Adrenaline Rush

Chapter 1

Zoë watched Horatio stand and walk out of the room as he answered his ringing phone. 'Another work call, can they not leave him alone?' She questioned herself as she heard him walk into the study and flick the laptop on. She glanced up at the clock and realised it was 7pm. 'I haven't even done the shopping yet, shit.' She thought to herself as she got up and picked their empty glasses up. She walked into the kitchen and put them into the dishwasher before strolling into the study.

"I'll see you later, I've got to go shopping." She mouthed to him and he held his hand up.

"Excuse me one moment." Horatio said on the phone.

"2 minutes, I'll come along." Horatio said softly and Zoë nodded at him and gave him a smile. He flashed her a smile back and then began talking again. She strolled out and wiped the sides down in the kitchen and then quickly put a load of washing on while she waited for Horatio to finish on the phone. She walked back into the study 5 minutes later and placed her hand on her hip with a raised eyebrow.

"One moment please." Horatio said softly on the phone and then pulled the phone from his ear.

"I'm sorry beautiful, it doesn't look like this is going to resolve itself anytime soon." Horatio said softly.

"That's okay, I'll see you a little later, don't work too hard." She said softly.

"I won't, see you later." Horatio said with a smile. She smiled back at him and then leant down and kissed him. She backed off and then walked out as he swivelled on the chair to watch her walk out as he brought the phone back up to his ear and began talking again. He turned back around as she disappeared and then began tapping at the keyboard.

He heard the front door open then close and got back to work.

An hour and a half passed and Horatio realised that Zoë hadn't come back. He sat back in the chair and picked up his phone and dialled for Zoë. 'She's usually back long before now…' Horatio thought to himself when he heard her phone ringing. There was no answer. 'Perhaps she's at the checkout now, or didn't hear her phone.' Horatio thought to himself. He got back to work and half an hour flew past. Horatio glanced down at his watch and took a deep breath. 'Where is she?' Horatio questioned himself as he picked up his phone again and dialled for her. He patiently listened to it ring before he was put through to voicemail. He immediately stood and pulled the laptop screen down to close the lid and walked out of the study. 'Is she okay? What if she's hurt? What if she crashed? She could have blacked out at the wheel and crashed? What if the pacemaker stopped working? She always answers her phone, where is she? She can't still be shopping, can she?' Horatio thought to himself, becoming more and more worried. He pulled his shoes on and then his jacket and finally picked up his keys and left the house. He jumped into his car and frantically started the engine and pulled off the drive. 'I should have gone with her, I should have put the phone down and left with her.' Horatio thought to himself as he weaved through the light traffic, towards the local supermarket.

He pulled into the car park and drove to the entrance and immediately saw her car parked in one of the bays.

'She is still here, what on Earth is she doing?' Horatio thought to himself as he pulled into one of the bays himself. He got out of the car and walked into the shop and walked around, but couldn't see her anywhere. He walked back out and over to her car when something caught his eye on the boot.

'That wasn't there earlier…' He thought to himself as he studied a large scratch in the black paint. He stood up straight and looked in and saw the shopping bags all in the back. He lowered his eyebrows and looked back down at the scratch, he then saw something glistening just under the car. He crouched down and realised it was her keys. His heart began to pound as he picked them up. 'What happened?' He questioned himself and then opened the boot and looked at the shopping. He placed his hand on his hip and with the other picked up a tub of ice cream. 'It's virtually melted, she must've been gone sometime, where is she? Is she okay?' Horatio questioned, becoming more panicked. He put the ice cream back and pulled out his phone as he closed the boot. He dialled for Zoë and then heard her phone going off. His heart began to pound more so as he crouched down again and looked under the car and saw her phone vibrating and lighting up by the tyre. He reached under and picked it up and ended the call.

'What? Where is she? Has she been taken to hospital? Has she been taken by someone else? It's broad daylight, someone must have seen something if she was taken. They wouldn't have stood by and watched her being taken, surely? I should have come with her!' Horatio thought to himself. He dialled for Ryan.

"Mr Wolfe, have you heard anything from Zoë in the past couple of hours?" Horatio questioned immediately.

"Erm, she said she was off shopping with you about two hours ago, why? Is everything okay?" Ryan questioned.

"I didn't go as something popped up about work and now I'm at the supermarket as she hadn't come back and I've just found her phone and keys under her car with a large scratch in the paintwork." Horatio exhaled as he rubbed his face. Horatio heard Ryan take a deep breath and knew Ryan had begun to have the same thoughts as him.

"I'm on my way over." Ryan said as he hung up and immediately walked over to his car and drove to the supermarket where Zoë shops.

Horatio looked down at his phone and then something else caught his eye, there were a few blood drops on the floor, the other side of the boot. He crouched down and looked at them. He tensed and then stood up and walked around to the front of the car and opened the drivers' door and checked the car out. He couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. 'She must have been taken, they must've taken her before she got in.' Horatio thought and then began to really panic. He quickly checked through her handbag as it sat on the front drivers' seat, but nothing was out of the ordinary. He closed the door and ran both hands through his hair. Horatio watched a car pull up and park up. He watched Eric get out. 'Eric?' He thought to himself and then watched Eric walk towards him.

"Hey H, Wolfe rang me and told me what had happened. Have you found anything so far?" Eric questioned.

