Trouble with Friends

Chapter 11

Taken aback momentarily by his question, Calleigh stood silent as she contemplated her response so that it wouldn't be shocking.

"No, I'm not a nurse, my name is Calleigh and I'm a friend."

Horatio opened his eyes and thought, what's wrong with me, why did I ask Calleigh if she was a nurse, attempting to stay focused on her sad face. In his mind he struggled to make sense of what was going on, "I'm con…, whatz the word, um…"

Calleigh answered, "Confused?"

"Yes con…confuzeed," slurring as he repeated.

Tears welled in Calleigh's eyes as she realized how Horatio's head injury had affected him. Dr. Green warned me about this being a possibility. I pray to God this will just be temporary, because the one thing that's very obvious to people who are in Horatio's presence, is his articulate speech. I think I need to request no visitors be allowed to see him.

"How are you feeling this morning?" She asked blinking away the tears, trying to act normal.

"Head…hurrrts. When can I go…home?" He asked, his blue eyes dulled by pain.

She pulled her lips inward as she thought about what would be the best answer to give him. "Your doctor wants to run some tests and he wants you to feel better before he'll let you go home."

"DON'T…WAAANT TESTS…I WANT TO GO HOME" Horatio screamed. As his agitation grew, he began thrashing around in the bed, moaning loudly with every move. Calleigh quickly grabbed his arm that had the IV line and held it down on the bed in so he wouldn't pull the needle out.

Within seconds, two male nurses appeared; one checked the medication level going into the IV line while the other took hold of Horatio's arm so Calleigh could move out of the way.

"Mr. Caine, you need to calm down before you pull your IV line out." Looking over at his colleague he asked, "When was his last dose of Carbamazepine?"

Consulting a chart on the wall the other nurse answered, "It's just been a couple of hours."

"At least he shouldn't be going into a seizure," the nurse declared as he kept a grip on the redhead.

Calleigh had backed away, but stayed in the room and watched helplessly as Horatio began fighting harder against the nurse's grip. The sight of Horatio so upset frightened Calleigh and tears began welling in her eyes, wanting so badly to do something to help him. The second nurse was on the other side of the bed and held his other arm to keep him from hurting himself.

Horatio was sweating profusely, but after a couple more minutes, he began to calm down. "I'd give him a little Valium if he wasn't having those imaging studies done this morning, but maybe he's settling down now. Mr. Caine, are you still with us?" Horatio's eyes were closed and his breathing began gradually slowing.

Horatio barely opened his eyes and grunted in response. "You're going to be alright, just take it easy," the nurse said as he released his hold on Horatio's arm and checked the needle to make sure it had not moved. Horatio had gone limp, seemingly exhausted from the ordeal.

"Is he…is he alright?" Calleigh asked nervously.

The nurse turned to her answering, "He's calming down. He'll get agitated like that at times; it's just part of the symptoms from his head injury. You can come back to him; he'll be responsive in a couple of minutes." The nurse walked to the shelf on the wall and reached for a bath cloth, holding it under cold water from the faucet in the sink. He was walking back to wipe Horatio's face when Calleigh stepped up beside him with an outstretched hand,

"May I?"

"Sure," the nurse smiled, "I imagine he'd rather you do it," as he placed the cool cloth in Calleigh's hand.

Calleigh began to gently wipe the sweat off of Horatio's face and after a few strokes, his eyes slowly opened half-way and he softly whispered, "Calleigh…feeels…good." I love you Sweetheart, but if this is how I'm going to be…I don't need to live and be a burden on you or anyone else.

At the lab, Eric and Ryan entered the one of the interrogation rooms where the captain of the ship, which stopped by the Coast Guard, was waiting. The two CSIs sat down on the opposite side of the table from the captain and his lawyer.

"Captain Ortega, you understand why you're being held?" Eric asked.

"Contraband was found on my ship. I don't know anything about it. We were sailing back to Santo Domingo with a load of oil and machinery. That's all."

Eric studied the middle-aged man and then asked, "Is the name Joe Miller familiar to you?"

For a brief second, recognition of the name flitted across the man's eyes and then it was gone. "I have no knowledge this Miller." The lawyer leaned over and whispered a few words into Ortega's ear.

"I think you do recognize the name."

"I am captain of a ship that brings goods to the U.S. and then takes goods back to my country…Period. I have no knowledge of this Miller. In my contacts there is no Miller."

"The Coast Guard has all of your paperwork and if it is found that you signed off on the 'goods' we found, that will be the least of your problems."

Ryan then spoke up, "Captain Ortega, it would be to your benefit to cooperate with this investigation. If you're not innocent of the charges brought against you, to tell us what we need to know will work in your favor. But, if you don't cooperate, the charges against you will be serious and will definitely mean prison time."

Eric and Ryan noticed a light bead of sweat breaking out on the man's forehead and they figured if given enough time, the man would talk.

Both CSIs stood and Eric said, "We'll give you some time to think about this and confer with your lawyer." Then they turned and walked out.

Eric turned to Ryan with a low voice said, "I want to talk to the other captain…Bello, the one that was on the ship at the loading dock. He has more to lose."

Both men looked around when the elevator door opened and Calleigh walked out with a worried expression on her face. They turned toward her and as she got closer Eric asked,

"How's Horatio this morning?"

With her eyes moving between both men she softly said, "He's exhibiting the symptoms of confusion and slurred speech that Dr. Green mentioned. He…he acted as if he didn't know me when I first got there and then before I left he called me by name. He's vacillating between states of lucidness and confusion." Eric and Ryan both looked at her in shock.

