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Mrs. Reardon watched as Horatio was knocked out in a chair. They were in abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. It had been easy to get Horatio to go with her after she had threatened to shoot Caylee.

Flashback

"I know that if I come with you I'll die."

"True. I won't lie to you lieutenant." Mrs. Reardon said, "But if you want to save the lives of your children and your lover you will come with me now."

When Horatio didn't answer Mrs. Reardon cocked the gun and put it against Caylee's head. Horatio hesitated then nodded. He knew that Mrs. Reardon was crazy enough to shoot his daughter if he didn't do as she wanted. Horatio swallowed hard.

"Okay." He said, "I'll go with you."

"Good decision." Mrs. Reardon said and aimed the gun at him.

Horatio was given a second to kiss the twins goodbye before Mrs. Reardon forced him to go with her. In the door he saw a young man.

"The car is outside." He said and then aimed another gun at Horatio.

Horatio knew he couldn't fight now. If he tried to get the gun from Mrs. Reardon then the young man would shoot him instead.

"Perfect." Mrs. Reardon grinned.

Horatio got inside the car in the back seat together with the young man. The car was probably rented; just a hunch Horatio got. He didn't get to observe much more before he was knocked in the head with something and everything went dark.

"Good hit, Jimmy." Mrs. Reardon grinned.

Jimmy was a young, naïve man. He had spent some time in jail for theft, possession of drugs and unlicensed weapon. It was he whom had provided Mrs. Reardon with the gun that she used; so she could especially kill the four officers guarding Horatio and Mac.

"Anything for you, Mrs. Reardon." Jimmy smiled.

End of Flashback

Jimmy approached Mrs. Reardon. He was going to escape with her. He didn't know all the details that she had planned, but she had said that her plan couldn't fail. There were several risks involved in it, but it wouldn't and couldn't fail. After months of planning she had thought of every detail possible. By the end of the day Horatio Caine would be dead and she would be a free woman… but she wouldn't be the only one whom was forever free.

"Should I do something?" Jimmy asked.

"He's waking up. Is everything set up?" Mrs. Reardon asked.

"Yeah, you can torture him as much as you want now."

"Good. Then there is no need for you to see this Jimmy. Go out and have some fun."

Jimmy nodded and left the room. Lacey Reardon knew that by having fun Jimmy would get high; so high in fact that he'd probably pass out; at least she hoped he would. She heard Horatio groan and smirked. When his eyes fluttered open she looked at the tools she had to use; knives, a hammer, a hacksaw, axe and the most important thing; the electrical cables with which she could electrocute the redhead.

"Where am I?" Horatio croaked.

"In abandoned house where no one will find you." Mrs. Reardon said, "I have the perfect plan and you are here to not only allow me to have my revenge, but to make sure your people do as they are told."

"What are you going to do?" Horatio asked.

Mrs. Reardon smirked and approached her prisoner. She picked up the electrical cables.

"I'm going to kill you slowly and force your team to listen." She whispered.

She put the cables against his shoulder; in her other hand she held trigger. Horatio's eyes widened and just as he was about to speak she pressed the button. Horatio's body twitched and jerked as electricity flowed through him for twenty seconds before Mrs. Reardon stopped.

He was panting and felt his body jolt from the shocks.

"That was only for starters." Mrs. Reardon grinned.

-I-

Mac now understood why witnesses sometimes hated to repeat their stories over and over again. He had already explained several times to the team what he had seen when he had come home; which was nothing. Horatio wasn't there. He didn't want to have to go through it again, he just wanted to do something to find his lover.

"You don't have gun do you?" Frank asked.

"No… I'm only a consult and haven't been issued one yet." Mac sighed and rubbed his eyes, "I'm getting one tomorrow."

Alexx and her husband were looking over Caylee and Noah while Mac was being questioned in the lab. He wasn't a suspect in the eyes of the team, but as IAB sergeant Rick Stetler had pointed out, he had to be questioned and ruled out as a suspect; just like any other person would in a case like this.

