No Way Out

Chapter 4

The next morning, as Horatio and Calleigh finished breakfast, she looked across the table at him and sighed, "Handsome…you have some nasty bruising on your face. Are you feeling better after having eaten?"

"I do Sweetheart, thanks to your tender, loving care. I think if I move around a little, I'll work out some of my kinks. Care to stroll down the beach with me?"

"I would love to…let me get these dishes in the dishwasher…shouldn't take but a minute, you just relax. Would you like more coffee?"

"Please Cal, while you're up." Calleigh brought the pot to the table and poured Horatio another cup. "Thank you Sweetheart," Horatio said smiling slightly trying not to reopen the cut on his bottom lip.

As they walked down the beach wrapped in each other's arms, Horatio began, "Cal…I need to tell you about something I received in the mail yesterday afternoon at the lab. It was a typed note, supposedly from the man committing the recent bombings. He alluded to the fact that he and I used to work together during my days on the bomb squad."

"Is that the envelope I saw you taking to trace yesterday before we left?"

"Yes," Horatio answered softly.

"Calleigh, he threatened not only me, but you as well. He stated that if I told anyone, you might meet with an accident. We can't tell the rest of the team about it…for your safety. I don't want to scare you with this, but I want you to be more aware of your surroundings."

Horatio hung his head, then quickly looked over into her eyes and attempted to read what she was thinking, "Sweetheart, I wasn't trying to keep anything from you, I just wanted to protect you and didn't want you to be worried."

Calleigh stopped walking and turned toward Horatio and lightly cupped his face, "Handsome, I am a trained police officer…you don't ever have to hide anything from me. I can take care of myself."

Horatio hugged her tight against his body and replied, "I know you are fully capable of taking care of yourself Sweetheart, it's just that…" Horatio leaned back slightly and brushed her hair back from her face and swallowed hard as he looked deep into her green eyes said, "Cal…I wouldn't be able to function if anything ever happened to you."

Squeezing his waist lightly with her arms, mindful of his bruising, "I can say the same Horatio…I can't even sleep without you anymore, much less live without you." Horatio leaned down and kissed her tenderly.

Calleigh furrowed her brow as she looked into his blue eyes and responded, "What about you…are you going to take extra precautions? You said he threatened you too."

"I'll be careful…I am more concerned about you though."

Calleigh thought, Never concerned for your own safety Handsome, which is so typical of you.

Horatio noticed the fleeting look of exasperation that changed her facial expression and hoped she was not angry with him.

Calleigh was silent for a few minutes, gathering her thoughts then asked, "Do you think it may be a former police officer or even a current one?"

Horatio looked over her head contemplatively as he scanned the water, "It could be, or military. The bomb squad in those days worked with military investigators as well as local and state so, he could actually have worked with any of them."

"Cal…the drunken man was sent to that bar to give me a warning message from our bomber and I don't really think he was drunk. He used that as a rouse to start something with me."

Calleigh laid her forehead on Horatio's chest and whispered, "Horatio, please, please be careful. If that was just a warning, I don't want to think about what he could do to you. I don't want to see you get hurt again."

Horatio kissed the top of her head and held her close. They stood there like that for several minutes as the sound of the breaking waves and the seagulls calling to each other were all the sounds they heard.

They had a quiet weekend, staying close to home as Horatio recuperated from the fight Friday night and it worked out good that they both had the weekend off. Calleigh tenderly cared for him, and helped make his recovery quicker he thought. The main thing that plagued him was the aching, both from the fight and the fact that he wanted her so bad it was driving him crazy, but she wouldn't hear of him possibly hurting himself worse… he was willing to try, but had to admit he was badly bruised over most of his abdomen and lower ribs and more than likely his injuries would put a damper on any attempt at lovemaking.

Monday morning, Horatio stepped off the elevator knowing Calleigh would only be a couple of minutes behind him as she wanted to stop in her lab first so, he headed for the break room to start a pot of coffee. Calleigh arrived shortly after he finished getting the coffee ready and he took her in his arms and kissed her, but cringed slightly as he overdid it and caused a stinging pain from his lip.

"You need to curtail your desire to overdo Handsome," she said as she dabbed a trickle of blood beginning to run down from the corner of his mouth.

