CSI: Miami

Season 3 - Episode 24 - 10-7

Story by Michael Ostrowski
Teleplay by Ann Donahue & Elizabeth Devine
Directed by Joe Chappelle

Empty lofts line the streets of a deserted urban landscape where red-hot deejay Gary and his buddy unload giant amplifiers in preparation for an after-hours party in one of the abandoned buildings. Soon, one of the city’s notorious “break in parties” – when a popular DJ and his crew break into a building and fill it with hip young party-goers – is in full swing. Eighteen year-olds Tiffany and Amanda arrive with a bottle of champagne, amid the flood of hot young revelers flooding the space. Amanda quickly spots Matt Young, 24, a handsome and privileged guy who is suddenly shoved into Amanda and her friend by Scott Owens, pushing his way through the crowd towards the DJ.

Owens tells Gary since it was he who financed the deejay’s first album he has a right to a cut of everything Gary makes – no freelancing allowed. Gary blows Owens off, telling him he doesn’t need him anymore and he’ll do as he pleases. Furious, Owens storms out of the building. Riding the crest of the party wave, Gary cranks up the volume when, suddenly, an unseen explosion vaporizes the wall behind him, Gary goes down and the music is replaced by screaming kids.

Firefighters and paramedics are at the scene tending to the injured when the CSI team arrives. Alexx surveys one of the bodies while Horatio concurs with Det. Hagen that the blast came from next door. Moving through a gaping hole where the wall once stood, Horatio discovers yet another body – 32 year-old Brandon Miller.

Outside, Ryan is approached by Erica Sikes, a pretty young reporter who thanks him for the tip which allowed her to be the first reporter on the scene. Horatio and Hagen question Owens and Young. Young is released, but Hagen tells Owens to stick around awhile. Ryan uncovers a mercury switch, a hair-trigger detonation device requiring only a strong vibration to set off a bomb, indicating the party’s loud music activated it. Ryan also discovers an altimeter switch which tells him the bomb wasn’t meant to go off when it did. Clearly, Miller created the bomb but didn’t anticipate the party.

Alexx finds pieces of molten plastic embedded in Miller’s back and a knife wound in his lower abdomen. Delko locates the burnt knife with blood on it. While photographing the scene, she snaps a photo of a rectangular space with a “missing piece.” Without warning, a gun is pressed to the back of her head, she drops to the floor and the distinctive “click” of the gun’s trigger activation rings in her ear, though no bullet is fired. The door slams, she rises and encounters Delko, who she accuses of holding the gun to her head. He says he has no idea what she is talking about.

Alexx finds high levels of potassium iodide, used to counter radiation intake, in Miller’s body. Horatio suspects a dirty bomb laced with radioactive materials and calls in HAZMAT for cleanup. Ryan discovers TNT was used in the bomb as well, and tracks it to U.S. Air Force Staff Sergeant Tim Stoddard. Stoddard admits he sold TNT to Miller.

Delko finds a useable print on the knife, but is informed he’s unauthorized to learn the ID of the print’s owner. Horatio intercedes, learning the print is that of his brother, Raymond. Agent Parks tells Horatio that Raymond is indeed alive; he discovered who was making the dirty bombs and is now missing.

Calleigh is completely obsessed by the gun incident and IDs the make of the gun by its distinct click – a Ruger GP-100.

Horatio and Peters determine the plastic pieces found in Miller’s body were not from the bomb but from plastic ice cubes used in a local nightclub’s well-known martinis.

Ryan again meets Erica, who is anxious for another “exclusive” on the explosion. He tells her he has nothing new, but she picks up on the potassium iodine reference when he takes a call from the lab on his cell phone.

Horatio brings Young in for re-questioning; Young has a bottle of potassium iodine and a gun with an empty cylinder in his possession. Young confesses to a grudge against the USA. He is released, but Horatio orders 24-hour surveillance. Ray Jr. goes missing and Horatio insists that Yelina go undercover. Young slips the 24/7 surveillance.

Horatio climbs in the Hummer and finds Raymond hiding in the back seat. Raymond says he was ID’d by Miller and had to silence him to protect Yelina and Ray Jr. At Young’s apartment, Horatio and Hagen discover a copy of Ray Jr.’s soccer schedule. They track the location of his rented vehicle through its onboard GPS. Horatio approaches the warehouse where Ray Jr. is being held. Young and Nassar, a Middle Eastern exchange student, are inside; Nassar has a 9mm pointed at Ray Jr. Raymond offers to trade places with his son, but Nassar turns him down.

Gunfire erupts, and Raymond quickly darts in front of Ray Jr. while Horatio takes out Young with a single shot. Horatio then grabs Ray Jr. and gets him safely into the Hummer. Nassar shoots Raymond and flees.

On television, Calleigh and Delko watch Erica broadcast a “dirty bomb scare,” and a guilty-faced Ryan realizes he was the unwitting source of her information. While working in the Ballistics Lab with her back to Det. Hagen, Calleigh hears that familiar gun click. She turns to face Hagen, who has taken his own life with his Ruger GP-100.

Alexx finishes up with Hagen in the lab and as he is being rolled out, Calleigh spots a soot-covered piece of paper sticking out of his jacket. It is a weather report – evidence from the crime scene that Hagen had taken, certain it would make him a hero later.
Tyler Jensen IDs the weather report as a reading of the current day’s barometric pressure, temperature and wind speed. Tyler then determines the time and location of what is sure to be the bomb detonation – 4:00 PM at Carrillo Park, in the middle of downtown.

Nassar is stationed at the park; as he jumps from his jeep into a waiting helicopter Horatio shoots him. Horatio orders the pilot out of the helicopter at gunpoint, then slides inside and deactivates the bomb.

Horatio tells Yelina he has arranged a trip to Brazil for the family to put everything in perspective. At the airport, Yelina registers shock that Horatio isn’t traveling with them, but he assures her she won’t be going alone. At the top of the stairs leading to the small jet stands Raymond Caine, eagerly awaiting his wife and son.