Impact
Chapter 4
Greg and Nick are heading toward Route 95 at the moment, a police car leading the way in front of them.
"This is bad," Greg says for the twentieth time. "This is really bad."
"I know, man."
"No, you don't."
Nick looks over at him in surprise, but Greg keeps his eyes on the road, his fingers gripping the steering wheel tightly.
"It's like when you were taken, all over again. The race against the clock, the worry, the mental strain."
"For all we know, they're fine," Nick reminds him. "Like Griss said, they could have broken down somewhere, and not have cell towers nearby. There are plenty of possibilities. Besides, with my situation you guys heard from the kidnapper pretty quickly."
Nick's cell rings at that very moment, and the two of them share a startled glance. Finally Nick picks it up.
"Hello? Oh, hey Cath." He listens intently, then sighs. "Rough news. Thanks for letting us know." He hangs up, and turns to Greg. "No dice on the car's GPS. Archie couldn't get a signal."
"No dice." Greg says thoughtfully, his eyes widening. "Nick, could you go on to the scene in the police cruiser?"
"Uh, sure, I guess. You need the car?"
"Yeah. You just reminded me of something," Greg says. "We may have just gotten a break."
o-o-o-o-o
My breaths are getting shallower.
Could be broken ribs, maybe a punctured lung. All I know is , it's getting harder and harder to breathe.
For some reason, I'm thinking back to the first time Grissom kissed me. He'd taken me on a date, a proper date with dinner and dancing. The irony of it was that neither of us can dance, but we each assumed the other could. It took two songs' worth of stepping on each other's toes before we laughed and decided to call it a night.
He drove me home and got out to walk me to my door. I could feel the fluttering of anticipation in my chest. I hoped for a kiss, and dreaded him angling for an invitation inside. If he asked, I'd probably accede. We'd spend hours wrinkling my sheets and testing the strength of my new headboard. But deep down, I wanted to wait a little longer. Wanted to savor the somewhat chaste nature of early dating.
We reached my doorstep and he stopped, smiling shyly. "Sara?"
"Yes?"
"May I kiss you?"
Just as shyly, I nodded. He leaned forward, paused to glance down at my lips, and then kissed me. It was soft, and gentle, and perfect. And long. Really, really long. In fact, I was running out of breath. And that's when I noticed.
He breathes through his kisses.
So I did too, feeling strange. Our lips stayed together as we both breathed in and out, unwilling to break the kiss. Finally my neighbor's door opened, and the two of us broke apart sheepishly.
A few hours later, I went to work. Walked into the building and caught sight of him, and my lips pursed involuntarily.
My reverie is broken by a faint sound. Possibly the most wonderful, beautiful sound I've ever heard.
Warrick just moaned.
o-o-o-o-o
"Come on, come on." Greg mutters, rifling through my locker. He unceremoniously dumps the contents on the floor. Two shirts, a set of coveralls, an old pair of jeans, three notebooks, several magazines.
"What are you doing?"
He looks up to see Catherine standing over him.
"Looking through Sara's locker," he says, turning back to sift through my belongings.
She sits down on the bench, puzzled. "Dare I ask why?"
"For her birthday this year, I got her a keychain. Well, it looks like a regular keychain, but there's a GPS device inside the dice."
"Dice?"
"Fuzzy blue dice, yeah. Really cool-looking. And she put the locator box in her locker, so she wouldn't lose it."
Understanding dawns in Catherine's eyes. "So even if the car's GPS was destroyed-"
"The keychain may not be," Greg finishes for her. "It's attached to the key to her Prius, so she's got to have it with her if she's at work today." He reaches into a plastic bag and hoots in victory. "Got it!"
"Switch it on," Catherine urges.
"Okay," Greg says, swallowing hard. "Here goes nothing." He flips the switch on the locator box, and for a moment, there's only silence. Then, a steady beeping begins.