Monday September 14th, 2008. 18:50

Eric sighed. This was not how he had imagined that he would die. Blown into piece by a land mine. He had imagined that he would die in a warm bed as an old man. Of course Eric wasn't dead yet, but considering that the terrorist group, was quite smart, he didn't see himself having a chance of getting out of this situation alive.

"Ryan, tell Nat I love her." Eric said.

Ryan looked surprised at his friend. Both, because he had never thought he'd hear mister-ladies man, actually say that he loved someone. Even though he knew that Eric and Natalia were dating. But the biggest surprise to Ryan, was that Eric had practically given up. Eric Delko never gave up.

"What is wrong with you?" Ryan asked, annoyed, "The Eric Delko I know, never gives up! Ever!"

Eric sighed and just gave Ryan a sad look.

"Eric, you will make it out of here without a scratch, and then you can tell Natalia yourself, that you love her." Ryan said firmly.

Eric had to smile. He hadn't known that Ryan could be so annoyed by something he had said. And Ryan was right. Eric shouldn't give up. It wasn't his style.

"Who am I supposed to piss off, if you're not around?" Ryan asked, giving Eric a small smile.

"Horatio." Eric suggested.

"He will kill me. You wouldn't actually kill me, but he would." Ryan said, "Eric… don't give up."

Eric nodded. Alright. He wouldn't think about the possibility that he could actually die. Frank had stepped on a landmine once, and survived, so why wouldn't he? The bomb squad arrived, with Horatio close behind. Horatio stood next to Eric, he tried reminding him to stay calm. Something Horatio was much better at doing than Ryan. The bomb squad, tried to make both Horatio and Ryan leave, but they refused to.

"H, Calleigh will kill you and me." Eric said, he didn't want Jr and Donovan to loose their father, because he was so stubborn, that he wouldn't leave his friend. Yet, Eric needed Horatio to stay with him.

"Eric, the mine won't blow up. It's just that you have to be careful when you disable it." Horatio said, "Only if you remove your foot, it will explode."

Eric sighed and nodded. Nothing to worry about then. Of course, he was still worried.

"But Calleigh will probably kill me and you anyway." Horatio grinned, and Eric laughed.

"Alright. You can lift your foot up." A bomb technician said.

Eric took a deep breath and lifted his foot up. He looked down, and saw that he was still standing. He hadn't died.

"Told ya." Horatio smiled.

Eric chuckled and stepped away from the grave. The bomb squad started looking for more mines, just in case.

"After this I'm going to need a beer." Eric chuckled.

"I think we all will." Ryan said.

"Gentlemen, I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Rick." Horatio said.

As he told Eric and Ryan what he had told Rick, he saw that they believed him immediately. They didn't believe that it was a movie, like Rick had.

"So now we do what?" Eric asked, once Horatio was done.

"We have to find the mayor, Nancy. Apparently she was supposed to attend a meeting today, with some guys from a hospital, to talk about the health care in Miami." Horatio said, "But she never showed up. Rick called me on my way here and told me that she was missing, along with her two bodyguards."

"And?" Eric asked, knowing that Horatio suspected something about the whole kidnapping.

"I think it was her bodyguards that kidnapped her." Horatio said, "They follow her everywhere."

Ryan and Eric nodded, so far it was the best guess they had.

"Her car was found in the glades, Natalia is processing it. You two will wait here, until you can process the grave." Horatio said, "I will have a talk with on the PD's receptionists."

-I-

19:40

Simon Colden, was either innocent or he was a good actor. He showed no signs of nervousness or fear. He simply sat by the table in the interrogation room and looked at Rick and Horatio.

"I never thought I'd see the two of you in the same room." Simon joked.

Everybody knew that Rick and Horatio had a very bad relationship with each other. And that they never seemed to be able to be in the same room, without fighting. Horatio and Rick smirked at Cole.

"Well, we both want the same thing, and that requires cooperation. You should know that." Horatio said.

"Should I?" Simon asked.

"Oh yes." Rick smirked.

