Horatio Goes Against 'Miami's' Sharks In 'Blood In The Water'

See Also: 'Blood In The Water' Episode Guide

The fourth season of CSI: Miami promises to see more blood and carnage. Following the brutal murder of an inmate during the season premiere, a family's sea adventure proves fatal in the second episode, "Blood In The Water."

According to CSI Files sources, the episode takes us out to sea, where the Gannon's family sailing trip has turned into a nightmare. Their yacht has caught on fire and though rescue has been notified, it might take them a while to get there. Time is precisely one of the few things this family can't afford. Craig Gannon tries to suppress his desperation in order to keep his wife and kids calmed, but his family is already panicked, his children old enough to understand they might soon die. His wife Laura thinks they should stay on the boat and wait, surely rescue will get there soon; Craig knows their only chance is to steer the boat back to the canal.

But Craig's idea literally blows into a million pieces. The fire is getting out of control, and various parts of the boat are exploding. Their son Mark appears in front of them with even more troubling news: he can't find his sister Julie. The family runs around the yacht, docking explosions and avoiding the fire. They find Julie in the stern, life vest strapped to her body, ready to jump into the ocean. Their best chances might indeed be out into the sea. Mark takes his sister's suggestion into consideration, but one look overboard tells him jumping might not be a good idea – there are sharks circling the boat like piranhas, waiting for one of them to fall.

But Julie's panic doesn't allow her to think clearly. Her family knows they don't stand a chance with the sharks, whereas rescue might make it in time if they stay onboard. But their best efforts to keep Julie calm fail, and the irrational 19-year-old jumps into the ocean. Sereneness envelops her, like the calm before the storm. But it doesn't take the sharks long to find her. They each bump into her, one by one, taunting her, prompting her panic, until one of them finally takes a bite. Julie screams for help as the blood drives the sharks wild. Desperate and panicked, Mark jumps into the ocean to help his sister as the water turns red with Julie's blood. The Gannons can't do much but watch, horrified, as their children disappear into the blackness of the ocean.

Horatio and his team arrive at the scene of the crime, where rescue is incessantly looking for the bodies of Julie and Mark Gannon. But even they know that sharks rarely leave their prey alive. The Gannons's boat has also sunk, but that's no problem for the Miami team, as their underwater recovery specialist, Eric Delko, is on the job. The young CSI barely has time to inspect the boat, however, stumbling upon a troubling finding first. He shows Horatio a chain from the anchor, and the chain is clean, not the faintest piece of seaweed on it. Horatio knows what this means without having to speculate much - somebody purposely moved the buoy, causing Craig Gannon to veer too fast from the coast. But who would want to hurt this family, and why?

A flicker of hope in the Gannon's ordeal quickly fades, as rescue finds the body of a male in the ocean, but not that of Mark Gannon's. The burn marks on the body indicate he was on the boat with the family, but Laura has never seen him before. The CSIs identify him as Damon Loughlin, a Norwegian student on a visa. Having been away from home, Loughlin's host family cannot account for the student's death, and what's more troubling: ten million dollars worth of gold bars have been stolen from their home. The Gannon's quickly go from victims to suspects when CSIs find out Loughlin wasn't the only surprise finding on that boat – the gold had been there as well, but is now missing.

Meanwhile, Natalia Boa Vista's stay at the lab continues to be a source of conflict. This time, the new DNA Analyst buts heads with Calleigh Duquesne, whose emotional inability to return to the ballistics lab has her walking on egg shells. Having been a part of Horatio's team for years now, Calleigh has learned to make every case a priority. But Boa Vista doesn't share the team's eagerness to solve their fresh cases, and prefers to dump all the work on Valera. Ryan tries to be civil to the new technician, but it is obvious that Boa Vista is not there to make friends, and the woman is not shy about admitting this to the others.

Please note that the above plot details have not been confirmed by CBS, Alliance Atlantis or Bruckheimer Films, and until such time you should treat this information as you would any other rumour. The above information comes from early script drafts and the details of the episodes are liable to change before the episodes are shown.

Blood In The Water" is set to air in late September or early October of 2005.

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