"Have you found anything?" Mac asked.

Frank and Mac were in the break room. Horatio had been gone an hour and Frank told Mac that so far all they knew was that four officers had been shot, most likely by Mrs. Reardon and that she had been driving a small car; which was currently being matched to a specific model.

"When we've gathered all we can we'll have a press conference." Frank said.

"Mac, Frank!" Ryan called as he came running towards them, "You have to listen to this."

Mac and Frank hurried after Ryan to the layout room where Calleigh was on the phone with Mrs. Reardon.

"Mrs. Reardon, I will ask you nicely to release Horatio." Calleigh said.

"Nice try bitch." Mrs. Reardon laughed, "Is Mac there?"

"I'm here." Mac said.

"Listen carefully." Mrs. Reardon said and for a few seconds everything was quiet.

Then there was a male scream and a buzzing sound; Mac's eyes widened as he listened to his lover's agonizing screams as he was electrocuted; there was no mistaking what the buzzing sound was. The team tried not to listen as their friend was tortured again and again for almost two minutes.

"Enough!" Mac growled, "Tell me what I have to do to get him back!"

"Alright, let's get down to business." Mrs. Reardon said, "You people have three hours, starting now, to let my husband go. I will call in two hours and give you the place where I want him to be dropped off; only one cop is allowed to be with him. After he's left with me, you will be allowed to go to Horatio."

"Where is Horatio?"

"At the same place I am now." Mrs. Reardon said, "There is no point trying to trace the call; it's meant to bounce of different satellites."

Cooper threw his arms up in defeat as he failed to trace the call. Mac growled.

"And you promise Horatio will be alive?" He asked.

"Yes. If you try to help Horatio before I have my husband with me I will blow this place up and you will find bits and pieces of your lover everywhere."

The phone call was disconnected and everyone sighed.

"We have to release her husband." Frank said.

"How is she planning on getting away?" Ryan asked.

"She has to have a bigger plan." Eric said, "Something she isn't telling us of course."

"How fast can we get her husband to be released?" Mac asked.

He would do anything to get his lover back, including releasing Mr. Reardon from jail. Frank put a hand on Mac's shoulder.

"I'll talk to the Chief." Calleigh said.

They all knew that Mister Reardon was unlikely to be released; it all came down to if the governor gave permission for it or not.

"I can't just sit around here and do nothing!"Mac exclaimed.

"You can come with me."

Everyone turned to the door to face Sheldon Hawkes. He approached Mac and gave the older man a supportive hug.

"You got down here fast." Eric said to his friend.

"I got offered a private jet." Sheldon shrugged, "Sometimes knowing rich people is good."

"What are you planning to do with Mac?" Frank asked.

"I was thinking about the tire treads." Sheldon said, "Have you got a match yet?"

"No."

Just then the computer beeped announcing that they finally did have a match to tire treads to the kind of car they were looking for. A picture was printed out and Calleigh handed it to Sheldon.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" She asked.

"Rental car." Sheldon said.

"Exactly." She said.

"Mac and I can go to every rental car business, if that is what it takes, and ask if they recently rented any cars to Mrs. Reardon." Sheldon said.

"How could they do that without recognizing her?" Ryan asked, "Her picture has been on the news for weeks now."

"She could have used a disguise or even had a partner." Eric said, "I'll go with you."

"Great." Mac said, "Let's go. I'm not wasting any time."

Sheldon and Eric followed Mac, while Calleigh and the others started working on getting the permission to have Mister Reardon released from prison, while also trying to think of another idea then to actually release him. Mac called Alexx to check on the twins; he felt guilty for not looking after them, but Alexx told him that Horatio needed him right now and that the twins were fine.

