After two weeks of football causing the episode to be pre-empted, we are finally back with a CSI recap.
Sara, Morgan, and Finn are at a forensic conference and enjoying their time relaxing, where Finn has made plans for them all to have a great dinner at a steakhouse, with a special vegetarian dish for Sara. Meanwhile back at the lab, Greg, Dave, and Cooper are with Doc Robbins where they are standing over a very decomposed body. The body was found in a barrel at a construction site. Greg takes a sample of the goopy liquid surrounding the body to see what was used to try and destroy it.
Back with the girls, they are all enjoying a time of pampering as we see a man get a weapon ready. We see them having drinks as a man with a rifle points a gun at the people having fun by the pool.
After the credits, the girls are at the forensics conference. Morgan is impressed with the turn out, commenting very few people came to her presentation a year earlier. When they see a woman named Jane Snyder, Sara tries to suggest they leave to have food. Jane comes over to them and after an awkward conversation about talking competently on the stand, Sara tells the girls Jane used to be a criminologist with her years earlier, but then she became an expert for the defense. She made one of Sara’s trainees seem incompetent at trial and a rapist was put back on the street.
The girls move on to a man’s booth where he is showing off digital software that allows police to view video of a crime scene without taking a witness’ phone. Seeing the flirtatious attitude between Finn and the man, Sara and Morgan leave for another display. Then we discover Finn knows the gentleman.
Back at the lab, Robbins is telling Cooper what he is able to find from the skeleton. Their victim is an adult, white male who was shot. Robbins is hoping to get DNA from the bone marrow in his femur.
The girls are at the pool and Sara is annoyed that Morgan signed them up for Jane’s presentation, but Morgan defends herself since she did it weeks earlier. They notice Finn is looking for someone and she tells them that the vendor, Mark, is someone she met at a conference years earlier and they hook up once a year. Morgan talks about making a pros and cons list whenever someone shows interest and Sara tells Finn finding the perfect someone who gets you is worth the risk. Finn goes to meet Mark and we see the sniper again.
Hodges and Cooper are talking about what they want done to their bodies after death before Cooper asks about the goop. It was muriatic acid, but it didn’t completely get rid of the body. Greg comes in with an ID. The victim is Paul Carson, a security guard who was reported missing just three days earlier. Greg tells them that he worked at the Mediterranean where the girls are and that Carson’s key card was used at the hotel.
Morgan and Sara go to Jane’s presentation and Sara is not impressed with the strobe lights. Sara watches in shock as the performance involves half naked men. In the middle of the performance, shots ring out. Morgan and Sara get down on the ground as people run screaming.
As the girls watch in horror, multiple people are shot, including a woman named Vicki who had just sat down beside them. Once the shooter leaves, Morgan goes to make a desperate attempt to save her life while Sara calls in the shooting. Sara goes over and tells her it’s too late. Morgan asks what happened and Sara tells her she saw one shooter go out the back door with an assault rifle. She makes a phone call to tell Finn.
Mark and Finn are in the elevator but when the phone rings, she ignores it. When it opens, the gunman is standing right there and shoots them as Mark grabs Finn to save her from the bullets. Inside the elevator, Mark has a gunshot wound. Before she can make a phone call, the elevator lights go out.
Greg and Cooper discuss what’s happening. Cooper heard from the girls and all they know is five are dead. Greg asks Cooper how he can help and Cooper tells him to ID whoever the killer is since he may be their shooter.
The SWAT team enters the hotel and find bodies. Sara is still in the hotel and she gets a call from Cooper who found out she won’t evacuate. Sara got supplies from vendors and is hoping she can help and tells him she is safe with the deputies. He tells her to be careful.
Cooper meets Ecklie, who is grateful Morgan got out of the hotel thanks to him. Morgan is going to try to use the video footage information she got from Mark in hopes someone got video of the gunman. Hotel surveillance went down before the shooting. They are watching a live feed of the SWAT team as we see Finn in the elevator begging for help getting Mark some help, but they can’t come until the area is cleared. Mark thinks the dim lighting with her is romantic, trying to make light of the situation. Finn is worried about his blood loss and she grabs a tampon from her purse, telling him they were used during the 19th century in order to plug up bullet holes.