"After all, killing two people from the Mayor's office, the police Captain, and then kidnapping the mayor and the two bodyguards, takes a lot of cooperation and organization." Horatio said.

Simon raised his eyebrows in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" He asked.

"You know what we're talking about. You knew Captain Martin's whole schedule." Rick said, "When he left work and when he arrived. You told your partners in crime that, so they could kill him. You knew that Lt. Caine and his family had been moved to a safe house, and you managed to found out where that safe house were. So that your partners could blow it up."

"And you helped plan the murders of Ms. Larsen and Mr. Wilkins. Why? Because they had provided you and the group that you belong to with information." Horatio said, "They had to go, so that they couldn't testify against you in court. And then let me see… oh yes, the mayor. By kidnapping her, you can force her to give up her spot as mayor to you, and provide you with information that only she knows, and you might even kill her. That would put the whole city in panic, and who would be in charge? That's right, you and the terrorist group."

Simon just gaped at Horatio and Rick. They couldn't really tell if it was because of surprise that they suspected him at all, or because they had managed to catch him.

"What makes you think I would do this?" Simon asked.

"Well, you and all other receptionists always talk about people at work don't you? That's were you got info about Captain Martin from. And your motive? You're either power driven, or you have a personal grudge against all these victims." Rick said, "Which is it?"

Simon shook his head, "You're crazy, both of ya!"

Horatio walked behind Simon and grabbed his neck. He hissed in pain. Rick didn't even try to stop Horatio. He didn't want to. The city was about to be struck by terrorists and panic would spread. The mayor would soon be dead, or she already was. Miami would turn into a war zone. They had to do everything they could to stop that from happening.

"I'm not going to ask you again Simon." Horatio growled, "What part of this group do you have? What is your motive?"

Simon sighed, and seemed to think about what to answer. He shook his head, and Horatio squeezed his hand harder around the back of his neck.

"Shit!" Simon hissed, "Alright, alright."

Horatio let go.

"I'm the mole in the PD. I only helped them with Captain Martin. I mean, everybody told me everything, because what would little Simon do? Nothing. But I did. I hated Captain Martin."

"Why?" Rick asked.

"Because he slept with my mom." Simon snorted, "For four years, and then he left as soon as she said she loved him."

"And for that you killed him?" Rick asked.

"I didn't kill him. I just told the killers where he would be." Simon said, "I guess I'm going to jail."

"Where did you meet them?" Horatio asked.

"The glades."

"Did you ever see where they hide?" Rick asked.

"No."

"Do you have a phone number to anyone of them?" Horatio asked.

Simon nodded. He had the phone number to the leader. The one man who decided who did what.

"I have the boss's number." Simon sighed.

"Call him, and make an appointment." Horatio said.

Simon nodded, and took his phone out of his pocket.

-I-

Natalia got out of her hummer and walked towards Eric and Ryan. They were just done with their processing.

"Hey guys." She said.

Eric just walked towards her and gave her a deep kiss. She embraced him.

"I stepped on a landmine today." Eric said.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Natalia asked.

"It wasn't so bad actually. And we all needed to process our crime scenes fast." Eric said, "I'm sorry."

Natalia hugged her boyfriend, "You're forgiven, but don't do it again."

"I won't." Eric said, "So what did you find?"

"Blood. Two small droplets of blood on the ground." Natalia sighed, disappointed that there wasn't more to collect.

"We found fingerprints, not Frankensteined prints." Ryan smiled, "And hair. Light brown hair."

"So maybe our terrorists screwed up, finally." Natalia said.

"Yeah, I don't think they worried too much about leaving evidence inside the coffin, I think that they thought the landmine would destroy both the coffin and the cops." Ryan said.

His phone rang and he answered it.

"Wolfe. Hey H… okay, really? We'll be there soon." He said and hung up.

"What?" Eric asked.

"They found the mole, and had him call the terrorist leader to make an appointment. H says, that the meeting will take place in Miami Library." Ryan said, "And we should all be there, but not park our cars outside the library."

"Let's go." Natalia said, "The library. Why the library?"

"Either he knows that the cops will be watching and he wants to take them out together with civilians. Or he doesn't want the mole to see where his hide out is." Eric said.

