CHAPTER 8

Eric and Calleigh barely registered the sudden wetness of their feet before the sound of rushing water reached their ears.

"Shit!" Eric cursed. "That stairwell is supposed to be sandbagged."

The locker room's side door, the only other exit besides the front door leading to the maze of hallways and labs in the basement floor of HQ, led up a twisted flight of stairs to a private access door which separated the interior of the building from the outside world.

"Even without sandbags, how is this much rain coming in from under the outer security door?" Calleigh asked.

"Listen," Natalia told her.

The four CSIs paused and strained their ears to identify the sounds coming through the thick metal in front of them.

"That's wind," she said. "Strong wind."

Ryan groaned. "The door must have been breached by the storm. I told Holly that lock needed work."

"We're on the highest ground in Miami," Calleigh stated worriedly. "But if we're flooding…"

She watched Eric pale in the lamplight.

"What does that mean for the rest of the city," Eric concluded for her softly.

Calleigh noted the fear that flashed in his eyes. Her dad was out of town on business, so other than Natalia, whose sister managed to evacuate, Eric was the only one whose family lived in Miami. The storm intensified so quickly and changed course with so little warning that they never had a chance to get out.

She knew he'd been worrying about them, which contributed to his earlier anxiety about being trapped; he could neither communicate with his loved ones nor help them from here. Eric played patriarch in his family in many ways--not that Pavel didn't-- but Eric protected them. He was their protector and had been, at all costs, since he was old enough to understand the words 'I love you.' He must feel a deep sense of helplessness right now.

Calleigh counted on some measure of cover from the darkness, for the beams of the flashlight currently centered on the rushing water several feet away, and she surreptitiously slipped her fingers into Eric's.

"We will get out of here. They're going to be fine," she whispered to him a promise she had no assurance of keeping.

It didn't matter to Eric. The simple gesture exiled his fear enough for him to focus on the here and now.

"Thanks, Cal," he whispered back. He tenderly squeezed her fingers before he released her hand from his. They both took deep breaths and turned back to Ryan and Natalia.

"We need a way to stop this water," Calleigh pronounced.

Natalia shook her head. "Well, we can't get through this door to check on the sandbags upstairs, so that's off the table.

Calleigh locked eyes with Eric and he knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Natalia, even if we could get through this door, it's too late," he said.

"What do you mean, 'it's too late'?" Ryan asked with furrowed brows.

Calleigh sighed. "At the rate of this intrusion, it's likely we're taking on vast amounts of rainwater right now."

"If we opened that door, we would just flood this room faster," Eric said in conclusion.

"That's impossible," Nat disagreed. "Like Calleigh said, we're on the highest ground in Miami."

Calleigh took a step toward her friend, her shoes making a sloshing sound as she moved through the rapidly-deepening water. "We've never taken a direct hit from a Category 5 hurricane, Nat. We don't know what's possible and not possible. But I know the math."

"The water's coming in too fast for any other scenario," explained Eric. "There's a reason most buildings in Miami don't have basements."

"Multiple reasons, actually," Ryan agreed with a bob of his head and a sigh.

Calleigh nodded, too. "The expense, the moisture, and the sea level."

Natalia ran both her hands through her hair. Her wide, dark eyes betrayed her sudden panic, but it didn't reflect in her voice when she spoke next. "OK, so what do we do?"

"We minimize the likelihood of this door being breached by the water pressure," Eric said.

Ryan understood Eric's train of thought, and his wheels immediately began to turn. "We need something heavy."

"We should try to stem the tide as much as possible before bolstering the door. What about that stack of gym towels?" Natalia asked.

"Already on it," Calleigh said as she took off at a sprint.

Natalia leapt into action behind her. "We can secure the towels at the base of the door with free weights!" she called over her shoulder, trailing behind Calleigh and the swinging beam of her small flashlight.

Ryan's eyes darted around the dark room looking for something, anything. "Eric, help me find something heavy that's not bolted down."

"The gym equipment would work best, but no way will it fit through the doorway," Eric lamented.

Ryan nodded as he tested one of the locker banks. "You're right. Damn, the lockers don't move."

Eric searched high and low in every corner of the locker room. Benches, shelves, trash cans, sinks…either it was bolted to the floor, attached to the wall, or too light to do any good.

A creaking sound reached their ears, and Ryan and Eric's eyes jumped to meet each other in alarm. The pressure on the door must be mounting from the volumes of water advancing in from the outside.

"We need to hurry," Eric yelled so the women could hear him.

"Eric, the free weights!" Ryan exclaimed. "How many do you think we can stack against the door?"

"Not enough," Eric said with a sigh. "But it's something. C'mon."

They turned toward the gym just as Natalia and Calleigh arrived in a rush.

"What happened to the weights and towels?" Ryan asked, confused. They had returned with neither.

"We found something better! In the janitor's closet," Natalia gushed.

"Eric," Calleigh said as she caught her breath. "Do you remember us helping your sister seal the tiles in her pool last summer?"

"You're kidding me…" Eric responded, inspecting her hands, then Natalia's, looking for the telltale white tub of paste. "Please tell me you found sealant…"

"The water is flowing too fast through the cracks to try and seal them," Ryan said skeptically.

"Trust me," Calleigh stated. "This will work. It has to. The towels may stop the gap at the bottom, but that's it."

All four CSIs splashed their way back to the side door and the stream of chilly water pouring in from all sides now but the topmost one. The water reached nearly to the tops of their shoes.

"Who wants to do the honors?" Natalia inquired, proffering the object in her hands to the first taker. She had no clue what to do with it.

"How does this stuff work?" Ryan asked. "Doesn't it have to cure?"

"This isn't silicone-based," Eric explained. He reached for the caulking gun in Natalia's outstretched palms. He'd been expecting a paste like the one he and Calleigh used on Isabel's pool, but this was far superior. He could have kissed Cal for thinking on her feet and checking the janitor's closet.

"It's brand new technology. An expanding foam that hardens and adheres within seconds when it comes in contact with either air or water."

Calleigh watched as Eric twisted the cap off the caulking gun and began to kneel in the water at the base of the door.

"Eric, that water is freezing!" she protested.

"Well, someone has to do it," he stated in return. "It'll be fine."

With that, he knelt on both knees and set to work. Ten minutes and every last bit of foam later, and all four edges of the door were sealed as tight as possible. A trickling stream of water still seeped through the cracks in some places, but given the limited supply of sealant available, Eric did as well as he could do.

"That should hold temporarily," Eric said when he finished. He walked toward Calleigh and wiped an arm over his sweaty brow, which only served to wet his face further, as all of his limbs were currently soaked.

A droplet of the water ran from his forehead down the crease of his nose to his lips, where he absentmindedly flicked it away with his tongue. Then, he stopped in his tracks.

It tasted brackish. This was sea water.