-I-

One hour had passed since Mrs. Reardon had called the lab. Horatio had been electrocuted and now cut with knives too. Jimmy had been allowed to beat him with a tire iron as well. Everything hurt and Horatio could barely stay awake. However, ff it only looked like he was falling asleep Mrs. Reardon would give him a small electric shock. The knife cuts on his arms were dripping with blood on to the floor.

"They won't release your husband." Horatio sighed, "MDPD doesn't negotiate with people like you."

"No, but they do make exceptions for people like you."

"Not this time. They won't release him."

Mrs. Reardon growled and slammed a small knife into Horatio's left calf. He let out a groan and gasped. She twisted it around and drove it deeper into his flesh.

"Say that again." She growled.

"They won't, argh!" Horatio closed his eyes in pain and tried to breath.

He had a few broken ribs and was probably bleeding internally too. Mrs. Reardon pulled the knife out and then used a towel to wrap around Horatio's leg to stop the bleeding a bit anyway.

"They will release him." She said firmly.

Horatio was having a difficult time breathing. He saw a device on the table where Mrs. Reardon kept her tools; he immidiately recognized it as a bomb.

"You're going to blow this place up. Why?" He asked.

"To get rid of evidence." She shrugged, "This thing has a timer on it and it will hopefully destroy all the evidence left in here."

"I hope it fails." Horatio growled.

Mrs. Reardon chuckled and then electrocuted Horatio again. This time she kept on for a long, long time. Horatio's body jerked and he trashed around in the chair. He wasn't tied to it, but in his current state he couldn't escape no matter how much he wanted to.

He screamed and fell down on the floor, his body still writhing from the electric shocks. When Mrs. Reardon finally stopped she went over to check on Horatio. She frowned when she felt no pulse.

"Jimmy!" She called.

Jimmy came running, but was too high to stand up straight and he slumped against the wall. Mrs. Reardon started to desperately check Horatio for a pulse; he wasn't supposed to die yet.

She sighed in relief when she found a faint, irregular heartbeat.

"Good, he's still alive." She said and turned to her partner in crime, "Jimmy get the hell out!"

Jimmy nodded and tried to stand. Mrs. Reardon sighed and picked up the knife she had used on Horatio earlier. She approached Jimmy.

"You are useless." She growled.

-I-

The car that Missus Reardon had used had been found after a man remembered that he had indeed rented a car to her; only at the time when she had rented it he had barely seen her face. Fortunately he only had one car of the right model so it hadn't been hard to figure out that the hooded woman he had rented it to had been Mrs. Reardon.

The only problem was that the car was burnt badly on the side of the road. Nevertheless it was transported to the CSI garage to be processed. Mac also learned that no matter how much Chief Baxter and Calleigh had begged the higher ups and the governor they hadn't been granted permission to release Mister Reardon from prison. Soon two hours would have passed and when Mrs. Reardon found that her husband wasn't getting released she would definitely kill Horatio.

Mac was sitting in the locker room; in front of his lover's locker with a cup of coffee in his hand. He wasn't giving up; he was just trying to figure out what he could possibly do. They had no idea where Mrs. Reardon was; there were just no leads. She had somehow managed to transport Horatio from the road where she had ditched the rental car, but it had turned out to be impossible to find any other tired treads on that road. There were just no new clues and all the team could do was hope that the governor would change his mind or that they would somehow be able to deceive Mrs. Reardon and get Horatio out before she blew him up.

When he heard someone cooing he snapped out of his thoughts and looked up to see Alexx with Noah in her arms. Mac could hear her husband talking someone outside the locker room; probably holding Caylee.

"I think this little guy misses you." Alexx smiled and sat down next to the broken man.

Mac smiled; no matter how he felt and no matter how worried he was, his and Horatio's children could always make him smile. He grabbed Noah's hand and caressed his son's cheek; he was rewarded with a big smile.

"Hi there little guy." Mac said.

"The team will find a way to bring Horatio home." Alexx said, "Don't lose hope, Mac."

"I haven't. I just got one voice in my head telling me to think like a CSI; which includes a lot of logic and not so happy thoughts. The other voice tells me not to lose hope."

