Chapter Thirty-five: Time

As in most kidnapping cases time was of the essence. Speed knew for a fact that it was only a matter of time before the Feds officially took over the case. It wasn't something that he wanted to have happen because then they would want to use their own lab all the way back in Quantico. That would be a big waste of time, shipping evidence there and then waiting for them to process it. Unfortunately, the case was starting to get media attention and that wasn't a good thing. For the most part they were able to keep it quiet that two officers of the law had been kidnapped. The only people that knew were a handful of law enforcement professionals, the mayor, the Feds, and family members. But somehow the media caught wind of the news and decided to make it the biggest story out there. Never mind that nearly one hundred and fifty people had died in a fire at a club due to fault wiring; thankfully that was out of their jurisdiction. They also weren't spending a lot of time covering the shooting of a judge up near the panhandle or the death of child attacked by alligators down near the Keys. No, it was now all about the two kidnapped officers.

If time was of the essence before, it was even more so now.

Whatever sources the news channels used didn't have all the information. All they could come up with was the fact two officers were missing. They didn't have names, thankfully, or any idea how the officers had gone missing. Speed figured that to be a good thing because it gave them more privacy. He could just imagine what would happen if they got their hands on Hagen's name. They would break law after law to get a hold of his personal record. They would find Raymond Caine's name. Stumbling across his name would only add fuel to the fire and make things worse for Horatio. Speed prayed that nobody leaked the names of the missing officers. There was too much at stack if Hagen's name got out there. He really didn't know Jesup all that well, though he did know the younger man was a stand up officer, a damned good cop.

He looked at the clock, watched the second hand sweeping by the little ticks and black numbers.

How long would the kidnappers keep their prey alive? When would the crime lab receive its first package contenting a finger or an ear? Days had already passed and aside from that picture outside his apartment they hadn't had any real contact with the militia group. They didn't really know the condition of either officer. Was this a case of search and rescue or search and recover? He hoped for the former. For an hour he poured over the photo outside his apartment, finally strong enough to look at it, safe in the confines of the labyrinthine lab. No matter how many magnifying glasses or microscopes he used there was just no way of telling if Hagen was alive or dead. All that blood, his eyes closed…Speed didn't want to think about it.

Someone knocked on the door. He looked up in time to watch Horatio enter the room. "Have you gotten anything from the photo? Any clues as to where they might be?"

Slowly he shook his head, feeling as though he'd let his boss and everyone else down. After going over the photo with Cooper in the AV Lab Horatio had brought the object back to Speed for further scrutiny. His excuse had been logical; the photo was left outside of Speed's apartment for a reason. Maybe he would recognize something of importance that the others just could not see. But now it looked like that was false hope.

"Now matter how many times I look at this photo I cannot find anything of help," he said, frustration clear in his voice. "All I can tell you is that it looks like a warehouse or one of those shipping containers down at the docks."

"And there's plenty of those," Horatio stated. "Nothing at all stands out?"

"No, nothing." He hit the top of the table with the palm of his hand. "Maybe they left it for me because…I'm weaker than the rest of you."

Horatio frowned the slightest bit. "Weaker? What makes you think you're weak, Speed?"

He looked at his boss in disbelief. "Have you already forgotten about this morning? And what about the other day during the meeting?"

"Those moments do not mean you are weak, Speed," said Horatio. As usual his hands were on his hips. "You just happen to be dealing with something that none of the rest of us has ever dealt with. I've never been shot in the line of duty, neither has Delko or Ryan or Calleigh. We can't judge you because we've never been there. And I am more than sure that our reactions would be similar. It's a horrible thing, Speed. If you ask me, you're stronger because of it. You could have packed up everything and walked away, moved back to New York. But you're still here; you still come to work and do a damned good job. You may think you're weak but I still think you're my best CSI. And like everything else life throws at us, you will get through this and we're here to help. That's what friends do."

Speed let out a deep sigh, the self-loathing deflating like a balloon. "You're right, but then again, you usually are. I don't know, H….I just…it could have been me. They could have easily taken me and…"

"But they didn't."

"But they could have."

"So show them what a huge mistake they made in leaving you behind," Horatio said. "I guarantee you that once you help put them behind bars they'll be kicking themselves all the way to the grave. Criminals are always making mistakes. It's our job to exploit those mistakes."

"How can I exploit their mistakes when I have nothing to go on?"

Horatio looked at the photo lying atop the table, his blue eyes vibrant. "Why don't you take a break? Get some fresh air, stretch your legs."

He shook his head. "There's no time."

"Oh, there's time."

Speed cocked an eyebrow. "How can you be so sure?"

Horatio slid the photo across the table toward him. "How could I have missed that…?" that he asked himself.

"Missed what?"

"That," he replied, pointing the Hagen's left hand.

"What about it?" Speed asked.

"That there is a hand signal that my brother taught me years ago, before he went undercover," remarked the lieutenant. "Only undercover officers know it, but my brother knew that his life might be on the line. He showed it to me. Of course he would show it to his partner. Hagen's alive. And if he's alive, so is Officer Jesup."