Title: Vendetta

Author: innocent choir girl (ff-dot-net), shannyfish (From Out of the Lab/Miami Heat/LJ)

Summary: Clavo Cruz escapes from prison and goes after those Horatio holds dear in order to really get back at him. Clavo sees that there's more between Horatio and one of his co-workers, and takes Calleigh... (takes place before current season - I swear this was thought up before "Man Down")

Category: Ship Ahoy! Calleigh/Horatio

Genres: Angst, Drama, Episode Related, Established Relationship, Friendship, Hurt Comfort, Suspense

Characters: Horatio Caine, Frank Tripp (Other), Natalia Boa Vista (Other), Ryan Wolfe

Warnings: none

Rating: PG-13

Chapter: 2 "Vibes"

Author's Notes: none

……………………………

"Where is he?" Horatio demanded once he found Frank in the building. "Has he said anything?" he asked again when Frank didn't respond. He found his colleague and friend stopping him, "What is it, Frank?'

Frank looked to the side for a second before resting his hands on his waist. "He said something… He said something you're not going to like."

"Like what?"

"He admits to killing Calleigh," Frank said quietly not wanting to break the news like that. Of course they didn't have evidence of it, but they couldn't put anything like that past Hank Kerner. They all knew that Kerner was determined to kill those who had testified against him and Calleigh was the one that he didn't get the last time he was out.

Horatio stared at the floor for a few minutes in silence going over what Frank had just told him. Calleigh? It was possible… She was missing, and she had been one of Kerner's targets before… He just wasn't ready to hear that one of his CSIs was gone…let alone Calleigh… "Did he tell you where her body is?" Horatio asked quietly.

"He said…that he'd only talk to you about that," Frank admitted a bit grimly. He didn't want to make Horatio face the man, but they both knew that they needed to be sure if it was Calleigh's body if they found a body. He also knew that they needed to know about the others.

"Show me where he is," Horatio said as he swallowed hard thinking about the things he was about to hear. Losing Calleigh, Horatio knew, would be far worse than losing Speedle…and he wasn't sure if he would be able to deal with that loss.

"Maybe you should take some time to let it settle in your system," Frank suggested worried about Horatio's state of mind.

"Now, Frank."

Frank nodded before silently showing Horatio to the interrogation room. He nodded to the officer standing guard and watched as he left. Frank stood watch knowing that Horatio would not be able to be trusted after what he'd told him.

"You found him…"

Horatio hated the smirk on Kerner's face. He stood near the window, looking outward to keep his calm, "Where's Calleigh?" he asked wondering if he'd give any clues that Calleigh was anything other than dead.

"Her body…is along the Miami Canal…"

"Where?" Horatio said, his voice was harsh, but he wanted a location. If she was gone, then he wanted to put her to rest and then he'd make sure that Kerner paid dearly for it.

"Near Curtis Park."

"Why?"

"Are you kidding? You think I was letting that blonde bitch cop get away with what she did? Let alone the embarrassment she caused me? But let me tell you, Caine. It was sweet the way that she begged for her life…and then her screams… Oh, I'm going to have dreams about those screams."

Horatio turned around, his gaze down at the ground before he raised it up to stare at the far wall. "I suggest you stop, Kerner."

"She was calling for you… Calling for Horatio to save her. You should have heard her cry for you…"

His feet started quickly towards the convict and he found his arms being held tightly before he could touch Kerner, but his face was close enough, "I will make you pay for this… I'll make sure that you get the needle…and that they don't keep you on the waiting list…"

"What about the others?" Frank asked as he pulled Horatio back and away from Kerner.

"You'll find them…I'm sure…"

……………………………….

Blonde hair was the first thing that was seen as Frank and Horatio along with Alexx approached the body on the bank of the canal. "Horatio, Honey, why don't you let me do this?" she suggested putting her hand on his shoulder. She walked past them and gloved up as she walked over. Kneeling down, she carefully moved the body a bit. The face was what she was looking for to determine if it was Calleigh Duquesne or a blonde double. When she rolled the head a bit to get a look, she tried to suppress a gasp. The face of the body that she was looking at had been completely mutilated. She couldn't tell if it was Calleigh. "The face is gone," she said quietly, but loud enough for Frank and Horatio to hear. "I can't tell…"

"We can tell from the prints," Frank spoke up.

