Disclaimer: I am not Anthony Zuiker, Ann Donahue or Carol Mendelsohn. All the characters of CSI: NY are not mine…I'm just borrowing them for a little bit. I promise that I will put them back, exactly the way I found them when I'm done….Oh, Cory Reid is mine and I will take credit for anything she does. :)

A/N: Please R&R, I need to get my muse back into a good mood! Thank you so much to Axellia for letting me borrow her character, Taylor Turner! I hope that I don't totally screw with her. I will give a brief back story, for those who have not read her fic "What the Eye's Can't See." Btw…her nickname is Drew, as in Nancy Drew!

A/N #2: Btw…this is another cliffhanger! Please don't kill me:)

Chapter 26.

Fallout

(Taylor's POV)

Taylor Turner, crime columnist for the New York Daily, knew that it was not going to be a good day when she woke up. She was sleeping deeply, next to her boyfriend of four months Marty Pino. Marty was as medical examiner in the crime lab. She didn't know what woke her up. It was just before noon; both her and Marty had worked late into the morning and had gone to bed at 6 a.m. She looked at her clock and then towards her window. That's where she saw him.

It was a ghost. He was a Caucasian man, dressed in casual clothes. He had five bullet holes in his chest, in a cross pattern. He looked at her and said, "Help him."

Taylor looked at him, confused. "Help who?"

The ghost just looked at her and said, "Help him." Then he disappeared.

Taylor just looked resigned. "I guess that's all the sleep I'm going to get today." She leaned over to Mary and gently shook him awake.

"Whas'sa matter?" he muttered, almost incoherent.

"I've had a visitor. I need to go to the lab."

Marty just rolled over and muttered, "Be careful." Then he went back to sleep.

Taylor sighed and got dressed in her favorite camouflage and camisole. "I wonder why Maddy didn't come with him. Well, at least he seemed friendly."

Taylor put the finishing touches on her outfit, grabbed her keys and ran out of her apartment to go to the crime lab.

(Crime Lab)

When Taylor got to the lab, she found it unusually busy. She went in search of Mac and found him dressing down a uniformed cop in his office. She watched through the glass as Mac was obviously removing part of the man's skin. She didn't know what the man had done, but she did not envy his position right now. Knowing how long Mac could dress down a person, she left to go down to the morgue and see if maybe the body was in there.

Once down at the morgue, she saw Sid covering up a body. "Hey, Sid."

"Hey, Drew."

She cringed a little at the nickname. "Damn, Messer! Why did he have to start with the whole Drew thing?" She walked over to the body, curious to see if the ghost she'd seen was this man. "Who is this?"

"His name is Michael Hogan. He was killed by the Mala Suerte."

Taylor drew back a slightly at that bit of information. "The Mala Suerte? They are the most brutal gang in New York! Do we know why, yet?"

"Not yet. That's not for me to figure out." Sid lifted the sheet a little and Taylor got a glimpse of the man. It was the same man. Quickly she left the crime lab and went back to Mac's office. As she exited the elevator she saw the uniformed cop make a quick exit from his office. She quickly knocked on the door and walked in. "Mac?"

"What!" Mac almost shouted the word at her, and then looked up. "Sorry, Taylor. This isn't a good time."

"What's wrong?" Taylor felt a sliver of fear run up her spine.

"Danny's been kidnapped. By the Mala Suerte."

Mac stopped talking as Taylor gasped in horror. When he didn't continue, she said, "Well. Are you going to tell me what happened?"

Mac just motioned with his head for her to look outside the office. "I think I'll wait for everyone to get here first."

Taylor looked outside the office and saw Stella, Hawkes, Flack, Lindsay and an unknown woman walking quickly towards the office.

When the woman walked in she looked angrily at Mac. "What the hell happened, Mac? He was supposed to have protection!"

"Cory. Calm down. I'll tell you the story." At the sound of the woman's name, Taylor realized that it was Danny's girlfriend, the FBI agent.

(Cory's POV)

When Cory got the call, she almost collapsed in horror. "Mac. What do you mean that Danny's been kidnapped?" Mac refused to elaborate any more until she got to the lab. Cory ground her teeth in frustration. "I'll be there in 20 minutes and you'd better be ready to explain." She slammed down the phone, grabbed her purse and left the office with her new shadow following her.

The ride to the lab was torture. She was so angry and worried that her knuckles were white with how hard she had her fist's clinched.

