The Return
Chapter 16
Hella could hear someone opening each door on the hallway and as they got closer to her room, she hid in the closet with a loaded gun in her hand. This wasn't the first time in her life she'd had to hide. She thought about the times in her youth when she'd had to hide from the Russians. Holding her breath as the closet was checked, she prayed that they wouldn't see her against the back wall, behind the hanging clothes and boxes. Her ears picked up a woman's voice along with a man's. They spoke in Russian, but Hella could understand. They were searching for Mr. Horatio.
Then Hella suddenly heard the door open, and Calleigh softly call out her name. It troubled Hella that she couldn't warn her. Her young friend abruptly let out a gasp. They had her. A woman began speaking in a deep, rough, mocking voice, her English heavy with a Russian accent.
As she listened to Calleigh angrily reacting to her captors, Hella took a minute to calm down and think of how she could handle the situation. She knew the element of surprise was in her favor, so she decided to burst out of the closet and hopefully take down the Russians without injuring Calleigh. Just as she was about to carry out her plan, she heard Horatio's voice. Mr. Horatio is now in there too! Then when she heard the FBI agent join in, she knew she had to act.
Cross had just stepped in front of Horatio, bending down to pick up the Lieutenant's gun when Hella stepped out of the closet with a .45 automatic pointed toward Deidra and shouted in German,
"FOR MY PEOPLE," then fired twice, hitting a surprised Deidra who was in the process of turning around to confront Hella. Igor immediately fell lifeless to the floor as one of Hella's bullets cut him down.
It happened so fast that Calleigh couldn't stop the momentum of going down with Deidra, slamming into the hard wood floor with the weight of the Russian coming down on top of her.
Cross immediately reacted, straightening up and leveling his gun toward Hella. Horatio lunged, causing the shot to go wild. He landed on top of Cross with a heavy thud, but with the adrenaline coursing through his body, the redhead was oblivious to the pain the impact caused. He knew he had to stop Patrick Cross.
The agent didn't intend to surrender, especially to Caine. Recovering quickly from the fall, Cross abruptly turned over sending Horatio sliding off to one side. But, Horatio didn't stay down; he grabbed a handful of the man's shirt, pulling Cross back and at the same time, making a desperate reach for the gun in the man's right hand.
Cross, having the advantage of his full strength, brought the gun up and swung, making contact with the Lieutenant's head. The impact stunned Horatio momentarily and he could feel his grip going slack, his body falling back toward the floor. Through sheer determination, he caught himself with one hand on the floor, effectively stopping his momentum. Shaking his head in an attempt to overcome the blow, he immediately grabbed Cross who was struggling to his feet, only to find himself being pulled back to the floor. They rolled over and over fighting for control of the gun between them. It fired.
Frank heard a gunshot recognizing it came from the floor above and began running, as fast as he could, taking two steps at a time up the main stairway while at the same time, feeling a sense of increasing trepidation as to what he might find. He'd already come across two dead men in the hallway. Downstairs, Walter and Jared had just entered the back door, after failing in finding entrance to the building from the front, when they heard a shot ring out from somewhere in the building above them.
Lying still, trying to muster the strength to move Cross, Horatio put his fingers to the man's neck and felt for a pulse, relieved to find the man still alive. You bastard, you'd better not die. I want you to face your colleagues... I want you to suffer. Then suddenly he heard Hella call out Calleigh's name in a voice laced with concern.
Calleigh... what's wrong? Thinking the worst gave Horatio strength to shove the agent off to the floor and shakily push up on his hands and knees. Disoriented at first, he slowly realized the struggle had turned him completely around from where he remembered Calleigh standing.
Aware now that she was behind him, he whipped his head around so quickly the room began spinning, and then his breath caught when he saw her prone body sprawled on the floor with Deidra on top of her. Hella was kneeling on the floor next to Calleigh frantically calling her name as she tenderly stroked the unconscious woman's head.
