A/N:Thanks for the reviews, I still haven't decided the ending and I am still up for suggestions on happy or sad. Thanks for the reviews.
Eric races out of bed and shoves on a shirt and some pants which he only spends 5 seconds on. He picks up his phone, gun and keys and races to his car. His heart is beating faster than it ever has before.
'How far will Rudfrey go to get revenge on me? What will happen to Calleigh', Eric wonders as he swerves cars on the freeway.
Luckily there are not too many cars seeing as it is only 5:10 in the morning. He is driving way to fast and hopes that he won't get pulled over. With his right hand he reaches into his pocket and calls Horatio's cell phone. Eric glances at his cell phone, then at the road, then at his cell phone, then at the road again. "Pick up dammit", he yells at his phone.
"Horatio Caine", the phone answers. Eric pulls the phone up to his ear.
"Horatio I just got a call from Calleigh and she was really scared, I'm going over to her apartment now, I may need backup. I think she's with Rudfrey", Eric says without taking a breath. Eric squints as the early sun catches his eyes.
Horatio takes a minute to process it all.
"H?" Eric asks after hearing no reply. Eric is still frantically driving and there are screeching noises as he dodges a car.
"Dammit", he says aloud.
"Eric hold back, wait for the uniforms to get there. I repeat do not go onto the premises", Horatio replies knowing that Eric will enter Calleigh's house no matter what he says.
"Get here as fast as you can, I'll be inside", Eric finishes, hanging up the phone. He lets out a frustrated sigh. "Calleigh, why did this have to happen to you?" he mutters gripping the steering wheel tighter.
Calleigh's house was a lot closer to the police department than Eric's house so he isn't surprised when the cops pull up next to Calleigh's house around the same time as him.
Eric tightly grips his gun and jumps out of his car. The cops signal for him to go wide.
"Her car's missing", Eric whispers as they approach the front door. The cop whispers into his walkie-talkie thing. "That's right, number plate uhhh...", the cop turns toward Eric and gives him a questioning look.
"395 cfe", Eric whispers into the radio.
The cop counts down on his fingers. 3. 2. 1.
The door is kicked down and cops scatter into the house looking for Calleigh or Rudfrey.
"Clear", one of them yells out.
"Delko", someone yells out from the bedroom. Eric jogs in and swears as soon as he sees the wall.
The words "TOO LATE" are dripping from the wall in blood.
"Son of a bitch", he yells and thrusts as lamp off the desk.
"Hey, hey, hey. Calm down. Go take a walk outside, clear your head", instructs a man in uniform.
Eric storms out the house nearly bowling Horatio over in the doorway. Eric keeps walking, not looking back. When Eric reaches the curb sits down with his head in his hands.
Horatio decides they should talk so he joins him on the curb.
"Talk to me", Horatio orders friendly.
Eric brushes his hand through his hair and lets out a big sigh.
"It's my fault", he explains in a quiet voice looking Horatio in the eye, "It's my fault Calleigh got involved in this whole thing. Rudfrey wants to get back at ME. That's why he took Calleigh"
Horatio slides off his sunglasses and holds them in his hands.
"So why Calleigh?" Horatio asks, already knowing the answer but wanting to her it from him, "Why not Alexx or Tim or a family member. Why Calleigh?"
Eric stares at the road, not wanting to look Horatio in the eye. Eric broke the rules. He got involved with a co worker.
"Calleigh and I are sort of...um", Eric struggles to find the right words, "I care about her a lot, more than anyone else in the world. He knows that, and figures if he takes the one thing I love, I'll give up and let him win"
Horatio puts a comforting hand on Eric's back.
"Listen, this thing with you and Calleigh", he says clearing his throat, "just be careful"
"Okay", Eric replies brushing the dirt off his hands.
"Now lets go see if he left us anything indicating where he is", Horatio says getting up and offering a hand to Eric.
Eric takes it and brushes all the dirt off his pants.
Calleigh opens her eyes to a dim lit room. The floor is caked in dirt and rocks. Her hands are tied behind her back and there is duck tape across her mouth. 'I don't get why they do this', she wonders, 'I am too far away for anyone to hear me and save me, and it's not as if I can hurt them with my mouth'
She hears voices from outside the door and it opens to reveal someone familiar. The doctor from the hospital, Arthur Rudfrey, is hovering over her with a cigar in his mouth.
