CHAPTER 1

Calleigh put her phone back into her pocket and turned to unlock her car door. She had just gotten off the phone with Horatio, who had told her that the main suspect in their current case had just been found. He was dead in his own home, and their suspects were few. Annoyed, Calleigh unlocked her car and climbed in, ready to head to the dead suspect's home to process the scene. She was in such a bad mood that she didn't notice there was a second person in her car. She started her car and headed out of the parking lot of the restaurant that she had been eating dinner at.

Horatio felt bad for disturbing Calleigh's night off. He knew she had been at dinner with Eric, since it had been all she could talk about that day. Cutting that dinner short was mean but it was Horatio's only choice. It was either that or wait until the next day, and that wasn't an option. This was a high profile case and it needed to be closed already. The case had been open for almost two weeks now, meaning that the press and Horatio's bosses were putting pressure on him. He had already let Eric, Natalia and Ryan off. Eric had had to be in court today. Natalia and Ryan had gotten another case the previous day, so they were out of town.

Horatio exited his car, expecting to see Calleigh walking up to him. Her car was outside the house, meaning that she was there already. But there was no sign of her anywhere. Heading up to the front door, Horatio noticed a shoe on the lawn. It was too small to be a man's shoe and it piqued his curiosity. Horatio walked over and bent down. He quickly realised that the shoe belonged to Calleigh. She had changed at work and headed straight to dinner from there. She had asked him for his opinion on the dress and he had told her that it looked great. The toe of the shoe was red and Horatio's heart skipped a beat as he realised that it was actually blood.

Calleigh screamed when she looked into her rear-view mirror. There was a face staring at her from the backseat of her car. Slamming on the breaks, Calleigh found herself in a fishtail. The car crossed to the wrong side of the road and another car smashed into her. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel but found that she was unable to stop herself from hitting her head. As her vision went black, Calleigh felt someone move her.

Calleigh opened her eyes slightly and found herself being dragged across grass. Her shoe fell off as she tried to stop her kidnapper from pulling her any further. A nauseous feeling overcame Calleigh and she closed her eyes as blackness filled her vision again.

With no idea of how long ago Calleigh had been dragged over the grass, Horatio frantically called for backup and then ran across the grass, looking for any other sign of Calleigh. When he reached the trees on the outside of the house's perimeter, Horatio stopped to catch his breath and call Eric.

"Hey H, what's up?" asked Eric when Horatio heard the phone being answered.

"Calleigh's missing. She didn't change before she left did she?" Horatio could hear hope in his voice.

"No. What do you mean she's missing? Didn't you call her to a crime scene?"

"Yeah. I found her shoe. There's blood on it."

"What!? I'm coming now!"

"Eric, I need you to stay at home in case she comes to you for help."

"No! Calleigh's my best friend. I want to help find her H."

Horatio sighed. "Fine, but Eric, if I tell you to do something, you do it. Understand?"

"Yes. Of course. Where are you?"

"154 Jackbird Lane. Eric, I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"I should've left Calleigh with you. Then nothing would've happened to her."

"It's not your fault H. There is no way you could have seen this coming."

Horatio smiled, said goodbye and then hung up. Eric had promised to get to the scene as quickly as possible and Horatio wanted to look for Calleigh already. He knew that he had to wait for back-up, but it didn't stop him from wanting to run ahead.

Calleigh opened her eyes and found herself in a small room. There was a man near her and Calleigh assumed that he was her kidnapper. She was sore, and when she tried to move towards the man, she found that she had a few injuries.

"Who are you?" asked Calleigh. "What do you want from me?"

"I don't want anything from you. At least not yet anyway. If you do what I say, I won't hurt you."

"Who are you?"

"That's none of your business."

"Fine. Why am I here then?"

"You're bait."

Calleigh sighed in frustration at the answers she was getting. They were vague and uninformative. She needed to find out more if she wanted to be able to find a way out.

"Bait for what?"

"Your boss. He will come looking for you, right?" Uncertainty filled the man's voice.

"What do you think? I'm a cop."

"Good point. Well, be a good girl and you'll get out of here safely." The man laughed coldly and then slammed a door behind him. A few seconds later, the room was plunged into darkness and water started to rush in around Calleigh's feet.