Part Twenty-One
Horatio opened his eyes slowly. Someone was in the room. Eric would have been by the bedside, probably holding his hand; this man was different.
His eyes widened in recognition. Cordero. How had the big man gotten past the guards? He drew breath to call out, but Dero's hand over his mouth stopped him.
"Just listen," the Nicaraguan said softly as he bent down beside him. "I'm not here to hurt you. You're safe. But Carlos and Riaz, they think otherwise; and when I don't do the job they'll send someone who will. You got to have your people get you out of here before it's too late."
The click of a weapon being readied was loud in the stillness following his announcement. "You make one wrong move, you're a dead man," Eric growled from behind Cordero. "Take your hand off his face, slow and easy, and put both of them on your head."
Horatio sat up stiffly as Cordero complied. "Eric, it's all right," he said with great effort. "He was… delivering a warning."
Eric didn't waver. "He's delivered it." He gestured with his pistol for Cordero to move to the side and waited for the man to sit down with his back against the wall. "Feel like passing it along to me?" His eyes never left Cordero. The man was huge. He looked like a bulldozer made human. "And just who the hell are you? You're wearing a Nueva tat, so I'm not so sure we should trust you anyway."
"Eric." Horatio's voice was firm, if still a bit soft. "He's been covering for me with the Nuevas. You can trust him." He turned his attention to Dero for a moment. "Explain. Now." He was so used to the big man taking his orders that he didn't think twice about it, although he did feel a moment's unease about placing his trust so firmly in the Nicaraguan. But the die was cast.
Cordero took his hands from his head and rose, no longer obedient to Eric's demands, and Eric held his weapon steady. He had to look up at the other man, which made him a bit nervous; but he didn't let it show. "You can put that down, Delko," Dero said evenly. "I'm not a threat to you. Never was." He kept his hands in view. "Go ahead and frisk me. I'm unarmed."
Eric's eyes went to Horatio and back to the big man uneasily. Slowly he lowered his weapon and holstered it. "H trusts you. Good enough for me." Was he making a mistake? He didn't think so. And Horatio had vouched for him, so it should be all right. "Let's start over, okay? Eric Delko." He extended his hand.
Horatio relaxed slightly as Cordero took the outstretched hand with a firm shake. "Name's Dero. Owe you both some explanations, but I got to get in touch with other people first," he said apologetically. "You willing to wait just a bit longer? And we got to move you quick before they figure out I'm not coming back."
Eric looked to Horatio, who nodded stiffly. He was trying to get out of bed, though, and Eric wasn't having that. "You just sit back there, H. You, make your phone calls or whatever it is and let me take care of him. We're not going anywhere." He went to the bedside and helped Horatio get comfortably settled once more, then sat by him on the bed with one hand intertwined with Horatio's.
Dero nodded and moved to the other side of the room to give them a little privacy while he made his calls. He kept his voice down.
Eric didn't really understand what was going on; but he was willing to forgo explanations for as long as it took. And with Horatio on the mend, everything was turning out okay. He was content to sit at the redhead's side, occasionally stroking his thumb across H's hand in comfortable silence.
He really wasn't trying to listen in on Dero's phone call, either. But when he heard Windower mentioned, he sat up with a jerk. He waited only until the big man had closed the phone before pouncing. "You talking about Agent Windower of DHS?" he asked quickly. "Could've saved you some trouble. He's here at the hospital. Been doing interviews with us. He should be right outside."
(Waiting Room)
Calleigh looked up as Windower snapped his phone shut with a curse. "Round up your people, Cal," he growled as he headed toward Horatio's room. "Meet me. This won't take long and it'll answer a lot of your questions."
"We're all here." She motioned them to follow and bolted after Windower. Answers for those questions would be welcome; and it looked like they'd be able to see Horatio in the bargain. "What's going on?
She and the others crowded into the room and she moved up to stand next to him, giving a smile to Horatio who was awake and looked fairly aware. Her eyes widened as she took in another man standing close and she wondered how he had gotten past everyone into the room.
Windower moved forward to take the big man's hand. "Glad you made it out," he said easily. "Gentlemen, and Ms. Duquesne of course. I would like you to meet Capitan Cordero Quintana of the Nicaraguan Defense Force."
Horatio blinked. It certainly explained a good few things. Most notably, how the big man had known Eric's name. "It seems we were keeping secrets from each other," he remarked with a wry smile.
Dero gave him a grin. "I couldn't tell you until I knew you were on the up and up," he gave out apologetically. "We had no warning you were going under. Had to assume you were dirty. And once I was sure you weren't, there was no time."
Horatio nodded in agreement. He would have said more, but what had passed between them was private, and should be discussed that way. Privately. But he was tiring quickly, and all he wanted was to drift off to sleep with Eric's hand in his own. It didn't even faze him that Stetler was present; he just couldn't summon up enough energy to care.
He heard them chattering amongst themselves, heard them discussing the situation, the measures being taken, the evidence, but he couldn't force his eyes to stay open. He felt Eric's fingers on his hand, heard his soft voice, and relaxed into sleep.
TBC…