A/N: I haven't forgotten about this story, and I thank those that have recently reviewed. And to answer the one that asked me if I am continuing, yes I am. However to get back into the mind set of the story, I have to back track a few seasons and rewatch them. I have kinda lost my 'time line' but not the story. I give you my next chapter, it's a tad short or so I believe and I hope you don't mind it. Anyways as always this story is posted Raw, if you wish to be a BETA please let me know as my previous beta up and left me without giving me back any beta'd stories. thankfully I do not see any of my stories online anywhere else so it should be okay. As stated previously I do not own CSI Miami or it's characters or the story plots. Alterations to the plots and plots not in the show are mine as are the characters of STAT including Erik Destler, Kamryn Darkening and Tony.
Thanks for reading the review.
"Termination"
It had been already an hour and the truck chase was starting to aggravate Erik as he fought to keep his balance as he worked to keep the growing number of SUV's off their tail. It was becoming even harder knowing that STAT was being brought in and he didn't want to have to open fire on his team mates. The truck swerved to the left taking an off-ramp leading to a highway leading out of Miami Dade County. Planting a left hand on the roof of the truck Erik moved and held onto the rifle with live ammunition in his right hand the sling strap just barely staying on his shoulder.
"You are going to have to move faster Horatio; I can't keep this up anymore... STAT is on their way and only god knows what that's going to be like."
"I'm doing the best I can; I can't keep this going if I can't get that chopper off my ass"
"This better not come back to bite me..." Erik said more to himself as he moved the sling strap back up on his shoulder. The semi-trailer that Erik was anchored to was full of bullet holes and luckily there was no shot out tires as Erik prevented that from happening. Exchanging a magazine in his G36c he gazed up to the sky and saw the two police choppers that were sitting on them with the spot lights. Switching his auto fire to single shot; he blinked and his helmet HUD changed to an inferred targeting system that Tony had programmed into his right eye. With his tracking reticule finding the main target spots that he needed to shoot out, Erik sighted down the barrel and pulled the trigger and hit the search light of one the helicopters, another successive squeeze of the trigger yielded that the back rotor of the second helicopter was disabled forcing the helicopter with no search light to swerve out of the way.
With the one helicopter down Erik turned his attention to the remaining helicopter, finding targets on along the side of the machine and other rotor Erik sighted down the barrel but was unable to pull the trigger when the truck swerved to the left then right hard as he heard Horatio yell over the radio.
"HOLD ON!" With the way the truck was turning Erik put both his hands down on the roof to balance himself as they went over a low rise divider narrowing missing a palm tree and a high-rise divider that would have stopped them in their place. Even though Erik was anchored he grunted and started to slide slightly trying to find a solid purchase.
Jamming the edge of his foot into the container's edge Erik pushed himself back onto the center of the roof as he stood up turning to look over his shoulder as Horatio blared the trucks horn. Switching the rifle on his shoulder to the battle rifle Erik racked the slide on the rifle and watched as they passed by a crowd of people on the side of the road.
Cracking off a few shots Erik hit a few of the passing pedestrians who went down instantly forcing one of the SUV's to skid to a stop as several of the geared officers jumped out to help out. There were still three SUV's on the tail of the semi forcing Erik to switch rifles again to his G36c and opened up on the bullet ridden SUV's again.
"To hell with his, I need to end this right now" Erik emptied out his current magazine and reached into one of his back pouches and pulled out a new magazine, this one in white pen mark "A.P" Slamming it into the breach at the bottom of rifle and pulled the slide back on the side of weapon.
"Horatio pick up the speed..." Once Erik had said what he was going to do he felt the truck pick up speed and swerve to the side as Erik took aim and fired at the hoods of the trailing SUV's. It was already past an hour and a half into the chase, turning a corner Erik took the final SUV out of the picture and swivelled dropping to the roof of the trailer as they went under a low bridge. With nothing more chasing after them Erik laid on his stomach as Horatio took another turn and took the semi out of the city to a secluded spot and parked the rig in what Horatio remembered as the crime scene he had first met Catherine.
Unhooking himself from the roof rig Erik slid off the roof and landed on his feet before falling to his rear then his back as he laid there catching his breath. Breathing heavily after what had just happened Erik opened his eyes and looked up at the helmeted face of his friend and 'dead' partner.
"I never want another car chase with you again Horatio... ever..."