She tapped her foot impatiently on the ride up the elevator, trying to will the machine to go faster. When she got off, she saw the whole team walking towards Mac's office. She joined them.

When she walked into the office, she noticed a woman with midnight black hair standing there. She dismissed her without a thought. "What the hell happened, Mac? He was supposed to have protection!"

"Cory. Calm down. I'll tell you the story," Mac tried to soothe her.

(General POV)

"Here's what we think happened. I sent Danny to a scene in Little Italy. It was a simple DB. Hawkes was processing the outside of the apartment and Danny the inside. When Hawkes went back to check on Danny, there were faint signs of a struggle in the bedroom and Danny was gone. We ID'd the vic. It was Luis Batista."

Cory looked up at that name. "A member of Mala Suerte in Little Italy? This had to be a set up, Mac. I swear to God, if Ortiz has hurt one hair on Danny's head, I'm going to rip his heart out through his nose."

Everyone in the room smiled at that comment, except Taylor. "Wow. She is one pissed off woman!" Taylor realized that the ghost wanted her to help Danny.

"Um…I don't know how to say this, but the reason I'm here is because a ghost came to me. The ghost of Michael Hogan. He said, 'Help him'. I'm assuming that he is talking about Danny." Taylor was speaking, uncertainly. She did not know how Cory would take the idea of ghosts.

Flack reacted typically, by rolling his eyes. "Whatever, Drew. Why don't you play that game some other time? We've got work to do."

Taylor was getting ready to yell at Flack, when Cory cut her off. "Flack. What's the matter? Don't believe in ghosts? Well open your damn mind! We can use all the help we can get to catch Ortiz before he kills Danny."

Flack and Lindsay looked stunned at Cory's easy acceptance of the idea of ghosts and could not formulate any words.

Cory turned to Taylor and looked at her. "I don't believe we've met. I'm Special Agent Corrine Reid of the FBI. You can call me Cory." She smiled welcomely at Taylor. She offered her hand to Taylor.

Taylor was stunned, as well. She shook Cory's hand. "I'm Taylor Turner. New York Daily's crime columnist."

Cory felt comprehension dawn on her. "You're Marty's girlfriend."

Taylor smiled. "Yeah. You're Danny's girlfriend. I don't understand. You're not freaked out by the idea of ghosts?"

Cory just shook her head, no. "When did you see Mike?"

"About noon. He just showed up in my bedroom and asked me to help 'him'. I had no idea it was about Danny until I got here."

Cory nodded. "I think you and me need to have a coffee later." Cory turned to Mac. "How did Mala Suerte get into the crime scene? Isn't it supposed to be secured prior to any CSI's going in?"

Mac got the angry look back on his face. "Yeah, it is. An inexperienced uniform didn't fully clear it and didn't tell anyone that." He saw the look of rage come over Cory's face and backed up a step. "Don't worry about him. If he gets off of desk duty in a year, he'll be lucky."

Mac looked at Hawkes and Stella. "Hawkes. Stella. I want you two to process the scene. Leave nothing behind. Flack, go with them." All three nodded their agreement and left the office. "Lindsay. I want you here with Cory, tracking down what Luis Batista was doing in Little Italy."

"Got it, Mac." Lindsay said as she turned to go out of the office.

Cory just looked at Taylor. "Want to help us?"

Taylor nodded and she and Cory followed Lindsay out of the office.

As they were walking towards the computer lab, Taylor looked at Cory in speculation. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you accept the whole ghost thing? No one else here believes me."

Cory smiled a small smile. "I've seen ghosts since I was a small child. I can't hear them, but I can see them."

Taylor was confused. "You can see ghosts? Finally, I don't feel so alone!"

Cory was laughing a little when she and Taylor walked in the lab to meet Lindsay. Both women sat at a computer and proceed to try to research the dead man.

(Unknown Location)

Light started to seep back into Danny's consciousness. He tried to move his arms, but felt that they were bound some how. Slowly he opened his eyes and shut them back quickly when the light intensified the pounding in his head. He groaned. He was bound to a beam in the ceiling, his hands above his head.

"So lover-boy awakes."

Danny quickly opened his eyes and looked for the voice. When he turned his head to the right, he noticed a menacing man looking at him. "Ortiz. Where the hell am I?"

"I'm so glad that you have heard of me, amigo. That will make killing you even more satisfying."

