A/N Oh! She finally comes through! :P I hope you enjoy it!
Hagen grinned evilly, though his actions were contradictory as he picked up the barely conscious Calleigh almost tenderly, if he was possible of such an emotion. And at one time he was. What had happened to this man? The man that they all thought they knew.
Horatio and Ryan waited anxiously, out of sight of the two men. For once in his life, Horatio was unsure. Crazy people do crazy things, but part of his mind didn't want to believe that Hagen was capable of such a thing. Part of his mind didn't believe that Hagen was crazy. Part of his mind couldn't believe Hagen was crazy, because that would destroy the very fragile fragments of trust he had left for humanity. And yet, the proof was right before his eyes. So he watched. He watched the terror in his friend's dark chocolate eyes, the exhaustion Calleigh's green ones, and the slightly trembling gun, this time in Eric's hands. He watched the blood drip from her wounded shoulder on to the dusty brown ground. He watched Ryan, the younger CSI helpless, angry and terrified. He had failed them. He was their Lieutenant, their leader, their guide and he had failed them. He was consumed by his guilt, and yet his sharp blue eyes never wavered from the terrifying scene unfolding before him.
Calleigh was hanging limp from Hagen's arms. Hagen's cruel smile never leaving his face. The gun was aimed at his chest. His mask had been ripped off. He had a shot. But the thought of missing. The thought of hitting Calleigh. He couldn't pull that trigger. Hagen deserved to suffer. Suffer the way Calleigh had. Death was too easy, too simple, too…painless. Hagen lifted Calleigh closer to his face, using her as a shield, the rest of his protective armour still in place. He began to back up slowly.
"You want to have your precious Calleigh again?" Hagen sneered, moving back, to the edge of the Everglades, drawing closer to the water.
Fear spiked Eric's heart once again, "Hagen," he pleaded, "don't do this. Didn't you love her? "
"I did. Once. Then the stupid bitch broke my heart. She ruined my career. She deserves to die."
"Nobody…deserves to die," Horatio declared coolly, as he and Ryan move in on to the side.
"I told you to go! I told you, Caine. I warned you!" Hagen screamed, feeling cornered.
"John, it doesn't have to be this way," Horatio said soothingly, trying to coax him into calming down.
"You want her?" Hagen taunted, securing his grip on the blonde. "Go get her."
Sheer terror flooded the CSIs' eyes as they stood helpless.
Hagen picked her up, and threw her into the water. Unconscious, she floated momentarily, then began to sink as the air rushed out of her. The CSIs had worked enough drownings and floaters to know that she would begin to involuntarily suck in the murky water of the Everglades. Eric was the first to recover from the shock, and ran and dived, without thinking. Rapidly swimming, he reached her and desperately looked around for any sign of her. Hagen had managed to toss her a good three or four meters, a distance which Eric could swim extremely quickly.
Horatio and Ryan turned towards Hagen now, guns drawn, who sank to his knees in sick triumph.
"Just kill me," he smirked, paradoxical to his words. He wanted to die. His mission was over.
But Horatio and Ryan were too angry. Too righteous. Too driven for justice. Too merciless.
"You should've seen the way she screamed when I beat her. Poor, little Calleigh Duquesne. Always so brave. Except for when the gun was pointed at her. She's never going to wake up again. Can you handle that?" Hagen baited the two men, pushing them towards the edge.
Ryan was the first to lose it. He cared about Calleigh in a way that the others didn't. He truly respected her. After all, she was the one that trained him. Those few days without her made him realize how much the lab needed her. How much he needed her. His finger pulled the trigger. And Hagen let out a darkly satisfying yell.
The bullet hit him in the knee. The shot was impeccable. Calleigh would have been proud.
That's when Hagen realized, they weren't going to kill him. They were going to hurt him. Then throw him in jail to rot. And they had enough evidence for LWOP. Calleigh and her sweet Southern accent could turn a jury in a matter of minutes. He then realized something else. Something he hadn't in a very long time.
He was terrified.
A/N R&R! Please and thank you! See, I told you updates would come more often. I just feel really, really, really, really, really, bad. Especially to all those people who faithfully reviewed. Sorry! I'll do better. Promise.