Calleigh watched the scene behind her to try to see as much as she could. She watched as Boss ran towards them and then crouched down and set up a trip wire in the entrance to the old hallways they were currently walking through. They had already use on explosive to blow the wall and expose the hall they were currently walking through. It's was old and covered in tile. The walls were filthy and cracked in multiple places. These guys must've studied these blueprints to even know that these were here. They were professional. She watched as he set a bomb to the wire on the side of the wall completely out of sight. She imagined the team waiting the ten minutes and then running in after and missing the wire, setting off the bomb.
"TRIP WIRE" she screamed with all her might as Boss ran to catch up with them. She watched as his face dropped as quickly as the speed of light into one of anger. From what she could see, which was his mouth, he was furious. At the same time she felt the arm that was around her leg shift, throwing her onto the tile ground. Hard. She landed flat on her back and felt the air get knocked out of her lungs. She gasped for a moment but before she could catch her breath Lenny had yanked her up by her arm and Boss had grabbed her jaw so that she was staring him dead in the face.
"Make another noise, I will put one of these straight through your pretty little head" he hissed through gritted teeth. He held the gun to her as he spoke and all Calleigh could do was look at him.
Ryan tried to turn around to say something but Dante yanked him forward as well. Calleigh blinked a few more times before Boss laughed and raised his gun before he knocked it against the side of her skull, knocking her out. As her limp body fell, Lenny easily scooped her back up and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Ryan trudged along down the hallways until they reached a metal gate with an old fashioned bank vault door. Boss came forward and set the last bomb against it as they all backed up and waited for it. This explosion was louder than the rest and echoed loudly down the hallways sending ash and dust violently around. Ryan squinted his eyes as Dante lead the way down the dark tunnel. Eventually he felt his feet grow wet and the smell of rotted sewage became overwhelming. Dante began to gag. No wonder this was all sealed off, seems as though this old tunnel must of flooded and they couldn't save it. They were surely underground at this point. Finally there was some audible movement that was fairly faint. Ten minutes just have gone by. Ryan noticed Boss checking the phone fairly frequently. He looked again and dropped it into the sludge beneath them.
"Quickly now, we're close" he said in an even tone. He readjusted his bag that Ryan assumed was filled with the stolen money and explosives. He still was having difficulty seeing. A little while further and he watched as Boss ascended up. Guess there was a ladder. He squinted his eyes in attempt to see when a crack of light beat down and practically blinded him. Boss grunted as he pushed what appeared to be a sewage lid up and out of the way. He peeped his head through and laughed. He pulled himself through and stool his arms down. "Lenny, pass me the girl" Ryan felt a sickening feeling grow in his stomach. They spoke of her as if she was a prop. He watched Lenny pass him as Calleigh's limbs swung like that of a rag doll. Lenny took one hand to the ladder and pulled himself a step up so that Boss could grab her arms and pull her dead weight body up trough the hole. Lenny followed and gestured for Ryan. Ryan pushed himself to climb up through all of the pain surging through his body. He thought he heard yelling behind him but as he turned around to look Dante roughly pushed him to continue.
"Miami Dade Police Department" he heard from what sounded like Natalia. He knew for sure he'd heard it this time. He couldn't help but turn and look again. He saw lights flashing through the tunnel before two sets of arms roughly grabbed hold of his arms and collar, yanking him up through the hole. Ryan stumbled to get to his feet. Calleigh was already in the van that had been parked, laying helplessly on the ground in the back.
"Get in" Boss said to him as he gestured to the van with his gun. Lenny followed him into the van before gunshots were heard. Multiple. Boss quickly got into the van while Lenny got into the back with the two CSI's and slid the door shut. Boss drove off quickly causing dirt and dust to cloud up.
"What about-" Lenny began. Boss continued driving out of the alley between what appeared to be two abandoned buildings.
"We didn't have time" Boss said flatly as he turned a corner and casually joined the traffic. Lenny grimaced and grabbed the tape and roughly used it to tape Ryan's wrists. He looked down at his arm that was still bleeding and proceeded to wrap the tape around that as well. Ryan squinted his face. It wasn't the best thing but it was helping. He then taped his ankles and did the same to Calleigh before climbing into the front seat and sliding the partition between them closed.
The second it closed Ryan scooted himself over to Calleigh, using his hands that were taped together in front of him to feel for a pulse. The second he got near her however she began to blink her eyes open. "Oh thank God" Ryan sighed. Calleigh looked at him with a confused face.
"The team got one of them. We're down to two. I don't know where we're headed, but we need a plan" Ryan whispered as he tried to help Calleigh to a sitting position. Calleigh nodded as she began removing her ankle tape. "Calleigh, you can't just-" Ryan started before she hushed him and continued. She ripped them into longer strips and reapplied them to make it look like her ankles were still taped, but it was open in the back. Halfway through when she began Ryan caught on and began doing the same thing. The two helped each other removed their hand bonds and wrap them the same way.
"Go out with a fight" Calleigh muttered.
"Go out with a fight" Ryan repeated. They spent the next 20 minutes discussing a plan that they knew wasn't foolproof. But they had to try...
13 minutes earlier...
Eric paced the street trying to keep a clear mind trough the cops and sirens and news reports shouting. He kept staring at his phone timer. This was ridiculous, how could either of them agree to this deal. He looked up at the building at the traumatized people. Most were sobbing, tear stained faces that had no choice but to look straight out into this madness. This was torture of all sorts.
