Trouble with Friends

Chapter 19

Horatio reluctantly went through the motion of walking toward the front door of his house, while his mind was focused on only one thing - survival - survival for Calleigh and for himself.

Joe, I sure hope you recognized my distress signal and that you have already called the department, if not, I've sentenced us to a very painful death.

Horatio pushed the key into the lock and turned it, the action causing the door to begin opening. The large man accompanying him abruptly gave the redhead a hard shove, slamming him face first into the door which caused Horatio to lose his footing and fall into the house hard onto the wood floor of the entry hall. The impact forced air from his lungs followed by a deep moan that he desperately tried to stop from escaping his throat.

"Argghh…," gasping for breath Horatio asked as he rolled over, "what…what was that for?"

The big man smiled as he responded, "To remind you not to try anything foolish."

Calleigh watched Horatio and Miller's man stop at the door and then saw what happened next and it caused her to automatically draw in a sharp breath.

Miller turned to the blonde and smiled as he said with a stern tone, "Oh that's nothing compared what I will do to him if I find out he has lied about having the thumb-drive."

Calleigh kept her eyes straight ahead as she struggled to maintain her composure, but inside she was beginning to panic.

"Get up," the man shouted as he kicked Horatio in his back encouraging him to move. "Open the damn garage door."

Horatio pushed up on his hands and knees and slowly managed to stand, wobbly at first, but able to walk as long as he could brace himself on a wall.

Eric had just steered the Hummer off the expressway and onto the first exit for Coral Gables when his cell phone rang. He reached up and pressed the button on his Bluetooth headset.

"Delko"

Eric listened to the words of the dispatcher, but his mind couldn't comprehend them at first.

Interrupting, Eric's voice reflected the astonishment that overwhelmed him, "Wait, you're saying Joe called in and said that Horatio just drove through the gate going to his house? Alone?"

Frank snapped his head around and stared at the Cuban as he muttered, "What the hell?"

"Hell yeah it's an emergency. We're headed that way. Send a couple of detectives to the scene in the Gables. I'm headed to the Lieutenant's residence." Eric's mind was spinning as how to handle the situation, but quickly decided not to use SWAT. Answering the dispatcher's question, Eric declared, "Negative, have SWAT on standby, repeat standby if needed."

Eric turned on the lights and siren as he yelled to Frank, "HOLD ON!" Hesitating momentarily, making sure vehicles were stopping for them before gunning the large vehicle out into traffic, they zipped under the expressway and sharply turned left onto the ramp taking them back onto the expressway northbound.

As they weaved around traffic, Eric relayed to Frank what had happened.

"Joe Magson just called the department. Horatio showed up driving a large white van and gave Joe a distress signal. Joe couldn't see anyone else in the vehicle, but you gotta know Miller and his henchmen were in there. I just pray Calleigh was too."

Frank sharply asked as his head jerked from watching the road back toward Eric, "You not calling SWAT in?"

Eric was silent as his eyes darted back and forth also watching the other vehicles. "Right now, I think they would do more harm than good. Call the lab for me and get ahold of Ryan. Tell him to bring Nat and Walter to the community's gate, along with a few uniform officers. We'll meet them there."

After Frank ended the call, he turned toward Eric and asked, "You sure this is the way to handle it?"

Eric glanced over at his passenger and softly responded, "Not really, but if they see cops outside, I feel like it would just make the situation worse. This way, we can move in unnoticed and have the element of surprise on our side; hopefully, it will give us a better chance to get H and Calleigh out alive."

"I sure hope you're right."

Able to snatch a quick look back at Frank, Eric answered, "Me too." I hope like hell I've made the right decision. Two people I care about the most will pay with their lives if I'm wrong.

Miller brought Calleigh inside the living room roughly and shoved her down onto the sofa. Horatio instantly jumped up from the chair wanting a piece of Miller when the man standing beside him pulled him back with his huge arm placing Horatio in a headlock hold, rendering the redhead incapable of moving except for his arm. Attempting to squirm out of the man's grasp, Horatio elbowed his handler in the stomach, hoping to make the man release him, but the jab was barely noticed as the other man stepped up and punched Horatio hard in the gut causing his knees to buckle as the arm tightened around his neck, keeping him upright.

"LET HIM GO!" Miller shouted at his men. The large man followed orders and quickly released the redhead allowing him to fall in a crumpled heap on the floor.

Senator Wilkes walked over to Horatio and grabbed a handful of his hair, not giving him time to recover, and jerked his head up as he growled,

"Where's the thumb-drive Caine…we're waiting."

