Disclaimer: I obviously do not own CSI: NY. I just own my car, my laptop and my crazy muse who seems to want to write 4 different stories at a time. I also do own any characters that you do not recognize. You can borrow them if you ask permission first!

A/N: Here's the next chappie!! Thanks to all who reviewed. As always, please R&R. My muse loves the attention. :D The song title is from Gavin Rossdale. Many thanks to Aphina and Axellia, without whom I would have so many mistakes and a dead end plot!

Chapter 58.

Adrenaline

Cory and Lydia both checked all of their gear as they finished getting ready. Cory was carrying three guns in total, a rifle, her normal Glock and her Smith and Wesson .22 backup. She looked at Lydia and smiled. "You ready?"

Lydia looked at her. "Definitely. So these guys are just suspected of money laundering?"

Cory nodded. "From what I was given, yeah, but if they are part of the Chinese Mob, I expect a lot more is going on there. Be prepared for anything."

Lydia nodded as she split off from the command group, grabbed her agents and began to make her way to her staging area.

Fifteen minutes later, Lydia's voice came across Cory's headset. "Team Two, in position. You ready, Cory?"

"We're ready, Lyd. You call it when you're ready," Cory replied.

"On my mark. Three, two, one, GO!" Lydia voice came over the headset.

Cory motioned for her team to go in. She followed John, who had the battering ram with Debra right behind her. She could hear Mike on the headset stating that it was clear where he was.

The three of them walked into the warehouse's maze of rooms, clearing each one methodically. Finally, they came upon the final door, which if she remembered the blueprints correctly, housed the main storage room which was about 150 square feet.

With a nod, she tested the doorknob, to find it locked. She motioned to John to open it with ram. As soon as it was broken down there was a shout in Chinese and gunfire erupted. The three of them took cover and quickly returned fire. "Mike, I need your team to get here now! We are under fire!" she calmly ordered into the headset as she squeezed off a couple of rounds. There was a lull in the gunfire and her and Debra rushed into the room to see a group of five Asian with three of them reloading their guns.

The men looked up as Cory screamed out, "FBI! Drop your weapons!" None of them complied, which caused Cory to dive for cover as they opened fire again. She glanced around the room, taking note of printing presses and stacks of blank paper. Her eyes opened wide as she realized what they had stumbled across. Shit! This is a counterfeiting operation!

She rose up and squeezed off a couple more shots, taking down two of the men, just as the second team burst into the room. Within moments, the six FBI agents had all of the men in cuffs, while they waited for the ambulance to arrive.

Cory investigated the room, taking stock on the quality of bills that were being produced. The money looked completely real. She opened up one of the printing presses and noticed that the printing plates in use looked like authentic plates from the United States Mint.

"Cory?" Lydia asked over the headset. "Everything okay?"

Cory smiled. "Yeah. We're all fine. It's just the bad guys that got shot. Although, I looks like they were doing a hell of a lot more than money laundering. I've got a full printing press set up over here. What about you?"

"Stacks and stacks of cash, which all look real. What were they doing with all of this money?"

Cory sighed. "I don't know. You got any men over there?"

"Just two guys that were guarding the warehouse. It was an easy raid."

Cory nodded to herself. "Take those men into custody. I'm going to try and box up all this evidence, although I know that the Treasury department will probably want in on this investigation. I'd better make thorough notes. I'll see you in the debriefing tomorrow morning," Cory stated before beginning to organize the crew to take pictures and begin to box up the evidence.

When Cory finally got back home, she noticed Danny sitting on the couch playing God of War, on the Playstation. "Hey, chere," she said tiredly.

Danny paused the game and smiled. "Raid go okay?"

She shrugged. "It was enlightening, but I can't talk about it yet. How is your Santa case going?"

Danny shook his head. "We know who killed him but have absolutely no evidence to back it up. She's gonna walk."

Cory grimaced as she sat down on the couch, the adrenaline had finally worn off and her body was beginning to ache all over. "That sucks. I hate it when that happens."

Danny noticed her grimace and the fact she was walking a bit slower than usual. "You okay?" he asked concerned.

"Just tired. I had to dive for cover a couple of times and I just ache all over," she muttered as she closed her eyes and tilted her head back.

Danny smirked. "Why don't you go take a hot bath and when you're done, I'll give you a massage."

Cory opened her eyes and looked at him. "What did I ever do to deserve you?"

Danny laughed. "Just go. Let me take care of you."

Cory nodded as she pushed herself off of the couch. "All right. I'm not going to turn down a massage."

An hour later, Cory was sighing in bliss as Danny's hands worked magic on her sore muscles. She grunted in pain a couple of times as he hit an exceptionally sore spot, but otherwise, she was drifting off to sleep. She was almost asleep when he hands took on a more caressing tone to which she willingly gave herself up to with a sigh of pleasure.

The next morning, after their debriefing, Cory watched Lydia rush around her office in a panic. "Oh, Lord. Do I have everything?" she was muttering under her breath.

"Um, Lyd? Calm down. I've watched you check over your bags three times already. I think you have everything," Cory said with laughter in her voice.

Lydia just shook her head. "I just hate leaving anything behind and Sheldon didn't help last night!" she said blushing slightly.

Cory winked at her. "I think you have everything. Did you make sure to call the Air Marshall's and let them know that you were on board?"

Lydia nodded. "I did that the day I got the email with the flight info. I've got my gun stored in my carryon, and everything else in the rest of my luggage," she said as she finally calmed down. She took a deep breath. "Okay. You're right. I'm running around like a chicken with its head cut off when I've been packed for two days!"

Cory just shook her head. "It'll be okay. Alistair said that he would meet you at the airport and take you to the hotel. I'm sure everything will be fine. I hope that you can find her," Cory ended softly.