-I-

20:15

Several cops, were dressed up as civilians inside the library. All real civilians had been escorted out. Carefully, so that the terrorist boss wouldn't see it happen, and understand that the cops were around. Simon had ID the terrorist boss, and he matched the description of the man who had threatened Calleigh and the twins. Horatio and Frank were positioned inside the library, hiding behind some shelves. SWAT was on the roof in a nearby building. Ready to shoot at anytime. Eric, Natalia and Ryan were in a van. Simon was wired up, so that the whole meeting would be recorded, and it was Ryan, Eric and Natalia's job to listen to that recording, and tell the others what was said.

"Damn, this is a small van." Ryan said as he sat down next to Eric.

"You're just too big to fit in it." Eric joked.

"Hey, I'm smaller then you!" Ryan said.

"Not sideways."

"Boys!" Natalia said, but they didn't listen.

"Yes I am." Ryan said.

Eric poked Ryan's waist, Ryan looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Need to work out more." Eric smirked.

"Do you work you?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah."

"Yeah right. Show me your muscles."

Eric showed Ryan his arm. Visible muscles on it.

"That's nothing." Ryan laughed, and showed Eric his arm.

"Where are the muscles?" Eric joked.

Ryan slapped his head. Eric glared at him, and then slapped back. Natalia cursed and pushed herself down between them.

"Calm down, and do your job." She said firmly.

The boys relaxed, and waited for Simon and the leader to start talking. He was nervous. Both because he was meeting with a terrorist and because he knew that the cops were watching and listening.

Simon sat down by a table with the leader.

"Hello, Simon." The leader said.

"Hi." Simon said, "How are you?"

"Don't start sweet talking to me. What do you want?"

"The cops are on to me, and I need your help." Simon said.

The leader smirked. He reached out and grabbed the front on Simon's shirt. He then reached down inside his shirt and ripped the wire away. All the cops sighed. Dammit!

"They already have you." The leader smirked, "Simon, you know, everyone who works for me, or helped us even the slightest, are being stalked by my two best men. Actually it's one girl and one guy."

"So they saw me being lead away by the cops." Simon said.

"Exactly. You were sent here to help them catch me."

Simon nodded. No point in lying.

"I'm still in deep shit." He said.

"And I have a way to help you." The leader smirked, and aimed a gun at Simon's heart.

"Death is an easy escape." He smirked.

"Please don't." Simon begged.

"Get me Lt. Caine here. Now." The leader said loudly.

What he really wanted was to kill the new Captain. Which was Lt. Caine, or well, rather Captain Caine. No one would ever get used to calling him Captain Caine. Horatio, who was hiding didn't see any other choice but to show himself. He walked carefully towards Simon and the leader, with his gun aimed at the leader's head.

"Let him go." Horatio said.

"Only by killing him." The leader smirked, "I know what you want Caine? You want me to tell you where the mayor is."

"You read my mind." Horatio said.

"She's safe. Well, she's not harmed. She is looked away in my basement, where I live. And she is guarded by her own bodyguards, and a group of ten guys, that work for me." The leader smirked, "She is going to help us a little."

"So that you can control this city." Horatio said.

"Correct. I have always dreamt of controlling my own city. I know this sounds like a freaking movie, but that is exactly what I want."

"So that people won't believe it's true."

"Exactly. They will think it sounds too unbelievable. And that makes my mission easier." The leader said.

"And you killed Captain Martin because he was good at his job."

"Yeah, hell, if I kill all higher ups, there will only be uniform officers and the occasional CSI left. They won't be able to stop me. They demand a leader, and when their leaders are dead, they can't do a thing."

"That's why you want me dead, because I'm a leader now." Horatio said, "And my family?"

"Well, it was a way of hurting you. Rattle your cage a little."

"And you're telling me this, because you're not planning on getting out of here alive." Horatio said.

"Correct. I just decide when I want to die." The leader smirked, "Now or later."

"I can make that decision for you."

"Yes, but if you shoot me. Simon will die too."

TBC…

AN: Please review!