Horatio, his eyes glazed from pain, stammered, "If…they'll…stop…punching me…I'll get…it."

Moving slowly, trying not to invoke further pain in his mid-section until he was suddenly jerked to his feet by two pairs of strong hands.

Glancing over to the sofa finding Calleigh, he saw Miller sitting beside her with his arm around her shoulders. Tensing in anger, he glared at the sight. As Calleigh's eyes locked with his they held a combination of concern, fear, disgust and anger.

"The longer you take Caine…the more time I'll have to get to know your beautiful lady," Miller purred close to Calleigh's face.

Horatio blinked back his tears and realized he couldn't stall for time…the thought of that animal touching her….

The decision to move was made for him as he was spun around and he heard one of the men ask, "Where is it pig?"

Horatio thought of a thumb-drive he had in his wall safe in the master bedroom, one that contained all of his financial information. That would give them a few more minutes.

When all of the team was assembled at the gate, out of view of Horatio's house, Ryan, with his arms folded across his chest, spoke up as he stared quizzically at Eric, "What's your plan?"

Joe interjected into the conversation, interrupting Eric's reply to Ryan, "Just before you guys arrived, an FBI agent showed up, flashed me his ID and badge. Said he'd been called to the situation at Horatio's. That was damn quick for them to already be here."

Eric quickly asked, "What was the name on his ID?"

"Adam Dunnigan, ain't he the head guy here in Miami?"

Frank immediately looked over at Eric and commented, "Looks as if the whole lot of scumbags is here."

Natalia's shock was evident when she questioned Frank, "What do you mean; Agent Dunnigan is mixed up in all of this?"

"You bet he is…we just found out earlier today a senior level agent is mixed up with Miller."

"Damn," Natalia let out a long breath. "I worked with him…I can't believe this."

"Believe it…he's dirty and if I have anything to do with it, he's going to the garbage dump," Frank shot back.

"Alright…here's what we're going to do…." Eric began.

The safe door opened and Horatio started to reach in, but his arm was forcibly snatched back.

"Do I look like a dumbass to you?" The large man huffed. "I let you reach in there and you grab a gun and blow my head off. I'll get it."

The other man held Horatio back while the large man reached into the safe and pulled out a .45 caliber automatic. He held it up where Horatio could see it.

"See? We're prepared for any shit you try to pull on us."

The man stuffed the gun in his belt and reached back in and pulled out a thumb-drive then turned around, snatched Horatio from the other man's grasp roughly and shoved him out into the hallway that led back to the living room.

As Horatio stumbled along in front of the two men he now knew how death row inmates felt as they were being led to the gas chamber. If the team doesn't get here soon…

The three entered the opening dividing the entry hall from the living room and Horatio noticed that Miller was still beside Calleigh. Horatio eyes were sad when he looked into hers, I'm so sorry Sweetheart. Because of me, you've gotten into this mess. Once the man walked the thumb-drive over to Miller, he knew their time was up.

Miller accepted the thumb-drive smiling as his man handed it to him with Wilkes standing close. Miller then looked closer at the device and immediately realized it was not his.

Furious, Miller leapt to his feet and screamed, "THIS ISN'T MINE!"

In a rage of fury, he quickly stepped over and stopped inches from Horatio's face. Calleigh began to struggle to loosen her bound hands, fearful of what was about to happen.

"You lied to me Caine. You don't have the thumb-drive…remember what I told you I'd do if I discovered you lied to me?"

Horatio swallowed hard, how could I forget…I've let Calleigh down and made her vulnerable to this low-life. Now I won't be able to protect her.

Miller's fist slammed into Horatio's jaw, jerking him from his thoughts, quickly he felt himself falling backward, and then felt the impact of the hard wood from the hallway table punch into his side, but thankfully the table gave way under his weight and they both collapsed into a broken pile on the floor. Shaking his head attempting to regain his bearings, he realized a cool metal object was pressed between his stomach and the floor. It suddenly dawned on him what it was – his service weapon.

Mustering all of his remaining strength, he pushed up on his hands and knees gulping large breaths of air while his hand wrapped around the gun on the floor, which was hidden under pieces of the broken table, and his thumb slid the safety off. Hearing Miller approaching, Horatio rose up quickly and brought the gun up with him, already pointed directly at Miller. Before the man could react, Horatio squeezed off a shot, and Miller stood for a brief moment in shock as he looked down at the red spot growing in the center of his chest before falling flat on his face.

Wilkes ran out the back door to escape down the beach as Horatio immediately turned the gun on the other two men who were bringing their guns up in response. Neither managed to fire one shot as Horatio dropped both where they stood.

