storeys in the air.

Instead, Taylor turned and headed in the opposite direction to the unused stairs. Halfway there, she stopped, spotting Mac staring at a Bunsen burner. "Mac? What's going on? Where's the fire?"

"Exactly," Mac answered pointing at the Bunsen burner. "And it's not the fire alarm that's going off."

Taylor frowned, her nose wrinkling as she realised she could smell the additive to give natural gas a scent. "I smell gas. Shouldn't that be, well, exploding the lab about now?"

Mac glanced around the lab. "Maybe this isn't a gas leak." He made his way to a drawer and pulled out a rather large syringe.

"Mac?" Taylor stared warily at him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to take an air sample and run it through the GCMS to see what we're dealing with here," he explained. He took the sample to the machine and programmed it in. It didn't take long for the computer to beep a result at them.

Taylor stared at the graph. "Is that what we should be seeing?"

Mac shook his head. "No. If what we smell is natural gas, there should be more than one peak."

"So what is it?" Taylor asked, staring Mac.

"Metrcaptoethanol," Mac replied.

Taylor frowned, racking her brains. "Which is the stuff they add to natural gas to give it a smell. Because natural gas is actually odourless, right?"

Mac nodded. "No, but it has the same smell. It's also used in a bunch of stuff. Nothing we do here."

"And is it something the lab just happens to stock?" Taylor asked hopefully, suddenly getting a bad feeling in her stomach.

"No."

"So why is it in the lab?" Taylor asked slowly.

"I don't know," Mac admitted.

Taylor looked at him and then pulled out her iPhone, pulling up Don's details. "I can't get through to Don," she muttered, listening to the beeping on her phone. She pulled the phone away from her ear and dialled 911. "Hell, I can't get through to anyone. I've got no signal," she told Mac, listening to the beeping again.

Mac was looking at his phone. "I've haven't got any either."

With a frown, Taylor marched over to the phone in the lab and picked it up. She hammered on the buttons before looking over at Mac. "Mac, you know your landlines are dead too, right?"

With a worried expression, Mac hurried over to the computer, Taylor right behind him, and opened up the internet browser. "The internet's not working."

Taylor fought to keep the bubble of panic from rising. "Is that normal for a gas leak evacuation – to shut down communication?"

"All lines of communication to go down?" Mac repeated. "No."

The crime lab suddenly descended into silence as the alarms shut off. Taylor looked around. "Tell me that is a good sign. Because I don't really have a very good feeling about this." She stared at Mac who was staring back at her, his expression stoic. "Tell me what you're thinking. Please."

Mac nodded. "I think someone's faking a gas leak to force an evacuation."

Taylor's eyes widened. "On the same day the NYPD has just successfully executed its most successful drug bust?"

"Right," Mac agreed grimly. "Let's split up and see if we can locate the source of the smell. That way we might get some answers."

Taylor stared blankly at him. "Mac, how the hell do I do that?"

"Follow your nose. Look for anything that looks out of place."

Taylor shook her head. "It's a lab, Mac. How am I supposed to know that?"

Mac looked at her, seeing the panic in her face, and walked over to her. He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "Lord knows you've been watching the CSIs long enough. Follow your instincts."

Taylor looked up into his pale blue eyes and slowly nodded. "Okay." She took a deep breath. "Okay." She turned and walked out of the lab in the opposite direction to Mac

The lab was eerie when empty and Taylor didn't like it, especially not after it being so busy and bustling only an hour ago. She glanced into each of the labs, her eyes analyzing everything, wondering if any of it looked like it didn't belong there. Only, everything looked fine. She carried on her way, almost making it full circle back to the elevators.

As they came into her line of sight, the doors pinged open and several men with breathing apparatus walked out. Taylor let out a sigh of relief and was about to go bounding over when someone grabbed her from behind, a hand clamping down over her mouth, pulling her into a lab and to the ground.

There was a moment when the panic set in and she was about to attack the person who had her, but Mac quickly hissed in her ear. "Taylor, it's me."

He let her go and Taylor whirled around, trying to get her beating heart under control. "What the hell are you doing?" she whispered furiously at him.

Mac nodded his head in the direction of the men. "I've been following these guys. They're not from the gas company. They belong to the gang that Flack took down this morning. At least one of them was armed with a 9mm."

"The gang?" Taylor repeated. "The Irish Mob?"

"Yes," Mac confirmed. "The trace off their shoes matches the trace I found in that warehouse in Brooklyn. You were right. They're here for the coke."

Taylor stared at him in disbelief. Suddenly, something sprang to mind. "I did what you asked, Mac. I told Hawkes to put the cocaine in the vault and lock it. They couldn't get into it, could they?"

Mac frowned. "Only if they torched it. And that would take hours."

Taylor peered over the top of the table. "Mac, what the hell are they doing with that very large gun?"

Mac looked at where she was staring. "That's how they're gonna get their drugs back; that gun was built to penetrate armour. It can slice through that vault door like a knife through butter."

"Surely they'll hear that downstairs?" Taylor asked in amazement.

"With how high up we are?" Mac turned back to her. "I doubt it."

"Well what are we going to do?"

Mac shrugged. "We're going to have to stop them ourselves."

