Chapter 7:


"Frank, I found Horatio". Calleigh was so happy to have found him alive. She didn't know if he was alright but at least he was alive. "Can someone try and find a way to turn the lights on in this room". She moved her way over to Horatio's side and saw that he looked horrible. He looked like he was ready to pass out at any moment.

"Calleigh is that really you, how did you find us?" He was so surprised to see her that he momentarily forgot he was not the only one here. As he remembered who else was with him he said "Calleigh, don't worry about me, please go and check them to make sure they are still alive".

Calleigh was not sure if Horatio was ok since he was not making any sense. She was about to ask him why he said 'they' when the lights suddenly came on. She saw Horatio's face more clearly now and she saw that he was looking behind her. She turned around and saw Eric tied to the chair with his head down. She felt her heart skip a beat as she saw him sitting there not moving and she feared the worse, that he was dead. She ran over to him and raised his face to hers. "Eric, can you hear me, please be all right". She felt like she was losing it. They had been told where they could find Horatio, but the caller didn't mention anything about Eric. "Eric please open your eyes", When she didn't get a response she felt for his pulse and found it to be beating, although it was not a strong beat. As she was visually checking Eric out for any other signs of trauma she heard Horatio speaking to her.

"Calleigh, is he alive? I need to know if he is alive". Horatio didn't like the way his men looked but now that help had arrived he was hoping against all hope that they had made it out of this alive.

Calleigh looked over to Horatio, "I have a slow but steady pulse, he is alive but we need to get the both of you out of here and to a hospital".

Horatio turned his attention from Calleigh to that of Frank, "Frank, tell me about Mr. Wolfe?" He had seen Frank go over and check on the unconscious form of Ryan.

"He's breathing Horatio, but I don't like the looks of him. Calleigh is right; we need to get the 3 of you out of here and to the hospital".

As Calleigh registered what Frank was saying she finally saw Ryan for the first time? He was tied up and unconscious just like Eric. She had thought he was on vacation and was refusing to answer his voice mail. She had been so mad at him for not calling and coming back to help in the search for Horatio and Eric that she had sworn never to talk to him. Any anger she had been feeling toward him had melted away in the few seconds after she saw him. But now was not the time to worry about this. She needed to focus on Eric. Ryan was being helped so she thought it was ok to stay with Eric. She was shaking as she tried to loosen the ropes around Eric's hand.

Natalia saw that Calleigh was shaking and went over to her. "Why don't you go over and help Horatio. I will stay with Eric until the EMT's get here". She knew they had to be careful with Eric and Ryan since they didn't know the extent of their injuries. She thought Calleigh would be better off helping Horatio. That way she could talk to Horatio and find out what had occurred here. She had a feeling she knew the answer. As soon as the lights had come on and she saw the familiar triangle pattern of the chairs, she knew this was not good.

Calleigh didn't want to leave Eric's side, but knew Natalia was right; she should go over and help Horatio. As least he was awake and could help them answer some questions.

As Horatio was being helped from the chair he saw Calleigh walking toward him. "Calleigh how is Eric?"

Calleigh knew he would be more concerned for the well being of his men then for himself, but she knew he must be feeling like crap after being here for 2 days. She didn't know if Horatio was harmed but she would find out. "Eric's going to be alright, but I am more worried about you right now. Can you tell me what happened? Are you hurt?"

Horatio did indeed feel horrible. He didn't really know how long he had been sitting in that chair, but when he tried to stand up he found himself falling back into the chair. He had been sitting there so long that he had lost partial feeling in his legs. He was also feeling very dizzy and light headed. He attributed this to the fact that they had nothing to eat while they were here and only a little water to drink. If it had been up to him he would not have drank anything, but their captor forced it down his throat saying he needed him to keep his strength up. "Calleigh, I'm fine, I just need to go to the hospital to make sure Eric and Mr. Wolfe are going to be ok". He tried to stand up again, but this time he took the offered hand of the EMT who had been helping get him ready for the trip to the hospital.

Calleigh was expecting Horatio to say something like this. "The only reason you are going to the hospital is to get checked over. You're probably dehydrated and need some fluids. They also need to make sure there is nothing else wrong with you". He looked like he wanted to walk out of the building, but as she was about to protest she saw Horatio give into the idea of riding out on a stretcher. As she looked over to Eric, she saw that he was being wheeled away. She could not tell if he was awake or not since she only saw the end of the stretcher go out of the door. Once she knew that Eric was being taken care of, she looked over in Ryan's direction and saw that he was still here and lying on the stretcher. He had more people surrounding him that Eric had. She didn't know if that was a bad sign or not. She hoped he was alright. She was feeling guilty for ever being angry at him. But how was she supposed to have known he was here. For all she knew he was on vacation and just not answering his phone.

She decided to go and see how Ryan was doing. "Horatio, I will meet up with you at the hospital, but first I need to go and check on Ryan". She walked over to where Ryan was and found Natalia there.

"Hey Calleigh, Eric hasn't woken up yet, but they took him out on a stretcher and were going to be giving him some fluids on the way to the hospital. I'm sure he'll be ok". She knew that Calleigh was worried sick about Eric's condition but she was glad when she had gotten her to go and see how Horatio was. She needed Calleigh focused, they still needed to find out what had happened here and they had to get people in here to process it. She had called in the second shift from the crime lab and they were on their way here. She looked at Calleigh, "How was Horatio?"

While listening to Natalia she was staring at Ryan's unconscious figure lying on the stretcher "He's a little dehydrated but I think he is going to be ok. It was hard to convince him to go to the hospital to get checked out, but in the end he gave in. He must be feeling worse that he was letting on".

Natalia expected as much from Horatio, he was probably more concerned about his men then he was for himself. "Well I'm glad to hear that".

"How is Ryan doing"? She didn't like the way he looked laying there. They had decided to get an IV going on him right away instead of waiting for the ambulance.

"Not so good, I guess his pulse was very shallow and slow and he was extremely dehydrated. They also said there were signs of some type of electrocution on his arms. I don't know what happened here but whatever it was it wasn't good".

"Well there is nothing we can do for him right now, I am sure he will be ok". She looked around the room and then back to Natalia. "Have you noticed the way this room is set up", she saw Natalia nod her head in agreement, "This looks like the work of the 'Triangle' killer, but there is something odd about the whole thing, there is no one dead. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if we had not gotten that anonymous phone call alerting us to where Horatio was. But I wonder who placed the call?"

She knew that she needed to get the hospital to check on her friends and talk to Horatio. She knew from the layout of the room who they were dealing with, but the part about them getting a call before someone had died did not fit into the serial killer's MO. Yes they did receive a phone call telling them where they could find the victims, but by the time they reach the place, one of the people had already been dead. This was not the case here and it made her wonder why. She knew that the killer changed certain details of how and when the chosen person would die, but in the end they were dead before anyone got the call. Two things crept to mind, either the killer got scared before he killed anyone since he was dealing with cops or maybe they had a copy cat killer on their hands. She really needed to talk to Horatio if they were going to figure out any of this. Even though she could tell a horrible thing had occurred to her friends, she knew that this might be the evidence they've been waiting for, evidence that will lead them to the identity of the killer.


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