Chapter 5
"Remember, call if you need me!" Zoë said with a smile looking at him. Ryan nodded at her with a small smile. Ryan got out and closed the door and walked over to his car. Zoë drove off, looking at Ryan in her side mirror. She drove home and had a quick shower and changed her clothes. She got back in the hummer and put Horatio's jacket over the back of the passenger seat. She drove over to the marina and pulled Horatio's jacket off the seat as she got out. She walked over to the boat where Horatio and Eric were processing the scene. She stepped on to the boat.
"What have we got then?" She said with a grin as they both turned around and looked at her.
"How's Ryan?" Eric said standing up.
"He's perfectly fine, he's been ordered to have the day off though. He's home now." She said with a smile.
"How are you?" Horatio asked tilting his head at her.
"I'm fine, just had a shower and changed my clothes, not so cold anymore." She said with a smile.
"I'll trade you." Zoë said looking up at Horatio holding his jacket up. He smiled at her and exhaled through his nose.
"Yours is outside drying." Horatio said warmly.
"I think yours better join it, it's a little damp. Sorry." She said with a shy smile.
"That's not a problem." He said smiling at her fiddling with his sunglasses. She gave him a nod and walked off the boat and placed Horatio's jacket next to hers. She walked back on the boat.
"Thank you Horatio." She said with a sweet smile.
"Not a problem." He said still fiddling with his sunglasses.
"So what have we got?" Zoë said looking around, her eyes searching.
"So far, it looks like it was a set up. There's definitely no body in here. We're tracing the call now." Eric said picking up some evidence.
"Ah." Zoë said looking around.
"We've processed the scene now, we've just got it get it all back to the lab." Eric said.
"Okay, I'll help you with that." She said as she picked up a bunch of evidence and walked off the boat followed by Eric. Horatio walked off last not long after Eric. They all drove back to the lab, Eric and Zoë started processing the evidence. 10 minutes later Horatio got a call.
"Hi H, we've got an ID on our caller – it's Pedro Salvado."
"I'm on my way to pick him up. Thank you Frank." Horatio said as he closed his phone. He walked past trace where Eric was walking past.
"Eric, we're going to pick up Clavo's cousin." Eric looked up.
"I'll be right out. Let me give this to Zoë." Eric said as Horatio continued to walk out. Eric was quick on his heels as they both got into their hummers and picked up Pedro. Officers brought him back to the lab where they interrogated him. He refused to say anything.
"Right Pedro, you're giving us the edge, you're letting the evidence to speak for you!" Horatio said lowly and with a small smirk.
"I didn't blow that boat up!" He shouted.
"Who said anything about blowing a boat up?" Horatio said with wit.
"Damn it Caine!" Pedro shouted.
"You're almost as stupid as your cousin Clavo. He put you up to this didn't he?" Horatio teased, Pedro didn't answer.
"Well you know what; you're going to be joining him in prison, very soon." Horatio said as he stood up straight and looked out the window. Eric nodded at the officers to take him.
"We'll get you Caine! And your precious team!" Pedro shouted, Horatio continued to look out of the window. Eric walked out and met with Zoë in the lab.
"I've found prints that are a match to Pedro Salvado." Zoë said as she looked up to Eric.
"Fantastic, thank you Zoë, you've just closed the case for us, he's definitely going away for good." Eric said with a smile. Eric walked out of the lab and found Horatio and told him the good news, Eric went back into the trace lab and began to work back on the case he was previously working on. He sprayed the clothes with a chemical as Zoë walked by behind Eric with a box of evidence that she was about to put on the side. Zoë coughed as she put the box down. Eric turned around after he heard her coughing.
"I'm so sorry Zoë, I didn't realise you were even in here!" Eric said as he apologised a lot.
"Don't worry Eric, it's fine." Zoë said with a smile as she opened the box. Zoë began to cough more.
"Hey, are you sure you're okay?" Eric asked feeling guilty.
"Yep, I just need to go and get a drink, I think it's got caught in the back of my throat." She said with a sweet smile. Eric watched her walk out of the lab as she was coughing more. She got out of the lab and began to walk over to the locker room where her bag was. Her chest began to get tight, and she began to wheeze a little. She concentrated on the floor as she walked calmly and maintained steady breathing, or tried to. Eric lost sight of her as she walked around the corner. Zoë slowed down as she was losing her energy with her chest feeling tighter and tighter. Horatio walked in the opposite direction walking towards her with his head buried in a case file. He glanced up and then looked back down to the case file. He had to take a double take as Zoë just passed him. He could sense that something was up and stopped in the middle of the hall.
"Zoë?" He called as he folded the case file up and turned around to look at her. He could hear her wheezing from a few meters away which had him confused and also had alarm bells going off in his head. She stopped and turned to him with a frown, he could see that she was really struggling to breathe and heard the wheeze each time she exhaled.
"What's wrong?" He looked at her pale face and noticed her lips had a slight tinge of blue to them, she looked a little unsteady on her feet also. "Come and sit down." Horatio said as he quickly stepped towards her with his eyebrows lower growing very concerned.
"I need to get to… the locker room." She said as she gasped for air and coughed a bit. Horatio was quite confused about why she wanted to get in there. He still hadn't picked up on what the problem was. He gently placed his right hand on her right arm and gripped it and placed his left hand in the middle of her back.
