See Also: 'Shootout' Episode Guide

In the upcoming CSI: Miami episode "Retaliation," Horatio Caine becomes determined to stop the endless cycle of gang violence after an assassination attempt in Dade Memorial hospital escalates into a full-fledged shootout.

CSI Files sources revealed today that the episode will open in true hectic ER fashion. Two paramedics racing into the hospital with car crash survivor Betty Rockingham. Orderly Ramon Morales telling them to put her in bay four. Betty's husband stumbling in behind her, oblivious to his own wounds. Overworked nurse Angela Mills trying to simultaneously deal with a waiting room full of patients demanding immediate treatment, and an equally insistent ringing phone. And then in the other bays, a woman giving birth, a young mother with her baby, and a young black man holding his stomach in pain as he's being x-rayed.

Just when viewers may start to think they've tuned into the wrong network, someone new enters the E.R.: Hector del Rio, only 17, but already streetwise and tough - and holding a 9mm hand gun. Nurse Mills screams, but Hector doesn't let himself be deterred from his mission. He scans each bay until he reaches the final one, and spots his target: the young black man in bay 5. Hector prepares to pull the trigger, when suddenly his intended victim draws out his own 9mm gun and begins shooting. Hector is briefly paralysed, then returns fire. Within moments, everything is drowned out by the sounds of gunfire and people screaming.

When the CSIs arrive at Dade Memorial, the emergency ward has turned into a morgue. Both Hector and his target are dead - but so is Betty Rockingham, and at least four others are injured. The first thing Horatio notices when he inspects Hector's body is a tattoo on his neck, proclaiming his membership of the South Side Hermanos. Horatio quickly surmises this was a gang revenge shooting, as violence has been flaring up over the past months between the Hermanos and the Ten-Trays. But how did the Hermanos know they could find their target at Dade Memorial?

When Alexx finds a cell phone on Hector's body, they discover the answer: just before the shooting, Hector received a call from someone. Yelina proposes tracing the number, but Horatio has a better idea. He calls the number - and another nearby cell phone starts ringing. It belongs to Ramon Morales, the orderly, who tries to run away - but he stands no chance against Horatio. Morales is arrested, and when it's confirmed that he has a long-standing affiliation with the South Side Hermanos, it seems the case is closed.

While Horatio and Tripp interrogate Morales back at the police station, and Alexx examines the three bodies in the morgue, Calleigh and Delko finish up processing the crime scene. They've brought along Bendies, a sort of crash test dummies that they now put in place of the actual victims. Then they place trajectory rods in all the bullet holes left in the E.R. walls and in the victims' bodies, and affix laser beams to each of the rods. But when Calleigh switches on what she calls her "light show," they get an unpleasant surprise - while most of the bullets trace back to Hector and the Ten-Trays member, the bullet that pierced the young black man's skull doesn't. The laser beam coming out of the Bendie's head points to the door of the emergency ward - the spot that must have been occupied by a third gunman...

Please note that this plot information has not been confirmed by CBS or Bruckheimer TV and until such time you should treat it as you would any other rumour from an unofficial source. The details are based on an early draft of the script and aspects of the episode may change before it goes to air.

"Retaliation" will likely air sometime in January, 2005.

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