Ecklie and Cooper watch the live feed and the SWAT team finds a man leaning over a body. He tells the team he thought the gunman would shoot him, too. Cooper tells Ecklie Sara saw a gunman with long blond hair and the man on the feed has short dark hair. Cooper wonders why the man wasn’t shot and he tells Ecklie based on the body count and where the shooter entered different rooms that the gunman is targeting specific people.
Cooper goes into the morgue to see bodies of the victims from the shooting. Robbins is doing the autopsy on Vicki, where he noted she has a C-section scar. He pulls out a .223 caliber bullet from her body. Cooper is hoping to find out what the victims had in common so they could save others in the hotel.
Greg is in the lab photographing a van. It belonged to Paul Carson and was found abandoned. He did some forensic work and he also got surveillance footage of the time Carson was at work, as he tells Cooper. A man in a hoodie was seen in photos and since he never exited the frame, they deduce he broke into the back of the van. Greg found a used tissue and thinks they might be able to get DNA and Cooper tells him to have Henry work on it first.
Hodges and Morgan are watching the security footage and Morgan tells him Finn is still in the elevator. He tries to be hopeful that they will be rescued soon. He can’t see the shooter’s face in one clip, so he checks another frame. But the frame catches Morgan’s reaction to the gun shots. Hodges tells her he can do this himself, but she tells him she wants to stay. They are able to get facial recognition once Hodges zooms in on the shooter.
Cooper tells Ecklie the man is Jeff Lasky from Phoenix. They are able to tap into his location and tell SWAT he is on the ninth floor. SWAT finds him and tells him to stop. Jeff stops and turns around, looking like he will surrender before he puts his gun up. SWAT immediately shoots him dead. Ecklie tells the team to make sure Jeff didn’t put any bombs in place and Cooper talks about getting Finn from the elevator.
Inside the elevator, Finn tells Mark they are going to be rescued. Finn tells Mark about being in Ireland to see a U2 concert and he tells her he’s never been there. Mark falls unconscious as she is speaking and Finn begins doing CPR. Paramedics arrive to try and save him.
Sara is talking to Morgan, where they find out that Jeff was angry because a convicted rapist was put out on the street where he eventually raped and killed his family. The three CSIs who had been murdered worked at that crime lab that worked the case. Then Morgan tells Sara who testified for the defense.
Sara confronts Jane after finding out that she had received threats from Latsky and never reported it. Jane holds to her side, saying evidence in the case against the man who raped both Lasky’s wife and daughter was mishandled. Sara, still deeply upset, tells Jane it is her fault 11 people died and to put that information in to her press conference. Sara gets a text that she can go check a body on the 18th floor.
Morgan goes to Cooper, where they discovered a photo of a man who was shot at the exact same time Lasky began shooting in the conference room. They realize another shooter is in the hotel. Greg comes in to tell them DNA on the tissue came back to Cliff Ballard. It was the man the SWAT team found earlier.
Sara is processing the body, unaware a gunman is right around the corner. Meanwhile, Cooper and Greg find out that Ballard was a CSI who was put away for felony fraud and all of his cases ended up being questioned by forensic experts, who he would have targeted. Greg begins to find out who was on the team while Morgan tells them she can’t find a connection between the two shooters. Cooper realizes they only have a common hatred of law enforcement and the conference drew them together. Greg finds the list and one of the men is the victim they found Ballard standing over. Greg discovers Sara was also on the team and Cooper immediately calls her.
Sara is confused, thinking Ballard was in prison until she hears his voice. He demands her to give him the phone and her gun. She realizes the text she got was from Ballard. The victim on the floor was also on the team that put him away. Sara tries to talk him down, since she knew he did a lot of good work but sometimes when things didn’t work out, you felt like you failed. But he pushes her against the wall and holds the gun to her body. Before he can shoot her, SWAT arrives and kills him. Sara thanks the SWAT team.
At the hospital, Finn visits Mark, who survived his injury. Mark agrees to buy her dinner for saving his life. Finn tells Mark he can’t travel home yet and asks him for a date. Mark reminds her it could turn into a relationship.
Morgan is cleaning blood off her fingers when Sara comes in. She hands Morgan some hydrogen peroxide. Morgan talks about the fact they always come to the crime scenes afterwards, not during. She asks if Sara is okay because of what happened and laments on what could have happened if SWAT wasn’t in time. Sara tells Morgan they still have a reservation at a place to go dancing according to Finn. Morgan loves the idea and hugs Sara.
Image via INFphoto.com