"Hello Blondie, finally woken up", he says, blowing smoke into her face. His clothes smell strongly of smoke and whiskey.
"Now listen, your safety all depends on your little boyfriend. Your life will only be spared, if he gives himself up to me", he explains, kicking dirt in her face.
Calleigh shoots him an evil look and his face turns to a frown.
He pulls her up by her hair and brings her face close to his.
"Don't mess with me Blondie", he says gently stroking her cheek, "I can play rough". He throws her to the ground and walks out the door leaving her in the corner, tears running down her cheeks.
Back at the lab Eric is impatiently tapping his finger on the table, waiting for the results of the unknown substance they found in Calleigh's apartment.
"Ya know that's not making it go any faster", Valera says giving him an annoyed look.
"Sorry", Eric apologises feeling guilty, "I'm just worried about Cal"
"Aren't we all", she replies. The results come through and the substance is a rare botanical substance only found in certain areas.
"I'll tell H", Eric informs running off.
After an hour of thinking in the break room they come up with an old abandoned warehouse where they think Calleigh might be.
"Horatio, there was a DB around the corner from Calleigh's apartment. The victims blood matches the blood on Calleigh's wall", Tim reports walking in.
"Well at least it wasn't Calleigh's", Horatio says relieved.
"We traced the phone call you received Eric, it was from a phone box next to an abandoned bus station just around the corner from the warehouse", Horatio tells Eric.
"We have to get there now", Tim demands, worried about Calleigh's safety.
Just as Eric is about to agree, his phone starts ringing.
"Delko", he answers.
"You're lady's quite a looker eh? Shame if something terrible happened to her"
"You son of a bitch", Eric yells.
Horatio plugs the break room phone into Eric's cell and puts it on speaker so they can hear(A/N: I don't know whether that's possible but just run with it for the sake of the story)
Tim, Horatio, Alexx and Tripp are all in the break room listening in on every word.
"Don't you dare lay a hand on her", Eric threatens with an element of danger in his voice. Tim and Horatio look at each other.
"I'd watch it if I were you, wouldn't want anything to happen", Rudfrey breaks into uncontrollable laughter. After a minute or two he calms down.
"I have a proposition for you. But to make it more interesting, I think I'll let Blondie explain"
Rudfrey rips off the tape and Calleigh gasps for air.
"Don't try anything stupid now", Rudfrey says to Calleigh, handing her the phone.
"Eric?" Calleigh says breathless.
"Calleigh?, Calleigh don't worry everything will be okay", Eric says pacing back and forth.
"He says he will let me go unharmed if you surrender yourself"
"Done"
Everybody looks at Eric shocked at how quickly he responded.
"Eric wait..."
"I said done. Calleigh I would do anything to save your life, anything"
"Then it's a deal", Rudfrey replies, snatching the phone from Calleigh who sits helplessly on the ground, "Old warehouse around Pentium Ave. alone. Tonight, midnight"
Rudfrey hangs up the phone.
"Eric no it's too dangerous", Alexx protests, "I know you care about Calleigh, we all do, but we can't save a life by risking someone else"
"This is something I have to do", Eric explains, "I owe her this at the least"
Alexx gives up, sighing, and goes back down to the morgue.
Eric glances at his watch. It's only 11:35 am, still ages to go.
"So what, we just wait?" Tim asks Horatio as he slumps into a chair.
Horatio nods and goes to find Yelina to fill her in and flirt a little.
"I'm uhhh, gonna go for a walk", Eric says as he walks out the door.
Tim decides to let him go and starts talking to Tripp about the newbie.
Eric walks into the ballistics lab and looks around. It doesn't seem right. It's so empty without Calleigh. He fixed his eyes to the spot where she would normally be standing, aiming her gun. He imagined she was there, shooting. Even with the goofy earmuffs, she was still so beautiful.
Calleigh hears rattling noises behind the door and lifts her head.
A man in a black suit walks in. This is a man she has never seen before. Before she can talk, the man takes out a gun and loads it with 3 rounds.
"Looks like the plan has changed", he says, pointing the gun in Calleigh's face.
A/N: OMG another cliffhanger, I bet some people are really angry at me right now.oh well, cliffhangers are fun, I think I'll keep doing them. Thanks for reading, don't forget to review. Next chap will be up in a couple of days