Horatio and his team arrive at the scene to find the bloody, sprawled-out remains of three gun smugglers who have just been annihilated by what looks like a rare and illegal electric gun known as "the vaporizer," which can fire over 100,000 rounds per minute. Horatio must not only find the killer, he must also track down this weapon before it is sold to the wrong people. The CSIs learn that the three victims worked for Gabriel Soto, a known criminal who was behind the smuggling operation. It turns out that US Customs contracted with a private security firm, Peregrine, to shut down Soto's operation.
Peregrine's Steve Lancaster admits to gunning down the three smugglers, but hides behind the Patriot Act: he claims that the Act protects his company from prosecution while they're engaged in their contractual duties. Soon, however, Lancaster is found murdered. Alexx discovers that he was stunned unconscious and killed by an air bubble injected into his eye that made its way into his heart. Lancaster's killer is revealed to be an old Navy SEAL buddy who is disgruntled about Peregrine because he claims to have founded the company.
The CSIs soon learn that Peregrine has had the "the vaporizer" in their possession all along. Further investigation reveals that Gabriel Soto has been trying to cut a deal with Peregrine to sell the gun to his Russian buyer and split the profits. However, Peregrine has been trying to get rid of Soto so that they can deal directly with the Russians and keep all the profits. Ultimately, Horatio intercepts the deal with the Russians.
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