Chapter 14

You know that wild ride I mentioned? Yeah, fair warning, you should probably buckle up for this one. The action is going to heat up...
By Tuesday, things had returned to some semblance of normal. Calleigh had slept over on Sunday, but had left him alone Monday night. He was happy about that, but had to admit that having her in the house had been comforting at the same time. People had almost stopped looking at him like he was a bomb primed to go off. And he had been able to focus better and make some real progress on the case. There still wasn't much to go on, but since nothing else pressing had come up, Horatio hadn't made them put it on the backburner. Tim was glad, because he wasn't sure he would be able to really put this one on hold. He was a bit less obsessive than he had been, just because he wasn't permitted to be, but it was still something that had him gripped tightly.

Which was why he was very excited as he popped into Horatio's office on Tuesday afternoon. "H, I've got something," he started before noticing that Eric was sitting in the office. "Oops, sorry," he said.

"No, you're not interrupting," Horatio said. "What do you have?"

"Well, I've been tracing possible places that Markham could be, based on places we knew he was associated with back in 95, right? Most of them aren't useful right now, either because I can't get a warrant to search them, or the ownership has changed hands, or something. But there's one place—it's an abandoned warehouse that he had some connection to through someone he was associated with. It wasn't ever a primary place for him at the time, but things change in 10 years, and he might have decided to hole up there, since so many of his other previous locales aren't available to him anymore. Thing is, the city now owns the warehouse- we seized it on some sort of eminent domain thing a couple years back, I'm not sure of the exact details. It's been sitting abandoned since. I called over to Public Works, and they said the PD has the keys, and since it's ours, I can take a look without having a warrant. I called Hagen, and he said he'd find the keys and meet me out there," he said in a rush.

Horatio nodded slowly. "You just want a look around?"

"Yeah. I don't know if he's actually there or not. But the other thing is, Calleigh is in court right now and she won't be done until probably four or so. And the warehouse is probably a good half hour from here," he said.

"I have a meeting in fifteen minutes," Horatio said. "Can it wait an hour or so?"

"Well, yeah, it can. I don't know if this is even urgent, really," Tim said, trying to not show any real disappointment. He wanted to go and go now, but knew that wasn't an option.

"I'll go with you," Eric said, speaking up for the first time. "DNA is backed up and Alexx told me earlier that she's got three bodies to do before she can even think of mine, so I'm just hanging out until I've got some results to work with."

Horatio looked at them both judiciously. "I want you to be careful," he said after a moment. "Wait for Hagen to get there, I don't want you two picking the lock or something," he said.

"We'll wait," Tim nodded.

"And you stick together in the warehouse, within sight of each other, you hear? Don't go wandering off," he said, seriously, looking pointedly at Tim.

"I won't," Tim said, nodding again.

"And check in, if it looks like you'll be out there for more than an hour or two," Horatio said.

"We will."

"All right, then," Horatio said. "Good luck."

"Thanks, H," Tim called as he started out of the office.

"Oh, and put your Kevlar on, both of you," Horatio called after them.

"Got it, H," Eric called back, reaching out to snag Tim's arm.

"What?" he asked.

"Kevlar," Eric explained.

"Oh, right," Tim said, changing course towards the stairs to the locker room.

"H is leaning on you pretty heavy, isn't he," Eric commented as they both donned their vests.

Tim shrugged. "It's ok."

"He's not usually so overprotective," Eric said.

"I know. It's ok, Eric. I'm not fussed about it, so you know, you don't need to be either," he said, uncomfortably. He didn't think Eric knew all the details about the agreement he had with Horatio, and even though he trusted Eric—mostly—he found that he didn't really want to discuss it. It was enough that Calleigh knew. That was plenty enough.

"All right, man. Just saying." They left the locker room and went out to the truck. "Where is this place, anyway?" Eric asked.

"Just out by the northern city limits," Tim said, handing over the paper with the address.

"Lovely. Hopefully we won't get caught in rush hour coming back," Eric said, glancing at the paper.

"Yeah," Tim replied. "Plans?"

"Well, sort of. One of my cousin's friends is in a band that's playing tonight and I said I'd go. Actually, Calleigh said she'd come if she got out of court early enough to get some stuff off of her desk. You want to come, too?" Eric asked, glancing over at Tim.

He chewed on his lip a moment, unsure. "Where are they playing?" he asked. He really was not up for a club right now. Even at his best, crowds made him nervous, and he was definitely not at his best just now.

