Horatio and Joseph were rushed into the ER. They were wheeled into their own rooms, next to each other. Dr. Jason Maxton, Valera's boyfriend, was in charge of Joseph and Horatio. He was currently trying to save Joseph's life. While another doctor named Fredrick Walston was working on Horatio.
"Contact the Miami Dade crime lab please, and especially Eric Delko!" Jason called out. He recognized Horatio and Joseph.
"This man needs a lot of blood people." Jason said.
"He has a nasty head wound, Dr." A nurse called out.
"Stop the bleeding." Jason said, "Shit! He's going into cardiac arrest!"
Jason grabbed the paddles and charged to 200.
"Clear!" He called out. Joseph's body jerked up, but there was still no pulse.
A nurse did 15 chest compressions and then Jason used the paddles.
After doing this four times, he charged the paddles to 250.
"Clear!" He shouted, but again Joseph didn't get a pulse.
--
In the room next to Josephs. Fredrick Walston was currently doing an intubation on Horatio.
"Alright, the tube is in." He said.
"His breathing is too slow Dr." A nurse said.
"And so is his heartbeat. Alright give him some adrenaline; I don't want him to go into cardiac arrest." Fredrick said.
"His chest wound won't stop bleeding Dr." A nurse said.
"Dammit, we have to get him to the OR." Fredrick said, "Call them."
A nurse called the OR.
"How is the other patient doing?" Fredrik asked.
"He's in cardiac arrest, Dr."
Fredrik sighed.
"Alright, get some blood. He's losing too much." Fredrik said.
"The OR is waiting for us, Dr." A nurse said.
"Alright, let's move people." Fredrik said.
They wheeled Horatio out of the room and towards the elevators.
His pulse was still too slow.
--
"Charge 300!" Jason said, "Clear!"
The heart monitor started beeping.
"He has pulse!" A nurse said.
Jason sighed, "Where did they move Lt. Caine?" He asked.
"OR, Dr."
"Alright, we have to stabilize Mr Delko here before we can take him up there as well." Jason said, "He needs more blood."
"He's having trouble breathing, Dr."
"Let's put a tube down his throat to help him breathe." Jason said. Joseph's pulse was too slow, and irregular. As was his breathing.
-I-
Ryan ran towards the break room. Calleigh had called for a meeting and he suspected that it had something to do with a shooting that had occurred down at a diner only fifteen minutes ago.
"Okay listen up." Calleigh said, "You've all heard about the shooting outside a diner fifteen minutes ago."
Everybody nodded.
"Yeah, well there were two people shot and those two are Horatio and Joseph Delko, Eric's father." Calleigh said.
People gasped and said "Oh my god."
"Why haven't we heard about until now?" Valera asked.
"Because the ambulance arrived at the scene before the cops, and the officers never got a chance to see who the victims were. We got a call from the hospital. Dr. Jason Maxton is in charge of them." Calleigh said.
"Let's go." Valera said and left the room.
Everybody followed.
"Hold on a minute here guys, we have been told to process the scene." Calleigh said.
"What?!" Valera growled, "Our friends have been shot!"
"Val, calm down." Ryan said.
"Look, I think that the person who should really be there is Eric, but he's in court right now. Until he has testified, we won't be able to call him. But I've sent Frank over there to tell him. However, and I hate to say this, we have to process the scene and all the evidence to get this guy." Calleigh said.
The lab techs sighed. They knew she was right.
"Ryan and I are going to the scene. We will send the evidence back here and hopefully we will nail this guy before the end of the day." She said.
"You're right. But I still want to go there." Valera said.
"I know, we all do. But let's try to nail this guy first." Calleigh said, "Eric will be there and he'll call us when he hears something." Calleigh said.
"Let's go Cal." Ryan said and together the left the lab.
The lab techs stood behind.
"What are you waiting for people?!" Valera growled, "Get your butts to work."
Valera walked towards the elevator.
"Hey, where are you going?" Cooper asked.
