"Shhh," Horatio Cain put his finger to his lips, signalling for silence. Gun in hand, his muscles tense, the LT prepared to enter enemy territory. With only minutes until his time expired, and the captives, he knew he had to act swiftly and efficiently.

Let's Go he thought to himself.

Signalling silently to Calleigh Duquesne that they would enter in 3 seconds, he began to count down on his fingers.

3...2...1

"Miami Dade PD!" they cried as they whipped around the corner and through the doorway. Surprising two armed men, they took them down, each with only one shot. They continued to move swiftly through the room and out the other side. The hallway was empty, but for the two CSIs and their backup SWAT team.

They hurried down the hallway, clearing each door they passed before continuing on. Even though they had found nothing yet, they remained tense, anticipating danger around every turn. When they reached the last door, they paused, knowing that this was the door they were looking for. This had to be where the captives were being held.

Horatio wiped the sweat from his brow, preparing for the moment they had been waiting for. He made eye contact with Calleigh and gave a slight nod of his head, directing it at all who were there.

This is it, he thought as they burst through the door and saw what awaited them. Not only were the captives not there, but the enemy had left two of their own bound together and gagged, struggling in vain to escape. They had been fooled!

With a nod from her LT, Calleigh cautiously moved toward the bound pair, checking them for weapons, before untying them. "Where are they?" the feisty blonde asked with a no nonsense tone to her voice.

"Where are who?" the smaller of the pair asked innocently as he rubbed his wrists. "I have no idea who you're talking about."

"You're one of them, of course you know who I'm talking about," she replied, beginning to lose her patience.

"If we were one of them," the other one commented, as he stopped rubbing his wrists, the feeling slowly coming back. He held up the ropes still loosely wrapped around him, "They wouldn't have tied us up, now would they?" He asked this question with a hint of mockery, but before Calleigh could reply, one of the SWAT officials called her from the hall.

"Lt. Caine, Ms. Duquesne, I think you need to see this."

Without another word to the two captives, she left the room, giving them a glare to show that it wasn't over between the three of them. She still had some questions she needed to ask. But her train of thought was interrupted when she saw what the official had to show her.

On the ceiling, just above her reach, there was a large square cut into the drywall. Even in the dim lighting, the southerner could tell that it was a door leading into an attic. How did I miss this she scolded herself. It's in plain view, And they call me a CSI.

Still mentally scolding herself, she watched as her LT reached up and slid his fingers through the small loop of a handle. Once again, counting down from three he paused before pulling slightly on the loop. As the trapdoor collapsed he jumped slightly backwards, the ladder nearly connecting with his knee. Then he began to climb.

His ascent took only seconds, and he was soon in the attic space. Spinning around fast, but not so fast that he could miss any dangers lurking in the darkness, Horatio took in his surroundings. He was in a small space, hardly big enough to use for anything but storage, and that was exactly what it was used for. There were boxes stacked everywhere and dust coating everything. But the LT wasn't looking at the boxes. He was looking at the disturbance in the dust.

Following the trail in the dust, he only had to swerve around a box before he gained sight of his target. The dark hooded figure was hunched over a limp captive, carefully tying their hands to the post with intricate knots. The other hostage was already secured in place. Horatio aimed his gun, knowing exactly what he had to do. He fired his gun into the back of his target.

Horatio Caine fired his gun into the back of Natalia Boa Vista.