Sara jumped head first into her duties as hired undercover officer

Sara jumped head first into her duties as hired undercover officer. Her determination was unsurpassed when it came to situations involving environmental issues or animal abuse – much like the way Horatio was in dealing with cases involving children. She was focused on finding any clue she could to link Waterson and the dead dolphins together to hopefully prevent others from meeting the same fate. Of course, this all depended on how close she could get to Waterson without spurring his suspicions.

Over the next week, Sara observed and photographed the Hispanic boy bringing packages to Waterson – but it just wouldn't be enough to pin anything on him. Sara realized she needed another plan that went beyond just making observations. She had to get in tight with Waterson. One thing was for certain – she wouldn't say a word to either Yelina or Horatio for both would absolutely forbid her from any such action. Sara was a stubborn woman and nobody – not even the good Lieutenant – would stop her from bringing this man down.

In the meantime, Horatio's team worked on the bodies of the dead dolphins that had been shipped down.

"Eric, why exactly are we working on these?" Ryan asked with a bored sound in his voice.

"H said something about some new method of transporting heroine undetected."

"So, we're looking for traces of heroine?"

"Yes, Ryan – heroine. Is there a problem?"

"No, no, no! I just figured this was a little odd. You know Stetler's been nosing around wondering what's going on."

"Rick doesn't know when to mind his own business."

"In fact, he's in drilling Horatio now."

"Horatio, this is highly unusual. Why weren't those animal carcasses sent off to some biology lab?"

"Rick, they might serve as evidence in a drug trafficking case. My team is working up the tissue samples now."

"You better turn up something. This better not be some crazy Biology experiment of yours."

"I will, Rick. No worries."

"You can't afford to put the man hours on your own tab."

Horatio walked up to the IAB man standing toe to toe with him. The annoyance in Horatio's eyes burned through Stetler. Knowing that Horatio had developed something of a short temper in the last several months, he was not going to risk having Horatio unleash his wrath on him.

"I won't have to."

Just then, Eric walked in excitedly.

"H, we got the result on the tissue analysis. It was heroine – uncut pure heroine."

Horatio looked at the print out and smiled happily. Tossing it down on the table, his glare cut right through Stetler.

"See, Rick. No worries."

"We didn't have any luck matching the partial print to anything in CODIS," Eric added.

"That's fine. The tissue results are a good start."

"Um, I'll leave you to your work," Rick stated as he shrank back towards the door.

"Thank you, Rick," Horatio courteously said.

"He's afraid of you – ever since that day when Sara was in the hospital and you knocked him on his ass," Eric said.

"Yeah, well, even I reach a point where enough is enough."

Eric laughed heartily as his boss pulled out his cell phone.

"Yelina, we have a positive on the tox screen," Horatio said.

Horatio listened carefully to her before hanging up. A concerned look crossed his face.

"H, what is it?"

"Yelina's working this case from another angle and has gotten word of a big push to take over all territories owned by the other drug lords. The streets of Miami are going to turn upside down, Eric."

"How?"

"Apparently, Salvadore Guadalupe is on the move. He's beginning to assemble his forces to go on a killing spree to take over all the turf of all the other local gangs."

"That will make the Mala Noche name the most powerful gang in the Miami area."

"And once they establish their foothold here, there will be no stopping them," Horatio replied nervously.

His mind drifted off to Sara. She'd be in great danger if she didn't watch her step. He called Sara.

"I need to see you. We need to talk." He turned and looked to Eric. "If anyone asks, I'm in the field."

"What's going on?"

"I wish I could tell you. All I ask is that you trust me."

"Of course."

Horatio was on the move quickly. He sadly had an hour drive to get to her, and with his sirens blaring, he raced down the pike where he met with Sara.

"What's all the excitement about?" she demanded to know. "Not for anything, but I'm in the middle of rounds. If Sam sees you, this is over."

"Sara, I'm going to talk to Yelina. I'm pulling you from this case."

"Like hell you are!" she said angrily while planting her hands on her hips. "I'm seeing this through."

"Damn it, woman. You promised no silly stuff this time."

"What exactly am I doing wrong? I'm watching. I'm reporting. He's completely unaware of who I am. How could I be in danger?"

"His affiliates are ramping up their forces. I want you out of this before things get crazy."

"Oh, so you get to have all the fun."