"It's an outdoor thing, a park in Little Havana," Eric replied. He caught the deepening uncertainty on Tim's face and laughed. "I promise, man, it's not like the merengue club. This will be Anglo-friendly. We'll speak English and everything, really." Eric and Calleigh had dragged him to a dance club about a year ago. He hadn't been overly enthused about dancing in the first place, and had been even less enthusiastic about the idea when he discovered that Eric had neglected to mention that Tim would probably be the only person in the whole club who didn't speak Spanish. After that, he'd sworn that he'd never go out with Eric in Little Havana again.

He thought about it for another long moment. "All right," he said, finally. "So long as I'm going to know what's going on."

"You will," Eric said. "I can't believe that you've lived in Miami for almost ten years and you still don't speak any Spanish."

"I speak some," Tim protested.

"Not much," Eric pointed out.

"I'm really bad with languages," he admitted.

"You know, that's almost surprising," Eric said. "You're so good with patterns and you've got a fantastic memory."

"I know. But most of it is visual, you know? It's not oral," he replied. "I was an early reader, but a late talker."

"Yeah?" Eric asked.

"Yeah," he shrugged. "I'm just better with things you can see."

"Well, you know, whatever works," Eric mused.

Tim was about to reply when his cell phone rang. Frowning, he answered it, "Speedle."

"Tim? It's your mom," the voice on the other end said.

"Mom? Um, hi?" he said, confused. "Is everything ok?" he asked.

"No, everything's fine," he heard his dad reply. "It's your dad, too."

"Yeah, I can see that. What's up?" he asked.

"Are we interrupting, I don't want to bother you if you're in the middle of something," his mom asked worriedly.

"No, um, not really," he said "We're just on our way to check something out, but I probably have a minute."

"You're not driving, are you?" his mom asked.

He sighed and caught sight of Eric's smirk. "No, Mom, I'm not driving. I can talk a moment, really. What's going on?"

"We just wanted to call and apologize," his dad replied. "We forgot what last week was."

"Ah," he said. "I sort of figured that."

"Really, honey, we just got so excited about the idea of the trip and we just got caught up in it and forgot about the anniversary. We didn't mean to call and bug you about coming home just then, really," his mother said.

"It's…ok, Mom. Really. I'm not mad," he said, slowly.

"Are you all right, though?" his dad asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm…well, yeah, I'm ok. Mostly, anyway, I guess," he stumbled over the words, not really wanting to worry them, but knowing that they weren't going to believe him any more than his friends had.

"I'm sorry, honey. Just about all of it. We saw Lisa the other day and she said if we talked to you to remind you that she and George still care about you and send their love," his mom said.

"I know," he said, softly. "I know."

"They don't blame you," his dad reminded him. "No one does."

"Yeah, Dad, I know. It's…all right. I'm fine, really," he said, not wanting to discuss it. "Anyway, about Thanksgiving," he said, changing the subject.

"Yes?" his mom said, sounding hopeful.

He cringed a little, but said, "Yeah, I was thinking that it sounds kind of like a good idea."

"Really?" his mom asked.

"Yeah. I can't say for sure just yet, you know, but I'll talk to people here and see if I can get the time for it, ok?" he said. The idea of going away for any reason, let alone Thanksgiving, terrified him, but he knew how much it would mean to both of his parents. And he'd promised Calleigh he'd try to be better.

"Oh, Tim, that would be wonderful. Even if you can't get the time off, just saying…oh, you know," she said.

"Yeah. I do. I'm sorry," he said.

"No, no, honey. It's fine, I'm just happy you're going to consider it," she said.

"Well, I'll see what I can do, ok? And you know, you…I'd be ok if you wanted to come here at Christmas." Well, he didn't know if he was quite ok yet, but he could be by Christmas. His parents had visited him exactly once in Miami, and the visit had not gone well. Things were better now, though, than they had been, so it might work this time.

"That would be nice," his dad replied. "A nice, warm Christmas."

"Yeah, I can pretty much guarantee that it'll be warmer here than there," Tim agreed.

"Well, good," his mom said. "Oh, good."

"Yeah," he said. "Ok, guys, I really do kind of have to go now," he said.

"Oh, of course. You take care, honey, I love you," his mom said.

"Love you too, Little Man," his dad said.

"Yeah, love you too," he said. "I'll call you when I know what's going on with the time off, ok?"

"Sounds good," his dad said.

"We'll talk to you then," his mom added.

"All right. Bye, then," he said, clicking off the phone, feeling vaguely embarrassed to have had Eric witness that phone call. "Sorry," he said, shrugging a little.

"Oh, no big," Eric said. "Your parents, I take it?"

"Uh, yeah," he nodded.

"Want you home for Thanksgiving?" Eric asked.

"Something like that, yeah. It's been awhile," he admitted.

"I guessed. You don't talk about them much," Eric added.

"No, I guess I don't. It's…things are kind of complicated," he replied.

"You don't get along?" Eric asked.