Minutes went by.. Eric couldn't stand it anymore, he walked up to the door. He heard the team yelling after him but he wasn't going to enter. He just needed to know what they were dealing with. He needed some type of sign, and he got it.
"Trip wire" he heard in a faint yell. He didn't hear anything after that. He shook his head.
"Damnit Calleigh" he said under his breath. He knew she probably got it good after that stunt. But she was a smart girl, a smart girl who always put others above herself. Eric turned around swiftly and returned to the team. "There is a trip wire in place somewhere in that building, we need to be aware of this when we enter" he said calmly. He watched as the team and responding officers nodded in understanding. This is not how he expected his day to go.
3 minutes left.
Eric stood in front of the entrance next to two officers with a battering ram ready to bust the door down. Natalia and Horatio walked up towards Eric with their hands on their guns.
2 minutes left.
Trip stood with some officers over a blueprint of the building and city plans spread over the hood of a car figuring out where it was that they could have gone. There was really on one option and it was a long shot at that. They marked the route with a red pencil and tried to figure out where it lead.. It seemed to be a dead end. "Can everyone hear me?" Trip said as he held down on his ear piece. Eric, Natalia, and Horatio all replied with a 'yes' in turn. This would be his way to communicate to them where to go. For them all to communicate in general.
1 minute left.
This was it. This was their time. Everyone pulled their weapons as the two officers lifted and gripped tightly onto the battering ram. 30 seconds. Horatio took a breath. He was always confident in his decisions, his team, and his gut. But something about this was testing him. He didn't want to take the deal, not without knowing what shape Ryan was in, what these men were capable of, or what their plan was. He felt the lump growing in his chest. He had lost too many team members before and he was not looking forward to loosing anymore. Not these ones.
Eric turned around and looked at Natalia and Horatio. Natalia readjusted her hands on her gun. "Let's get our guys back" she said as she returned her gaze to the front. Eric and Horatio both nodded. 5, 4, 3, 2..
"NOW" Eric shouted. The second the word left his mouth the two officers slammed the battering ram into the door, breaking the frame down and shattering the surrounding glass. Eric, Horatio and Natalia entered, trying to get past the people trying to run out. Horatio was going to go straight to the back when he saw a man laying on the floor, leaning up against the far wall. As much as he wanted to save his team members, he couldn't ignore a civilian in distress. He ran over and re holstered his gun, applying pressure to his bleeding abdomen, one of the many gunshots earlier must have got him as well. He looked up to see that Eric was caught in a similar situation. Eric was holding onto a woman who was limping heavily. This was not how this was supposed to go down. Someone needed to…
The two men turned to see Natalia running forward with into the back of the bank. She waited until she got to the explosion site. "Okay Trip, I have a straight hall in front of me" Natalia called out. She looked down and saw the trip wire and smiled. "That's my girl" She said softly. "Trip wire is directly at the explosion site" she said as she stepped over it carefully and continued down the hall, shining a flashlight over her gun.
"You're gonna continue straight Natalia, let me know where you find the next explosion site" Trip said over the head set. Natalia saw the blood trail from what she was assuming was Ryan. She felt her heart drop. It didn't look good. Natalia picked up the pace to a slow jog. Things began to get darker. She slowed down when she saw debris around. "I think I have the next entrance. It's about.. I don't know... " Natalia turned around and looked at where she had come from. "30 yards from the first explosion?" She said out loud.
"Natalia we are on our way towards you now" Horatio said into the headset.
"Give me just one second to try and figure out where you're at Nat" Trip replied. Natalia heard something. Like metal grinding against metal. Then faint voices. "Miami Dade Police Department!" She yelled as she ran blindly into the muck of the new tunnel. She had no idea if it was the right way or not, she had no back up, but she had to try. She shined her flashlight and heard more voices and then finally light. A figure. She saw the last few inches of Ryan getting pulled into the opening at the top of a ladder. A man at the bottom raised a gun the second her flashlight beam met his face, but she was quicker. She fired first and hit him right after his first round went off. It missed her by mere inches. The bullet didn't miss him though. Straight through his chest. Natalia heard the team trudging behind her. She ran to the man and checked quickly for a pulse. Nothing. She quickly climbed the ladder, which wasn't an easy task in heels, and pulled herself out to see the van pulling into traffic just barely, behind the dirt cloud that it left behind.
"Damnit. DAMNIT!" She cursed as she threw her flashlight onto the ground. Eric quickly emerged out of the hole and stood next to her with his hands on his hips. He watched as she walked away. He knew how she felt, because he was just as let down. They were so close. Now they had the real work to do. Because now they had a crime scene…
I really hope you guys are liking it so far! Let me know what you think! R&R as always!
Also on a side note… (you don't have to read this part if you don't want. It's not relevant to the story)
I work at a preschool and today there was a shooter that killed two people and injured two more at a mall only a few miles away from us and we had to go into lock down. It was one of the scariest moments of my life. Not because I was scared for myself, but because I was scared for the kids. Life is so precious. The shooter was captured and everyone was fine at the end of the day but it's just a little reminder to appreciate each day you have on this Earth. Thanks for taking the time to read this is you did. I appreciate each and every one of you guys! Have a great day or night 3