Hearing chuckling, Erik watched as Horatio sat down beside him and pulled his helmet off showing the red head's hair matted to his head as a corner of his mouth lifted up into a smile. Erik pulled his helmet off and pushed it to the side as he ran his gloved hand through his sweat soaked hair slicking it back as he laid there.
"We need to get this truck out of here and the rounds taken out of here as well"
"How exactly do you propose to do that Erik?"
"Easy, we wait for Kamryn to show up with a truck of her own and we transfer contents, then we 'secure the rig' till there is nothing left. We have something for stuff like this; I just hope that Kamryn remembers to bring it"
It was fifteen minutes later when their comms went off and they heard a very worried woman yell in their ears.
"ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE!?"
Erik winced as Horatio pulled his comm piece out of his ear at the decibel level that just rang through him leaving him rubbing his ear. Erik just grimaced and took it even though he started to hear a slight ring.
"Kamryn, please take it easy. I had to do what I had to, or we wouldn't have been able to get out of the city"
"I don't give a rats ass, do you have ANY idea how much trouble you are in!?"
"Kam..."
"Don't you Kamryn me! Now get off your back before I run your pathetic ass over..." Erik had sat up and looked to his left as he saw a black swat style truck drive up and a very angry woman got out and came up to the two men. She looked to the both of them with fury in her eyes before she slapped both soundly across the face before she spun on her heel and began transferring the boxes the semi was carrying to the vehicle she arrived in.
Horatio looked to Erik as he saw a red mark develop on Erik's face that was also when he realized that he felt his own face stinging from the force of the slap. Pushing themselves up to a stand to help the fuming woman, Erik and Horatio finished the load transfer as Erik was forcefully handed something. Taking the package Erik set about working on the bullet ridden truck and placing items as Horatio took after Kamryn.
"Kamryn, I know you are mad, but this..."
"I swear to god Horatio, you try and talk your way out of this I will put a bullet in your head instead of your chest. You two risked too much, you took out two police helicopters, and then you took out ten police and SWAT SUV's with full geared members. You took on the Miami DADE CSI, as well as STAT. I cannot protect the two of you if you continue on this path. I can't change anything anymore; Erik's game has just gotten that much more dangerous!"
"Okay, I spoke a little too soon. I understand that you have a job to do, we have a job to do as well, and you knew the risks when we started this venture. We cannot go back, not now. We have just killed half the problem that we had when we first started, we prevented the Alloy rounds from being taken and sold elsewhere, and we stopped Saris and his men and left the innocent alive. The last remaining thing is for..." Horatio was cut off as he heard Erik say 'shield your eyes', clamping his eyes shut he felt massive heat behind him that felt as if he was being burned alive, but it soon ended and he opened his eyes turning to what used to be the truck and saw the remains of the truck in a pile of molten slag. "What did you do?"
Erik looked to Horatio then behind him to the metal remains; he looked to the ground then walked to the truck and climbed in after he picked up his helmet. Horatio watched as Kamryn walked away and he took followed suit and got into the truck as they drove away.
Erik was silent for fifteen minutes before he spoke to Horatio as they sat across from each other.
"It's a variation of Thermite, a couple years ago, a movie came out called AVP:R, or Alien Vs Predator Requiem. The idea taken from that movie was a Predator weapon that would eat anything organic based on a particular compound. However it was adapted with Thermite, basically the Predator weapon was used to eat away at the 'Alien' DNA, effectively dissolving it into nothing. A small drop or so would destroy an entire body and then some, it was used several times throughout.
This variation for real world applications is similar; however you need to have a set up delivering system. Once set up the liquid Thermite would spread along the surface of an object and I just had to trigger the chemical compound to 'eat'."
"I take it you didn't create this weapon?"
"No, and you know already who supplies us with gear and armour, he fixed me up" Erik's right eye gleamed red for a moment in the darkness as they passed under an underpass. Horatio looked to the flooring of the vehicle as Erik turned his own gaze to the driver of the truck who was still fuming at them abet silently now.
Once at the safe house Kamryn climbed out of the truck and opened the back door letting the men get out. As Erik was the last one out Kamryn waited till Horatio was out of 'firing' range so to speak before she put a nasty right hook to the side of Erik's face and stood over him while he put a hand up tenderly touching the already imprinted fist mark.
"IF YOU EVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN!" Kamryn yelled at the man before she shoved past Horatio, slammed the door out of the safe house. There was the tell-tale sign of a car door slamming and a car peeling out.