"Well listen to the second voice."

"I am… but, I'm a CSI. You know as well as I do what condition Horatio could be in when he's found." Mac sighed, "She electrocuted him."

"True. But he will be fine. No matter how hurt he is, he will recover." Alexx said, "He's a fighter."

Mac nodded. He knew it was true. He also knew that his lover was human and a hero as well; he had saved their children from getting shot. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Horatio had probably left the house willingly with Mrs. Reardon because she had most likely threatened the twins. Mac would have done the same thing. Even if it meant that one of them could become a single-parent. Besides, if Horatio hadn't done what Mrs. Reardon wanted, not only would she have shot the twins, but Mac too.

"The news are all over this aren't they?" Mac asked.

"Yeah, that Eric Sykes is doing most of the news reports." Alexx sighed, "She's urging Mrs. Reardon to let Horatio go; she doesn't even care about him."

"It's all so she can get as famous as possible." Mac said.

"Yeah, but she just makes herself look like a fool." Alexx said, "She's basically stalking the governor now too."

"How so?"

"She found out from an unknown source that Mrs. Reardon is asking for the release of her husband." Alexx said, "I think someone from IAB told her and Stetler is trying to found out who."

"If Mrs. Reardon is watching the news then…"

"Let's hope she's not. At least not if Sykes reports that the governor said not to her request. Then we're in trouble." Alexx sighed.

Mac nodded. For once he hoped that Sykes's mouth would be permanently shut.

"I have an idea!"

Alexx and Mac frowned as they heard Sheldon yelling outside the locker room. They stood up and went to the door. Sheldon was running through the lab shouting that he had an idea. Tony, Alexx's husband looked at Mac.

"He has an idea." He shrugged.

Mac had to smile at Tony pointing out the obvious. They all went to the layout room where Sheldon was waiting while furiously typing at the computer keyboard. The rest of the team joined them and Sheldon grinned.

"This is a picture of Mister Reardon." He said.

There was a picture of the man on the computer screen.

"This is one of Frank." Sheldon said, "See the resemblance."

"Ah yes!" Calleigh exclaimed, "Besides Frank's lack of hair, they look very similar."

Frank frowned and took a closer look at the picture of Mister Reardon.

"Of all the people I could have resembled it had to be a killer." He sighed.

"With a wig, and maybe even a hat you could pass for Mister Reardon from a distance. It's all we need to distract Mrs. Reardon so that SWAT can search the place and hopefully find Horatio before Mrs. Reardon even realizes that we've tricked her." Sheldon said.

"It's the best plan we have." Mac said, "Let's do it."

"Frank, let's get you changed." Calleigh said.

-I-

Frank stepped out of the car. Mrs. Reardon had called thirty minutes earlier giving the team the directions to the abandoned house where she was keeping Horatio. As Frank approached the house from the front, SWAT approached it from the back. He had a hat on that partly hid his face; an earphone and a wig that made him look exactly like Mister Reardon from afar.

Frank walked slowly to stall time for the SWAT team. Some other officers and the team were hiding further down the road so that they weren't seen. Only one officer was with Frank and he was waiting by the car.

He heard SWAT talking in his earphone; they were close to entering the hose now. Frank looked back at the officer and then took a deep breath. He couldn't see if Mrs. Reardon was watching from a window. He had a gun in his suit jacket, so that when he and Mrs. Reardon got close enough he would aim it at her. They knew that if she saw his face she would be able to tell that it wasn't really her husband. He heard SWAT saying that they were entering the house. Frank walked a little faster.

Suddenly the were a loud boom and Frank was thrown back against the ground. The house went into pieces, killing three SWAT members and hurting two others. Frank was shocked and stayed on the ground for a few minutes before sitting up. What was left of the house was burning and the rest of the SWAT team was hurrying to save their friends. Frank stood up and started running towards the explosion sight.

"Horatio!"

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