Buried Alive
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Disclaimer: Same as first chapter
Chapter 2:
Warrick stood by his friend who was sitting on an abandoned crate while they watched Catherine, Sara, and Grissom search the scene. Warrick could tell Nick was upset; hell, he was too. They nearly lost the Texan only a month ago and now this? Las Vegas, man; Sin City.
"Don't worry, man; we'll find the kid."
"That's just it, 'Rick, he's just a kid. Something like this never should've happened. God, why did I leave him alone back here?"
Warrick pursed his lips, really having nothing to say to that. He had no idea what had happened when his friends were at the scene, but all he really cared about was getting their crazy ex-lab rat back home. He squeezed Nick's shoulder gently and looked up as Catherine came up to them, face pale with worry and fear.
"Did you find anything?" Nick swallowed.
"No, there was nothing out of the ordinary. There were no prints, but we might have a saliva sample on the mouth of the bottle. We'll have Hodges run it when we get back to the lab." The older woman looked down at her distressed surrogate son. Greg was like a little brother to the man and she had no idea how that felt but…it must suck. "We're gonna get him back, Nicky…alive. Our Greg's a fighter."
Nick nodded jerkily as he wiped his face before standing up. They had work to do; he was gonna get his Greggo back no matter what it took. But who the hell would kidnap Greg? He's never really been outside the lab that much to create enemies. Out of anger, Nick slammed his fist against the brick wall. Pain coursed through his arm and his knuckles pulsed angrily; he gritted his teeth and cradled his hand to his chest.
"Nick, what the hell?" Sara shouted from behind him. He barely glanced at the woman before he disappeared back through the store. It had all happened here; maybe if this robbery never happened, maybe if he had been the one to process the back of the store then Greg wouldn't be missing right now. He scowled down at the dead body of the thief, fighting the urge to kick the guy over and over again. But Greg needed him right now; he couldn't waste time.
~+CSI+~
Everything felt strange; like he was tripping on some drugs…but he didn't do drugs. So why was he floating? And what was that motor sound? Jetpack? Was he flying? Greg's eyebrows furrowed as he started coming to; the faint smell of something rotten yet sweet wafted into his nose making him cough.
"Seems like our CSI is awake," A gruff voice said, startling Greg.
Now he was alert; and he finally noticed that he was in the back of a moving SUV…with his hands tied together behind his back. His heart beat frantically against his chest as he tried pulling on the ropes, but it just chafed his wrists.
"Who are you?" Greg growled.
"Your worst nightmare," the man chuckled.
"Yeah, like that's not a totally cliché line; did you come up with that yourself?"
"You might not want to talk to me that way, kid; you won't be so cocky when you find out where you're going."
"Yeah and where's that?" Greg tried to sound brave, but he had a feeling wherever he was going wasn't gonna be fun.
The car suddenly stopped and Greg was ready to face his captor; he wasn't gonna go down without a fight. Pushing himself to his knees, he waited as the guy got out of the car and walked around to the back. As soon as the trunk opened, Greg launched himself at the masked man, not caring that he might break his shoulder. He just wanted to get out alive. The man was caught off guard, but he wasn't letting the kid get away. He had a message to send to the CSI's and he wasn't gonna wait for another couple years to make it happen. Greg rolled to his feet and started to run…but there was nothing but barren land. In his moment of figuring out where to go, he was tackled from behind. He felt his shoulder pop and he cried out in pain.
"You think you can get away from me?!"
Greg was kicked in the stomach repeatedly, making it difficult to breath. But he still wasn't giving up; Nick wouldn't want him to. He weakly tried to get up, but his captor was bigger than him and arms wrapped around his waist, dragging him back to the car. He kicked and screamed like a five year old boy, but it just tired him out.
"Stop…moving…you little runt!" His captor dragged him back to the car. "Time to shut you up!" He grabbed a bunch of Greg's hair and yanked it back, ready to propel it forwards.
"N-No… p-please!"
"Nighty, night Greggo." With that, the captor smashed Greg's head against the side of the car a few times until the body in his arms went limp. He grinned evilly as he threw the unconscious- and now bleeding- man into the trunk. They had a few more miles until their destination, he didn't need a disruption; and before he shut the door, he shook his head.
"It didn't have to be this way." And then he thought with a smile as he shut the door. "Or maybe it did."
~+CSI+~
"What? Noooo!"
Nick closed his eyes as he listened to the tortured sobs of Greg's mom. Grissom had Catherine go to Greg's parent's house, because he'd rather not tell her this devastating information on the phone. He was sitting in front of his locker, waiting for results from the DNA test and camera footage. Sighing heavily, he stood up and decided that maybe he should talk to the woman; comfort her.
