Horatio sighed at the rubble, knowing about the carnage beneath it at least in part. There wasn't a stench as yet because the explosion occurred late enough in the afternoon that the sun had set and the air chilled enough to keep it at bay. He felt numb throughout his body, especially his hard-working brain.
"That's what I get for keeping to paperwork these past few months," he thought morosely. "Wish I'd just taken early retirement and been done with it," he stopped short because he wasn't prone to self-pity.
He shook his head to clear it because he needed it now more than he had in some time. He thanked God for the short staff because it forced the department to let him do field work sometimes. The break in his endless mounds of paperwork kept his brain from rusting. He saw the ash on top of the rubble piles and realized the building was still burning despite the fire department having its hoses on full blast.
That meant there was more than one bomb, which likewise meant the attack was planned by someone who wanted to make a statement. He sighed again, this time in contentment as his brain began clicking into gear again, thinking,
"God it's good to be back in the field. I thought for sure I'd go insane cooped up in my office all day," and dug slowly through the rubble pile closest to him.
His boss, Director Ainesworthy, watched him intently from her position near the curb and realized her commander made a serious mistake railroading an officer who still wanted to work in the field. He was trained, certified, and licensed in so many specialties it made her head spin. The brass promoted him to Captain for his last three years at MDPD because they feared he wasn't as balanced emotionally as a CSI needed to be in the field.
Watching him pick over and dissect the crime scene gave her serious pause, since his ability to focus made him a very valuable member of his team. She watched as Lieutenant DuQuesne joined him at the considerable task of gathering the evidence that would catch the bomber. The pair worked very well together, each filling niches in the other CSI's missing knowledge that ensured a clean closure to their case.
She wondered where Sergeant Delko was until she recalled that he'd been permanently barred from field work because of his brain injury in a shootout several years previously. One of the bullets remained in a delicate location, which he reluctantly accepted he couldn't risk jarring loose for fear it would kill him instantly. His wife Calleigh (everyone knew they wed in violation of the fraternization rules) was expecting their second child in a few months and insisted on returning from maternity leave to help with the case.
She took extra care to avoid situations that put her at unnecessary risk because she wanted her baby very much. Ainesworthy wondered how long she'd be with the force after the baby came, since she was known to be a devoted mama to her and Delko's two-year old daughter. Theirs was a very traditional marriage in some ways and a thoroughly modern one in others. She took his name hyphenated to hers but saw herself solely as his wife when they were at home. He was a doting house husband when possible, utterly besotted with his wife and child.
He wasn't shy expressing his joy in their second baby or his hope that he'd get the son he wanted. Calleigh wanted a son too, but would be equally happy with another daughter. Ainesworthy knew it wouldn't take long for Mr. Delko to fall for another girl, if God gave him one. They were well-matched in other ways as well, sharing a profession that both were passionate about pursuing.
She heard a grunt of pain and turned to see Horatio rise slowly from the shattered concrete. She realized why he reluctantly accepted his promotion when she saw him straighten slowly and proceed carefully to ground level. He wasn't as young as he used to be and knew it. She understood then why he accepted being railroaded into a job that he loathed. He could use his new powers to ensure that Calleigh and Walter received the promotions they worked so hard to earn, while he created a new job title and role for Eric as head of the lab and introduced him to the fine art of completing evaluations and other types of paperwork that flowed in an endless stream from the rank of Lieutenant and above.
Eric was hurt until he realized H had arranged his lateral promotion to protect him from further head trauma. Cal was promoted to Lieutenant and Walter to Sergeant, while H got the Captain's chair so many sought but he didn't want. He missed field work ... a loud groan of serious agony pulled him from his morose thoughts and gave him the focus he sought at last, though not for the reasons he wished. The moans turned to screams as the lone survivor of the bank implosion moved her shattered body.
