Eric sat silently as a table with Natalia while Horatio paced around the boardroom. They were only to collect a few pieces of evidence which were now processing. Alexx was working on the body and all they could do now was wait. Wait and try and think of their next move. They found Ryan's phone at the scene in the front of the bank and Calleigh's phone was left there as well. They had nothing to physically track them off of. They were able to get a small track off the dirt from the van that trace was working on. Eric sat with his elbows on the table, his hands in a fist resting against his temple. Visions of Calleigh flashed through his head. He wished that he done more. He wished that he had done so many things differently. He and Calleigh had just begun 'seeing each other after what felt like years of waiting and hiding what they felt for each other. He thought back to it all.
It was two weeks ago that it had started. The two of them would usually pass each other on thursday nights on their runs after work, turns out they both favored the same trail. After a while they started meeting up and running it together once a week out of pure convenience. It was nice to have someone to run with, but he couldn't help but adore her and the extra time he now got to spend with her. One of the days Calleigh had tripped over a divot in the trail and stumbled a bit before Eric caught her elbow and steadied her again. The two laughed for a second at her clumsiness. She had leaned down to check her shoelaces and as she stood up she was a little too close to Eric. Closer than needed at least. He remembered that it was warm that day and that the sun was starting to set. The way the light hit her face made her look like an absolute angel and her eyes glow in a shade of green that he didn't even know existed. And it was in that moment that he went for it. He reached down and cupped her face with one hand and brought his lips to hers and in that moment everything was still. Just one kiss. He remembered relishing in the feeling of it all and not thinking about anything else other than how perfect everything was. He felt her hand on his hips and she pulled away. He remembered every detail. The blush that spread across her face and the embarrassed smile that she wore as she looked at the ground. He remembered the little chuckle that escaped her mouth as she took a step back and looked him in the eyes and the warmth he felt in his body when he realized that this was finally going to happen. Hopefully. They never really talked about it, they just went on with life. Kept going on their runs, working as usual, and occasionally after work they would meet up with everyone for drinks that would typically end in one kissing the other goodbye but he didn't mind it. Whatever it was that they had, he didn't mind. He knew eventually they would talk, there wasn't a rush. Not until now. Think positive.
He went back that day in his head. He really did remember every detail. Calleigh's obnoxious highlighter yellow sneakers that he always picked on her for, her typical black leggings, her pink tank top, and the bracelet she always wore when they ran….
Eric shot up from the table causing Horatio to stop his pacing to look at him. Natalia stared at him waiting for an explanation. Eric looked at the two of them as if he was confused as to why they weren't as excited as he was. "Eric.." Horatio said as he waited for Eric to explain his sudden jolt of energy. Eric felt a smile spread across his face.
"It's Thursday" he said simply as he pushed in his chair and jogged out of the room and down the hallway. Natalia looked to Horatio hoping that he might have a clue as to what he was talking about but all she got in return was the same confused face. The two rushed out of the room, following Eric to one of the technical rooms. When they got there he was already sitting at a desk typing furiously, opening and closing windows as he went. Natalia and Horatio stood behind him and watched as he ran different numbers through systems. A page slowly began loading on a massive scale map. He turned around in the chair to face the two of them.
"It's thursday.." Natalia repeated as she looked to Eric. He smiled. He turned to look at the screen before speaking, it was still tracing whatever he had put in.
"On thursday's me and Calleigh run the trail by the back roads near the Everglades, I noticed that she always wears one of those fitness bracelets, yah know, the ones that track your heart rate and the calories you burn, and, as a new feature that she so happily mentioned last week, one that tracks your distance. She was talking about how you can free run, plug it into your computer when you're done and it will show you the trail you ran on a map with the distance and your time. Today, is thursday. So she should be wearing it" Eric explained. Natalia smiled.
"So if she's wearing it" Natalia started.
"Which she probably is" Horatio cut in.
"Then we can track her location" Eric finished.
"And we can find them both" Horatio said with a smile.
They watched eagerly as the map shrunk and shrunk getting more and more accurate as it did so.
