TITLE: Hostages

AUTHOR: CD57

CATEGORY: Action/Adventure, Angst.

SUMMARY: A perp is causing lots of trouble inside MDPD headquarters

SPOILERS: None

SEASON: Somewhere in season one. No Yelina, lots of Frank, though. I like him, grin.

RATING: PG.

PAIRING: awww… H/C UST. I suck at romance, though

CONTENT WARNINGS: None, really.

DISCLAIMER: oh I don't own them. I wouldn't know where to store them anyway, so... This story-line is mine, though, as are the characters I made up for this.

FEEDBACK: please, yes. I love to hear what you think. No flames, though. I can burn my own toast, thanx.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is my second CSI Miami story. I really enjoyed writing the first so I couldn't resist writing another. Enjoy.

Thanx for JennyF for helping out with grammar and such.

Thanx to Pheral, my wonderful friend, always for the beta job, but more importantly, for being who you are: The Best!

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Part 1 – Trouble, with a capital T.

"Do you know what this is?" the suspect asked, his dark brown eyes shifting from one criminalist to the other. In his hand he had a small black plastic device, with an antenna and a round, red button.

Tim Speedle and Eric Delko exchanged surprised looks.

"Why don't you tell us?" Speed asked, shrugging his shoulders.

An evil smile appeared on Keith Reynolds's face. "There's a bomb in this building."

Eric smiled. "Sure, Keith."

"You expect us to believe that?" Speed joined in, adjusting to the same attitude as his colleague.

"Can you afford not to?" Keith demanded, as he slowly placed his thumb on the red button of the remote control. "I want you to drop all charges against me, and all evidence will have to be destroyed. Only then I'll tell you where the bomb is."

"Are you gonna blow yourself up for this?" Eric asked, trying to determine the seriousness of the situation.

"No, it's not strong enough to blow up the whole fucking building," Keith said. He threw a quick look over his shoulder into the direction of the labs. "But I'm pretty sure that cute blonde won't survive."

This time, the two crime scene detectives exchanged more concerned looks. Speed drew out his phone.

"Ah!" Keith snapped. "Don't, or she's the first to die."

Eric's mind raced. What if this perp was telling the truth? Calleigh was in the lab, which meant the bomb had to be there somewhere. How would they manage to get her out of there? How would they manage to alert Horatio, who's office was situated almost straight above the lab? Would they be able to signal him without being caught?

Speed apparently was asking himself similar questions. He slowly stuffed the phone away in his pocket, not wanting to provoke an outcome that was clearly in their disadvantage.

"Let's go, nice and slowly, and see how your lovely colleague is doing, shall we?" Keith rose to his feet, pushing the chair back as he stretched his muscles.

Eric shrugged helplessly at Speed. At that moment, without a way of knowing how serious their situation was, it was best to play along.

"And don't even think of alerting other people," Keith threatened, waving the RC in front of Speed's nose. "Or your female colleague is history, comprendre?"

"All right," Speed nodded in understanding, as he also slowly got up. Eric silently followed his example.

"Let's go. No tricks, remember?" the man with pitch black hair reminded them.

The two CSI members with the suspect in their middle walked through the hallway towards the lab. Eric and Speed were both tensed, worried about what would happen if they would meet anybody in the hallway, starting to ask all kinds of questions.

Speed wondered what they would find in the lab. For a brief moment, he hoped Calleigh wouldn't even be there. He hoped she'd gone to the shooting hall, testing a gun for a case she was working on.

She wasn't.

When they entered the lab, they found her, sitting on a chair, quietly talking to Alexx Woods, the coroner of the MD police department. "Hi, guys," Calleigh greeted them, having noticed their entrance.

Alexx Woods now also looked at the door and she frowned at the sight of the unknown man entering the lab along with her colleagues.

"Close the door," Keith sharply ordered, nodding at Speed. He then turned his head, facing the two women. He caught Calleigh's gaze. "And you better stay right where you are, missy. You're sitting on a bomb."

Calleigh's eyes went wide with surprise and shock. Speed reluctantly closed the door, while Alexx immediately bent forward to check the chair Calleigh was sitting on. "Oh, baby," she muttered, when her eyes spotted the explosives taped underneath the chair. "You better don't move."