Alexx held up one of the hands, "Cut off the fingertips."

"We're going to have to go off of DNA," Horatio spoke up and looked away. The clothes were stripped down, and the body looked bruised and like there were possibly other knife marks on the body.

"I'll be able to tell you more in post…" Alexx told them. "Baby Girl didn't deserve this, did you?" she whispered quietly and wondered if the girl that they were about to take back to the lab with them was their friend… Alexx wasn't sure what to feel. When it had been Tim Speedle, she knew exactly how to feel. She had been grieving for the loss of one of her friends, but knew that she needed to be the one to take care of his body. She'd treat this one like any other body, and if it turned out to be her friend, then she'd grieve.

………………………….

Horatio stood down the hall from the autopsy room for a long while. Alexx had called him to let him know that she was going to be doing post on the body, but Horatio couldn't bring himself to enter the room. He knew that DNA had been sent off, but the DNA was backlogged, and it was going to take a bit longer than normal to run it. His mind kept running back to Speedle…he couldn't handle Calleigh's death… His chest had been hurting since the scene… Instead of walking into the autopsy theatre, Horatio turned and headed out and up towards the lab. He needed to sit.

…………………………..

"How do you think they got to Watson Park?" Frank asked as he and Horatio walked hurriedly from where they had parked their vehicles towards the ambulances ahead.

"Miami Beach…Watson Park is on the way back to Miami…they just took a different route out… Most people use the Tuttle Causeway…this person had no problem using the MacArthur instead."

"Maybe they knew that it would be the least traveled, especially by the police."

Horatio pushed through the EMTs until he got to his people. Ryan was on the end of one of the ambulances while Natalia was inside the back of the other. He looked back and forth to see which one looked the calmest and collected. He decided to go with Natalia, Ryan had a head injury and he looked a bit sleepy. "How are you doing Miss Boa Vista?"

Natalia looked at Horatio and nodded, "I'm…I'm okay…just a bit shaken up."

"What do you remember about how you got here?"

"We were in the back of a truck… A semi."

Horatio nodded, "Where Eric and Calleigh with you?" he asked wondering if Calleigh had been alive when they were left in the park.

"Oh God, yes…I'm sorry…that's stupid, I should have said that first," Natalia blurted. "Clavo Cruz…I heard his voice…and I think there was someone else…but I'm not sure…"

Horatio let his head turn to the right as he asked the next question, "Do you remember if Calleigh was still in the truck when they left you here?"

"Yeah," Natalia said nodding. "Clavo had us all tied up, so I don't know why he was threatening Calleigh…"

"Okay," Horatio said and then decided to ask his next question, though without going to the post he didn't know when the woman lying in the ME's office had died. "When did they leave you here?"

"Three…four…hours… I think," Natalia said looking down at her watch hoping for something to jog her memory. He used chloroform or something on us, and it took us a while to figure out where we were and find someone to let us call it in…"

"Alright, alright, Ma'am… I want you to hang in there…okay?"

Natalia felt helpless, she didn't feel like she was giving Horatio any useful answers. "You're going to find them…"

"We will." Leaving Natalia, he noticed that the other ambulance was already closed up and ready to leave. He walked over to Frank and looked down for a minute, "Frank, would you happen to know what Alexx approximated the time of death?"

"From the liver temp?" Frank asked. Alexx had done it on site, but had waited until Horatio had headed to the Hummer. "She said it was probably about two hours… The body hadn't been there for long, Horatio…"

Letting his head fall downward, he let out a heavy, shaky sigh, "It could be Calleigh… She was in the truck with Natalia and Ryan when they were dropped off. She said about three or four hours ago…"

"What about Eric?"

Horatio nodded, "We need to find him…"

………………………….

TBC…