Chapter Forty-four: One in a Million
When his phone rang later that night he hadn't expected the call to be coming from Delko. He was even more surprised to learn where the other man was calling from. There was something that needed to be discussed but Delko refused to talk about it over the phone. Horatio did not mind the overly cautious way his friends were working lately. After what had happened to Speed they had definitely grown closer, always leaving the lab in groups of three or more. They were not going to give the militia group another victim. No matter how much he pressed for the information Delko refused to talk over the phone, the slightest note of fear evident in his voice. Something was wrong and that was the only reason Horatio got out of bed. The house was dark, Speed sound asleep in the bedroom across the hall, his dog curled up at the foot of the bed. Horatio made sure to check on them before heading into the kitchen. The last thing he wanted to do was to leave Speed alone in the house, a sitting duck for the militia group. The FBI had not talked about such events arising so at first he didn't know what to do. He knew that the agents were out there watching, knew their exact locations but…what if they missed something? What if by some chance a member of the militia managed to get past them, sneak into the house and finish what they started out there in the everglades? He looked back over his shoulder. He owed Speed a safe haven, a place where he could sleep without worrying about waking to find a gun pointed at his head.
Slipping quietly out the front door, the gun holstered on his hip giving him little comfort, he headed across the street. One of the agents had bunked down with an ex-firefighter who lived across from Horatio. He knew that the agent stayed up at nights, sitting in the big bay window watching Horatio's house. Trying to act casual he stepped up to the door and knocked. A few seconds later the agent opened the door. It didn't take long for Horatio to get across his concern, to explain the situation. Before he left, as the door closed, he heard the agent radioing all his colleagues to put them on high alert that their victim was in the house alone.
Horatio felt only marginally better knowing the agents would be watching intently. He still wished that someone was actually in the house with Speed aside from the dog. One bullet would take out the dog. An armed agent would be harder. Reluctantly he climbed into his Hummer and backed out of the driveway.
The lights were aglow at the lab when he got there. He noticed that Delko's truck wasn't the only vehicle in the parking lot that should have gone home hours ago. Without missing a beat he walked into the building, surprised to find that they were waiting for him in one of the police conference rooms, Delko leaning against the door frame much the way Speed had earlier in the evening. A quick glance in the direction of the clock told Horatio that it was nearing midnight. What were they all still doing here? They should have been at home getting much needed rest. He entered the room to find Calleigh fidgeting in her chair and Ryan talking in hushed tones with Cooper. Delko pulled the door closed behind them.
"What is this all about?"
"We might have something," Delko said.
"Something you didn't want to talk about over the phone."
"Precisely."
"Start from the top."
Delko nodded at Ryan who picked up the conversation. "Remember the plant material that we identified? I was going over Tim's clothes and found pollen from the same plant. Of course, we already knew that the plant was popular here in the state for how well it grows in tropical climates. Now, most of the pollen was on his pants, almost like he'd been forced to sit in it. So I thought it was weird to find something similar on the side of his shirt. At first I thought, well, maybe he rubbed against the offending plant. But then I noticed that the pollen color wasn't exactly the same shade as that from the Brugmansia. I ran the pollen and it came back to a plant known as the Bat Ear. Turns out that they're not so common."
"It was the only lead we had," Delko said. "Only one garden supply store sells Bat Ear plants. They haven't sold any in a while since they can be kind of hard to grow but they know of a place where the plants do grow. Seems that a few years back they sold some seeds to an older woman. She got the plants to grow, would even sell them seedlings."
Horatio wasn't exactly sure where this was going. "And?"
Calleigh was the one that spoke up. "The address we got from the store owner seems like the perfect place to take hostages. The house sits at the end of a dead end, one of those classic Miami walls surrounding it. Lots of foliage to hide the place. Seems this woman really liked her gardening. Between the three of us we managed to find records on the property. The old lady died four years ago, left the house to her son; which remains in his custody, as far as we can tell."
"What makes you think he's our guy?"
A smile slowly spread across Calleigh's face. "Because it all points back to him. His family used to own that old building in the everglades before the state confiscated it in a drug bust seven years ago. The houses on either side of his are up for sale, no one has lived in them for the last six months or so. This means there's nobody to notice weird things. And the biggest connection of all? He spent time in jail for assaulting an officer over a speeding ticket."
"Good work," Horatio said, everything finally falling to place. "When do you want to move in?"
"Frank is already rounding up the troops. We figured we should go in fast; give them no time to even realize that we're on to them."
Horatio looked around the room at them. "You do realize that this could be a one in a million chance." They all nodded. "All right, as long as you know that….let's go. If Hagen and Jesup are there I want them in our custody before sun up."