"I'm going to have a little talk with Raquel Delko." Valera said.
"You think she did this?" Cooper asked.
"Yes, I do." Valera said.
"Be careful, Val." He said.
Valera nodded.
-I-
Ryan and Calleigh arrived at the scene. There were four blood pools on the ground.
Ryan swabbed them.
"Calleigh, what do you expect us to find?" Ryan asked.
"Tire marks like those." She pointed at some black tire marks, "And surveillance cameras like those." She said and pointed at some cameras on a lamp pole.
"And hopefully some reliable witnesses." She said.
"Sounds good to me." Ryan said, "I'll check the cameras."
"Dt. Duquesne?" An officer asked.
"Yes?"
"I'm officer Marvel. I've been asking some people questions, they all saw the same thing, a black car with tainted windows speeding off." He said.
"Alright, no one that got a number plate?" She asked.
"No, but I found one person who says she saw a little bit of the shooter." He said and showed Calleigh to the witness.
"Hi, I'm Calleigh Duquesne from the crime lab." Calleigh introduced herself.
"Linda O'Connor." She said. Calleigh could hear that she was from England.
"Hi, what did you see?" Calleigh asked.
"Well, like I told the officer here. The guy was definitely white. His arm was very pale. Like he had never been out in the sun. And he had a golden ring on his finger. And a black gun in his hand." Linda said.
"Good, that's very good." Calleigh smiled.
"I also, think I saw a bit of his face. I remember seeing a scratch on the cheek. The, um… right cheek." Linda said.
"Really?" Calleigh asked.
"Yes, everything kind of happened in slow motion and I saw a scratch on the cheek." Linda said, "I was standing on the curb and the car drove close to me. That's why I could see inside the car."
"Alright, thank you very much. This helps a lot." Calleigh said.
Linda nodded.
Calleigh walk away to look at the tire marks when her phone rang. It was Frank.
"Frank." Calleigh answered.
"Calleigh, Eric and I are on the way to the hospital. I'm going to drop him off and then I'll join you on the scene. Please tell me you got something?" Frank said.
"Yeah, we have a witness that says our shooter is pale like he has never been out in the sun. She saw a golden ring on his finger and she thinks she saw a scratch on his right cheek." Calleigh said.
"Alright, that's very good." Frank said.
"And of course now, we also know that it was a drive by shooting, and that the car was black with tainted windows. And we got surveillance cameras and tire marks." she said.
"That's great. I'll be right there." Frank said and hung up.
"Was that Frank?" Ryan asked.
Calleigh nodded, "He's dropping Eric of at the hospital." She said.
"Poor Eric. First the whole Raquel and Valera fighting thingy. Then the explosion and now this." Ryan said.
"Yeah, I have a feeling that Raquel might be a part of this." Calleigh said.
"Maybe she paid this pale guy to do this." Ryan said.
"Yeah, but it also hard to imagine that she could really want Horatio and Joseph dead." Calleigh said.
Calleigh photographed the tire marks.
"Detectives!" Officer Marvel called out.
Calleigh and Ryan looked at officer Marvel.
"They just found a black car crashed into a tree. The driver is dead." Marvel said.
"Where?" Ryan asked.
"Just two blocks from here." Marvel said.
"Let's go." Ryan said.
-I-
Eric wasn't alone in the OR waiting room at the hospital.
His sisters were with him.
"This has to be Mama's work." Maya said.
"Maya! Do you really think she is that heart less?" Trish snapped.
"Yeah! I do, that hag hates us!" Maya growled.
"Maya she's our mother!" Trish said.
"Yeah, well mothers have killed their kids for centuries!" Maya yelled at Trish.
"Would you two stop!" Carla said.
"Well what do you think then?" Maya asked.
"Mom can barely drive, and absolutely not shoot a gun." Carla said.
"She can learn." Maya said.
"Oh come on!" A fourth sister, Elena said.
"She could have hired someone." Maya said.
