Authors Note: And in came the three white nights to the fair princess's rescue.

Warning: Strong scenes

Chapter 10

Horatio, Natalia and Ryan ended up going to two false locations before ending up at the right one. They had somehow managed to turn the search down to three places and went to check it out. It was Ryan and Valera that had done most of the work finding the locations, narrowing it down thus far.

Now the three remaining team members were hiding out outside the outside of a huge villa which most likely were video surveillance. Horatio was looking over at Natalia that were some inches away from him along with Ryan.

Her eyes seemed sad, tired and deeply worried. Her hands were slightly shivering and she seemed to be in deep concentration, exchanging a few words with Ryan. She sat down on the side of the building, leaning her back against the brick wall, her feet in a ninety degree angle.

Ryan bent a little, offering her a protein bar Horatio wondered where he had gotten in the first place. She took it, making sure it was gone in less than a second before thanking him. He smiled, letting her lean on him to get up.

Horatio looked at Ryan as they came closer, his youngest CSI if you didn't count Walter, that right now was holding the fort back at the lab with Valera. His hear was ruffled and his clothes like Natalia's had gotten slightly dirty from that day's events. Unlike Natalia he hadn't cried, but his eyes looked tired and worried as well.

"So this is hopefully the right place, I'm not even gonna bother knocking, I got high, Natalia low and Ryan you cover us, are we clear?" Horatio asked.

"Just a moment, I need to take a deep breath, we can met anything in there," said Natalia, taking her gun out of the holster. She took a deep breath before going in position.

"Okay here we go," said Horatio, busting his third door open, he however didn't yell the usual Miami Dade Police as he normally would; as he found it best to be careful.

The three of them stood in a hallway that seemed forever long. It was hardly lit up at all, so it was very dark, on the left side there was a stairwell leading up. The three slowly walked down the hallway, holding their guns in position at every time. They soon found there were no doors until the end, two on each side, and then the hallway ended at another stairwell.

Horatio signaled to take the two doors on the right first, which they quickly did. One was used as a spare room for things that were at no use, the other was a bedroom that hardly seemed used. On the other side another bedroom and a bathroom that both seemed to be at some use.

The redhead signaled that they were going downstairs, he in front, the other two covering his flanks. The got to the end only to see something that was just a big open space that could easily have functioned as a living room is it was furniture. Then there was a second hallway, which ended with a door. On each side like upstairs there were two doors.

They started with the left side, only to find that inside was Calleigh's maze, the upper step was an inch from the door and down towards the maze at the floor was only boxes. Natalia shivered. In the room next to it it was a kitchen. First door on they recognized right away, it was the room where Eric had been trapped with broken glass. Only now the glass was removed and the walls padded.

As they closed the door Natalia turned to Horatio and said, "If that was where he was first, this is probably where he is captured."

"I would agree," said Horatio, using multiple forces to bust the door open.

Natalia gasped as she looked at Eric, one arm and two feet still connected to the chains holding him, the last was torn off and lay on the floor. His eyes were closed and his face was pale. There was blood all around him.

"Eric," she whispered, turning to hide her head in Ryan shoulder. He was looking at Eric in disbelief saying, "We were too late."

Horatio sat down next to his ex-brother-in-law and felt his pulse to berify that fact with a nod.

"Please get the chains of him," Natalia whispered.

"We will as soon as we find the key," said Horatio, looking at the torn of hand.

"Can we please go out of here," Natalia said, not wanting to see her friend like this, this was not the way to die.

Again Horatio nodded and got up from the bloody floor, he sighed heavily as he slowly followed the two others, leaving Eric behind. At least for now.

"Are you sure you can go on?" Ryan asked as they walked closer to the last door.

"I'm…fine, besides even if it was too late for him, we might be able to save Calleigh still," said Natalia with a heavy sigh.

Horatio just nodded as he managed to kick down the last door. The room was filled with a dozen computer screens and a chair in front of them. In the chair the killer sat, looking at the screen that was showing Calleigh in her cage.

Before Ryan or Horatio could do anything Natalia leaped forward saying, "Let her go, you bastard."

The predator took of his earphones and looked at Natalia, he didn't seem shocked or worried about the fact that they are here, instead he looked at her with calm eyes. He simply said, "I don't think so."

"Tell us where she is at once," said Natalia, slowly pointing her gun at him.

"You really think that killing me will help you find her, she could be anywhere," he said a bit amused.

Horatio and Ryan looked at Natalia, then at each other. Ryan gave Horatio a shouldn't you interfere glimpse. He shook his head lightly figuring that he would if it went to fear as it seemed as Natalia had things under control.

Natalia looked from the killer to the screen, there seemed to be two camera's, one inside the box and one outside. She seemed to be too quiet, Natalia could feel her heart beating faster in terror. She was just about to respond when the killer said, "I think you should hear this Miss Boa Vista."

He offered her the head phones, and Natalia put them on, while Ryan and Horatio made sure the killer didn't try anything. The brunette could hardly hear what Calleigh was saying as it sounded more like a whisper.

"Talia, my Talia, where are you? I don't want to be here anymore. I can't fight this any longer, tell the others I love them, Eric the most. I just wanted to…Talia," the whisper died away.

Natalia's hand reached to the screen touching it as tears started to fall from her eyes. She turned towards Horatio whispering, "Horatio."

The redhead stepped forward saying, "Listen Gene, you had your fun, but now it's over. No matter what happens you will be locked away, so will you do us all a favor and tell her where she is."

Gene locked at the three CSI's; he knew for a fact that no matter what happened he was dead. He would either get death penalty or spend the rest of his days in prison after killing twenty one people. It would be twenty two if Calleigh died.

Horatio and Ryan gasped when Natalia faced the killer only to say, "If you do not tell me where he is I will not only kill your beloved Melody, but also torture her first."

Gene looked at her with shocked eyes, if there was one thing he could not risk losing it was his wife Melody, she was probably the only thing in this world her really loved. That in itself was strange enough considering that he being who he was should not be able to love at all. He with shivering voice said, "She's buried underneath the field three hundred meters from here, five hundred meters down, and here is the key to Eric's lock. Please leave Melody out of this."

"I will if Calleigh is alive," said Natalia, putting the keys in her pocket before turning to Ryan saying, "Help me dig and Horatio get this creep out of my sight."

"Of course," said Ryan as he hurried after Natalia.

Gene turned to Horatio saying, "She wouldn't hurt Melody would she?"

"That should be the least of your concerns," said Horatio as he cuffed him and took him out to the car, making sure he was locked up properly before going to help out Natalia and Ryan.

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