"I don't think I have seen her as pissed as I have now Erik."
"Don't worry, not the first time she has done that. She just worries because she is usually clean in execution while I'm not up to her subtle standards. Oww" Horatio helped Erik up and the two men went through the garage and into the kitchen where Horatio pulled an icepack from the freezer.
"Here..." The red head tossed the pack to Erik who caught it and put it gingerly to this face only to pull it back and look around for a towel to wrap it up in. Repeating his earlier action of putting the ice pack now wrapped to face Erik looked to the truck in the garage and the bullets they 'stole'. "So what now Erik?"
"We look for Catherine, we've dealt with the Miami gang problem or more specifically your problem, now we need to deal with ours. The next step is to hunt for her while your team does what they do best, my only concern is that we made a rather large mess all over Miami tonight and it's going to be on the news" Turning away from the truck Erik pulled at the buckles of his armor and started to strip down to the BDU's he was wearing underneath. Horatio had followed suit and tidied up while Erik went to the basement and turned on the TV and surfed till he hit a news station.
Lo and behold the news was remarking on the "Miami truck chase, there was footage of the big rig and Horatio's driving while Erik was shooting at the trucks chasing them. Sitting on the wheeled stool Erik glanced to his side and looked at Horatio before turning back to the TV listening to the reporter.
"My team is never going to believe I did this..." Horatio said from his place sitting on the stairs, running a hand through his hair the red head sighed and watched Erik and his body language as it stiffened and Erik's face turned to the ceiling.
"I hope to god that Leona forgives me..."
"She will Erik, just remember to never let her go..." Horatio stood and went started up the stairs leaving Erik alone while the news caster continued her coverage of the chase and the aftermath. Glancing about the medical equipment and the chair that Erik was in not that long ago to the wall tables that held tools and other items. One such item caught Erik's attention and he stood up and walked over to it and picked up the brushed metal frame, holding it with both hands Erik's features softened.
"I'll be there for our wedding Leona, I promise"
"Well, well... what is this?" Lights flickered coming from a rather large tv that was mounted on a wall, around the floor and what used to be white carpeting were body parts and a large blood pool. The flickering of the lights and Zach sitting with an equally bloody and yet alive Catherine smiled as he ran his blood slick hands through the blonds' hair.
"What do you think Catherine, do you think I should hire them for taking my ammunition?" Catherine was shaking so hard that Zach was laughing quietly. "I'll take that as a yes, I think I will hire them, because I need people like to help make and clean up messes."
Standing up the man in all his naked glory headed for the phone that was sitting on a table beside a wet towel. After cleaning his hands up Zach put through a request with the contract killer that had taken out Horatio and Erik to look for the two that were on the news. Once he was finished with the call he took himself back to where Catherine, the dirtied blond haired woman could do nothing more than scream.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Horatio had been standing out on the back deck of the house his mind going over memories of Marisol, the older sister to Eric Delko and someone that meant the world to him. Their romance had started out innocently with a dinner, but a few more dinners and a few meetings while Horatio was at work and the two fell in love with each other. Marisol had been fighting breast cancer and together with Horatio who believed in her so much they fought it and won, with the cancer in remission Marisol had talked with Horatio about living and the two eventually through dating and by an unconventional method wedding proposal the two were married. They hadn't been married for more than two days before she was gunned down and killed.
Looking to the rolling waves of the beach front property Horatio kept his face set but he was hurting on the inside, still was hurting on the inside with nothing more that he could do. He lost his wife, his young beautiful wife and there was nothing that he could do about it. However in his heart he never let her go, would never let her go because she meant the world to him as he meant the world to her till the end.
Turning and heading back in Erik had made his way upstairs and was holding a phone his face dark, Horatio took the phone and read the contents of the e-mail that had been sent to them. The two looked to each other and looked to the rising sun. Putting the phone on the kitchen table the two of them set about making breakfast and the strongest pot of coffee possible. The screen on the phone with the open information read:
Your play worked, get your shit together you've been called up; Zach wants to meet you today. 11pm at the tarmac where you died. Rest is up to you.
K
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX
The tarmac was empty, well mostly empty as a lone black SUV stood just by the area where Erik had fallen. A lone figure sat on the hood of the SUV in a suit with elbows resting on knees looking about the empty airport. In the distance of the tarmac matte black Jeep Rubicon drove up, windows were tinted and it looked heavy duty and meant to be on the trails not in the city.