"That…that is hard to do with you Sweetheart," smiling as he whispered in her ear.

They were sitting at the table enjoying their coffee when Eric walked in.

"Morning, Cal…H!"

Horatio glanced up to return the greeting when Eric noticed his face, "Wow H…rough weekend? Who won?"

Calleigh glared as Horatio chuckled, "I think I got the worse end of the deal."

"Did some guy jump you? What happened? It's not like you to have wild weekends," Eric grinned and then noticed Calleigh's glare as his grin changed to confusion.

"I went out Friday night Eric, just to get out of the house for a change and a drunk wanted a fight I guess."

"I hope you pressed charges H…did he know you were a police officer?"

"I told him, but didn't seem to make a difference. Frank brought him in Friday night and I guess he made bail…haven't heard, maybe Frank will know."

"I hope you got in some good shots to the guy anyway," Eric said as Calleigh looked at Horatio who was chuckling.

"Well if all you want to know is about how the fight went Eric, I think that is pretty juvenile considering your friend and boss is sitting here in pain," Calleigh said with notable anger in her voice.

"What?" Eric replied questioningly as he laughed at her. "Sure I care about him Cal…it's just a guy thing that's all."

Calleigh got up suddenly, taking her coffee with her announcing she would be in her lab as she stormed out of the room. Eric watched her leave and wondered what that was all about.

Horatio noticed Eric's look and said, "It's probably nothing Eric, and I'll go check on her in a couple of minutes."

Natalia, Ryan and Walter all entered the break room talking among themselves about the weekend when Natalia turned around to speak to Horatio and Eric and exclaimed, "Horatio…what happened to you?"

The small talk abruptly stopped and all eyes looked at their boss sitting at the table as they waited for his answer.

"Just ran into an unruly guy in a bar is all…it was nothing."

Walter let out a low whistle and chuckled, "Man H…you do have one heck of a black eye."

Eric chimed in, "H can still scrap that's for sure!"

Horatio added, "Hopefully my last one…I'm getting too old for this."

Horatio stood to get another cup of coffee to take with him and left them to contemplate what must have happened. He headed for the ballistics lab to check on Calleigh before going to his office.

As he quietly entered the door to her lab, he saw her sitting at her desk, rubbing her forehead appearing to be deep in thought.

"Sweetheart…are you ok?" Horatio asked as he walked toward her.

"Hey Handsome…guess Eric is now wondering why I reacted like I did." Calleigh looked sheepishly at Horatio as she stood and wrapped her arms around him. Horatio set his cup down on the desk and wrapped his arms around this precious, firecracker of a lady and pulled her close.

"It'll be alright…you know it's just a matter of time before they figure out what is going on between us, they are CSI's after all," he said chuckling.

Pulling back slightly so she could see his face, "I'm concerned about you Handsome," Horatio started to speak, but Calleigh stopped him with a finger on his lips, "I know you, you think you can protect yourself, but this bomber may be highly trained if he is former military." She studied his eyes for just a moment and then added, "Horatio, I know you won't like this, but…somebody needs to be with you when you have to go out from the lab especially on call-outs."

"Calleigh," he whispered as he lightly kissed her forehead, "I used to not care what happened to me…but that was before I knew you loved me. I don't want anything to happen to either one of us…I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I hope that is for a long, long time. And I also want someone with you too until all this is over…and it will be…we will find him."

As they continued to stay wrapped in each other's arms, suddenly they heard someone clear their throat and it startled Calleigh causing her to jump in Horatio's hold.

Turning her head toward the door, she was relieved when she saw Frank standing there with a grin, "You guys aren't going to keep your feelings secret long if you stand around like that."

Horatio turned and grinned at his friend, "Momentary lapse…we got caught up in the moment."

"Eric said you were down here instead of your office, I just wanted to come by and check to see how you were making it after Friday night."

"With Calleigh's tender loving care," Horatio said as he smiled sweetly at her before him, "I am healing in record time."

"Good to hear," Frank looked at the floor and then asked, "What was that about Friday night Horatio…that guy was no more drunk than I was…did you know him?"

Horatio began to look uneasy and he glanced at Calleigh before replying, "No, I did not know him Frank. I really don't know what his problem was, all I know is that I don't take kindly to strange men grabbing Calleigh like he did, but I didn't throw the first punch, although I was thinking of beating him into oblivion until you showed up. Thanks by the way for coming to the rescue."