"It's my entire fault." Eric said quietly.
The sisters stopped fighting and looked at their little brother.
"No, it's not your fault." Trish said and hugged her brother.
"I should have told her that day when she came into the lab." Eric said, "About me and H."
"It wouldn't have changed her reaction, believe me Eric." Maya said.
"Maya is right, it wouldn't." Carla said, "She will never learn."
"It's still my fault." Eric said.
"Well then its' our fault as well. We yelled at her and pushed her away. We hurt her. You did no such thing. You were not the one that broke all contact with her. We made sure that she would never hear from us again." Maya said, "We did this."
"None of us did this. We can not take the blame for this. It's not our fault. And we don't even know if Mom has anything to do with this." Carla said.
"Eric, there is no way that we can predict what she's going to do." Elena said, "This is not your fault little brother."
Then Jason walked into the room.
"Eric?" Jason asked.
Eric looked at him and walked towards him. His sisters closely behind.
"These are my sisters. You haven't met them until now." Eric said.
Jason nodded, "Hello."
"Hi." They all said.
"Alright, let's sit down shall we?" Jason asked.
They all sat down.
"I'll start with Horatio. He has lost a lot of blood and his left lung is punctured. There is a risk that we might have to remove that lung, since we are still having troubles fixing the damage." Jason said, and paused to let the information sink in a little.
"He got shot in the stomach as well; we will have to remove his spleen. The bullet is now lodged in his back, but from what X- Ray has shown, there is no risk of Horatio becoming paralyzed. However, we don't know for sure yet, it might turn out differently. My biggest concern is the bullet in his chest. It's lodged close to his neck and artery. The surgery is very risky." Jason said.
"It can kill him." Maya said.
"Yes, but we have to remove it. But, yes it can kill him." Jason said. He knew it was best to be completely honest with Eric.
"What about future damage then?" Trish asked.
"If we, or more exactly the surgical team, are able to remove the bullets without any trouble. Then he should recover without any problems." Jason said.
Eric nodded. That was all he could do at the moment. He was still so shocked that he wasn't sure if his voice was working.
"What about dad?" Maya asked.
"He is more complicated. He has also lost a lot of blood, and his body is very weak at the moment. He seems to have trouble responding to our medication and his pulse is irregular and a little bit too slow. His breathing has impoved some, but at first it too, was irregular." Jason said, "Therefore he still hasn't gone into to the OR. He also got a head wound, most likely from hitting his head on the pavement." Jason said.
"He has a concussion right?" Trish asked.
Jason nodded.
"I'm afraid there is more than that. He has some bleeding in his brain. Its very severe, and he could have some brain damage." Jason said.
"Such as?" Trish asked.
"Well, there is a risk that he will have trouble talking. His speech could be damaged, but if that's the case we hope that he will be able to improve it by training." Jason said, "He was also shot in the back and that bullet is causing a lot of bleeding."
"But it's not at risk of making him paralyzed is it?" Maya asked.
"No." Jason said.
"This all sounds so very bad. Who is actually doing best right now?" Carla asked.
"None of them." Jason said.
"Can we see dad or Horatio?" Maya asked.
"No, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until he's stabile." Jason said, "And Horatio is in surgery."
Eric stood up and walked away to call his friends and tell them about everything that Jason had said.
-I-
Three hours went by. Horatio's surgery had had some difficulties and he had gone into cardiac arrest twice. Both of the bullets had been removed, but the surgeons were still working on trying to fix an artery that had suddenly burst. His spleen had been removed. His left lung was at the moment fixed. However, he still had big risk of having to remove it.
The bullets had been sent to the lab, where Calleigh would process them.
Joseph still had not gone into surgery. He had also gone into cardiac arrest twice, in only thirty minutes.
Eric was sitting in the cafeteria with Maya.
His other sisters had gone home for the moment, tending to their children. There was nothing they could do but wait. But Eric had refused to leave. Even though he had been told that Horatio's surgery would most likely take another five hours.
