Note: Sorry about the delay; health issues.

Chapter Thirty-one: Shining Star

He got back to the lab a few hours later, finally downing the cool bottle of water that he'd been thirsting for most of the day. Maybe he would make a suggestion to Horatio about the Hummer's carrying coolers. It wouldn't exactly be a bad thing if they did. Some evidence could benefit from riding around in a cooled environment as opposed to soaking in the interior of a car sitting in the Miami sun, and their job was all about the evidence. He made a mental note to bring up the suggestion next time he saw his boss; which he hoped would be soon. Horatio left the scene a while before the rest of them, well, not before Calleigh, but she had returned and then their boss had left. Without so much as saying goodbye or giving them a hint as to where he was headed. Speed had already been through the entire lab in hopes of finding his wayward boss without any luck. He prayed that wherever H had gotten off to that he wouldn't become the next casualty of the militia group. If they managed to nab Horatio that would put him in charge since he was the next highest CSI and he didn't want to be in charge. There were times during the day when he could barely keep his thoughts straight. How would he run a lab?

"Let's hope I never have to find out," he murmured to himself as he sat on the stool before the table. There was a mountain of evidence that needed going through if they had any hopes of finding the two missing officers.

"What was that?"

He turned to see that Delko was standing in the doorway. Silently he hoped that his friend wasn't here to start talking to him about the situation their friendship was currently in. He had a shit load of work to do and didn't want to waste what could very possibly be valuable time. "Nothing. What can I do for you?"

"I just wanted to know if you've seen H? I need to talk to him about something."

Speed shook his head. "Haven't seen him since the crime scene. Have you tried calling him?"

"Nah," answered Delko. "Figured he would be poking around the lab or something. I'll give him a call then, thanks." And he was gone.

Speed watched him walk away until he disappeared around a corner and vanished from sight. He sighed, thinking that it wasn't good neither one of them could locate their boss. With an angry militia group running loose and kidnapping officers as well as making threats toward the lab, it wasn't exactly a good sign that one of their own was currently unreachable. He looked at the mountain, more like molehill, of evidence in front of him. He had worked with Hagen almost as long as he worked for Horatio but didn't know the detective half as well as he knew his boss. As for Officer Jesup, he only knew the uniformed officer by name, having seen him a couple of times at crime scenes. That didn't mean neither one of them deserved the best of his abilities to track them done. So instead of delaying further he picked a baggie from the small pile and began to the art of processing the tiny piece of evidence contained within. Hopefully it would give him some answers…

--

The music thrummed in his ears blocking out the rest of the world, helping him to focus on the work that lay before him. He was just about done with his pile of work, all the tests in the process, when he felt someone tap him gently on the shoulder. As expected he jumped but managed to keep from dropping the vial of liquid that he held in his hand. With his free hand he removed the headphones, leaving them around his neck and turned to see a smiling Calleigh standing behind him and to his right. The first thing he noticed about her was that although there was a smile pasted across her face it didn't quite reach her eyes; a phony smile. He'd been down that road himself one or two times. He wanted to ask what was bothering her but figured it could wait since she'd come to talk with him about something.

"Horatio wants to have a word with us in the conference room," she told him, her voice not as chipper as it had been that morning at the crime scene. "I think we might have a lead on something, though I'm not one hundred percent sure that's what it is…"

He nodded. "I'll be there in a minute, just have to place this in the machine, get the test running."

Calleigh was out the door and gone before he could register that she said Horatio wanted to speak with them. At least that was a weight off his shoulders, the knowledge that his boss wasn't in the hands of some angry mob. He quickly finished up with the sample, switched off his music, left the headphones on the table and headed toward the conference room, his hands deep in his pockets. Last time they had all met to speak there hadn't exactly been good news to share, what with them all learning about the cases being tied to a group of crazies that didn't like law enforcement. Then out of nowhere he found himself wondering what these same people would do if their house caught fire or something. Would they try to put it out themselves? After all, paramedics and firefighters were in the same branch as forensic scientists and cops; they all put their lives on the line just to do their job day in and day out. When he got to the room he found that he was the last one to arrive. He closed the door, then leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Horatio began speaking immediately.

He held up a picture. "Get to know this face, study it, see it in your sleep, every time you close your eyes; this is the face of the man that we want to catch. I pulled a few strings, talked with a few people in the Federal Government and this is the guy that leads the militia group. His name is Brian Hutt and the FBI has been trying to keep tabs on him for years."

"Trying?" Delko echoed.

"He disappeared off their radar a few months ago. They have been scouring the streets looking for him. He usually does work in New York and places in California, this group he heads has branches all across the US," Horatio explained. "When he left New York a month ago they figured that he was heading to his place in California. They say those are the only two areas that he has ever traveled to. But he never arrived in California. Once I started to explain to them our situation down here they jumped on the band wagon, so to speak, and figured that this is where he must have come. They are sending an agent down to brief me on the group, I want all of you to be there." He looked around the room at them. "This guy is extremely dangerous. If you see him, do not try to apprehend him yourself. Call for back-up, tail the guy but the minute you thing you've been made, get the hell out of there. Do you understand?"

Ryan shook his head. "I can't believe that guy is our shining star. He looks like a nerd…"

Speed had to agree. The man in the photo had thick glasses, bushy eyebrows and he was wearing a sweater vest with a pocket…that had a pocket protector within. He knew that he shouldn't let looks dictate the crook since he knew how deceiving looks could be but seriously, why would anybody listening to anything that this guy had to say? This was room nearly full of scientist and not a single one of them looked as geeky as the man in the photo.

"Don't let the look full you. The agent will be here in about two hours. I know that's close to shift change but I really want all of you there. We have to learn about this man, understand him, if we are to catch him and bring back our officers."