Russo and Rosen followed Brass up the stairs, their guns drawn. The door was locked and Brass knocked loudly. There was silence, deadly silence. Brass had a gut feeling, a feeling that begged to be wrong. Rosen who resembled "High Tower" from the movie Police Academy, took his stance to break down the door.
The door opened willingly. Warrick, Nick and Catherine began to search around. He wasn't there. Not only was Robert Cavallo's house empty, it looked as if it hadn't been entered in a long time. Warrick and Nick confirmed that the rest of the rooms were empty.
"Looks like we got the wrong place." Nick said in frustration.
"Maybe not. The trail to the back door is fresh, the rest of the hardwood floor is dusty but not right here." Catherine said walking to the back door.
As she approached the back door, glass shattered near her and the house started filling with smoke.
"It's tear gas!" Warrick said as they all scrambled for the front door.
Lying in the front yard they began coughing violently and trying to make their bodies calm down. After a few moments, Warrick looked around.
"Nick, where's Catherine?"
They both realized the smoke had been a diversion and that Catherine was the target.
"Sanders why did you page me 911? Aren't you reporting to Grissom on this case?"
"Yes Conrad but Grissom's missing. He called Brass and disappeared. I need you to confirm what I'm looking at."
Greg brought Ecklie over to the computer and showed him what he was looking at. Ecklie then moved to the microscope.
"Who else knows about this, Sanders?"
"No one sir, just you. What are you going to do?"
"Going to take action. No one harms my CSI's and gets away with it. No matter who they think they are. Keep your mouth shut, no one sees this evidence, including Grissom. I'll handle it."
"Yes sir."
Ecklie turned to walk away, then turned back.
"Nice work, Greg."
Greg smiled, the new Ecklie was beginning to be a nice change.
Sara was sitting on her bed reading a magazine when he entered the room.
"Hey! Didn't think I'd see you here of all people."
"Yeah I was in town and decided to check on you. I can't talk right now but you're in danger Sara. Grissom called me and asked that I get you out of here quickly."
"But my son is here. What about him?"
"You're son's not in any danger. You need to come with me before it's too late. Trust me, this will all be over soon."
Sara fearing for her life complied with the request. She knew Grissom wouldn't trust her life with many people, but she could trust him. They left the hospital in his silver Monte Carlo.
The door burst open and the three cops entered the room. There was a large television, pictures all over the wall of Grissom and Sara, and a computer. Brass bent down and picked up a man's watch from the floor. On the back of it was an inscription G.D.G with an etching of a dragonfly. Brass had no doubt in his mind that it belonged to Grissom and that it been left on purpose.
"O'Reilly, send backup to this address. Something's going down." Brass said into the cell phone.
A faint ticking caught Brass's hearing. He knew his life and the life of his men was on the line.
"Get the hell out of here!" He shouted to his guys.
As they excited the room, Brass saw the bomb attached to the computer, 33 seconds remaining. There was only one thing left that the good detective could do.
Grissom awoke to darkness. He listened intently but heard nothing. He was no longer bound or held to anything. A faint gray light shown from over his head. Slowly he sat up and then comfortable with that, he stood. A light suddenly came on overhead. He was in a room that he could only deduce as an old operating room. There was nothing in there with him, but an observation window was fifteen feet from his head. There wasn't anyone in there either, Grissom hated when the odds were against him. Justin appeared at the window.
"Welcome to judgment, Devil." He said with malice in his voice.
"Judgment?"
"MMM, yes. Don't worry, you have a jury. They'll join us shortly, for now I'll dim the lights and rejoin you once they've arrived."
The lights dimmed and Grissom watched the outline of Justin Cavallo walk from his observation area.
Nick and Warrick with their guns drawn, moved to the back of the house. Nick called for backup on his cell. Smoke emitted from a cavern in the back. Warrick arrived at it first; shining his flashlight in he could see a tunnel leading from steps. Nick came up behind him.
"I think they took her down there."
"Warrick man, we can't go down there, it's probably a trap."
"I'm sure as hell not leaving Catherine down there. Cover me, I'm going in."
Nick was worried for his best friend but he let him go down anyway. He stood gun drawn ready for visitors.
"Nick! Call an ambulance, hurry!" Warrick hollered from below.
"What do you mean he took a leave of absence? When?"
Ecklie slammed down the phone. He picked it up again and called the familiar number.
"Hey, I know it been rough with us lately, but I need you. Can you come to the lab?"
The voice on the other end confirmed that she would.
Ecklie leaned back in his chair. The time was ticking.
"Stand up and move away from her. She'll be fine. What I need from you is to listen. Get your other CSI down here now."
"Nicky, hey can you come down here man?"
Warrick was sweating as he watched the gun pointed at his chest. His heart was beating wildly. Nick slowly entered the cavern and knew now why Warrick had called him.
"Come in slowly. There are people in danger right now, you need to listen to me."
"And why would we do that?" Nick asked.
"Because you have no choice. As we speak Gil Grissom and Sara Sidle are on their way to be murdered."
He had their attention.
Sara saw the old building as they pulled in. Another car was there already. Something in this wasn't right and her intuition was kicking in.
"Why did you take me here?"
"To tell you a story about life and death. It's something you won't wanna miss. Now get out of the car." He said and Sara caught the first glimpse of the silver gun beneath his palm.
The explosion still rang in his ears. When he opened his eyes, smoke billowed from the window. Brass could feel the tightness in his shoulder and he was fairly certain his arm was broken.
