Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

A/N: You can hear and see "The Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins (Top Gun Soundtrack), by going to YouTube and typing "Kenny Loggins+Danger Zone" in the search bar.

Chapter 10—The Danger Zone Revisited

"We really didn't need to come in on our days off, did we, Eric?" Calleigh said.

Eric sat down on the floor of the broadcasting van and snapped on his latex gloves with a resolve. "No, but there's a lot more to this case than I thought. We have to see what's under this counter. We keep turning up dead ends. Besides, there's nobody in the lab today, and we won't keep getting interrupted. This panel pops off. Want to get that end?"

Calleigh quickly snapped on her latex gloves and helped Delko pull the white panel off the front of the sound board, helping him gently place the panel on the floor. Delko shone his flashlight at the switching components and studied the chart. "There's the backup generator over there" he noted, looking at the white metallic wall in the back. "Yep. Calleigh. Right here." He pointed up under the last two slider switches. "Something else was hooked up under there. See those scratches? And those two wires hanging are probably the two wires that should be hooked up." He immediately took pictures of the discrepancy.

Calleigh nodded. "This backup generator is 270 volts. The primary electrical supply is 208 volts." She moved closer to the three-prong outlet. "And I think I see where our killer attached the wires. There's some copper fragments hanging out of that outlet, Eric. Is the power turned off? I'll collect those and see if we can get something off them."

"Mark Wycoffe said the power went out for about one second before the backup generator kicked in" Delko said.

"Maybe a second was all it took."

Delko moved closer. "Nope. This backup generator is in two parts. There's your 500 volts. When the main supply overloaded, the backup took over. It looks like first Derrick Bohannon got 208 volts. One half of the backup kicked in, and then the other. Derrick Bohanon got a double dose." He turned around and reached for his fingerprint kit. "This thing's been driving me crazy, too." He grinned at her. "Besides, this way I get to work with you without getting interrupted."

"Calleigh smiled at him. "Somebody here really knew this system. Mark Wycoffe suggested Paul Galloway's stepson, but right now we don't have enough to get a warrant. Eric, we've got to find that wire."

Delko nodded. "Besides, Mark had a lot of holes in his stories. How should I really know what happened? We better get Emmie or Tyler to listen to the tape from that show and find out whether anything turns up. That case file should be in the computer lab."

Emmie breathed deeply and enjoyed the darkened silence of the empty crime lab. Perfect atmosphere for some Saturday maintenance in getting the computer lab back up to standard, she figured.

First order of business. She started up the main console and searched the internet for The Silver Palm. From what she could gather, The Silver Palm was a historic resort with a five-star restaurant, hotel and spa. Upscale, even by Miami's standards, Emmie noted. No prices for the online menu or the wine list. In other words, if you had to ask, you couldn't afford it.

Emmie shook her head in disbelief. It sure seemed like Rick was going through a lot of trouble—and money—to entertain a new, low-level team lead, she thought. Highly unlikely he would do this for anyone else in the lab. He already knew about her family and her political ties. That had to be the only reason. Curious, though, as to who would be picking up the tab.

Laying that thought aside, as she prepared to clean and catalogue the equipment, Emmie took out her old CD of eighties dance tunes. She slid the homemade disc into the soundboard's main controls and snapped the hatch closed. Horatio allowed her to play her music while she worked, so long as nobody else minded. As "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins blared through the lab's overhead speakers, she adjusted the volume and felt her energy rise, biting her lip, closing her eyes, and putting her hands on her desk, bobbing her head. For just a few minutes she was an energetic, carefree, unattached young Marine back in Quantico, surrounded by single girlfriends and all those guys who would fight for her attention. Military life had not yet thrown her so many curve balls. As the music's energy and the memories quickly took over her system, she swayed her arms and her upper body, and eventually began to pop her shoulders in time to the music, giving up the stresses of the last year and giving in to the memories of a simpler time.

As they walked into the darkened, quiet hallway, Delko looked at Calleigh. "Somebody's playing music in here! Sounds like the computer lab." They walked warily and stopped at the glass wall to see Emmie completely lost in her music, still bobbing her head and swinging her shoulders, her back turned toward them. They looked at each other and smiled.

Delko suppressed his laughter as he put up one hand. "Wait here." He crept up behind the bobbing, nodding, swaying computer tech and stood just inches behind her with a smile. Just as she suddenly turned around, he mimicked her moves. Her eyes widened and she shrieked, surprised and embarrassed. She started to turn, but Delko reached out and quickly grabbed her hand.

"No, come on. That's good!" he insisted, trying to dance with her. Calleigh smiled at them through the glass. Emmie finally wrenched away from his hand and hit the soundboard's kill switch with a SLAP! The computer lab went silent as she leaned on the console and covered her face, turned away from him.

"Eric! That's embarrassing!" she almost yelled through her hand. "God! Who else saw that?" She sweated as she could feel her face flush.

Delko laughed. "Just me and Calleigh. Oh, come on! You're good! Bet you can't Salsa like me, though!"

Calleigh walked in. "So, you like Top Gun, huh?"

Emmie nodded with an embarrassed, tired smile. "Yep. That was part of my life." She grabbed a Kleenex and wiped her eyes as she came down from that beautiful high and recovered from the embarrassment. "God, what a great first week. First I moon Ryan, then this." She sat down and shook her head, catching her breath. "So you two got the same idea, huh?"

"We came to take a look at the Bohannon file. Maxine Valera said she ran a cross check on the unknown male's DNA to see if she couldn't find any close relatives."

Emmie pointed to the stack of case files on Tyler's desk. "It's over there. I'm not allowed to even touch it. Conflict of interest."

Calleigh walked in as Delko picked up the case file and read through the new DNA analysis. He raised his eyebrows as he looked at her.

"What is it?" she asked, sidling up to him.

"Seven common alleles."

"Who?"

Delko shook his head. "We better call H. He's not gonna believe this."

Calleigh read the results over his shoulder. She raised her eyebrows. "This is about to get really messy."

Emmie looked on as Delko whipped out his cell phone and informed Horatio of his findings.

"Calleigh, what can you tell me about a place called The Silver Palm?" Emmie finally asked.

Calleigh smiled. "The Silver Palm? Nice place. I can't even afford to park there. If I had that kind of money, I'd love to go to their spa one day. Why?"

Emmie shrugged. "Just curious. Thanks."