"NO… OH GOD NO… CALLEIGH…" he shouted weakly as he began struggling to his feet to go to her.
After moving Deidra's body, he checked Calleigh's pulse then sagged with relief. Thank God she has a pulse. Quickly making a visual and physical assessment for any wound, he was thankful he couldn't find one.
"MR. HORATIO… YOU INJURED!"
Horatio glanced down at his shirt and found it saturated with blood - Cross's blood.
While still concentrating on Calleigh he reassured the distraught woman, "It's not my blood Hella. I'm OK." As he made the statement, he could feel something warm trickle down the side of his face.
Hella returned her attention on the young blond, concern creeping into her thoughts that she might have hit the woman when she shot the Russians.
"She been shot?"
Horatio replied, "I didn't find a wound… I think the impact with the floor must have knocked her out."
No sooner had he said those words, than he felt Calleigh tense and the heard a low moan escape her throat.
"Sweetheart… you're safe. Wake up for me. Calleigh…" He softly beckoned, as he gingerly stroked her cheek, but her body went slack again.
Then suddenly, a familiar booming voice shouted from the door, startling Horatio and Hella.
Frank saw Calleigh lying on the floor with an older woman on one side, and a man on the other with his back towards the door where he couldn't make out who it was. Stepping just inside the room, he pointed his gun at the man's back.
"POLICE… PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR… NOW, SCUMBAG!"
Horatio's lips turned up into a half-smile, feeling relief at hearing the familiar voice, he nodded toward Hella trying to convey it was alright. Then Horatio responded,
"What took you so long Francis?"
Frank recognized the voice, but knew it couldn't be. Could it? He realized he was tired and thought perhaps his mind was playing tricks on him. Still holding his gun on the man, Frank saw him begin to slowly turn around. The shock of who it was, caused his mouth to drop open.
Finally able to find his voice, Frank muttered, "Well… I'll be damned," as he slowly lowered his gun.
Horatio gave his friend a tired smile and slowly pushed up on his feet.
"I don't know how you did it, but I'm glad you found your way here."
Finally able to speak, Frank replied, "You damn sure don't look dead!" He noticed how tired Horatio appeared and saw the blood on the side of his head.
"What the hell is going on Horatio?"
The initial shock beginning to wear off, Frank walked toward his friend and pulled him into a manly, quick hug, patting him on the back, thankful that Horatio couldn't see the tears threatening to escape his watery eyes.
"If you're not a sight for sore eyes!" Frank exclaimed.
Quickly realizing what he had done, the big man stepped back feeling a bit flustered. He'd never hugged Horatio before, but his emotions had just spilled out without thinking. He turned his attention to Calleigh and a somewhat distraught older woman beside her softly calling Calleigh's name.
Feeling slightly uncomfortable from Frank's attention, Horatio shifted on his feet before answering Frank's previous question, "Long story my friend. Right now, Calleigh needs medical attention. Do you have a radio on you?"
"Yeah, she injured bad?"
"I hope not. It appears she took a blow to the head and is unconscious."
Frank pulled the radio out of his coat that Jared had given him if they got separated and started calling the sheriff's office in Kalispell.
Horatio kneeled back down beside Calleigh continuing to encourage her to open her eyes.
"That man a good guy?" Hella hesitantly asked.
"Yes, he's a good guy Hella."
"I got them Mr. Horatio," Hella smiled as she looked across at him.
Horatio smiled slightly and replied, "That you did Hella. Thank you… we would've been killed if it hadn't been for you."
Walter and Jared finally found the room. They saw Frank and stopped beside him as they took in the scene. After noticing the injured man on the floor and what looked like Deidra further over, Walter then saw Calleigh on the floor being tended by a man with his back to them and an older woman.
"What happened? Was Calleigh shot?" He anxiously inquired while keeping his eyes on the man who for some reason struck him as being familiar.
Frank lowered the radio receiver as he answered; having ended the call after being told that rescue was already on the way.