Taylor just continued to stare at him.

Next door, Flack was in an empty room staring out at the crowds of people in the street, feeling like he should be out there, but knowing there was an even bigger mountain of paperwork that needed completing than before the operation.

With a sigh, he stretched his back and returned his attention to the computer in front of him. It was so noisy at his desk, and Grace was giving him weird looks, that he had opted for the only empty room in the building – the one with the dinosaur computer, the uncomfortable, squeaky chair, and the weird smell.

"That went down quite well, didn't it?" Louie asked, appearing out of nowhere.

Flack let out a yelp. "Louie! How many times have I asked you not to do that?"

Louie wafted his arms impatiently. "Not merely as many times as you probably will do in the future."

Flack eyed him suspiciously. "You know, I don't like the sound of that," as his phone rang. He picked it up, frowning at the number he didn't recognize. "Flack." His face lost color as he listened to the voice on the other end of the phone.

He hung up and looked at Louie.

"What?" Louie asked him. "Taylor announce she was pregnant or something?"

Flack shook his head. "It's Danny."

Louie blinked. Without waiting for an explanation, he disappeared.

Taylor was chewing nervously on her fingernails when something that was filtering over the radios the men had caught her attention. …we have a hostage situation involving police officers… It wasn't the words that alarmed her, as much as the expression on Mac's face. "What?" she whispered cautiously, not certain she wanted to hear the answer.

"That's the same location of the bust this morning," Mac explained. "Danny and Adam are still there."

Taylor's breath caught in her throat. "I thought Lindsay was going?"

Mac shook his head. "They swapped shifts."

Taylor could feel the panic bubbling up inside her again. "We've gotta get out of here, Mac."

"It's not going to be that simple. These guys aren't cowboys, Taylor," he explained, noting her confusion. "They've pulled this whole thing together in a matter of hours and that means they're well connected and methodical. I'm sure they've got people on the exits."

Taylor took a deep breath, her eyes back on the intruders. "At least tell me you have your gun on you?"

Mac sighed and shook his head. "It's in my desk."

Taylor felt the strength drain from her and she fell to her knees. "Great. So we're stuck here, with no weapons, with guys with big ass guns? So what's the plan?" She stared at Mac, the patience slowly ebbing away. "Please tell me you have a plan?"

Mac shook his head. "I have no idea. The one thing I do know is that we have a home field advantage."

Taylor stared blankly at him. "What are you on about? I don't work here!"

Mac looked calmly at her. "Taylor, you've spent more hours here than some of my employees, much to my annoyance. But the fact is, you probably know your way around this lab blindfolded. And more importantly, I'm not letting anyone leave my lab with evidence. This is the part where you step up, Taylor. You step up and you take charge and you show me what you're made of."

Taylor shut her eyes and took a very deep breath. She exhaled slowly, opening her eyes and nodded. "Okay."

Mac turned his attention back to the intruders, while Taylor's attention was caught by the computer flashing at her. Keeping low, she scurried over to it. As she read the screen a bolt of hope appeared. "Mac!" she hissed. "I think Hawkes is still in the building. Does this mean the internet's back?"

Mac joined her side. "No. The internet's still down but our internal messaging system is still working."

Mac quickly grabbed the keyboard. IT'S MAC – I'M WITH TAYLOR. WHERE ARE YOU?

The reply pinged on the screen. Taylor ignored it, keeping her eyes on the men. One of whom was looking suspiciously in their direction. Taylor tugged at Mac's sleeve. "Mac, I think we need to go!'

Mac took one look in the direction of the elevators and nodded, closing the message window. He pointed in the direction of the exit furthest from the elevators and the two hurried out, keeping low.

In the corridor they burst into a run, Mac leading them through the warren-like corridors, to the far side of the building. He hurried over to a spot on the wall and pulled it open, revealing a fuse box.

"The power?" Taylor asked him as the lab descended into darkness.

"You know this lab, Taylor. Use it to your advantage." His eyes widened as he spotted something behind her, pushing her to the side. "RUN!" he bellowed.

Taylor did exactly as he said, taking off in the opposite direction as the glass started exploding around her. She covered her head, praying a bullet wouldn't hit her as she charged down the corridors. She ducked into the break room, looking desperately around. Remembering something she had seen in a film once, she stood on the top, pushing a ceiling tile up and leaving a crack. And then she dropped to the floor, opened up one of the cupboards and squeezed in, holding her breath.

Flack squealed to a halt outside the warehouse, leaping out of the car, and started bellowing orders.

Louie appeared beside him looking angry. "Danny's in there," he told him. "He looks like crap. You have got to get him outta there."

"Can't you do anything?" Flack asked him.

Louie shook his head helplessly, sending ghostly brain matter flying. "I can't," he told him. "I don't have that ability anymore."

Flack nodded. "I'm getting Danny out. Alive."

"You better," Louie told him.

Sorry about my infamous disappearing act. Life isn't good and I feel no urge to be near a computer. Oh well. I will be unemployed at the end of the week again. Temping SUCKS. Maybe I will have time to write(!)

In other news, I again thank everyone for reading, reviewing and all the alert / favourite adds! ")