"Eric, can we pull this up on something portable?" Horatio asked as the anticipation began to kick in. Eric nodded as he sent some links to a handheld tablet and the three rushed out the doors to the Hummer. They took only one and called for backup on the way out of the parking lot. The three of them drove casually down the highway for a little while, without a specific location it was all that they could really do. The location was getting closer and closer. They were going to find them. The could tell that they were still moving which meant it was likely that the bracelet was still with Calleigh and they hadn't thought to remove it yet. 20 more minutes went by. By the look of the map they were only a few miles away at this point. Horatio picked up the walkie talkie and held down the button. "I want lights off and sirens silenced. We don't want to scare them off. This is our last shot" He said firmly. The two cop cars behind him both flashed their high beams at the Hummer to let them know that they understood. "Let's get our team" he said in a low voice as he accelerated forward.
Calleigh and Ryan
Calleigh squinted as they went over a rough bump causing her back to hit the hard side of the van again. She looked over to Ryan who seemed a little out of it. His arm didn't seem to be bleeding as much as it was previously. Lenny putting tape over it was oddly polite. Calleigh scooted herself closer to Ryan. "Thank you, for earlier" She said quietly. Ryan opened his eyes and looked to her and nodded. She looked horrible, he couldn't imagine he looked any better. Their plan was no good and they both knew it. The car came to a stop and Calleigh felt her breathing stop for a moment. This was it, this was their shot. Ryan reached over and squeezed Calleigh's hand.
"We can do this" she said quietly as she slumped her body over and closed her eyes, pretending to still be unconscious. Ryan took a deep breath and waited. The door of the van slid open and the light that poured in was blinding. Lenny reached in and roughly grabbed Ryan by the arm, pulling him out of the van and into the bright light. He tried his hardest to take in his surrounding. The ground was a sort of sand/ gravel mixture. He could hear water moving about somewhere too. He blinked a few times and finally got a solid picture. They were at a run down loading dock. He could see a boat at the far end, where he assumed they were heading next. These guys really did have a plan. Ryan watched nervously as Lenny reached back in to grab Calleigh. Boss was already half way down the other end of the dock with multiple bags in his hands that Ryan assumed he was going to load onto the boat. He looked back to Ryan and smiled.
"Princess is still out cold Boss" Lenny yelled as he pulled at her arms that fell limp as he let go. Boss threw the bags on to the boat and walked back towards them. Ryan looked at Calleigh who opened her eyes and nodded to him. Here goes nothing. Calleigh took a leg and roughly kicked Lenny directly to the center of his face as Ryan took an elbow to the back of his neck knocking him unconscious. Lenny dropped his gun and as quickly as Ryan had picked it up Boss was firing off rounds towards the van. Ryan got into the van and handed Calleigh the gun he had picked up as he reached into the front seat and grabbed another weapon. They might actually be able to pull this off. The second the idea passed through his head a bullet ricocheted off the side of the car and nailed Calleigh in the shoulder. The yell that escaped her lips was enough to distract Ryan long enough for their plan to fall apart.
"Drop them NOW!" Boss yelled in a deep voice. Ryan put his hands in the air and looked back to Calleigh who was using her hand to tightly grip her shoulder that was now bleeding profusely. Boss looked back and forth between the two of them with his gun pointed at them both. He used his leg to nudge Lenny a few times. He grunted a bit and then finally rolled over. Who were these guys and why were they so tough? "Get up Len." Boss said without taking an eye off of the two. Boss used his heel to push Lenny onto his side again. "Get up?" He yelled. Lenny somehow got onto all fours and stood shakily. Calleigh could see the blood drip down under his masked face. She surely must've broken his nose. Boss reached into the car and grabbed Ryan by the arm in the exact spot that he was bleeding from sending pain through his entire body. He looked to Calleigh who could only blink. That was their shot. Their one opportunity. Boss turned back to Lenny. "Drag her to the boat, you think you can handle that?!" He said in a disgusted tone. The anger that Lenny displayed behind his eyes was one that Calleigh knew wasn't good. They had embarrassed him in front of his boss. He grabbed hold of Calleigh's ankle and yanked hard enough to pull her out of the car, landing her on her back. She let out a small groan as her body his the ground. Lenny grabbed her under her arm pit and began heading towards the boat behind Ryan and Boss. He was pulling her at such a speed that she had trouble keeping up. Her heels getting stuck into the gravel and her footing failing her. She watched ahead as Ryan got thrown into the boat as Boss held the gun to his head. Calleigh felt her heart drop. What were they going to do now. Eventually they caught up and Calleigh got thrown into the boat next to Ryan. Boss started the boat as Calleigh turned back at the sound of tires on gravel. Who else would be coming… this place was abandoned. She saw the front of the Hummer and felt relief surged through her body. The boat took off quickly as Boss clenched the wheel. Calleigh watched frantically as the officers and her team drew guns and fired a few rounds off. One clipping Boss in the side. He stopped the boat and stood the two CSI's on the edge. It was like Deja Vu. The two of them standing there, facing their team, praying that they would make it out of this mess. Calleigh felt a rope against her ankle and looked down. Boss was tying her ankle to a weight that he placed on the edge of the boat next to her.
