Author: Sam

Story: Perilous Triangle: 4 of ?

Series: Speed-Burn

Chapter Characters: Nick, Cath, Brass, Gil, and OC

Setting: AU: Speed-Burn: Saturday, December 10, 2005: Las Vegas.

Note: These chapters will eventually blend together so all three teams wind up dealing with each other.

Feedback: Yes, please? Especially constructive. samwise_baggins@yahoo.co.uk

Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/samwise_baggins/index.html

Jim frowned at Nick and Cath, his arms crossed and his feet spread in a subconsciously severe manner. “And the manager didn’t give a crap that you walked off with one of his dancers?” He uncrossed his arms and glanced through the window over-looking the interrogation room then back at Nick, directly. “A dancer that’s probably under-aged, drugged, and a terrific reason to have him shut down?”

Sighing, Nick nodded, still looking through the glass at the huddled figure in the other room. What he saw right then was a scared, confused kid who was sitting complacently in a hard, steel chair. Her brown eyes were huge and her kinked hair seemed dull and almost stringy in the harsh, cold light of the interrogation room. She was wrapped in a non-descript grey blanket, but underneath, Nick knew, she had only a fur-like bikini and calf-high boots.

The man drew his sympathetic gaze from the girl in the other room and nodded, grimly, at his friend and co-worker. “Yeah, for the tenth time, Brass; not a peep. He let me take her away and not even a bouncer lifted a finger. He glanced at an equally worried Cath, who merely stood with hands on hips, studying the young figure in the other room.

“There’s gonna be some sort of trouble from this one, Nick. Have you been able to get anything out of her?”

Cath spoke up at that point. “Not yet. She gave us a blank stare, as if she didn’t even understand the language. It’s looking more and more like this might be an Immigration problem, not just an underage drug problem. I’m more disturbed by the tox results. She’s riddled with a cocktail of drugs: GHB, heroine, and valium of all things. She’s lucky to be alive.”

“What’s her name?”

The question came from the door, drawing three sets of eyes to the newest player in this little drama. Gil Grissom strode in, a detached sort of curiosity hanging about him. As he made his way to the window, however, and saw the obvious signs of an under-aged victim, that detachment quickly morphed into controlled anger. There were three things he hated, and child abusers ranked about equal to women abusers on his list.

Cath sighed at her supervisor and lover’s question. “We can’t tell. Her stage name was Diversity, but she seems unable to answer even the simplest questions. Hodges is trying to dig up a list of translators so we can run the gamut of languages on her. I’ve already tried my limit, and so has Nick and Jim.”

“Is she deaf?”

All three stared at Gil as if he’d said the sun was pink and green-striped. With a slow, wondering shake of his head, Nick drawled out, “Actually, I’m ashamed to say I never thought to check.” He looked back through the glass at the petite figure and sighed, stepping a bit closer to the separating two-way mirror. “It never crossed my mind she might not be hearing us.”

Gil nodded and without a word, headed back out of the tiny observation room. In mere minutes there was a very loud knocking from the door of the interrogation room. The sound drew the girl’s reaction immediately, proving she could hear quite well: she scrambled under the table and watched the door with intent eyes, her hand absently groping at her hip as if for a weapon of some sort.

Cath immediately hit the intercom button, intent on warning Gil while trying to soothe the girl if she could. “Please relax; no one will hurt you, Diversity.”

The door opened, but, much to the relief of the three investigators watching, Diversity never moved. Gil walked in, mentally noting Cath’s warning, and quickly spotted the reason. He stayed by the door and asked, in a calm, steady voice, “What is your name?”

For her part, the girl carefully slinked closer to view the new-comer. With a puzzled frown, she slid from under the table, apparently either seeing Gil as a non-threat or deciding that cooperation might go over better with this new man. The pair studied each other as the girl carefully righted her chair and sank back onto its hard surface, readjusting the blanket protectively over her scantily-clad frame.

When the girl finally seemed settled, Gil asked again from his station by the door, “What is your name.” He didn’t raise his voice or draw the syllables out, but he did make eye contact and carefully enunciate the words, in case she read lips. Some deaf people could hear noise but not make out words.