He looked up in time to see an olive drab clad woman crawling down from the apex of the rubble pile furthest from the epicenter of the blast, knowing from her location that she'd been in one of the top floor offices and near the southeast corner of the building when the bomb or bombs detonated. He wondered if she was responsible for the explosion until she told him her version of events a few days later.
He gave her his reluctant admiration, struggling to make it to the middle of the pile before she collapsed because that short journey exhausted her. He wondered why a beauty like her wore olive drab until a closer inspection revealed that she was a highly decorated officer in the Marine Corps. He learned why she survived this mess, and how tentative her hold on life was, when she groaned,
"Would you mind helping a lady in severe distress, Lieutenant Caine? You d recognize me if we were meeting in my offices because you've been there several times in recent months," and fainted from blood loss.
His molasses wits finally realized who she was because he recognized the tenor laced with gravel from the meetings she mentioned. He knelt and took her vitals, then hollered down to Walter,
"Call the medics, Walter. We have a live one," as he began CPR to keep her alive until more qualified help arrived.
"She roused at the sound of sirens, doing so in the must unusual way. She sat bolt upright and screamed until he thought he'd go deaf, shouting for Tenorio, Caine, and Harmon as if her life depended on it. His name wasn't so common there'd be many Caines in Miami, so he wondered if he knew the general's ... he almost flipped out entirely when he recognized the crumpled mass of wounded flesh as the erudite, determined General Leila Davenport whose offices were smack in the middle of the penthouse suite on the top floor of the building.
Horatio suffered further shocks to his already battered emotions when his son Kyle and nephew Ray Caine, Junior leapt over the rubble to get to the general's inert form. Neither of the men noticed him for his focus on her, so he remained silent and let them work. He knew Kyle became a high-ranking field medic in Afghanistan, but didn't know that Ray Junior did too, having fallen out of touch with him a few years previously.
The last huge shock that temporarily did him in was seeing Madison Caine leading the EMTs that scrambled up the mountain of rubble to rescue the general. (He learned she changed her surname to Caine later that day.) Suzie watched from the sidelines, pride in her daughter in every gesture. He took his time descending the rubble so he wouldn't become another victim (and he admitted only to himself, to regain his composure so he'd make sense to Suzie when he asked his questions).
He scanned the crowd for Sara, hoping to see her because he needed help gathering his wits and forming his words. His face fell when he remembered she'd chosen her kind of field work to being with him, yet another failure on his part that he didn't think he could fix. She was off in some remote corner of the world working to defend endangered wildlife, particularly whales and their close cousins. He worked to rescue and save the humans that created the carnage with wildlife, so their last confrontation hadn't ended well for him.
Horatio returned to the present and gave his former dependent a thorough perusal, noting first that she wasn't married because there were no rings on her finger. He wasn't the type to rob the cradle, so his once over was cursory at best. Suzie looked good, better than a woman her age should look after what she survived. He had to shake himself again because he hadn't seen or heard from her since Maddie's last brush with cancer ten years previously.
She wore the scrubs of an OR nurse and the demeanor of someone who was very much in command of her ship. He saw her bite her lip and turned barely in time to brace and catch Maddie as she tripped over a stone and came down on top of him. He was more than happy to break the young woman's fall, seeing her as a surrogate daughter. He grunted himself because she weighed a lot more than he expected her to.
Suzie looked up and realized who caught her falling child, blushed, and stammered,
"Fancy meeting you here, Horatio, I thought you retired ages ago. It s nice seeing you again," as she fought the urge to cradle her twenty-something year old daughter in her arms.
Horatio was the first to see the deep gash along Maddie's left arm and immediately stooped for a non-existent kit, remembering only then that he was supposed to be purely an observer to a scene he'd once dreamed of investigating (still did if he were completely honest). Calleigh arrived, saw the tableau and how lost her boss was without his MDPD badge on his waist and ID placard around his neck.
She'd always been protective of him and Suzie knew that, so they were of one accord as Calleigh asked,
"What happened, Horatio? I saw the blast on the news and came off of my maternity leave to investigate the case."