"How could this have happened, Mr. Grissom?" Greg's dad said, holding his wife. "He works in the lab, doesn't he?"
Nick frowned and stopped outside Grissom's office. How come the kid hadn't told his parents about his promotion? Surely Greg wasn't ashamed, right? He had been ecstatic about the whole thing.
"He didn't tell you? He got promoted a week ago."
"Why is my Hojem out in the field?" Mrs. Sanders cried. "It's too dangerous and things like this happen. You need to find him Mr. Grissom, he's my only son and I don't know what I'd do if…"
"That's not gonna happen, Mrs. Sanders," Nick said, stepping in causing his best friend's parents to turn around. "I'll will do everything I can to bring your son back if it's the last thing I do."
"W-Who are you?" Mrs. Sanders wiped the tears from her face. "Are you…are you Nick?"
Nick paled a little; he kind of hoped Grissom didn't tell them that this was his fault; that he should've been the one protecting Greg.
"Um…yeah."
"Hojem has talked about you a lot; you're really good to him you know. He's never had someone to look up to until he met you…along with that other guy, Warrick."
A red tint colored Nick's cheeks, offering a small smile.
"But you will bring my Hojem back?"
"I'll run myself to the ground if I have to."
"Thanks sweetie."
"Come Emma, we should go rent a hotel room," Mr. Sanders comforted. As he walked by, he placed a hand on Nick's shoulder. "Thanks son."
"You're welcome." With that, the Sanders' left the room, leaving Nick and Grissom alone.
"Nick, I hope you believe every word you just said," Grissom said quietly. "Because we will find him."
"Yeah, I-"
"Grissom."
The two men turned around and found Hodges standing behind him. "I got a match from the saliva you got off the bottle."
Nick was shocked but happy. That had been quick; now they could get the guy and force him to tell them where Greg was.
"And?" Grissom said impatiently.
"There was an eighty-nine percent match to a Douglas Mason."
"Douglas Mason, Douglas Mason," Grissom repeated in thought. Where had he heard that name before…and then it hit him. The case with the serial murderer that feigned being a judge; the man- whose real name was Paul Millander- which he absolutely loathed. And even though the man ended up killing his own mother before committing suicide, there was still his adopted son, Craig.
"Gris?"
"It's Paul Millander; the guy who lead a double life of a Judge and staged suicides."
Nick was about to say something when Catherine came running into the office, face pale like she has seen déjà vu …and she has as well as Grissom. She was holding a manila envelope in her hand, unopened, but she had a feeling of what it was.
"Is that what I think it is, Catherine?"
"I don't know, I pray it isn't."
Nick was confused. "What? What's going on?"
Catherine faced Nick. "When you were…taken, we received an envelope much like this except this one is blank on the front."
"Is it a ransom?"
"It was for yours."
"Well come on, let's open it," Nick said impatiently. "Who knows how much time Greg has!" He snatched the envelope from Catherine and went to the light table. Slowly and delicately, Nick opened the seal. What he poured onto the table almost made him pass out; there was a finger…a bloody, human finger and no doubt it was Greg's.
"Oh god." He put his hand over his eyes and collapsed back against the wall. "Oh no, G."
Grissom went over to inspect the finger and then turned to reassure the Texan. "It's fake, Nicky; it's only fake."
Nick let out a shuddering sigh and wiped a hand down his face. "Thank god."
They moved the finger aside for further examination and moved onto some pictures and a flash drive, causing everyone's heart to beat in their chest. The photos were of Greg, unconscious in the back of a car- license plate taken off unfortunately- his head was bleeding and it made Nick want to punch something again. The next picture was of Greg lying down somewhere and the dread in Nick chest was growing. And the last picture was…
"No…no, no, no," Nick whispered. This really couldn't be happening.
Grissom looked at Catherine who looked like she was about to break down any second. It was always them that these things happened to. "Catherine, get Ecklie; inform him on what's going on. Get Sara and Warrick as well; we need all hands on deck for this one. If we did this once, we can do it again."
Nick ran his fingers through his hair as he paced the room; now he knew exactly how Greg felt when he had been kidnapped a month ago. Standing on the outside, feeling useless and scared. And now Greg must be fuckin terrified; this was not something the kid deserved. Greg did not deserve to suffer the same thing that he had…being buried alive. Now they definitely had a time limit and if they weren't quick enough, Greg would no longer be there to brighten up the lab; to be that crazy person to lighten the mood after seeing so many gruesome things. He glanced down at the photo that showed Greg's coffin half buried under dirt.
"Wherever you are, Greggo, please just hang on." I'm not ready to lose you.
TBC…
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