The girl tilted her head then slowly responded in an equally calm manner, “Daneesha.” Her voice was strong and husky, her manner as equally at ease, as if she weren’t in some strange room with an unknown man. “What is yours?”

In the other room, the three were surprised. Not once in the last three hours had the girl indicated she understood them. Nick shook his head. “What is it about Griss that makes women trust him?”

With a small smile, Cath shrugged. “He’s not as threatening as Jim, and he’s not the one who was watching her dance, Nicky. Maybe she thinks you’re a pervert.”

Nick threw a small frown her way, but decided not to take insult at the joke. They both knew that he might be a ladies man but he was far from being a pervert. If anything, Nick Stokes was more inclined to get himself in trouble trying to help a member of the fairer sex than to ever consider hurting one.

“Or maybe,” Jim Brass cut in, “the drugs are starting to wear off and she can think straight now.”

“There is that,” Cath added with a nod, her attention once more riveted on Gil and the girl apparently called Daneesha.

Moving closer at a normal pace, sensing the girl wasn’t exactly afraid of him, Gil replied evenly, “My name is Dr. Gil Grissom. I’m a criminal investigator for Las Vegas.” He moved to the chair opposite the girl and sat down, watching her but not making any undue advances or movements towards her. She seemed to settle a little more, but didn’t ask any more questions. He went on with the interrogation.

“How old are you, Daneesha?”

The girl seemed genuinely surprised by the question, denoting that she wasn’t used to being picked up by the police for under-aged dancing or even drugs. She tilted her head, as if thinking about the answer, and finally said, “I don’t know. It wasn’t important in the Realm.”

The odd reference drew all three watchers to immediate full attention. Nick barely whispered, “I picked her up at the Cat’s Meow. I’ve never heard of a club called The Realm.”

Gil nodded and asked directly, “What is the Realm?”

Daneesha laughed softly and settled back in her chair as if any threat posed by her new situation had just been eliminated completely. “I see. You’re an Outsider. That makes sense.” She smiled, her face lighting up radiantly and drawing Nick’s breath in a hiss. In a couple more years, she’d be unresistable… that smile made her drop dead gorgeous. “You’d find it easier to ask Master Vincent about the Realm. I’m just an acrobat.”

Gil frowned, puzzled. “You were found dancing at a night club. Is that club part of this Realm?”

“Night club?” Suddenly her relaxed demeanor was gone and the girl looked around in confusion. “What night club?”

Cath sighed. “That’ll be that cocktail we found in her system. She’s got her memories mixed up and whatever this Realm is, she might not even realize she’d be taken out of it and put in that club. Without further evidence or information, I’d say whoever this Master Vincent is, he’s grabbing kids and drugging them, then placing them in lucrative, illegal spots to turn a big profit.”

Nick jumped in with, “I’ll check missing persons, Cath.” And, much as he wanted to stay and listen to what the kid he rescued said, the young investigator hurried from the room to try to find her past. He knew that Diversity wasn’t her real name, and it was all likelihood that neither was Daneesha, but it was something.

Gil, in the interrogation room, was unaware of the activities of his team. Instead, he asked, “Is Master Vincent in charge of the Realm?”

As if she was suddenly once more on steady footing, the girl leaned forward and calmly said, “No. He’s evil incarnate. Master Douglas’ in charge and they fight all the time. But, just this year, Master Douglas made us promise to obey Master Vincent, too. He said things had changed and Master Vincent was no longer the enemy. We don’t really agree, but Master Douglas has always been right; he wouldn’t suddenly hand us over to the enemy if that enemy was still an enemy.”

It really made little if any sense to Gil, but he forged ahead, looking for some information they could act on. “We? Who else?”

“There are a lot of us,” Daneesha’s voice suddenly turned wary. “Talk to Master Vincent.” And, just like that, she shut down, drawing in on herself and pulling away from the conversation.

In one last attempt at information, Gil nodded solemnly as said, “All right. I’ll do that. Where can I find Master Vincent?”

Daneesha merely looked at Gil and grinned in a way reminiscent of mischievousness. “He’d be in the Realm.” Then she crossed her arms and refused to answer any more questions, no matter how Gil worded them. The young African-American teen remained totally silent, a small smile playing over her drawn, but beautiful face.