She worried when he looked absent yet present, as he answered,
"I felt the blast from my office and hurried over to see if I could render aid to any survivors. So far, only the general has been so fortunate," his voice chilled as the thought that she might be responsible for the mess crossed his mind for the second time that day.
The general herself firmly squashed the idea, rasping from her gurney,
"I was the last person out after the first rumbles began around quitting time. I was on my way down the back stairs when a blast catapulted me through the plate glass and onto the top of that pile back there," she waved vaguely towards her location, her path easily retraced from the thick blood trail leading up to it to the street.
Kyle delivered yet another hammer blow to Horatio's mind, saying tersely,
"You were lucky you made it out of there, ma'am. As of this moment, you're the sole survivor in what was a bank full of patrons."
Her smile was brief yet managed to reassure everyone, when she said faintly,
"The bank wasn't full because I used the intercom and PA systems to warn the building's inhabitants of the danger," the fire in her eyes reminding her subordinate who was in charge.
Further commentary made him angry, as she said,
"I was so late leaving because I had classified data to safeguard. Had I known how strong the blast would be, I'd have split a lot sooner than I did."
Ray brought the general a cool drink of water to ease her dehydration, stunned that she refused it until Suzie reminded him,
"General Davenport is wise to resist the need to quench her thirst, since she might swallow further contaminants and set herself up for a major internal infection."
She stunned everyone but the genteel general when she turned to the EMTs and bellowed,
"Get the lead out, people. She's our only survivor and I'd like to see her remain breathing, if you catch my drift."
"Yes, boss," her youngest one smarted off, irritating her no end with his bullshit.
He had a major attitude problem and she was done with it, but had to go through the Medical Employees Union to fire him, so he was still on board. Kyle recognized his attitude in the nineteen year old, so he stepped into the argument, saying,
"Tame your attitude bud. I was on that road and it led nowhere fast," as he helped the lad s partner load his boss carefully into the back of the ambulance.
The young man got a good look at the muscled mammoth that rode in the ambulance with the injured woman, thought he knew the score, and snickered,
"Yeah, like you were raised in the ghetto,"and got this cold response,
"I was worse. I grew up a foster kid, living with foster families that didn't give a damn for me but cared a whole lot for their monthly support check from the state. You had your gang, for all they were worth," and closed the doors as the van sped to Miami Dade Hospital just up the road.
Silas had much to consider as he caught a bus to follow the ambulance to the ER. He let the witnesses think that until he was out of sight, when he got off the bus, into an old muscle car, and it hung a sharp right to the slums near the waterfront. Horatio saw the turn and knew it meant ill for the general, so he informed Calleigh of his observations.
She knew he was falling back into old patterns as a form of comfort so she let him. She also liked having an experienced pair of eyes observing the new recruits, since he caught two of them slacking off and they got back to business when they caught his eyes on them. His was a paternal smile when gave her own orders, saying,
"Walter, please take a three-man team and follow the EMT. He ride is trailing thick black smoke so it shouldn't be too difficult. Keep your eye out for trouble because the Red Skulls hate us even worse than the Mala Noches do."
Walt did as she ordered, but not before he took her aside and asked,
"What s up with H, Lieutenant? He seems more out of it than usual."
She tried to comfort him and herself, saying,
"He's finally dealing with the stuff he crammed into his heart for decades and it's hitting him very hard. I'm not sure, but I'd swear meeting the general began the process. I hope he can hold on until he retires in a few months," answering absently, her mind already back on the case.
Walter shared her hopes and vowed to keep an even sharper eye on his boss than he had previously. The man shook himself out of his doldrums long enough to do a perimeter check, when he signaled to Calleigh that there were things she should have a look at. Walter finally understood why H seemed so lost, he was. Some old dogs learned new tricks quickly while others never quite seemed to catch on and Horatio appeared to fall into the latter group.
