A/N. I fixed the spacing from my original story, so, hopefully, it looks better.
Family Feud
Part 1: A New CSI
Mornings in Miami are almost always busy crime wise. But this morning, it was absolutely ridiculous. Before 10 AM, there had already been 5 callouts and all of them were murders. The Miami-Dade Crime Lab was hopping, needless to say.
About three days before, Horatio Caine had noticed that one of the ballistics experts, one of Calleigh Duesquene's double gangers, had shown her intuition with crime. A serial killer had been taunting the team with cryptic sets of numbers and continuing to kill. The ballistics expert, Leah Wilson, had been coming to Calleigh her findings on a gun when she had run across Calleigh and Ryan Wolfe staring at the numbers and trying to make sense of them.
Leah had said "Why are you two staring at these numbers?"
"You know how we have trying to bag the serial killer who shot Kayla Cox?" Calleigh replied.
"Yes."
"These numbers have been left at every crime scene and we are trying to figure out what they mean."
Leah stared at the numbers for a second and then handed Calleigh the evidence. "Hand me a piece of paper please." She said. Mystified, Ryan gave her the legal pad and pen that had been in front of him. Leah wrote down the sets of numbers (they were different at each crime scene) and started doing a few mathematical equations. After about 5 minutes, she said "Let me see the addresses of the victims." She ran a few more equations with the addresses of the victims and compared them with a map. She said eventually "I know the time and place the next shooting will occur."
Calleigh called Horatio and handed Leah the phone. "Lt. Caine, this is Leah Wilson, from the ballistics lab. I know where our serial killer is going to strike next and when."
"Tell me."
"I have an address: 1420 West Palm Drive. That's in Coral Gables. The time is 3:15, about 20 minutes from now."
"Good, I'll take care of it. Thank you."
Leah closed the phone and turned to Calleigh and Ryan. "How did you figure that out from just some numbers?" Calleigh asked, bewildered.
"It was a logarithm and a very complicated series of code breaking." Leah explained. "But there is something else I need to tell you. I have a suspect. The gun that shot Kayla Cox is registered to a Mr. Samuel West. The striations match those on the bullets pulled from all of our previous victims. I finally got a clean enough bullet to run it through the database."
"Okay, we need to after this guy. Ryan, can you and Leah go take a look at her suspect? I am going to grab Eric and go back up Horatio." Calleigh said.
"You want me in the field?" Leah asked.
"You just broke our case, so YEAH, I want you in the field. You have been certified for a firearm, correct? I know you're only 23."
"Yes, I'm certified and I have a gun."
"Excellent. Ryan, are you okay with the ride-along?"
"I'm more than happy to have her." Ryan replied.
"Alright, let's go."
At the home of Samuel West, Ryan banged on the door. "Samuel West, MDPD, open up." No one answered.
"Do you want to kick down the door, or do you want me to pick the lock?" Leah asked.
"I'll kick it down. Cover me."
Ryan kicked in the door and the two of them walked inside carefully. "Help me clear the house." Ryan said.
Leah went and checked the downstairs and Ryan cleared the upstairs. Both their weapons were out and at the ready. "Clear down here." Leah said.
"Clear." Ryan shouted a few moments later.
"Wait, there's a basement." Leah said. "I'll check it." A few seconds later, she said "Ryan, you need to come see this." Ryan ran down the stairs and joined Leah. She was holding up a photo and doing a mental comparison.
"I'd say that this is our suspect." Ryan said.
Suddenly they heard the door behind them open. A man carrying a sizable machine gun strode in. He pointed it at the two.
"DOWN ON THE GROUND!" He ordered. Ryan and Leah kneeled on the ground. "PUSH YOUR GUNS OVER HERE!" They complied. He bent down to pick up the guns and as he did, Leah wiggled her fingers to get Ryan's attention. As he looked she spelled out in sign language "on 3".
Leah gathered her strength and kicked out with her left leg and completely separated a leg of the coffee table from the rest of it, thus destroying the glass table. While the gunman was distracted she gave the signal and then she and Ryan rushed him. Ryan took his legs out from under him while Leah grabbed the guy's head in a jujitsu hold. While Leah had the guy occupied, Ryan grabbed the machine gun and pointed it at the would-be attacker's head. "Leah, you can get up now." Leah got up and grabbed her and Ryan's guns. Then, she took over guarding while Ryan cuffed the guy.
