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Chapter 5: Confusion

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Sandy's eyes stayed focused on nothing in particular, staring out into space until Horatio's deep voice got her attention.

"Sandy, hi - my name is Horatio."

The child shifted her gaze to her side, then to her mother who was slowly making her way down the driveway.

Wanting to erase the girl's worrisome countenance, he soothed, "It's okay - your mom's just going to walk for a bit so you and I can talk. I know this is hard, but do you think you can try to remember what happened and describe it to me?"

Just as he was breaking through to the girl, the loud sound of a shot being fired startled everyone.

It was almost as if it happened in slow motion. Sandy was nodding then immediately covered her ears like a reflex at the sound of the gunshot. At the same time, Horatio reached for his gun, getting up to go around the house, not noticing the patrol cop calling for backup.

He placed a hand on Sandy's shoulder, then pointed to her mom and the little girl ran to the safety of her mother's arms.

Horatio hunkered low, briskly making his way around the house. Heart pounding loudly in his chest and throat, he thought it might just burst out. Normally, in this type of situation, he'd be high on adrenaline, but focused and relatively calm. Now, knowing Calleigh was inside, he couldn't help the response his body gave.

Through the sheer curtains of the patio door blowing in the wind, Horatio caught sight of the situation.
His body stiffened at the sight of Calleigh having a gun drawn on her.

Unfortunately, this was going to go down slower than anticipated because the good shot Caine only had a good view of Calleigh. He would have to wait until he'd get a clear view of the shooter.

Calleigh was trembling slightly, arms raised at ear level as ordered by the shooter.

"Try something like that again and I won't miss you next time!" the gruff masculine voice spat at her. Horatio deduced the man had aimed at her.

"Now, slowly put your gun on the floor," he ordered. Calleigh stood still, holding her ground.

Horatio willed her mentally to do as told, but knowing very well that she might think he had already left the scene. Backup officers took place behind Horatio, but he motioned them to stay back. He was going in, it was Calleigh's only chance of getting out of this safe.

Calleigh slowly brought one arm down.

"Easy, blondie," the man demanded as she got hold of her weapon.

"Put it down at your feet." Calleigh hesitated, trying to think of a way to get out of this.

Facing the non responsive woman, the man urged, "Move!"

After completing the task of pushing her gun away with her foot, the man advanced wanting to pick up Calleigh's gun, and that's when Horatio had a clear view of him.

"Hold it!" Horatio commanded. "Put the gun down, now!"

The man's eyes were terrifyingly dark, shifting from Calleigh to Horatio than back. Horatio could hear the erratic breathing and see the profuse sweating covering the man's face and neck. He was about to blow at any instant. Change of plans, Horatio thought. He wouldn't push the obviously angered man because it would probably end up pushing the wrong buttons. Instead, he'd talk him through it, diffuse the bomb.

"What the fuck? Who the hell are you? A fucking cop?" The black haired man shook slightly, gun brandishing, but firmly gripped.

"Caine. I work the crime scenes," Horatio wanted to tell him that it wasn't a smart move to come back to the scene of the crime and things weren't looking too good for him here, shooting going down or not. He couldn't take the assailant down, fearing that Calleigh would get shot first. "What's your name, partner?"

"Oh no, you're not getting me with this bullshit small talk," he lifted his gun to Calleigh's head. "I'll shoot her. I swear I will!"

"How 'bout I call you Bob?" Horatio kept steady hands on his weapon, arms solid as rock.

"Bob, take the gun off her and face me." Horatio heard Calleigh's short intake of breath. She knew he knew what he was doing... she had to trust him, but her nerves were raw.

"I want her." His answer chilled Horatio and made Calleigh shiver with repulsion.

Horatio, normally inclined to ask why, refused to, not wanting to hear what the reason might be.

"Bob - " Horatio's voice was tinted with assertive warning, "You haven't thought this through... if anything happens to her, it's not going to be good for you."

Horatio had enough of this. If something happened to Calleigh, "Bob" wouldn't make it, Horatio thought audaciously.

"She fucking ruined it!" Fearlessly, the shooter moved closer to Calleigh. "That bitch is gonna pay."

"Why, Bob? Why did she ruin it for you? Because she alerted me? What were you doing still here, Bob?"
Horatio realized that it was going to be impossible to eliminate the threat without gunfire if "Bob" moved any closer to Calleigh.

"You weren't looking to kill Mr. Morris... you weren't even looking to rob him, were you? You wanted to get the girl..." Horatio finished his sentence in his head: "But, dad stood in the way, protecting her."

The man shook his head, "The girl wasn't even home." The fact that he wasn't after the youngest daughter didn't change what Horatio thought of this predator.

"No," Horatio held his tone of voice as much as he could from turning snooty, "no, she wasn't, but you didn't know that - And when a beautiful blonde arrived at the scene, you decided to stick around, huh?"

The man eyes tunneled and centered on Calleigh, proudly acknowledging his desire for her. "You should tell him to watch what he says, baby."

Calleigh not only sensed his desire to be closer to her, but also the desire to cut Horatio out of the picture.
"What, because you think I care?" Calleigh shifted, changing the atmosphere, searching to get a response from "Bob".

When the man's eyes widened slightly, completely surprised at her answer, Horatio, utterly aware that he was excluded, squeezed the trigger.

TBC…