The vehicle parked fifteen feet away from the other SUV and the high beams turned on as the doors opened and two figures stepped out. The man on the SUV was blinded by the high beams as he raised a hand to shield his eyes.
"You called for us?" Came one voice from in front of the Jeep, it was gravely and electronic. The man on the SUV hissed, he couldn't see squat and it was annoying him that the two standing in front of the high beams where in black but that was all that he could make out.
"I did, I saw what you two did assuming you are the two that took my rounds"
"We took your rounds yes, but if you wanted us dead you would have shot us as soon as we showed up. And seeing as you are alone here as we scouted before coming, you have a job for us, what is it?"
"I want to see who I am dealing with first"
"Absolutely not, we don't show our faces for a reason, you see us and we have to kill you" it was another electronic voice, but the tone was firm, strong and unyielding that spoke up from the left of the man of the man on the right.
"Fine, but know that you now work for me, I am Zacherias Paige. I am the mastermind behind the body count going up while Horatio Caine and Erik Destler were still alive. I have a few jobs that I need to be done, are you up to become rich men?"
Zach squinted hard but still the bright lights were now making him see spots, this was not his plan and to have two do what they did spoke volumes about their craft and possible history.
"What is it you want done?" it was the first voice that had spoken up, Zach was now developing a severely blinding head, the man reached behind him and picked up a bag and strong throw the bag soared into the air and was caught by one of the men who did something to the bag. A click, a rip later, something was pulled from the bag and thrown back at Zach.
"We aren't stupid, you want to try and track us and we'll just kill you ourselves got it?" Zach nodded to the shadowed figures that pulled out paperwork. A few moments of silent deliberation and the voice spoke again. "We'll take the job, but we aren't kidnappers. We'll clean your messes up but that's all, we may be contract killers, but women are off limits. You want women taken out; you get the one that killed the cop and soldier."
The men turned back to the Jeep as Zach finally had to close his eyes against the bright light. He heard one last comment before doors closed and the lights went off.
"We will be there tomorrow" Zach managed to rub his eyes but the bright spots persisted even with his eyes closed, how he was going to drive back to his own base he didn't know and those two he just hired he swore that they thought him weak and below them. Tomorrow he would show them, but first he needed his vision back.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX
It was a dangerously quiet ride back to the safe house; Horatio was flipping through the file that was given to them. It was a contract and personal file, they were contracted to kill all of the STAT members that had shown up in Miami and to take out the remainder of the Miami CSI team, there was detailed information: Family members, addresses, phone numbers, cars, stuff that very few had access to.
Throwing the file onto the dashboard Horatio's face set angrily as he fought to keep control of himself, Erik wasn't fairing any better as the right side of the steering wheel was starting to warp under pressure of his grip. Once returned to base the two made it to the office that had been set up and Erik pulled up a secure connection to Tony.
"We have a problem and severe leak in our systems…"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXX
The next day Erik and Horatio donned their armour and took their weapons. Making sure that there was no identifying markers on anything they wore and carried they got back into the Jeep that they had taken last night and travelled to the where Zach was supposedly be. Making their way to old yet down and powered warehouses they came to the one that they were supposed to be at.
Looking at the place, much like the STAT safe house they were at it didn't look like much on the outside; it was always on the inside that made the difference. Making sure their helmets were sealed they parked off away from the warehouse making sure they remembered were they were at the two men went into the warehouse and the sight that greeted them was nothing like either men had ever seen before. The outside of the door that must have led to the inside was covered with the remains of dead bodies covered in maggots, flies among other things. Making sure their external mics were off Erik looked to Horatio who knelt down and looked through the remains while trying to keep his day's meals in check.
"This man has dismembered, defiled if that is what I think that is in her mouth and eaten her…" Erik was still standing when a door opened and very naked and bloodied Zach appeared.
"Do you like my handy work gentlemen?"
"This is certainly different; I'm guessing the smell is getting too much for you right now?"
"It is becoming a little unsettling seeing as the meat has aged well past expiry date. I want this gone, do what you need to and I'll reward you with a show" Horatio looked to Zach then to Erik and stood, his grip on his rifle tightening.
Zach looked at both armoured men and eyed them hungrily; he wondered what they were like underneath all that gear. Now while he was typically a straight man with 'straight' tastes, he always wondered what it would be like to take a man.