"Just keep breathing sweetheart." Horatio said softly as they began to walk to the locker room. "Nearly there, just keep breathing sweetheart." Horatio said softly as he gripped her arm a little tighter. Horatio quickly opened the locker room door and they walked in. Horatio took another grip on her arm holding on to her elbow. She pulled her keys out as they walked over to her locker.
"Is it asthma?" Horatio asked cautiously and Zoë nodded at him taking another gasp with her wheezing getting louder. Horatio swallowed when he saw the muscles in the back of her neck beginning to tense, he'd never experienced someone have an asthma attack around them, he wasn't sure what to do. Zoë tried to unlock her locker but she couldn't, her hand was shaking too much.
"It's okay sweetheart, sit down." Horatio gently said as he placed his right hand over hers and gently took the key from her hand and helped her sit on the bench behind her. He quickly opened her locker.
"Do you want your bag?" Horatio questioned and Zoë nodded.
"Yes." She said breathlessly. Horatio picked it up and passed it to her. She put it on her lap and rummaged through it fast and beginning to panic.
"Zoë sweetheart, slow down. Do you want me to look?" She looked up to him with panic in her eyes as he sat beside her.
"I can't… find… it." She said getting more and more breathless.
"Let me have a look." Horatio said as he took the bag when she nodded at him. He had a look and pulled out a purple inhaler.
"Not… that one." Zoë said panicking and breathless. Horatio placed it back in the bag and pulled out a blue inhaler. He held it up and Zoë nodded at him, he then passed it too her and she inhaled as she pushed the canister down. Horatio and moved closer and placed her bag to the other side.
"Just breathe sweetheart; it's going to be okay." Horatio said as she took another puff, he placed his hand on her back and gently rubbed her back as she coughed.
"That's it, just keep breathing, you're doing really well sweetheart." Horatio assured her as it was the only thing he could think of. She began to calm down and with calming down her wheezing got quieter and chest became clearer with her head bowed down.
"Well done sweetheart." He said lowering his head to try and get some eye contact. She pulled her head up and looked into his eyes, he was very concerned about her but he remained calm. She could see his worry in his eyes.
"Thank you Horatio." She said quietly still catching her breath. He looked at her and saw the colour flush back into her face and lips return to their normal colour.
"Don't worry sweetheart, I'm just glad you're okay." He said with a small smile at her.
"Why didn't you tell me that you had asthma before?" Horatio asked softly as he looked into her eyes.
"In all honesty… I'm ashamed of it, I always have been. It's not something I want to share with others." Zoë said looking into his deep blue eyes.
"There's no need to be ashamed of it sweetheart. How did you manage to keep that from us all this time anyway?" He said with a small smile.
"Because I'm like you, I'm good at hiding things." She said with a small shy smile at him.
"I don't hide things." Horatio said with a small smile still with his lowered and tilted head. She raised an eyebrow at him and he chuckled slightly knowing that he does hide things.
"What caused an attack today?" Horatio asked trying to change the subject, he leant forward and lent his arms on his legs as he looked back at her with caring eyes.
"It was my fault, I couldn't find my preventer – the purple one, this last night and I haven't picked up my spare yet. I must have put the preventer in my bag for some strange reason and didn't take it last night or this morning. I was going to pick the spare up this afternoon believe it or not, and then when Eric sprayed something in the lab, it aggravated it. I usually have good control over it, if I'm honest, I'm surprised that the cold water didn't set me off earlier." She said with a shy smile.
"Well, at least you know where it is now. You shouldn't feel like you have to hide anything from us. Zoë, you can come to me with anything." Zoë nodded at him and gave him a small smile.
"Thank you Horatio." She said with a small smile almost completely recovered now. She put her inhaler in her jacket pocket.
"Zoë… can I ask you something?" Horatio looked up to her weary about what he was going to say.
"Sure." She said as he looked at him, with an idea of what he was going to ask.
"How come this wasn't mentioned under any medical history? You don't have any." Horatio asked waiting for her response.
"I… hmm… my medical history is classified. Can we please leave it at that?" Zoë said shyly.
"Of course sweetheart" Horatio said softly not wanting to push her anymore.
"Horatio… could we please leave this between us?" Zoë asked as she looked down.
"Certainly, are you okay now? Do you want the afternoon off?" Horatio questioned.
"No, I'm fine. I should get back to work." Zoë said as she stood up.
"Are you sure?" Horatio asked still sitting down, looking up at her.
"Definitely" Zoë said with a smile, completely recovered from the attack. She picked up her bag and put it back in the locker.
"Thank you Horatio." She said as she looked back down at him, locking her locker.
"Don't worry." He said as he stood up close to Zoë, Zoë smiled at him as she adjusted her jacket.
"Right, back to work." She said as she turned around and walked out with Horatio following. Zoë turned around and flashed him a smile as she walked off. Horatio stood there thinking as he watched her walk away. 'Classified?' He questioned to himself, but he didn't look into it as Zoë obviously wanted him to stay clear of that. Zoë walked back into the lab where Eric was working.
"You okay? I was starting to get worried." Eric said looking up at her concerned.
"Yeah" Zoë gave him a beaming smile and carried on with her work. The concern disappeared from his face when he saw Zoë perfectly fine. Pedro Salvado's trial was the following day so they went home and got some rest. They sent Pedro Salvado down and he got life imprisonment along with Clavo Cruz and Ryan returned to work the next day.
The End
Next story: Destructive Infiltration