"What do you do for an encore, Captain?" Russo stood over him, a gun in his hand.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Taking care of business. Get up."
He led Brass to the car and drove off, leaving his partner wounded on the sidewalk.
She walked through the door and sat down at his desk. Even now the young woman took his breath away. She was the only hope he had. For the first time in Conrad Ecklie's life he was lost. None of his CSI's were answering their cell phones. Brass couldn't be reached either and he had just hung up the phone with the hospital. Her uncle the nurse said had taken Sara Sidle. His team was in danger and there wasn't anyone left to help him, except Sofia.
"Sofia, I promise when all this is over, I'm going to sit you down and explain everything I've done to you. You have no reason to trust anything I say but I promise you that I'll make it right. Please help me."
Sofia raised an eyebrow. He had changed so much since he had been promoted, she hardly knew him, and wasn't sure she wanted to. But something about his open plea, had her thinking twice.
"All right, what's going on?"
He smiled at her.
"First let me get my team together, one second."
He left her sitting in his office.
Grissom finally gave up pacing and sat down on the tiled floor. A million questions ran through his mind but he couldn't answer any of them. He wondered where Sara was doing.
The light suddenly brightened and there stood what Grissom knew to be his jury. A man of which he had respected and the man that called him the Devil.
The trial had begun and Grissom was the only one seated.
Ecklie walked into his office with Greg, Bobby, Hodges, and Archie. As he closed the door, it opened again and Doc Robbins stood in the doorway.
"If you're going to fight, you're taking me. I may walk with a cane but I'm the best sharp shooter in Las Vegas. Don't talk me out of it. These people are my friends." Al said.
Ecklie smiled and motioned for him to sit.
"You six have been drafted to help me. As we speak Grissom's missing, Sidle's been kidnapped, and no one knows where Warrick, Nick or Catherine are. I spoke with O'Reilly and he says Brass was in an explosion, they don't know what's happened to him so far. This lab is under attack, and we have the means and the determination to save our own. Anyone wanting to back out should say so now."
When no one objected, Ecklie continued.
"We have three suspects on our list. We have evidence to cipher through and a short amount of time. Let me tell you about our suspects."
"So that's it? Man how did Grissom miss this?" Warrick said agitated.
"How did any of us miss this? It's been right under our noses." Catherine said rubbing her head.
"We should have seen this three years ago. That bastard, I never liked him." Nick said angry.
"I've been on to him for six years, ever since things turned sour in his department. Grissom's the only one who knows who I really am."
"Disco, why didn't you tell us you worked for the FBI? And what's with the drama of the tear gas."
"The bomb was already in the house. I threw a large rock through the window to catch your attention to it. Catherine, you were right next to it. I drug you down here. This itself was on old bomb shelter."
"Why the gun then?"
"You never know who's following you. Sara's kid knows where they're at. We have to get to the hospital before they do. You guys down?"
Robert Cavallo glared down at Grissom. Staring into the face of the man he hated.
"You were so close weren't you? I even made it easy for you. How does it feel to know that you caused not one but two attacks?"
Justin stood next to his father watching as the man taunted him. It wasn't much but what Grissom knew was that Justin felt contempt for his father. But then why was he here. Why had he trapped Grissom into coming to the house? His only chance was to play on his gut instinct.
"Justin, tell me what happened. Why did he hurt Sara?"
"Don't address me by that name! Sara wasn't attacked by us, she was attacked by you!" He shouted pointing a finger at Grissom.
"You attacked her the moment you left her in that airport! Everyday she works with you is a constant attack. They may have harmed her physically but you brainwashed her till she was no longer that college student you met. I could've protected her, she could've been loved and cared for, but you violated her you sick bastard! You violated her! And you stand there so self-righteously and judge them? Only the Devil could do that!"
Robert put a hand on his son's shoulder though he shrugged it off.
"Now let's meet the other member of the jury. Come on out here."
Grissom didn't flinch; he had seen the man in the mirror.
"It was you all along. I knew when you came back to Vegas that something wasn't right. You had changed too much, Phillip."
"Different and yet you never suspected anything, even when I came to town a few months ago."
"What are you talking about?" Grissom asked glaring at his one time mentor.
"Don't you remember me at your party? When you came back from Quantico? Oh no that's right, you were looking for your little whore."
"You son of a bitch, don't you dare call her that!"
"It seems to me Gil, you're in no position to be giving orders. You always were weak. I'm the one that got you to Vegas, got you that job. Robert's been a great friend of mine for years, but you never would listen to me. You came back from that lecture like some half-cocked horny teenager. I thought Bob was exaggerating, until you called me a week later. You kept going on and on about this precious little student you met."
"Even at that I still don't see why you were involved in this." Grissom said not giving an inch.
"Ah that was my doing. My son was weak then. He wanted to leave school over this girl. Said he wanted to move to Vegas. I told him I'd take care of it. By then I was working for John Santimony's crew."
"The mob boss from California?"
"Oh don't look so surprised, most of the cops down there were working for him. You didn't work for him; you ended up dead. I had my fill of cheap whores, bitches that went down on you for powder, but it wasn't satisfying. Phillip here showed me where the real power was. I started out light, slapping women around while I screwed them. But each time I needed more. Killing hookers was easy. No one missed them and I had friends who hid the bodies. My boy here was unhappy with Sara. I was going to pay the bitch off, get her out of town, but then I saw her and her friends. Phillip and I sat at the local bar one night when she came in. From the moment I saw her, I knew my son had good taste. There would be pleasure in beating on this one, I knew very well."
Grissom swallowed the lump in his throat