"Any time H." The big man said and then turned to leave.

"Frank wait," Calleigh began, "Horatio you need to tell someone."

Horatio turned with lightning speed to look at Calleigh and show his displeasure about what she just said.

"Tell me about what Horatio?"

Horatio gritted his teeth and sharply answered, "Nothing Frank, it's nothing."

Calleigh swiftly spoke up and added, oblivious to Horatio's stare, "It is something Frank and if Horatio won't tell you, then I will."

"Calleigh, don't…have you forgotten what that note said?" Horatio growled.

"Handsome, we need help with this…Frank will be discreet, anyway how will the guy know we told him?" Calleigh replied glaring at Horatio.

"Hey, if you guys are about to get in a fight, consider me gone. I've had enough of that from my ex-wives."

Calleigh raised her hand to Horatio's face and tenderly rubbed his cheek and looked so sweetly into his eyes, and he just couldn't stay angry with her, she melted him with her gentle touch and oh, those beautiful green eyes locking with his just sent a warm glow all over his body.

She nodded her head at Horatio and then he said, "Frank?"

The two men each took a cup of coffee out to a small park just a few hundred yards from one end of the building that held the crime lab and police station. Horatio didn't trust anyone who was in the building who might overhear their conversation.

When he was through explaining the note to his friend, the tall gruff man shook his head and just said, "Damn Horatio."

"What do you want to do?"

"I…I don't know Frank…there's not a whole lot I can do. I firmly believe though, that our bomber is former military, an officer I was in contact with when I was on the bomb squad. I thought I would go back and talk to Mike Jergan again this morning to see if he can help pinpoint a suspect out of our past."

"I know one thing, both you and Calleigh need to be careful. Keep me posted as to what you find out from Jergan. I wish I had more time to talk, but I have three cases waiting for my attention this morning. You can be assured I won't breathe a word about the note to anyone," Frank responded.

"I know you won't Frank…and thanks, Calleigh was right, I do feel better now that someone else knows…someone I trust completely."

Frank stood and asked if Horatio was going back to the lab, but Horatio replied that he wanted to just sit there and go over everything in his mind about the bombing case. He told him he wouldn't be long and that he would go see Mike first thing. Frank left his friend on the bench, lost in thought.

A couple of hours later, Frank heard his cell ring and as he looked at the screen, he noticed it was Calleigh.

"Hey Cal…heard anything new about the bombing case?"

"H? Yeah, I left him in the park by the lab a couple of hours ago."

"Well, he did say he was going to see Mike Jergan on the bomb squad when he left the park so, my guess is that's where you'll find him."

"You called Mike and he hasn't seen him? Um, Cal I'm on a call, but I can be back at the lab in just a few minutes ok? Try to calm down Cal…you know him…he could have gotten distracted and lost track of time. I'll see you in a few."

As Frank walked over to the officers at the scene, worry was overtaking every cell in his body. After telling them he was headed back to the station and for them to finish everything there, he floored the big unmarked police car and drove out of the parking lot headed for the crime lab with his lights flashing and as he got further down the street, the siren.

Arriving at the lab and making a beeline for Horatio's office, he found Calleigh sitting on the couch with silent tears running down her cheeks. Striding over to her, she got to her feet and wrapped her arms around the big Texan and began to sob.

"Oh Frank…I'm glad you came back. Where could he be?"

"Calleigh, we may be reading more into this than is there…his car and Hummer still here?"

"They both are Frank…and I have a gut feeling something is terribly wrong and you are the only person I can turn to for help."

"Cal…what about his cell phone, I know you have tried to call him."

"It…it automatically goes to voicemail." She raised her head and told him that she had even tracked his phone and that the GPS had been disabled.

That news sent chills through his body…he had to agree, something was terribly wrong. Then the big man began to mentally kick himself for leaving his friend alone in the park, Damn, why didn't I insist he walk back with me?

Holding her back away from him, Frank looked down into her swollen eyes and said, "We need to fill in the rest of the team on this…we need their help, but you are going to be placed under constant guard at all times. Do you understand?"

"I'll do anything to help find him Frank…"

"We'll find him Cal, we have to."

TBC…