Calleigh's gaze now traveled back to her friend. "Alexx?" she asked anxiously. "You're kidding, right?"

Alexx slowly shook her head, then gently placed a hand on Calleigh's shoulder. "Oh, no. Sit still, honey."

Keith made a gesture with his head towards the two male detectives. Eric and Speed didn't waste any time, understanding they were to move further ahead, to the other side of the lab. The attacker had assumed a position from where he could keep an eye on the men and women.

"Okay," Keith continued, his voice sharp and icy. "Guns on the table. Slowly. You first," he eyed Speed, and held the RC in everybody's view, daring anybody to try something stupid.

Tim raised one hand in the air, showing he wasn't going to do anything. Slowly and carefully he moved his other hand, took his gun out of the holster and placed it on the table. He then stepped back, away from the table.

Keith moved forward, and reached out with his free hand to grab the gun. His eyes momentarily directed at the gun, he fumbled one-handedly with the safety pin.

Although he was positioned at least a couple of steps away from Keith, Eric used that moment to lurch forward, taking the attacker completely by surprise. His aim was to knock the perp down and get a hold of the remote control.

Keith was extremely quick, though. He jumped backwards, in a desperate but successful attempt to stay out of Eric's reach. Still keeping a hold on the remote, he apparently had managed to remove the safety of the gun. Before he even landed solidly on his feet, he had aimed the weapon and fired one shot.

Calleigh cried out Eric's name.

Eric, stumbling from grabbing in the air where his target had been mere seconds ago, dodged sideways. Unfortunately, the movement wasn't fast enough to completely stay out of the line of fire. The bullet slammed into his right upper arm, pivoting his body from the sudden impact.

"Don't ever try something like that again," Keith snapped angrily.

Panting, Eric staggered against the desk. Alexx had moved toward Tim and held her hand on his shoulder, keeping him from doing anything stupid.

Eric, grimacing, pressed his left hand over the now bleeding arm. He slid to the floor and sat there, panting.

The door to the lab burst open. Lieutenant Horatio Caine appeared in the doorway, his weapon in one hand, the other arm supporting the one holding it. Legs slightly spread, Caine stood steadily, his gun aimed at the black haired attacker. His eyes thoroughly scanned the lab as he tried to determine what he was facing.

Calleigh looked at him, frightened.

Keith, who immediately had stepped behind the female CSI detective, held both the RC and gun in view. "Drop the gun, mister."

"You know, I cannot do that," Horatio said with a calm, steady voice. Having surveyed his surroundings, he knew the man standing behind Calleigh was the only hostile. "So why don't you lower yours nice and easy before this gets out of hand, all right?"

"I don't think so," Keith sneered. "You see, this lady over here is sitting on a bomb and unless you are doing exactly as I say, I'm going to blow her to hell."

Horatio's eyes again traveled from one member of his team to the other. He saw Eric, with an obvious injured, bleeding arm sagged against one of the desks. He hadn't failed to notice the look of panic on Calleigh's face and then saw Alexx giving him an affirmative nod, telling him the man was indeed telling the truth.

"All right," Horatio nodded slowly but without lowering his gun. "Are there more bombs in the building?"

Keith shook his head.

"All right. Here's what I'm going to do," Caine said, his voice even and calm. "I'm going to order the officers behind me to stand down and evacuate the building. Can I do that?"

"As long as you stay where you are and don't do anything stupid," Keith agreed. To emphasize his statement he simply placed the gun at Calleigh's temple.

"Frank," Horatio didn't move, kept his eyes locked on the perp and called over his shoulder. "Frank, we have a bomb in the lab. I want you to clear the building, right now." He waited, and then briefly looked over his shoulder before turning his gaze back to the attacker standing behind Calleigh. With a still steady and controlled voice he continued. "They're going to evacuate the building. I'm coming inside now."

"Drop the gun first," Keith ordered, motioning with Speed's gun at the crime lab Lieutenant.

Slowly, Horatio put the safety back on, and bent down carefully, one arm raised above his head. With the other he slowly placed the gun on the floor and shoved it backwards. "I'm going to close the door now, all right?"

The attacker nodded and with one hand still holding the RC he carefully followed the red-haired man's movements, like a feline following its prey.