"Any news from the lab?" Maya asked.
"Yeah, so far they have confirmed that the guy from the crashed car is the shooter. The number plate on the car was an exact match to the car on the surveillance tapes." Eric said.
"Have they checked with Mom?" Maya asked.
"No." But they said that our uncle Miguel was there. Apparently he had some information for them." Eric said.
"He should be here." Maya said, "Dad is his best friend."
"He will come here once he's done at the station." Eric said.
"Good." Maya said.
"Do you really think mom is capable of hiring someone to shoot dad and H?" Eric asked.
"Yes, I do. She's evil. Many people don't think she's actually heart less. But if she feels that she been hurt too much, she will want revenge." Maya said, "Come one Eric, she was revengeful when we were kids as well." Maya said.
Eric nodded.
One time their mother had decided to revenge a guy that had bullied Maya. She had several times asked the boys parents to talk to their son. But they never did. So Raquel had decided to teach them a lesson by crashing the windshield of their car and stick the car to the ground with cement.
No evidence was ever found that Raquel had done it, but she had bought cement that same week.
"When did mom actually start getting weird?" Eric asked, "I mean she wasn't like that all the time."
"No, it was when you were about eleven. Only you and Elena were still living at home." Maya said, "But we other visited so much that it was practically like we never left." Maya said.
"How did she start?" Eric asked.
"She started complaining about the clothes we wore, even though she had bought them. She started complaining about how dad never gave her stuff." Maya said, "One of the worst things is that dad never stood up for us."
"But he's asked for a second chance." Eric said.
"I know, and I like him even more now then when I was a kid." Maya said.
Eric nodded in agreement.
-I-
It had taken Valera hours to find Raquel, but now she had.
Raquel was inside a solarium. Valera stood outside, at Raquel's car.
Finally, Raquel came out and stared at Valera.
"What are you doing here?" She asked.
"Your husband and son-in-law are in the hospital. Shot." Valera said, "A drive by shooting. But I guess you already knew that?"
"Why would I?" Raquel asked.
"Because you hired a hit man." Valera said.
"You got anything to prove that?"
"Miguel." Valera said.
"I just got a call from a colleague of mine. Miguel has just left a statement. He says that you asked him to teach Eric and Joseph a lesson. He refused." Valera said.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Raquel snorted.
"I also talked to a woman that lives just across the street from him. She says that you came out of Miguel's house. Furious. Then you smiled and paid a visit to Miguel's neighbor Jason Ash." Valera said, "The same Jason Ash that happens to be lying in the morgue right now from crashing into a tree with his car. The same car that was used in the drive by shooting." Valera said.
"That doesn't prove anything." Raquel said.
"Really? Then please explain why you asked your brother to kill Joseph and Eric, and when he didn't want to, you went to Jason? Only thirty minutes after you left Jason's house. Joseph and Horatio were shot." Valera said, "Wait, I can smell attempted murder of a police officer and Joseph Delko." She smiled, "Can you smell it?"
"No, I smell lies." Raquel said.
"Raquel, how do you plan on getting out of this one?" Valera asked, "You shot Horatio and Joseph. But your original plan was to shoot Eric and Joseph. You wanted to kill you own son." Valera said.
"I haven't done anything wrong." Raquel said.
"We'll see about that." Valera smiled as Frank and Ryan got out a car from across the street.
"Did I forget to mention that I had a wire on me?" Valera asked and showed Raquel a tape recorder under her shirt.
"It doesn't prove anything." Raquel said.
"Only how nervous you got when I told you what we had found." Valera said.
"It still isn't enough." Raquel smiled.
"No, it isn't. But for the fun of it, you are under arrest anyway." Frank said and handcuffed Raquel.
"Nice Valera." Ryan said.
"Thank you." She smiled.
TBC…
AN: Alright, should I let someone die? Maybe I will, or maybe not. You'll see in the next chapter!
Please review!