Title: In The Line of Fire

Timeline: 7x25 "Seeing Red"

Author: Quitethefangirl

Genre: Angst/Crime

Summary: Eric is missing and on top of that the team is facing another battle and Stetler is behind the gun. As the team' searches for Eric and they put under administrative review by IAB.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author Note: Hey everyone, first and foremost I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Nikky's girl, thank you for your help and I look forward to working with you again. Secondly I went ahead and tried the story in a different point of view it was hard to write than I expected, hope you guys like it.

Chapter 3

Missing

Horatio watched as Calleigh was driven off. Frank approached him and stood alongside him.

"Is she ok?" Frank asked.

"She will be," Horatio said looking down at ground. "How does it look, Frank?"

"Not good Horatio. Eric was in the car with Sharova and we don't know how involved he is in all of this. I'm going to take Colonel Sanders over there," motioning at Sharova in the squad car, "to the station and see if I can get anything out of him, but something tells me he's not going be to all chatty Cathy."

"I want to be there when you speak to him. Don't let anyone else question him, Frank. I'm taking this case; Eric is one of mine and I'm going to see this one through. We'll get him to talk"

Frank sighed. It was easier said than done, he knew as soon as they got to the station Stetler would be all over Sharova. Deeming the investigation to be run by an "unbiased" third party such as the IAB department, this was just the kind of thing Stetler had been waiting for to destroy the team.

"Horatio, PEople are going to be quick to call his guilt." Frank said expressing his concerns to Horatio.

"I'll deal with PEople." Horatio said harshly, catching Frank drift. For a second there was silence, both men taking in the delicate and difficult situation they were in. Then Frank spoke, voicing his concern.

"I can't help the feeling that we're missing something; something just isn't right about this. It's just not sitting right with me."

"Yeah, I know." Horatio quietly agreed, shaking his head after some hesitation. "But were going to find those missing pieces, 'cause that's what we do."

"So how are we gonna play this?" Frank said.

"Frank, we're going this the only way we know how." Horatio looked up and away. "We'll let the evidence show us." He said as he walked away.

Ryan sat in his hummer, taking a few deep breaths. He'd been a CSI for a couple of years now and processed many bloody and grotesque scenes, but this one was the first one he was scared to death to see. Eric was missing and could possibly be-, no he couldn't bring himself to think it. He didn't want to be here if they found a body. Just the thought made him sick to his stomach. He'd never lost a colleague that he was close to and Eric was (is he corrected himself) like a brother to him.

He took a few more deep breaths, not wanting his cheeseburger to revisit him before he exited the vehicle. Kit in hand, he walked over to Horatio. The senior CSI stood surveying the area, his back turned to Ryan. Ryan lifted the police tape and walked under it, entering the scene.

"Hello Mr. Wolfe," Horatio said without turning to look at him. "Glad you could join us."

"Yeah," Ryan said, tensing. Horatio's words made him think his boss was referring to his hesitation in the car. "Sorry, I'm- I just- I needed to- um." Unable to explain the emotions that were running through him, he looked at Horatio, who was his normal calm self. He wondered how the man had become so emotionally calloused.

"Ryan, you don't have to explain yourself." He looked towards Ryan, putting his hand on the younger man's shoulder, "I understand"

Ryan looked back into Horatio's eyes and saw the man was not as emotionless as he seemed. His eyes were sad and dark. He was just as emotionally trodden as Ryan, but remained strong and maintained his poise. A trick he'd learned from facing countless heartache in his life; it was both a blessing and a curse.

"Yeah, but-" Ryan said warily.

"We're going to find him." Horatio cut him off, "Alive, I promise."

"Ok." Ryan tried to believe him. "What do you need me to do?" He quickly changed the subject before his feelings overtook him.

"I want you to take Eric's car to the lab to be processed," Horatio said seriously. "See what you can find. Anything from that car should be treated with the upmost cared and priority. I need you to be extra thorough; whatever you double checked check again. I need to know anyone who has ever been in that car. What happened and when it happened."

"Ok." Ryan agreed knowing the case was going to be very sensitive.

"The tow truck should be here any minute, don't let that car leave your sight, Ryan." Horatio added sternly.

"Will do, H." Ryan said as turned to walk towards Eric's car so he could process it.

"Mr. Wolfe," Horatio called, stopping Ryan in his tracks.

"Yeah" he turned his head to look at Horatio.

"Make sure Ms. Duquesne gets home safely." Horatio asked, "And don't let anyone talk to Sharova - especially her. This is hitting her pretty hard; she blames herself. I need her rested so she'll be able to function in the investigations."

Ryan noticed how Horatio stressed the word investigations and there was an 's' on it, meaning plural. He wasn't just talking about Eric's investigation. He was warning Ryan that IAB was going to be running an investigation and Calleigh was in no state to talk to them, not yet. Ryan nodded knowingly.

"Now we begin." Horatio said walking off.

Shortly after walking away from Ryan, Horatio's phone rang. Looking at the caller I.D. it read Natalia Boa Vista. He answered it. "Ma'am," he greeted her. "Has the M.E retrieved Sarnoff's body, yet?"

"H, I'm at the location and we've found Gregor's body, but where you said Sarnoff should be there's no body." Natalia was worried.

"Impossible." He hissed, though his frustration was not aimed at Natalia. It was the fact Sarnoff had managed to slip from his grasp yet again. He'd shot him, point blank; the bullet going right through his chest. Yelina was his witness and he was sure he wasn't wearing a bullet proof vest. There was no way Sarnoff could have survived that. He raked his mind for a logical explanation, but none come.

"And Horatio there's more," Natalia said. "He left a note, well kind of." Then she went on to explain that though there was no dead body, there was still physical evidence that someone had indeed been shot. Where Horatio had said the body would be, there was a large pool of blood. No-one had cleaned it up. In fact, written in blood, that could or could not be Sarnoff's handwriting, was one word.

"Check." Natalia said. "That's it, it just says Check. Check what? Does that make any sense to you?" Natalia asked, confused.

"No, it doesn't," Horatio said, running his hand down the back of his head. 'Check,' it was such a vague word. It could mean so many things, but he didn't care enough to read into it; he had more pressing matters on his mind. He wasn't going to let this get to him.

"Natalia, find a trail and Follow it. See what direction he went and put a perimeter in place. He couldn't have gotten far and put a BOLO out on him. Armed and dangerous, Natalia, armed and dangerous."

"Will do, sir," she replied. She started to remove the phone from her ear, to end the call thinking he was done when he spoke again.

"And Natalia," He said in a hesitant voice, halting her actions.

"Yes, Sir."

"Be careful." He said before hanging up.

The day was starting to take its toll on him. He was two CSI's down and was his team was wearing thin. Each of them was assigned a task that needed urgent attention, so he was going to have to process this scene alone, until the rest of the team was available. Collecting his kit from the Hummer, it was time to work.

Hope you like it R&R and I'll have the next chapter posted in the next few day - Quitethefangirl