Horatio stood in the middle of the hotel room, listening to what Det

Horatio stood in the middle of the hotel room, listening to what Det. Tripp had gathered from the witnesses. At the large, richly covered double-bad a body of a young woman was laying. She was dressed in a silk night-shirt. Alexx had just arrived and now was crawling near the bed, examining the body.

"Hey, H, Frank!" Delko called to the two of them, entering the room. He was dressed in a black official suit, having no opportunity to change after the court. "So, what's up?"

"Clarisse Daniels, 27 years old. Was found dead this morning."

"She was shot from close distance about 7-8 hours ago." Alexx added, coming closer. Her face was touched with concern. "I'm not sure, but I have a feeling that this case may be connected to the one that Timmy's on." She was silent for a few moments. "But I gotta go. I have two autopsies to perform. Gentlemen..."

She nodded to them, gathered her kit and left the room.

"Eric, start processing the scene." Horatio said quietly. "Frank, go talk to witnesses. I'll join you shortly."

Tripp nodded, closed his notebook and left the room. Delko put his kit down and was looking through it, deciding where to start from. Horatio gave the room one final glance, ready to join Tripp. But suddenly a small object caught his attention. Caine came closer and squat down, examining the small and very familiar pile of ash on the smooth carpet under the window.

"Eric!" He called, rising his voice from the usual quiet tone.

Delko stepped to him, startled by the Caine's slightly concerned voice.

"Take this samples. Alexx might have been right after all."

He left the younger CSI work and dialed Tim's number. The concern he felt leaving Speedle earlier that morning was starting to come back. Seconds were passing by but there was no reply from Tim's phone. Horatio tried few more times, unsuccessfully. Finally, he closed his phone and turned to meet Delko's worried gaze.

"Get to work, Eric." Horatio said in a firm but calm voice. "And call Calleigh. I know it's her day off, but we would need more hands on this case. I'll go check on Speed."

With that he exited the room, leaving Delko to proceed the crime scene.

XXX

This time Tim couldn't tell that he was fully awake. More like semi-conscious. His whole body was hurting, the pain clouding his vision, covering the brain like a blood-thirst vampire would cradle a long time waited victim. Through his daze he heard noises. Something being moved, crashed... The noise was painfully turning from the dull and distant to the sharp and loud. As if his mind was swimming in some kind of a personal hell. Than he felt his own body moving. He was rolled face down and dragged. He couldn't suppress a moan from the agony he felt. His face was laying on something sticky. His brain registered the sweet metallic taste but wasn't able to recognize it. He tried to lift his head, to get away from the unpleasant touch, but his strength were faint. Then he felt something kicking at his side. If he had any strength left, he would have screamed, for the kick brought the pain to a new level. But he had no, and so he just blacked out.

XXX

Horatio stopped his hummer and walked out of it, looking around. The deafening silence met him. The police car as well as Speedle's were still there, but no one was around. Caine slowly and carefully moved toward the house. His trained eyes caught the drops of blood and the trail of something heavy been dragged. Taking his gun out, Horatio called for back up and followed the tracks. He walked into the back yard, stopping near the small shed. With a great caution he opened the door. And stared in shock at the two police officers, tied up and knocked out, laying among the different tools and paint cans.

Officer Milder started to stir, groaning from the pain of his head wound. Horatio quickly freed him and helped into the full consciousness. The wound didn't look life-threatening, just painful.

"Can you wait here?" Horatio asked urgently, freeing the second policeman. "I need to check on my man inside."

Milder nodded, wincing at the increasing headache, awoken by the move. His thoughts processes were still slower than usual, but the memories of the attack were coming back.

Horatio wished he could do more to help the officers, but right now his main concern was Speedle's wellbeing. Caine was pretty sure that the attacker was their murderer or his accomplice. And that meant that Tim was inside the house with a potential killer... Didn't seem to be good. Not good at all.

Horatio reported the situation and asked for paramedics. Then he slowly approached the door. No sound was coming from inside, the building seemed to be dead. Knowing he should better wait for back up, Horatio opened the door. He couldn't spare the time a swat team needed to get there. Ready to fire at any moment, Caine stepped inside the house and moved toward the kitchen. He started to suspect that the intruder had already left, but he was too experienced to give in to this thoughts.

The kitchen was empty. Well at least the intruder wasn't there any more. Speedle was laying face down at the floor, placed exactly like the victim was. His kit was turned, all the stuff thrown out chaotically.

Horatio felt his heart dropping. Keeping his eyes on the door, Caine moved toward the CSI and put two fingers to Speedle's neck. A wave of strong relief washed over him. The pulse wasn't strong, but it was steady. He heard the sound of the approaching sirens. Few cars stopped sharply near the house.

"Caine! Are you there?" Horatio heard Tripp's voice.

"In the kitchen!" He yelled back.

As the police rushed into the house, Horatio put away his gun, being able to finally concentrate on Speedle. He rolled a young man onto the back. Caine winced at the sight. Tim had the dead woman's blood covering his front body, mixing with his own.

"What the hell had happened here?!" Tripp asked coming into the kitchen. He froze seeing Speedle's body.

Tim indeed looked no better than their usual victims. His face was a bloody mass, his nose obviously broken. The left side of his face started to swell.

"D-does he live?" Frank asked softly, coming closer.

"Yes. But let the paramedics check him." Horatio said, not even looking into Tripp's direction. "And there are two officers in the back-yard. They were both knocked out."

Frank nodded and left the kitchen, starting to give orders to his men.

Speedle gave a low moan, his eyes stirred but failed to open.

"Speed?" Horatio called, putting a hand at the CSI's cheek to give him comfort. "Come on, buddy. You need to wake up."

"H-Horatio?.." Speed managed to asked before the violent coughs started to shake his body.

He wanted to scream in agony that ran through his torso, stealing the breath away. But he had no air left for that. He couldn't hear Horatio's soothing words, all sounds that left were those of his blood beating in his ears. Finally the coughs were gone and he was able to suck some air in.

Than his world spin. Voices, shouts, many hands grabbing him, checking his pulse, lifting his eyelids, moving down his ribcage. It was all happening too fast for him and the world started to fade into black again. The last thing he heard was Horatio's strangely clear voice.

"We'll find that guy, Speed. I promise we will."

And Tim knew they would...

...TBC