"No, we do, mostly…it's just, well, complicated. It's me, more than them, though. They're good people, really. Not their fault they have a screw-up for a kid, you know?" he shrugged.

"But, they don't," Eric said, glancing over at him. "Unless you're talking about a sibling I don't know about."

Tim laughed. "No, no, my brother is definitely not a screw-up. Oh no, not at all." He had ceased to be bitter about that a long time ago. It was more amusing how different he and his younger brother were than anything, anymore.

"You're not a screw-up, Speed. You're a good CSI and a good guy," Eric said, seriously.

"No, I am definitely a screw-up, Delko. I may be less of one now than I used to be, but there were…I've…I did some really stupid and really awful things. So, you know. It's mostly my fault," he said, slowly.

Eric was silent for a long moment. "I'm not going to change your mind about that, am I?"

"Probably not," Tim admitted. "Look, can we just not talk about this?" He really was not up for this conversation.

"Oh, yeah, man, of course. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so nosy," Eric apologized.

"No, it's ok. I mean, it's not like Alexx and Calleigh haven't been saying the same thing forever. It's just that I don't really want to talk about it right now," he said. "I'm…kind of worn out, a little."

"Yeah, I know. It's ok," Eric said. "You're doing better, though, right?" he asked after a moment.

"I'm trying," Tim admitted.

"Well, if I can do anything," Eric said.

"I know," he said. "Thanks," he added.

"Any time," Eric replied. "Is that it up there?" he asked, indicating a building in the distance.

"Looks like it," Tim said, grateful for the timing.

"Where's Hagen, I wonder," Eric said, pulling into the parking lot surrounding the building.

"He had to go and get the keys," Tim explained.

"Right. Well, you think we ought to drive the perimeter, at least?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. See if we can see if anyone's here," Tim nodded.

They drove around the building, but didn't see any signs of any activity. "Guess it's really vacant," Eric said.

"Or at least no one's been using the outside," Tim said. "It's a pretty big building, if someone was in the middle of the interior, there's no way we'd have seen them"

"Good point," Eric said, as Hagen drove up.

"Delko, Speedle," Hagen greeted them as they all got out of the cars. "See anything?"

"Not yet," Tim replied.

"You really think anyone's in there?" Hagen asked.

"Well, we won't know unless we look," Eric pointed out.

Hagen shrugged, and walked towards the door. "Doesn't look jimmied," he said as he unlocked the padlock. They opened the door cautiously. "Nothing so far."

"It's a big building," Tim said, absently, looking around as they entered. He shivered, suddenly.

"What?" Eric asked, concerned.

"Nothing," he said, shaking his head. He didn't see anything, exactly, but something didn't feel right.

"Don't go getting spooky on me," Eric said, turning to grin at him.

"I'm not—LOOK OUT!" He yelled, trying to reach out to pull Eric down as something shiny caught the corner of his eye. He wasn't quick enough, though. As Eric turned to look at what Tim was seeing, a bullet caught him in the back of the head and he fell forward. "Eric!" Tim yelled, frantically, as he watched his friend fall.

"Get down," Hagen yelled, roughly. Tim dropped instantly, trying to determine whether Eric was breathing or not. "Speedle, stay down," Hagen warned, as he came up into a crouch over Eric's body.

Tim looked around. Everything was a blur, but he could make out someone coming toward him. Blinking to focus, he saw a gun in a hand, pointing in their direction. "Oh, God," he whispered, fumbling for his weapon. He pulled it free as the assailant started shooting at Hagen.

"You gotta squeeze the trigger, don't jerk it" Calleigh's voice in his head. "Easy now"

He squeezed the trigger and was startled as the bullet discharged. His gun actually fired. At someone. Not on a firing range. For real. And the person he was aiming at dropped like a rock. "Oh, God, oh, God," he said, over and over, frantically. He'd never shot anyone before. Hell, he'd never actually fired a weapon outside of a firing range before. Dispo Day had been the first time he'd ever even drawn his weapon, and it hadn't fired. His head was swimming as he aimed and fired again, not hitting anything this time. Hagen was firing as well, but then he cried out. Tim spun to look, and saw the red blossoming across Hagen's white dress shirt. "Oh, no, nonononono," he mumbled, as he tried to make his way over to Hagen. Someone was still shooting, but they stopped as he got closer. He didn't know if they had just run out of bullets or what. He wasn't going to get to find out, though. Someone grabbed him roughly from behind. He kicked out, but they slammed him in the side of his head with something heavy. Suddenly dizzy, he swayed as the hands shoved him to his knees. He looked up, and saw a man with a blue tattoo raise his arm and bring it crashing down against the side of his face a second time before everything faded to black.