Lydia saw the dark wave of emotions that flitted across Cory's face. "I'm sure we will, Cory. Montoya's not going to kill her. He's in love with her."

Cory looked at Lydia and saw the concern on her face. "I know—I just want to have her back. I just want a chance to apologize to her."

"You'll get that chance, Cory. I promise," Lydia said softly as she picked up her bags. "I'll call you when I land."

Cory nodded. "Thanks, Lydia. Just keep me in the loop. Either email or just call my cell."

"I will. Bye."

Several hours later, Cory looked up as a dark haired man in a suit walked into her office. She pasted a smile on her face, already suspecting what he wanted. "May I help you?" she asked pleasantly.

"Agent Reid? I'm Agent Donovan, Treasury Department," he said as he flipped open his ID. "I'm here about the raid you conducted last night."

Cory smiled softly as she raised an eyebrow. "I expected one of y'all so show up sooner. You want to take over the case," she stated, not bothering to even form it as a question.

Agent Donavan's emerald green eyes twinkled. "Sorry, I was caught up in traffic," he deadpanned. "You're not upset that we want the case?"

Cory shook her head. "Honestly, I'm not surprised. I knew the minute that I saw authentic Mint plates that y'all would take it over. I am disappointed, though. I have this gut feeling that this goes a lot deeper than counterfeiting. I'd love to sink my teeth into the case, but I won't fight you on it."

Agent Donovan nodded. "Thank you for that. You are right; this does go deeper. Once I get a look at the plates, I'll know for sure. I believe that these are plates that were stolen two years ago and they have changed hands several times."

Cory raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Six months ago, the Treasury Department had a lead on the plates; they were in the hands of a Mexican gang. Before that, another gang. We have no idea how they were stolen in the first place."

Cory nodded. "Huh. Well, if you need any help whatsoever, feel free to contact me." She quickly withdrew a business card and wrote a number on the back. "Here's my card. That's my cell phone on the back. If you can't get me here, I almost always answer my cell."

Agent Donovan smiled. "Thank you. I'll do that," he said as Cory stood up to guide him to where all the evidence was stored.

Alexis was awoken in the middle of the night by shouting. She blinked her eyes which were a blurry with sleep, trying to make out what was being said, but was unsuccessful. She focused instead on the voices. Montoya and Etienne. As she finally blinked into full awareness, she began to wonder just what the two of them were arguing about.

She crawled deeper underneath the covers as their voices grew closer. Their voices grew clearer the closer they moved to her room.

"She is a weakness, Montoya. You need to get rid of her," Etienne was saying.

"You insolent French pig," Montoya growled. "Why the hell are you here, Etienne? Tell me the real reason."

"We have no time for that now, Montoya. The police are closing in on this location and we need to leave, now. Leave her behind. They will stop hunting you if you leave her behind."

"No! Alexis comes with me and if you don't like it, you can leave, Etienne. I never asked for you to be here and I certainly don't need you here."

Alexis heard Etienne sigh in derision. "Fine. We need to leave. Now."

"Meet me outside in fifteen minutes," Montoya stated, clearly dismissing Etienne before opening the door to Alexis' room.

Alexis sat up in bed when the door opened. "What's going on?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing to worry yourself about, my love," Montoya said with an air of calm around him. "We need to leave, my love. Please get dressed and meet me in my room in ten minutes."

"What if I don't want to go?" Alexis responded, hoping to get him to leave her alone.

Montoya looked at her, shocked that she would want to stay away from him.

Alexis rolled her eyes. "Alejandro? Really? Did you really believe that I would want to come with you? You tried to kill my daughter. You killed my husband!"

Montoya's face became stony. "Get dressed," he snarled. "You have ten minutes and I'm then I'm dragging you out of here in whatever you are wearing." He turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.

Alexis sighed before getting out of bed and getting dressed. Five minutes later, she had thrown all of her clothes into a suitcase and was ready to leave. She had just reached Montoya's room when he walked out, grabbed her arm and pulled her into the night.

AN: Duh duh da! The plot is starting to thicken a bit more and I sense rough seas ahead for all involved! Go check out my side projects: The Lure of Chocolate, which is an AdamOC story that is based in this world with Danny and Cory, Poisoned Pen, which is a simple story about a case (if any of my stories are ever simple!) and a new chapter of Gotham's Heroes, is finally up!

katydid13 - Thanks! I had to put that in there because so many people get away with crimes!

Soccer-Bitch - Thanks. Why is is that 2 year olds have more energy than us grown ups? I always asked that, even when my oldest niece was 2 and I was 17! She'd run me ragged!

Aphina - Yup, it does. And it turns out that the raid wasn't so bad! Now, I do have a feeling that this particular raid was more important that what I wrote, but my muse ain't talking about it. I think something will come up in TWAT about it. But you never know! I've decided that my muse is on vacation in Bora Bora right now, so if she ever comes home, maybe I'll be able to figure out what's going to happen! So far, so good on the Miracle fic!

Maddy - I am trying to be realistic, which is hard! I always want to write the happy ending, but some times it just doesn't work out that way (plus, I couldn't figure out how to tie her to the murder!) I love to jog...you'll find me on the treadmill 4 to 5 days a week (of course, I'm trying to lose weight, too) and then on Sunday's I take my niece's dog out. He comes up to my hip and weighs 100 pounds, so he's fun to jog with! I say you won't have to wait, but my muse seems to have disappeared. If you see her, can you send her home? (:p)

CSI junkie - I'm intrigued! What's your theory? And I might have to bring her back in the sequel, just because I hate it when people get away with a crime!