Calleigh had managed to free her hands, although at the price of the skin on her wrists and leaped from the couch screaming, "HORATIO…" Running through the opening into the entry hall, she stood in silence briefly, observing the three dead men on the floor and Horatio weaving on his knees about to collapse.

Running to him, she dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around him and began sobbing, "Handsome…I've got you." She sat down on the floor and lowered his head onto her lap. His hand relaxed on the gun and it fell the short distance to the floor with a thud.

She tenderly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth softly telling him it was all over as her tears raced down her cheeks, dripping from her chin onto his cheek.

"Don't…cry…Sweetheart. I'm…ok." He softly whispered trying to calm her.

"Horatio…"

A deep voice unexpectedly interrupted them causing Calleigh to jerk her head around,

"Well…well Caine. Seems you're one hard man to eliminate. That's why I came; bozos rarely come through in the end."

Horatio weakly raised his head and looked around Calleigh at the FBI agent standing just inside the entry way from the living room pointing a gun at them both.

"Dunnigan…" Horatio gasped as Calleigh looked dumbfounded at the man who'd helped them so many times with cases. "Always thought…something wasn't right…about you."

"Well, seems you won't have the chance to do anything about me. I…I'm really sorry I have to do this."

Horatio watched as Dunnigan raised his gun and put his thumb on the hammer to pull it back and then looked up at Calleigh softly speaking, "I'm so sorry Calleigh. Please forgive me."

Then the most welcomed voice of all suddenly bellowed through the room, "HANDS IN THE AIR SCUMBAG!"

Unknown to Dunnigan, Frank Tripp had silently entered the living room from the kitchen and heard what was going on.

"I'm not gonna tell you again," Frank ordered when the agent didn't immediately comply. "Nothing would please me more than to shoot you where you're standing."

Dunnigan smiled at Horatio and spun around with his gun raised ready to fire and Frank dropped the man with one shot. The agent writhed in pain on the floor, clutching his shoulder as Frank stepped over him, bent down and picked up the agent's gun off the floor just as Eric and the rest of the team behind him ran in.

Looking down at the FBI agent Frank sarcastically told the man, "Killing you would be too easy. I think you need an opportunity to experience some prison time."

Frank left the agent and walked to Horatio and Calleigh. "Damn H…what'ya trying to do…get yourself killed?"

Calleigh, relieved it was over for real this time, gently stroked Horatio's hair off his forehead as he began to chuckle at Frank's question, but drew in a sharp breath and abruptly stopped when the motion increased the pain in his mid-section.

Eric knelt down with a look of relief plastered across his face as Horatio answered, "Had some doubts…that you would…get here in time."

"H, don't try to talk. I've got a bus on the way."

Horatio slowly turned his head to the side and looked at Eric beside them raggedly responding,

"I don't…need a bus. Just…"

"Horatio Caine," Calleigh snapped, "You most certainly do need to be checked out after being used as a punching bag."

Then Horatio remembered Wilkes. "Wilkes…he ran…"

Eric responded, "We got him. He ran right into us on the beach." Horatio smiled at the thought of the popular Senator going to prison.

Later, propped up against pillows on a bed in the trauma department, Horatio talked softly with Calleigh as they waited for the results of the scan he went through an hour earlier. Calleigh was sitting in a chair beside the bed, holding his hand when Alexx Woods walked into the room with a folder in her hands.

Looking sternly, over her glasses, at her long-time friend in the bed she stopped beside Calleigh and said,

"I swear Horatio Caine…you're going to send me to an early grave if you keep being brought in here like this." Horatio squeezed Calleigh's hand and smiled.

"I hope you've come to tell me I can leave."

"Oh no, you're not pulling that on me. I've known you way too long to give in to your dislike of being a patient. You have deep organ bruising, on top of what you already had. I'm also concerned about your head injury so, I'm keeping you here for at least tonight, and then we'll see after that."

"ALEXX," Horatio's voice rose and he tried not to show any reaction to the pain that one effort caused, but he couldn't keep the grimace off of his face.

"Uh-huh, you should be hurting after what you've been through."

Then turning to Calleigh, Alexx smiled and said,

"He'll be alright Honey, with time. When he gets a room, I'll get a roll-away bed sent up for you. My condolences for having to put up with his awful bedside manner." Calleigh smiled at her friend, knowing Alexx loved Horatio.

Recovered enough to speak, Horatio added, "My bedside manner…is much better at home."

Alexx and Calleigh both chuckled at his comment and Horatio realized then that he was out-numbered.

TBC…