"No, nothing, there's some blood drops there and the scratch, but there is nothing else." Horatio exhaled, clearly distressed.

"Okay H, don't worry. This could all be some mistake, she may have just gone to pick something up from somewhere else." Eric said, hopeful.

"Her phone and keys were under the car, she wouldn't go anywhere without her phone. Her handbag is in the front too." Horatio said quietly as he looked at her phone in his hand.

"Okay, well maybe this blood isn't hers." Eric said as he got up and glanced over at the entrance to see Ryan pulling in.

"Don't worry H, we'll find her. We'll get the night CSI's in." Eric said softly and Horatio nodded as he put her phone and keys in his pocket and Eric walked over to his car and notified the CSI's while Ryan had hopped out of his car and briskly walked over to Horatio.

"Any sign of her?" Ryan asked immediately.

"No, there's some blood on the floor but that's it." Horatio shook his head.

"Perhaps she fell and was taken to hospital?" Ryan questioned, he didn't want to think that she'd been taken by someone.

"I'll call the hospital." Horatio said as he pulled his phone out and rang the hospital while Ryan looked around the car.

"She's not been admitted to the hospital." Horatio said as he put his phone away. Apart of them hoped she had been taken to hospital, but only because they didn't want to face the reality that she'd been taken by someone. Eric walked back over to them.

"Night shift are on their way over now." He said softly.

"It's going to be fine, we'll find her." Eric assured Horatio who was worried sick. All 3 hung around until night shift had finished.

"We'll ring you with the details, Lieutenant Caine. You should go home just in case she returns. We'll find Zoë." One of the CSI's assured him. Horatio nodded as he looked down and then walked over to his car.

"Do you want me to come back with you, H?" Eric questioned as he walked over to him as he beeped his car unlocked.

"I'm good." Horatio said softly.

"Okay, well Wolfe and I are going to go out and look for her, we'll give you a call if we find her and call us if she returns home. This could just be a mis-understanding." Eric said softly.

"Thank you, Eric." Horatio said appreciatively. Eric gave him a nod and let him get into his car and walked away and over to Ryan and began talking to him. Horatio drove away and back home with his mind going crazy. Eric and Ryan jumped into their cars and drove in opposite directions. Horatio got home and began pacing as he ran his hands through his hair.

'What happened? Who has her? Why?' Horatio questioned himself, over and over. He pulled his phone out and rang Eric, getting an update. Eric told him that neither he nor Ryan had found her yet and Horatio hung up as he continued to pace. 2 and a half hours later Horatio's phone rang and he saw the number for the lab and he immediately answered.

"Have you found her?" Horatio asked immediately.

"Sorry, Lieutenant, we haven't found her but we have the DNA results for the blood that was found. It isn't a match to Zoë, it's an unknown male, he's not in our database. Don't worry, we're doing everything we can to find her." A soft female voice said softly and Horatio pinched the bridge of his nose as he exhaled.

"Okay thank you, keep me updated." Horatio said as he dropped his hand to his side.

"Will do." The soft voice said and Horatio hung up. He placed his phone on the side and rubbed his face as he shook his head, refusing to believe that anything had happened to her. 'This can't have happened, this couldn't have happened!" He thought to himself.'Perhaps she fought back, which is where the blood is from? It has to be the only explanation for the blood. But if the blood isn't in the database, then this must be a new criminal? What would they want with Zoë?' He thought to himself and shook his head as he walked around the sink and picked out a glass and had a glass of water. Horatio decided that he couldn't stay at home and picked up his keys and went out in the car, just hoping she'd escaped the clutches of whoever had her. He drove around, regularly keeping in contact with both Ryan and Eric. Eric went home at 1am as he was exhausted, Ryan and Horatio stayed on the phone to each other while they searched everywhere.

"H, I can't keep this up all night. Perhaps we should leave it until tomorrow morning? The lab is on it too, we will find her." Ryan said softly and he heard Horatio exhale. He also felt exhausted. He looked at the digital clock just as it struck 3am.

"Okay Mr Wolfe, thank you, I will see you tomorrow." Horatio said softly.

"Not a problem, H." Ryan said softly and they hung up. Ryan returned to his house while Horatio stayed out for another 30 minutes until he found himself nearly falling asleep at the wheel. He decided it would be best if he returned home. He parked up on the drive and got in. He slumped on the sofa looking down at his phone, hoping the lab would call him to say that Zoë is safe and had been found.

6.30am soon came around, Zoë opened her eyes and everything looked blurry and fuzzy. She tried to move her hands but she couldn't move. She felt her wrists bound behind her back as she laid on her side. She moved her legs but soon realised that her ankles and knees were bound too. She looked around but couldn't make out her surroundings as her vision was so blurred.

"Horatio?" She called out weakly, still feeling weak and sleepy. She took a deep breath and recognised the aroma of her surroundings but couldn't put her finger on it.

Horatio had just woke up when the alarm upstairs disturbed his nightmare-ridden sleep. He sat up and looked down at his watch and realised that it was 6.30, he jumped up and ran upstairs and hit the button on the alarm which had been going off for about an hour but hadn't disturbed him. He jumped into the shower and pulled on another suit and went downstairs as he checked his phone.

'Where is she? Is she okay? Is she even alive?' He thought to himself and then shook his head.