"Dr. Green ordered some tests for this morning and said he would call me later with the results. I told the nurses at the desk no visitors, except for us and I gave them our names. It's easier since he's in ICU to ask for that. I know Horatio wouldn't want anybody else to see him like this…." Calleigh looked down shaking her head as she cupped her hand against her forehead.

Eric, trying to come to grips with the fact that Horatio was not the same man right now, softly responded, "He'll work through this Cal. You know he will."

Desiring to change the subject, she looked up at both men and asked, "Have you talked with the captains and crew yet?"

"Uh yeah," Eric replied, "Ryan and I just finished with Captain Ortega. We put him on ice, giving him some time to think about his options. You feel like doing the next one?"

"I do. I need to concentrate on something else besides Horatio right now."

Ryan spoke up, "I'll get Nat. She and I can talk to the first officers, that'll help speed everything up. You and Eric take the second captain."

Calleigh responded, "Sounds like a plan. We need to get some leads and quick. I'm going to request a couple of uniforms be placed with Horatio before we get started…something tells me that Miller might not be through with him."

Eric and Calleigh sat at the table watching Bello start fidgeting with a piece of paper on the table in front of him.

"So what will it be? We've explained your options…which do you want to choose? A capital murder charge in the death of a police officer, and the wounding of another or telling us everything you know in exchange for a lighter sentence?" Calleigh asked cocking one eyebrow up as she waited.

Giving the man less than a minute to talk to his lawyer, Calleigh stood and Eric followed her lead. They both then turned and walked toward the door.

"Wait!" the captain called out, stopping Calleigh in her tracks.

Turning around she acknowledged the man, "Yes?"

"I'll…I'll tell you what I know."

Calleigh and Eric walked back to the table where she placed a small tape recorder in the middle and turned it on.

It was the middle of the afternoon when Calleigh's phone signaled an incoming call as she sat at Horatio's desk completing a load of paperwork. Looking at the screen, she saw Dr. Green's name. Drawing in a deep breath she answered,

"Hello Dr. Green…"

"Ms. Duquesne"

"I hope you are calling with good news."

Dr. Green smiled on his end before answering, "I'm happy to say that I am. All of Mr. Caine's studies show his speech and confusion problems should be short-term."

Calleigh sagged back into the chair and sighed, releasing the breath she wasn't aware that she was holding. "Thank God. That's the most wonderful news you could have given me doctor," Calleigh looked up and saw that Natalia had stepped into the office with some file folders and she motioned for her to come on in.

Dr. Green continued, "I've ordered speech and physical therapy to start in the morning. You might not have realized, but he presented a little weakness on his left side, a few sessions of therapy should eliminate that problem. He'll be kept in ICU for another couple of days, just to be on the safe side, but I believe he will make a complete recovery."

"Thank you doctor…thank you so much."

Calleigh ended the call and looked over at Natalia who was grinning from ear to ear. "Good news?"

"The best Nat. Horatio's going to be ok…he's…" Calleigh's voice began to break as her hand flew to her mouth. Natalia reached out from where she was sitting and squeezed Calleigh's arm.

"That's wonderful! I'm so relieved!"

After taking a minute to gather herself Calleigh tossed her head back and asked, "What did the crew have to say?"

"We had one talker…but we had to offer him protection to get the information. The guy gave us an address where Miller might possibly be hiding."

"More good news," Calleigh responded smiling as she stood. "Let's go check it out."

Eric drove the Hummer he and Calleigh were riding in and the rest of the team followed in another. Calleigh had contacted the Sargent on duty in the uniform division before leaving the lab and as they approached the location, four patrol cars sat waiting for the CSIs, about a half a mile from their destination. Two cars were K-9 units.

The patrol cars fell in behind the Hummers headed for the location and as they approached the small house situated on the outskirts of the Everglades, they saw two men run from the rear of the building.

"There they are," Calleigh called out. Eric floored the large SUV and headed toward the men, trying to block them from escaping, but they managed to slip into the trees.

"Shit," Eric cursed under his breath.

Sliding to a stop, Eric and Calleigh jumped out and met up with the rest of the team and the uniform officers.

"We need to spread out in pairs, watch your backs. We'll let the K-9 units go first; hopefully the dogs will do most of the work. Half of us need to go into the trees to the left of where the men entered, while the others go in on the right. Hopefully, we'll block them from getting away. Be extra careful, these men are dangerous."

The dogs were running the trails of scent and barking as they went, other than that, the area was quiet. Suddenly a hundred yards ahead, Calleigh heard the change in one of the dogs barking, it was vicious. Knowing the dog had caught up with one of the men, Calleigh began running as fast as the terrain would allow, with Ryan laboring in keeping up her pace. Man have I fallen down on my workouts, he thought.

Entering a partial clearing, Calleigh saw the man on the ground at the base of a tree with an officer holding the lead of the dog that was straining and barking viciously.

Calleigh shouted, "Cuff him and get him back to a car." Turning to Ryan she said, "Well, he's not Miller, but there's one more to go."

Back at the house, a black SUV turned down the road and abruptly stopped before actually reaching the patrol cars. Sitting in the passenger seat, Miller turned to Tony and screamed,

"What in the hell…? Get outa here, NOW!"

Tony eased the vehicle into reverse and backed a short distance before he turned around and headed back to the main road.

TBC…