Ryan hefted the attacker up. "Why were you here?" He demanded.
"I ain't telling you anything." The attacker said.
"Fine, have it your way." Ryan slammed the attacker against the wall. "Guard him for me. I'm going to call Frank and have him take this freak out of here."
"Do you have someone else who can help you process the scene of this murder?" Leah asked, her eyes never leaving the attacker and her hand never leaving her gun.
"I'll call Natalia, Jesse, and Walter. Then, I'm taking you to the hospital."
"What? Why?"
"It looks like you have some pretty nasty cuts on your leg from where that glass cut you as you kicked the table. I just want you to get checked out."
"I'm fine."
"I think so, but I just want to make sure."
"A quick trip to the hospital and then I can get back to the lab to process that gun?"
"Yes."
"Fine."
At the hospital, Leah got checked out by the doctors."Who's that, Ryan?" Alexx Woods asked as she sneaked up behind him.
"Oh, Alexx, you scared me. That is one of our analysts at the lab. Her name is Leah Wilson."
"What happened?"
"Leah and I were following a lead on a serial killer when we got ambushed. Leah destroyed a glass coffee table to allow us to over power the ambusher."
"Just do me one favor."
"What's that?"
"Don't ever try to hurt her."
"Why would you say something like that? You know I never would."
"That girl has a lot of scars and she doesn't look really comfortable explaining them. I'm thinking child abuse."
"She is a fully certified cop. I'm sure that they won't come in the way of her job as an analyst."
"I know that, I just want you to keep an eye on her. Also, make sure she knows you appreciate what she did in there."
"I most certainly will. Excuse me, Alexx. I have to make a phone call."
Then, she and Ryan drove back to the crime lab. They rode mostly in silence until Ryan exited off the interstate. "Thank you." He said.
"For what?"
"For coming up with a plan to get us out of that mess. I froze for a second, but you really kept your cool."
"Hey, you would have done the same if I froze up."
When they got back to the crime lab, Horatio was waiting for them. "Did you get him, Lieutenant Caine?" Leah asked.
"Yes, we got him." Horatio replied. After a pause, he said "You must be Miss Wilson. Are you okay? I heard that Ryan took you to the hospital."
"I'm fine. Have the guns from the guy that jumped us, the serial killer, and Samuel West come in yet? If so, I need to go process them."
"Calleigh is already taking care of it. Right now, Ryan and I would like to speak with you for a minute. Can you come to my office please?"
"Since CSI Duesquene is already processing the guns, no problem." As they entered Horatio's office, Leah asked "Am I in trouble or something?"
"Quite the contrary. I would like for you to join my CSI team."
"Are you serious?"
"Ryan called me while you two were at the hospital. He told me what happened. I know that it was you that got the two of you out of there. So, if you're willing, I would like for you to join my team effective immediately."
"I'm willing."
"Welcome to the team CSI Wilson."
"Please, call me Leah."
"Well, Leah, call me Horatio."
"What about my job in the ballistics lab, Horatio?"
"Since Calleigh has been working with trace, you will probably have the majority of the guns processing in between call outs. Mr. Wolfe, I think it would be good if you and Leah made your partnership permanent, at least as long as both of you are here as CSIs."
In debriefing, Leah was introduced as a CSI. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to introduce Mr. Wolfe's new partner, ballistics expert Leah Wilson."
Calleigh spoke up. "Leah worked patrol before coming to work in the ballistics lab, so she is already qualified. And, she is also an expert with cryptography, code breaking, and anything to do with handwriting."
The debriefing concluded after a while and they all welcomed Leah to the team. New faces were introduced and Leah had a hard time keeping up with all of them: Eric Delko, Jesse Cardoza, Walter Simmons, Frank Tripp, and Natalia Boa Vista were among the new faces. But, they all had the same message: Welcome to the team.
A/N. This takes place after S10. Kyle is home from Afghanistan in one piece (He will be met in the next chapter.) I don't like killing people when it doesn't introduce new characters, so Jesse is still around.