He'd been the commanding officer of his team for so long he was adrift without an anchor now that he was mostly a desk jockey. He needed the constant intellectual stimulation of being in the field, examining the evidence, and discussing what it meant with his team. He wasn't cut out for paperwork and those who knew him best understood that.
Horatio was smart enough to know when to call it a day and did so, returning to his office very reluctantly. He'd felt off for a few days and thought about phoning Dr. Humphrey for an appointment. He shook his head and returned to his mountain of paperwork so he'd finish it by the close of business that night, because he had plans with a certain general he wouldn't put off for anything.
He smiled again as she came more fully to mind, dressed in her Marine greens and covered in the medals that earned her last promotion to general. She received that before the insurgents attacked her bunker in Tikrit, killing all but a handful of her top men and nearly killing her. Kyle and Ray popped into his rear view, so he phoned his son to get the full scoop on how he knew General Davenport and when he met up with his cousin.
Kyle and Ray were kicking back at Kyle's place, enjoying their first serious shore leave in months when Kyle's phone rang. He ambled over, checked the caller ID, and nearly let it go to voice because he didn't recognize the number. Ray read over his shoulder and knew the number from memory, so he said,
"Pick it up, bro. It's Uncle H on the other end," forgetting that Horatio was his best friend's dad.
Kyle's tone was reserved because he'd seen his father at the crime scene and not liked the look of him at all. He knew from the man's letters that being a pencil pusher wasn't to his liking at all, but he had to stay put so he'd get full pension and health benefits when he retired. It wasn't in him to take medical retirement, even though the hunch in his shoulders indicated he was in severe pain.
He warmed up immediately when his father said,
"How would you and Ray like to go deep sea fishing with me over the long weekend? We could catch up on news, like how you met your cousin and where both of you met the general."
"You're on an entirely different kind of fishing expedition, but cloaking your motives with a trip out to sea," Kyle laughed liking his father s transparency. He focused first on his primary concern, saying worriedly,
"You seemed more than a little out of it this morning. Are you okay," he asked before he thought through his words.
Horatio began his new era of life being honest for once, saying,
"I m not all right. I hate being confined to paperwork and it s chafing my hide something fierce."
They discussed generalities for over an hour, when Kyle suggested that he and Ray bring him up to date on their histories during the fishing trip, so he could hang up and his father could get some rest. No one knew how long that rest would be.
"Sounds like a plan to me, dad," Kyle chuckled having news of his own that he'd only share when they were safely at sea.
He had one last question that bugged him, so he asked,
"You still have guys trying to kill you," and wasn't surprised when his dad answered,
"I do. It goes with the territory. Even after a CSI that jailed as many people as I did goes out to pasture, it's still a big deal to put his head on your stake. You'll learn that after you've been out of the service for a few years."
They set a time to meet at Horatio's skiff and concluded their call. Silas thought they hadn't picked up on his bugs, but both men heard the telltale clicks and kept their conversation to generalities because of it. That left him without much to add at the weekly meeting of the Red Skulls that night. He had the trio's weekend plans, the location of their meet up, and the approximate time they'd be there, but that was it.
Julius was overjoyed at the information, since it gave him ample time to plant a bomb in the boat of his worst enemies. The redhead was his sworn enemy because the man put half of his crew in prison. The two younger men were hated for being his blood kin. He knew he had to get them all because missing just one ensured his speedy return to prison.
He was in on the plot to do in the gorgeous general and made the bombs used to destroy her building, fully expecting her to be among the heavy casualties. He didn't count on her hearing the telltale sounds of a bomb being set, or that she'd warn the entire building to evacuate. Nor did he plan on her being in a well-fortified stairwell when they went off, but he had other ways of dealing with survivors.
He didn't know that Horatio saw Silas get into his beat up old relic or where they went in it, so he wasn't prepared for what went down at Pier 9 in Hialeah the following night.