"She's unconscious."
Jared began checking out the injured man on the floor nearest them and found he was drifting in and out of consciousness.
Walter continued staring at the man's back who was with Calleigh, trying to figure out who it could be.
Then turning toward Frank he commented, "Seems you got the situation under control, Sarge."
Frank shook his head in disagreement and responded, "Not me. He did," pointing toward the man kneeling beside Calleigh.
"Who is that? I feel I should know him."
Frank let out a huff and twisted his mouth to one side before answering, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Walter began walking toward Calleigh and then stopped in his tracks when the man beside her turned his head partially around.
"H…" the big African-American barely whispered in shock.
Horatio smiled, "Mr. Simmons. Has Frank been able to get rescue?"
Staring back at Horatio as if in a trance for a few moments, Walter finally managed to answer, "Uh… yes… they're on the way. Is Calleigh hurt bad?"
"I hope not. She hasn't woken up yet though. I'll feel better when paramedics get here."
Walter thought that Horatio didn't look too good either, but at least he was alive.
"Horatio… what's going on? We all thought you were dead!"
"I'll explain later, but right now, let's…"
They all heard the shouting coming from downstairs drawing their attention to the door and the hallway. Then Daniel Caine entered the room with paramedics following. The elder man stopped and smiled when he saw Horatio.
"Horatio…" Daniel called out in relief while walking toward his son. Reaching him, he looked beyond the younger man and saw Calleigh on the floor.
Horatio nodded at his father as he stood to let the paramedics have room to work, but kept his concentration on Calleigh.
After an initial check, a paramedic approached Horatio and stated,
"We need to airlift her to the medical center in Butte. The storm has shifted far enough to the east to where I believe we can get a copter in now. She needs to be checked for cranial hemorrhaging, especially if she doesn't regain consciousness soon." The young man studied Horatio, "You also should be checked out Sir. You have a nasty cut on the side of your head."
"Don't worry with me… tend to her." The man's words about Calleigh's possible condition frightened him. He knew how serious a hemorrhage could be. "I… uh… I need to go with her."
The paramedic then asked, "Are you family?"
Horatio stared down at Calleigh's pale face and answered in a barely audible voice, "I am… she… she's my fiancée."
Frank and Walter exchanged a quick glance.
As the helicopter approached the medical center, Horatio held Calleigh's hand in his as he rode in a seat beside her, just as he had since they lifted off. She still had not regained consciousness and it really concerned him.
Cross was lying on a stretcher on the other side of Calleigh. He had told the paramedics that the man was a FBI agent so they worked diligently to keep him alive. Cross had coded twice during the flight, but they managed to bring him back and each time Horatio felt relief. The damn bastard better make it. Dying would be too easy for him….
After the helicopter touched down, Cross and Calleigh were rushed into the trauma unit leaving a distraught Horatio standing outside the double doors. The hallway was a busy place. As people passed hurriedly by, some looked at him with sympathy in their eyes, while others didn't even notice him, busy with their own matters.
Recognizing that he probably should walk over to a grouping of chairs before he collapsed, he slowly turned and began walking. Sitting down heavily, he stared blankly toward the trauma unit, and then lowered his throbbing head into his hands as his elbows rested on his legs. Squeezing his eyes shut, he began blaming himself for what happened. If I hadn't had her brought here….
Suddenly for the first time, he realized how tired and weak he felt... and alone. The ordeal had taken a toll on him. Frank and Walter were driving to the hospital, bringing Hella with them, but that would take some time.
After a few minutes, he felt a light touch on his shoulder and a woman's voice calling out to him.
"Mr. Caine? You need to come with me."
Lifting his head, Horatio looked up through a haze of pain and worry, barely able to make out a woman standing next to him. She looked like a nurse.
"Sir… are you alright?"
Horatio's first thought was that Calleigh had woken up.
TBC….
A/N: Thank you for your patience in waiting. I have really struggled to get this chapter posted!