Disclaimer: The characters in this story are not my own but are the property of Wolf Productions and NBC.
Rated: G
Summery: EO car chase scene. A bit unbelievable but fun to write none the less.
--- Coffee and a Car Chase ---
Olivia glanced at her watch impatiently. She'd finished her coffee a half an hour ago and she gave it one last glance before tossing the empty cup into the backseat.
"It's twenty past four, Elliot. He should have been here twenty minutes ago." She broke the anxious silence that had enveloped the car during the past half hour.
Elliot wasn't ready to admit defeat or the fact that they were finding themselves at yet another dead end street on the case they'd been trying to solve for months.
"Yeah, well maybe he's running late," He replied his voiced edged with annoyance.
"Yeah, well maybe he's just not coming at all." She said in a short tone. She'd had a bad feeling about this one from the beginning and she'd let her partner know it but when Elliot made up his mind, sometimes there was just no changing it.
Though he wouldn't admit it, Elliot was beginning to feel uneasy about the situation himself. For weeks they'd been desperate for a break in the case of the sexual assault and murder of a sixteen year old girl in Manhattan. He was the lead detective on the case and the fact that he and Kathy had been friends of the girl's parents, caused him to feel personally close to this one. Not far into the investigation, he'd found himself on the heels of a secret sex ring being run in Manhattan. A ring that was being run by a dozen men, one of which was his prime suspect. Only twenty four hours prior, an anonymous call had come in from someone claiming to know the identity of the perp. and Elliot wanted to believe that this was their big break.
But fearing for his safety, the informant would only agree to meet them on the basis that they meet alone, outside an abandoned warehouse on 58th street, along the Hudson River. The request hadn't seemed odd at the time, but to Elliot now, something just didn't seem right.
He drank the last remaining drops out of his coffee cup before letting out a sigh.
"I could use another cup of coffee. Let's get out of here." He finally announced and Olivia only nodded in agreement as Elliot started up the car.
A sudden movement caught Elliot and Olivia's eye as a man wearing a long coat stepped quietly out of the shadows to stand a hundred feet ahead in front of their car. They both seemed frozen, unsure of what to say or do next. After a moment, the man reached inside his jacket and it suddenly became all too clear to Elliot, as to what was going to happen next.
"This is a set up." He heard himself say out loud unbelievingly, but Olivia barely heard his words as her eyes became fixed on the shotgun now half way out of the man's trench coat. Elliot didn't have to see it to know what it was and in one quick motion, he yanked the gear shift into reverse and floored it.
Olivia felt her body slam backward against her seat and she tensed against it as her eyes met the shotgun now aimed directly for them. Another jolt sent her forward this time when Elliot slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a sudden halt.
"Get down," He yelled as he yanked her toward him and downward out of range of the gunshots that were heading their way. Bullets pierced the air and there was a loud shatter as they struck the windshield. Olivia had defensively covered her head with her hands though it was unnecessary. She found that Elliot was shielding her body with his own.
Glass flew everywhere as the gunshots continued and then just as suddenly as it had all started, there was nothing. Just the sound of eerie silence. Knowing they'd been lucky to make it this far, Elliot silently resolved to make sure that it didn't end here.
"Stay down." He ordered before shoving his own safety aside and positioning himself again at the wheel. He'd managed to shift the car into drive before bullets flew at them again and the sound of gunfire mixed with the sound of tires screeching against pavement as he pulled the car forward and turned it sharply.
It was then that he realized , there'd been more than one man involved in the ambush as a car seemed to come out of nowhere, following directly behind them. They now had to deal with being fired at from behind.
Drawing her weapon, Olivia returned fire despite the fact that she was ducked too low to be able to see much of anything much less, hit anything. Trying to stay out of the line of fire, she began to frantically search for their radio but despite her search, she couldn't find it amidst the shards of broken glass covering the floor.
"We need to call for back up." She stated the obvious but her only reply was a sudden jerk to the right as Elliot swerved around a vehicle in front of them slamming her against the passenger door.
The sound of sirens approaching was a welcoming one and for the first time during their ordeal, he offered a slight smile at her.
"Looks like we might not have too. Who says there's never a cop around when you need one?"
As best as Olivia could guess, the vehicle following them was several seconds behind and she realized that the approaching officers would only have moments to barricade them in. An idea struck her just then and she sat up, placing herself directly in the line of fire. She carefully took aim and fired three times. She'd hit her mark and the car following them swerved as a front tire blew out.
They sped through an intersection and in perfect timing, police cruisers arrived from all sides, creating a barricade behind them. Olivia watched as the car hit one of the cruisers at full speed and a moment later, erupted into flames.
For Elliot, a gradual stop was out of the question when a young boy suddenly darted out onto the street only a few hundred feet ahead. Elliot slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel sharply causing the car to turn one hundred and eighty degrees before coming to a complete stop.
For several moments, it was as if they were frozen as they concentrated on catching their breath.
"You all right?" He was the first to ask and she nodded, still breathing heavily.
"Yeah... I think so."
She glanced at him and was surprised to find that streaks of blood had streamed down the side of his face. The moment the bullet had grazed him, he'd known it, but it was only now that he felt the overwhelming sensation come over him to pass out.
Dazed and short of breath, he opened the door and stepped out as Olivia did the same.
"Elliot?" Her voice filled with worry suddenly seemed so far away and he leaned against the side of the car for stability but slid to the ground anyway. She was at his side by then and she knelt next to him, a concerned look on her face.
"Elliot? " She repeated and he opened his eyes to look at her.
"Don't worry...I'll live," He answered her unspoken question. Resting his head against the car, he closed his eyes as a smile spread across his face. "I could sure as hell use that coffee though."
She returned the smile as she turned her gaze toward the burning car a short distance away. A little less luck or even just one poorly made split-second decision and somewhere along the 90 mph race for their lives, that could have been them. She turned her eyes back on her partner.
"Hey El, just do one thing for me."
"What's that?" He asked without opening his eyes.
"Remind me to never complain about your driving again."
Kate Taylor
March, 2006