As the third hour approached since their only contact with the captors had been made, Gil became increasingly nervous. Jim Brass who'd been steadily watching the clock count down the hours, then the minutes, while they ran half way across town to Braun's office, managed to grab Warrick and lead him to Grissom's office some fifteen minutes before the deadline was up.

As Gil wasn't intending to leave the building, he didn't wake Lindsey. He was already concerned about the effect this whole experience was having on her, and by waking her all he would do would be to alert her to the possibility of further actions regarding her missing mother, which in turn, would heighten her worry.

He went with Jim to one of the interview rooms to find a further two of Brass' men awaiting his arrival. The main phone system had been diverted into the room, a unit beside it ready to trace any call that may come their way.

It was Jim Brass who eventually broke the silence of the room, attempting to ease some of the tension, " Are you going to be okay with this?"

"I don't think I have many options, do I? I was the first person that was contacted after Catherine was taken. It's only logical to believe that they will contact me again." Gil ran his fingers through his hair, "I need to do this, I need to find her, for Lindsey." He wanted to add that he needed Catherine for himself, a fact he was no doubt Brass was aware of, but not wanting to divulge his own feelings in front of members of Brass' team, he left that sentiment unspoken. He did however catch a small reassuring smile from Jim, a small gesture to alert him to the fact the detective was aware of his current emotional state.

Exactly three hours after the courier had delivered the package, the silence in the room was once again broken, this time by Grissom's cell phone buzzing. Grabbing it from his pocket, he flipped it open with a curt, "Grissom."

"Now Mr Grissom, you are no doubt aware we keep our word, so have you got what is owed to us? Oh, and don't even think of having your friends from LVPD try to trace this, they and you won't find us unless we want you to."

As Grissom prepared his answer, thinking carefully of a reply he could give that would not infuriate them, he gestured to Brass to make him aware the contact they'd sought had been made. Hesitantly he replied, "I've spoken to Sam Braun, but as he does not know who you are or …."

Before he could finish, the voice all but yelled down the phone, "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU NOT TO ALERT POLICE!" There was a short pause, when all Grissom could hear and feel was his own heart beating, then the voice returned to the cell, softer, but with greater venom, "I see we'll have to show you what will happen if you continue to disobey."

Gil was torn, he wanted to listen to what was happening, gain any insight from the contact he could, but by doing so images entered his head of the possible repercussions his small action of advising Brass of the identity of the caller, could be having on Catherine. The CSI in him won out, he heard the sound of tape being removed, presumably from her mouth, as he heard a small whimper that was unmistakably Catherine. From there the sound of someone being hit, several times. This was followed by a brief silence, then the rustle of someone picking up the phone once again. "Check your e-mail Grissom!" Then the long buzz indicating the connection had been cut.

Gil didn't stop to explain the conversation to Brass, dropping his phone on the table, he ran down the corridor to the lab. Without so much of an explanation to any of the lab techs, he went over to Greg's laptop, logged on and went into his e-mail account. He scanned down the messages looking for some unusual contact. He nearly scanned past it but then scrolled back up to a message, the sender was recorded as Gil Grissom. He quickly clicked on the message to be greeted by a message from Catherine's captors:

You need to learn to follow instructions.You have two hours to persuade Sam Braun to co-operate. Tell him to think about five years ago.

Below the message they'd imposed a new picture of Catherine. It was evident by looking at her face that she was the person who'd been hit. Her right eye was red and was slightly swollen; her nose and lips were bleeding, with further swelling around them. However, it was the look in her eyes that sent the cold chill down Gil's spine, the fear that they held was something he'd not seen in her face for some time. He quickly printed off three copies before sending the e- mail to his folder of saved messages, to prevent the message being accidentally deleted or even worse opened in front of Lindsey. He collected the copies of the message from the printer; he first of all went to the lab where Nick, Sara and Archie were working, "Nick, I've new evidence for you to process. You need to be careful how you do this, as I don't want Lindsey to even know of its contents. Make sure it is always secured if she's in this lab."

This cryptic message caught the interest of Sara, as the picture was revealed to Nick both of them drew in a gasp at the sight of Catherine. With a small nod to his boss, Nick steadied his voice, " You can trust me, I'll keep the lab locked even when working in there, no chance that Linds can accidentally come across this."

"Thanks," Gil murmured before turning his attention to Sara, "Sara, I need to go with Warrick to Sam Braun's place. Brass and Braun don't get along, so I need to try a new approach. Would you mind keeping an eye on Lindsey while we're gone?"

"No problem," was the quick reply.

Gil and Sara quickly made their way to his office. Warrick stood as he saw his boss enter the office and went to wait outside. Gil knelt beside the sofa, part of him wanted to let Lindsey sleep, but another part of him knew if she woke while he was dealing with Sam he'd lose her trust. So he gently touched her shoulder, then pulled a strand of hair back from her face, " Lindsey, Lindsey, I need you to wake up honey."

"Uncle Gil," was the half yawned reply as Lindsey slowly blinked her eyes.

"Hey honey, I need to go out with Warrick. I won't be gone long, but Sara will be here with you the whole time, okay?"

"Okay, thank you Uncle Gil, you kept your promise," she reached up to hug him. In reply, he kissed the top of her head before settling her down once again on the sofa. Lindsey kept her eyes open, watching Gil leave and Sara enter the office. Satisfied someone was with her, she let her eyes once again close, as sleep regained her.