"Release them and we will let you go. Coast Guard is on the way. This is your best option" Horatio spoke loud and clear through the speaker. Boss smiled.
"Deal!" He yelled out. He went back to his wheel and smiled at Lenny. "Put one in his leg to make it fun" He said. Before Ryan could turn around a bullet left the chamber of Lenny's gun and entered his leg with enough momentum to send him off the edge of the boat into the water. Boss held down the gas and as the boat took off Calleigh went off the edge, still attached to the weight. The team watched in pure fear as the weight pulled her down fast and violently.
"Calleigh!" Eric shouted as he ran into the water.
"Hold your fire!" Horatio yelled at all of the officers as he watched Eric run in front of it all, not caring if he got shot. The lights from one of the Coast Guard boats could be seen in the distance followed by three smaller police boats. Ryan surfaced quickly and dove back down to try and get to Calleigh. The water was murky and hard to see but she wasn't far under the surface. Eric began swimming once he was waist deep in the salt water of the loading dock. He could hear sirens and see flashing lights but none of it was relevant. Ryan tugged and pulled at the rope until he figured a new plan. He came up for air again seeing Eric growing closer. His body was aching. He dove down again and lifted the weight enough so that Calleigh could surface and breathe for as long as he could hold. The second she reached the top she took in as deep a breath as she could before Ryan dropped the weight and surfaced himself. The water surrounding the two quickly turning red. Eric was finally close enough, he removed the knife from his belt and dove down, cutting at the rope as hard as he could, only making it about halfway through before the need for oxygen burned at his lungs. He came back up to see a police boat only meters away, they could get Ryan to safety. He dove down again and realized that Calleigh was no longer flailing as she was before. He sawed at the rope and finally got through, grabbing Calleigh around the waist pushing off the ground to bring her to the top as quickly as he could. The two officers on the boat grabbed her and pulled her onto the boat, beginning compressions. Eric pulled himself on and the boat pulled toward the shore where two ambulances now awaited. Ryan was thankfully doing decently given the circumstances, Calleigh however was still motionless. He watched helplessly as an officer pushed harshly down on her chest, shaking her limbs and body with the force. The white interior of the boat now streaked with crimson red blood. He look to Ryan and hopped off the boat as it approached land.
"Can you walk?" He asked. Ryan was still staring at Calleigh with a lost look on his face. He felt responsible. "Ryan!" Eric yelled. Ryan looked to him and down at his leg and back to Eric. He was in shock. Eric reached out his hands to help Ryan off the boat. His leg instantly gave out the second he hit the ground. Eric gracefully grabbed him around the waist and pulled him to a stretcher then quickly turned back to Calleigh who was now on her side spewing up water from her lungs. Eric sat down onto the gravel and took a deep breath. It was all okay. Horatio squatted next to him.
"Good work" he said gently as he walked over to the boat to check on Calleigh for himself. Natalia was already in the back of the ambulance with Ryan, she looked worried as he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts. He saw out in the distance that the Coast Guard was boarding the boat that the men were trying to escape on. Eric closed his eyes for a moment. It was all okay, he thought to himself again. He stood up and walked over the the boat where they were currently helping Caleigh get onto a stretched herself, placing an oxygen mask over her face. Her clothes clung to her small frame of a body as the blood from her injuries soaked the sheet of the stretcher. She help tightly to Horatio's hand as they wheeled her to an ambulance. Horatio nodded to Eric who then climbed into the back of the ambulance that Calleigh would be loaded into. Little did they know, this would only be the beginning…
Okay guys, a nice long one! I figured you all deserved it! Thank you for the thoughts on my last chapter, I noticed there were far less that what had been received on the first one so I hope this gets you guys interested again! More EC to come :) Let me know what you guys think in the reviews!