Through his peripheral vision, Ryan noticed Boa Vista taking aim for Haney. The events that followed lasted only seconds, but time seemed suspended.
Ryan yanked Keats out of harm's way as the bullet from Natalia's gun lodged itself into Haney's shoulder. At the sound of gunfire, several screams broke out and the majority of the clubbers took to the floor. D.H. in a last attempt at control fired his gun at Keats. Ryan instinctively moved in front of her, bearing the brunt of his onslaught. He'd been shot in the collarbone, his left arm suddenly inert. He fell to his knees as D.H. dropped his weapon.
Boa Vista returned from the rafters and handcuffed Haney, alerting the paramedics that an officer was down. Keats knelt by Ryan, deeply touched by his action to shield her.
"No one's ever taken a bullet for me before…" Keats whispered to herself. Ryan gave a painful laugh.
"Don't get used to it, Keats." He answered. He held a bloodied hand over his injured collarbone.
"I don't know what to say. How do you thank someone for saving your life? There are no words…" Keats began, searching her brain for something to say that would compensate his courageous deed. But nothing could convey her heartfelt thanks.
"Dummy. Sometimes you don't need words, anyway." Ryan used his right hand and pulled her chin toward him and kissed her. She stared into his face and wondered what exactly the status was of their rather complicated relationship.
"June…do you want me to ground you from tv, young lady?" Horatio asked her, partially amused at Keats' negligent attitude toward protocol. They were sitting in his office again. Almost like back in High School when she'd had to visit the principal numerous times for cutting class.
"H, it wasn't like that. I was going on a date with Cooper and somehow we just happened to be at the same bar as Ryan and Natalia." Keats answered innocently. Horatio almost smiled in spite of himself.
"But that's still breaking the rules, Keats. We have a policy on romantic involvement in the Lab." Horatio leaned against his desk, fully intending to forgive Keats but having no problem with conning her into thinking she was in hot water.
"Um…whichever broken rule will get me into the least amount of trouble, that's the one I'll stick with." Keats hiked a sneaker-clad foot over the opposite knee and grinned.
"We can't pin anything on this guy except for shooting an officer. He'll get five years tops. And then what?" Delko gave Calleigh a frustrated look as they went over Haney's file.
"I don't know. But I'm pretty sure a man like Haney will get out on bail. He seems like the type of guy with rich connections." She said. Delko ran a hand through his dark hair and sighed.
"And none of the witnesses have come forward with any information?" Delko held onto a tiny sliver of hope. Calleigh shook her head slowly.
"I plan on leaving this sterile nightmare in less than a month. You don't have anything on me." D.H. said to Ryan in the tiny interrogation room. Keats was on the opposite end of the two-sided mirror listening to their dialogue.
"What if I told you that Delacrosse sold you out? Would you still be so confident?" Ryan's entire shoulder had been wrapped in a tight casing and he found it rather difficult to function with his body imbalanced.
"Delacrosse is insane. Nothing he says will hold up in court, pal." D.H. yawned, apparently having gone through something like this before. Ryan turned and glanced at his reflection in the double-sided mirror, wondering what Keats was thinking.
"There's nothing we can for the case at this juncture. I'll get a few people to backtrack but in the meantime I need my team focused on other cases." Horatio stood beside Keats, analyzing D.H.'s face. Keats looked up at him in confusion.
"Oh, but H, we…" Keats stopped when she took into account how hard it must have been for Horatio to make that call. She nodded obediently and closed Haney's file.
Keats and Ryan walked side by side into the parking area of the Miami Dade P.D. It had been a rather maddening day considering the circumstances, and the two of them were left with unresolved emotions concerning the case.
"I've been thinking about my heroics lately…surely I deserve more than just a kiss, Keats." Ryan stood beside his hummer trying to look coy.
"Uh…you didn't get the memo? We're not allowed to see each other and some junk." Keats traced circles in the air near her head as if to suggest the very idea was ludicrous. Ryan gave a tiny shrug.
"It's more of a…'we don't recommend you see anyone in the office' rather than flat-out prohibition. See the difference?" Ryan leaned just the slightest bit closer to Keats. The sudden awareness of the intimate contact drove Keats crazy with anticipation and fear.
Despite the fact that they shared an electric chemistry, Ryan was still several years older than she was. The wide range between their ages would eventually create a chasm between them. Is it really worth it to delve this deep when it'll only end in heartbreak?
Then, as if reading her thoughts, Ryan placed a warm hand on her cheek.
"Give us a chance, Keats. That's all I ask." Ryan said with a frankness that nearly startled her. Keats smiled up at him, kissing him gently.
"In exchange for outstanding service in the line of duty, I'll go with you as far as we can make it…without killing each other, that is. I still maintain you're one of the most arrogant men I've ever encountered."
Delko examined the latest scene with uncomfortable familiarity. The rusty pool hall where he had spent countless weekends over the last year was the setting for one of the most brutal bloodbaths Eric had ever seen. A total of nine bodies lay sprawled all over the place, each with his own particular cause of death. It was almost as if each man had drawn death suggestions out of a hat in a twisted game of Russian Roulette.
Keats snapped a few pictures, getting more and more affected by the scene with every captured shot.
"Eric, what's the matter?" Keats had been wanting to ask and finally plucked up the courage to do so.
"Nothing. I've just been here before, that's all." Delko turned away, barely keeping his emotions in check. He wanted to know if he knew the victims, but their faces were so horribly mangled that identification was impossible. It ripped him up inside just to follow through like it was any other crime scene.
"Eric, you know you have to step back if you have a personal involvement in the case…" Calleigh had been sampling blood from the scene, but now stood facing him with her tainted gloves. Delko nodded, his eyes almost disappearing behind a thin layer of tears. His face remained cold and remote.
Back in the Lab, Calleigh was demonstrating to Keats how blood was tested and labeled. After using a few tests from the starter kits the police force provided them with every year, Keats was able to get the hang of it. Calleigh divvied up the blood samples from the crime scene and together they worked at giving each victim a name and face.
After a few hours of matching database files with blood samples, Keats was affronted what she assumed had to be a mistake. The seventh sample of blood had been traced back to Eric Delko. She retested the blood, going over every step carefully. After running it through the computer a second time, she came up with the exact same result as before.
"Calleigh…one of the samples belongs to Delko." She said.