"Why are you doing this to me? What did I ever do to you?"

Ortiz walked over to him and laughed evilly. "You touched my woman. No one is allowed to do that."

Danny felt anger flood his body. "She's not yours, Ortiz. She never was. You made sure of that when you killed her fiancé." Danny didn't see the blow coming. He doubled over as Ortiz punched him in his stomach.

"Don't be stupid. She is mine. I marked my territory before you were even in the picture. I will not allow anyone to take her from me!"

Ortiz began to punch Danny some more, striking blows all across his body. When he was done, Danny felt like he had just gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson. It didn't keep him from trying to antagonize Ortiz some more. "Is this the only way you can get a woman to look at you? Trying to scare her into submission? That's pretty sad. I'd say your technique needs a little polishing."

Danny lost consciousness soon after uttering that statement, as Ortiz began to beat him some more.

(Cory's apartment)

Cory had invited Taylor and Lindsay back to her apartment for drinks. Both women, sensing that she did not want to be alone, agreed to go.

"God. This has been an awful day!" Cory was starting to feel melancholy. "That uniformed office better be glad that I don't know who he is. If he thinks that Mac dressing him down was bad, then he wouldn't ever come back to work after the tongue lashing I want to give him!"

Lindsay and Taylor laughed. Taylor glanced down at her coffee table and noticed a CD case. Curious she decided to investigate it. "What's this?"

Cory looked over and saw that Taylor was holding the Music for the Insane CD that she had made. "It's a compilation CD that I made for Mike. It was with the evidence in the safety deposit box." Cory had explained the Mala Suerte case to Taylor as they had worked in the computer lab. "Put it in the CD player. I could stand to listen to some music right now.

Taylor opened up the CD case and found two CD's instead of one. "Which CD do I put in?"

Cory looked at Taylor. "Which one? Is there more than one there?" At Taylor's nod, Cory walked over to her. "Hey, Linds? Will you grab me my laptop?" Cory took the second CD from Taylor. Once Lindsay had put her laptop on the coffee table, Cory inserted the CD.

She opened up the list of files on the CD and clicked on one that said, "Read me first." Cory began to read the Microsoft Word document that came up. "Shit! Damn it to all of Hell!" She took the disc out of the computer and put it in a case.

Lindsay looked at Cory in alarm. "What? What is it?" She followed Cory as she grabbed her keys and purse.

Cory just looked over her shoulder. "Liz was not the mole." With that, she ran out of the apartment with Lindsay and Taylor following close behind her.

A/N:

tylerhiltongroupie53- I'm glad that you secretly love cliffhangers, there's quite a few still coming up before the fluff returns!

chili-peppers- I'm just a tease! That's why the cliffhangers are still coming! I have to admit I was at a loss at what the welsh meant...Can I have a translation, please:D

pnkrckprncss- I'm very protective of them too! I'll definately write more, but probably not a story this long for a while, sadly school starts back in a little over a month and I just won't have the time... :( I want to do some DL oneshots to keep myself in writing mode! I'll still lurch on ff and review for people. :)

stargazr- Yeah a new reviewer! I like it when people review that haven't reviewed before...New reviewers definatley help to make my muse happy! They do definately have their quirks! Mine tends to be very angsty when I'm stressed (big suprise), but sometime she surprises me and goes for the fluff when I'm full on stressed out! Thanks for the review!

the little corinthian- Sorry are are more cliffies on the way! There is just so much action going on right now that they are necessary! Don't worry, Ortiz will definately get what's coming to him! If you think that you'd go apeshit, wait until you see what Cory does! It may be her breaking point!

axellia- I was about to send out the bloodhounds! Sorry to hear about the loss of the internet for a week, that bites. I love Bring Me to Life...I've seen Evanescense twice in concert (and trust me if you haven't heard that song with the male vocals being sung by the lead singer of Seether, you've totally missed out! It just ROCKED...hard.) I see Danny as being brought up by a typical Italian mama, who would make sure that he would know how to treat a woman right! Too bad those types of guys are so few these days. :( I'm glad you like the Italian. (hmmmmm) Ok. Just breathe, inhale, exhale, breathe into a paper bag if you have to! I promised that I would not kill him and I won't (b/c then I'd have to kill Cory b/c she would go crazy and kill Ortiz then herself). It wasn't a long wait, was it:D