Chapter 1.
`How the hell do they keep finding me?`, she thought while sneaking a peek from behind the wall. Noticing a small electronics store a cross the street, maybe, just maybe there was something in that place that could help me out, but was It worth the risk, still Alex needed to find out how those bastards kept finding her, since I haven´t got any more than the clothes on my back and a bit of money, on me.
The phone was the first thing to go when they kept finding her, figuring out pretty quick that she was being tracked.
But even after loosing everything that she thought could be used for a tracking devise, though it cant be a coincidence that she keeps getting close calls, if not being tracked, then how do they keep finding her.
It was like they always knew exactly where she was at all times, so either they are still tracking her or that bastard has help from higher places, though she wont have time to figure it out at the moment, since she still needed to find a safe heaven.
Looks like the store is empty, so now is the time to sneak In, quickly peeking to the side to see if the two henchmen where gone.
Yes they went into a store, time to run, come on legs time to get moving, I know you are exhausted but just a little further, she pleaded with her body, while sprinting across the street to safety.
First thing she saw when she got inside, where and elderly man, with gray going on white hair, he looked well fit for an old guy.
"How may I help you, young lady?" He asked, looking straight at the girl, like he was studying her.
Alex ran a hand through her hair, thinking how to ask about the tracking without sounding like a nutcase. She heaved a frustrated sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I don´t know how to say this without sounding like a nutcase, but you are probably the only one at the moment, who can help me", she said while looking fearfully at the elderly man.
Out of the corner of her eyes Alex saw the men starting to cross the street to the store she was in, making her shiver in fear. I need to hide she thought looking around trying to find a place where the men wouldn't´t see her. The old man noticed this and saw what scared this young lady, so without second thought I grabbed her arm leading her out of the door in the back and into another room, where he whispered, "Don´t move and be quiet, ill get rid of them and then well talk okay?".
Not waiting for her to nod he quickly left to room and went out to his disk again. Looking closely at the two men who just walked in the door, he could see that they where not the everyday customer he always had coming into the store.
They where to well groomed to be your everyday nerd, with black suits and dark glasses. He also noticed that they were packing, making him understand that these where either law enforcement or the mob.
"How may I help you gentlemen?" He asked cautiously, making sure that his old service revolver was well in hand.
As a retired homicide captain you where trained to take note of even the smallest detail, which in this case meant that either, was the girl on the run from the law or from very bad people.
Narrowing his eyes thinking about how frighten the girl was, he was likely to believe that it was the lather, hence he had to be very careful with his words.
One of the men came closer, holding up what looked like a picture.
"Have you seen this woman?" He asked the captain, and the old man took a closer look at the picture.
By the gods he thought, looking at the bruised woman in the picture, what hell she must have been living, by the looks of those bruised, he could easily make out that someone had been beating the crap out of her and from the looks of it, to an inch of her life, no wonder she was so afraid.
"I am sorry sir I haven´t, I hardly think a place like this is a place for a woman like that."
The bigger of the two men reached over the desk and grabbed hold of his collar, now with an inch between their faces he asked, the captain what he meant by that. Taking a hold of the hand forcing it off his collar he told the big guy to look around.
"Does this look like a place for a beautiful woman, hell most of the customers I get here are teenage boys, so don't you think I would take notice if a someone like that came in here.
The men just nodded and left, making the captain sigh in relief. Time to get some answers, he thought while moving to make sure those guys in the suits where gone before he closed the store for today. Since it was on of those days where hardly anyone would enter the store, he thought I might be a good Idea to close it for the day. He had a feeling that what was happening with the young woman would need his full attention. Opening the back door he could see relief wash over the blonds features when she noticed it was just him. She jumped up grabbing his hand while thanking him over and over again for not turning her over to those guys.
"Right time for you to explain what this is all about little lady, and from the looks of it, you haven´t eaten much for a while, and I for one could use some coffee". The old man said, leading them to the kitchen, and set about making some food for them.
"Alright this is what I have figured out for now. Those men in black wasent your average thugs, which means that either are you on the run from the law, which from the look of it all I hardly think is the case. So that brings us to the fact that those men where a very powerful mob bosses goons, and they are after you cause you are one of the few who manege to escape them. Am I Right thos far" he asked looking straight at the young woman, who was nodding silently.
Taking a deep breath Alex launched into a story about how, when the blond was about 16 years old her father sold her to a powerful mob boss, to pay off his debt, and how he liked to torture women to the brink of death, and how he had doctors nurse them back to health just for it to start all over again. She also mentioned that the girl had been one of the bosses favorite victims, but she also had been one of the lucky ones because the bastard had only tortured her, where some of the other women hadn't´t been so lucky. Tears where now streaming down her face, as the woman continued telling about the horrors she, and other girls went trough, about how the bastard like to have his men continuously rape the women, while jerking of to it. He even had instruments, he had his men use on the poor girls, while they where chained to some kind of contraption, While listening to the girls story he noticed a black car across the street, that he hadn't´t seen before which meant that the those goons didn't believe him. The thought that crossed the captains mind was that this is not a case, he could handle alone and he would need to call reinforcement. But first he needed to be honest with the woman and get her to trust him which he knew wouldn't be as easy with everything she had been through.
"Alright Miss I need you for you to trust me" Alex heard the man say making her curious to what he meant, but when she saw him nodding his head towards the window, seeing the black car across the street, the blond jumped up ready to make her escape yet again, but was stopped by a hand on her arm. "calm down miss I don't know your name" chuckling she told him "my name is Alex". "well nice to meet ya Alex, my name is Don, and don't worry im not gonna hand you over to those goons, in fact if you will allow me i´dd like to call some friends of min I know we can trust. Well seems as good a time as any to tell you that im a retired police captain, and I would like to help you, because damn woman that bastard needs to be taken down.
For me to do that I need you to trust me, and trust that ill keep you safe, but we both know that we cant do that just the two of us.
Alex regarded the captain wearily. "You do know that he has law enforcement in his pockets as well as a few high standing citizens".
This has to be played very carefully, because if the girls was right then he would have to take precautions in who he could trust with this assigment. Also Alex might be more trusting in a female officer than a male, not that he blamed her, but who would Don be abel to trust with the safety of this young woman, when a name popped into his head. Perfect he thought, Olivia would be perfect for this, not only dident she take any crap from the guys, never taken any bribe what so ever, last I heard the Sergant had beaten the crap out of someone who had tried it. By the gods she would be perfect for the job.
"Alright Alex this is what we are gonna do. I am gonna call a friend of mine, about getting one of their sargents transferred to me, without giving much detail to what its about. Her name is Olivia Benson, thought you would be more comfeteble with a woman protecting you, also im gonna get some of the officers at my old station in on this, guys I know we can trust. After that ill call another friend of mine who is a forest ranger, think that since this mob boss is so well connected the best thing is to hide you somewhere he would never look, being the forest. It would be a perfect hiding place for you, posing as a forest ranger, living in a hut in the forest, with Olivia guarding you. Meanwhile me and the rest of the guys will, with your help, ferret out the corrupt cops, and then take down one Crime boss". Don slumped down in a chair, thinking that this case might even be to big for the police only. He might have to get the feds in on it as well as iab. Damn it all this case was getting bigger and bigger by the minute.