"Sara, this isn't fun at all. This is getting really serious. And I won't loose you the way I lost Marisol."

Horatio grabbed her and pulled her close.

"Horatio, I'm not going to die. Not this time. Not after everything we've been through. Fate couldn't possibly be that cruel to either of us," she said. "I have to go before I'm missed."

He didn't want to let her go.

"Horatio, please. Let me see this through. If things start getting dicey, I'll excuse myself. Deal?"

"Like hell you will excuse yourself. You think you are clever by feeding me what you think I'd want to hear. I won't have it."

She kicked at a stone on the ground expressing her great frustration.

"Let me go back and try to get enough to pull Waterson down. Won't that eliminate their pipeline?"

"Yes, it would."

"Then, let me work that angle so you can arrest him. You know I can do this as much as you don't want to admit to it."

Caine reluctantly had to let her go. She was right.

"Um, why don't we meet this weekend? Sam's going out of town, so there won't be any going's on."

Horatio raised his eyes to her.

"Ok."

"Let me call you later on. We'll discuss details."

When she sped off back to the aquarium, Horatio reluctantly returned to the lab.

Over the next couple of days, she anxiously looked forward to meeting with Horatio on Saturday. In the meantime, she caught Sam discussing meeting with two gang members to drop off a bigger stash of drugs for shipping. She actually obtained a date, time and location – a week from Monday at the entrance of Alligator Alley. Sara finally had something useful – and something Horatio and the police department could use.

Horatio arrived promptly and knocked on the door of Sara's apartment.

"Come on in – door's open," she called out.

Opening the door, he peeked inside finding her at the small desk busy at work reviewing photographs on her laptop. The desk was stationed facing the window that overlooked the ocean allowing for a spectacular view. He leaned on the back of her computer chair as she continued to work not breaking her concentration as she carefully examined two similar images of a hawk she had taken while in Massachusetts. Sara felt his breath on her neck and leaned back tilting her head to bring him into view.

"Hey, handsome," she said sweetly.

He kissed her gently on her forehead.

"You look exhausted," he said.

"Been at this for hours. A colleague back home wanted a few of my better images to accompany a presentation he's doing on the lives of the red-shouldered hawk."

"Hum, looks like a bird I wouldn't want to mess with," he said taking note of the long talons on the feet.

"This is actually one of the smaller Buteos. The cool thing is that many of the hawk species mate for life. I had the privilege of watching this pair right in the back yard."

Horatio listened in to the following details of hawk life. His mind drifted to the idea of being a mate for life and he so wanted to make an obnoxious comment. But, the gentleman in him prevented him from speaking out of line.

Sara began to rub her shoulder which had been kinking up on her over the last hour as she worked through her images. He placed his hands on her shoulders and slowly massaged her aching muscles. Softly she moaned feeling the pain subsiding as he worked to unravel the knots in her shoulders.

Wanting to conclude her business on the laptop as quickly as possible, she relegated the better images into a folder on the desktop. Then, she found another folder on the hard drive that promised even more possibilities. But, her screaming shoulder wouldn't allow her to continue working.

"Come on. Enough of this for now," he demanded pulling her out of the chair.

She didn't bother to fight him as she very much preferred to enjoy his company and attention at the moment. He sat down on the couch inviting her to join him. Horatio continued his ministrations on her shoulders drawing a pleasure-filled sigh from her as he released the knots in her muscles. After a short while, he sat back letting her rest her head comfortably on his shoulder as his arm draped around her.

"So, besides the photograph project, what else is going on?"

She looked oddly at him.

"Inquisition already? And, here I thought you'd come over to relax," she joked.

"I am relaxing."

"Yeah, right. You are itching to hear the details."

"OK, touché."

"So, Waterson is meeting with some guy named Ruiz to pick up a large amount of stuff for shipping."

"I've arranged for Frank and a SWAT team to meet at the location you reported."

"Well, with this all arranged," she said as she got up and straddled his lap, "can we go have a little fun now? I've been dying to go fishing."

She waited patiently for his reply.

"Anything you wish."

They hopped into his Hummer and drove down to one of the local fishing spot that was far enough away from the usual hang outs of any of his CSI colleagues. He couldn't risk anyone other than Yelina and Calleigh knowing she was in Miami – not until this case was over.