Chapter 1: The Situation
"Why is the line tremendously long?"
"I hear there are only two tellers at the moment, the other two went to lunch."
Two patrons of the Bank of Hudson Valley were muttering in front of him; the attorney pondering this concept himself. He had decided to make what he presumed a quick money transfer between his accounts on his in between court sessions; but since there were four in front of him, he was debating to stay or leave.
A voice coming to join them, a woman clad in a navy blue suit with black and white heels; her hair was a pretty black yet cut short and her name tag reading, "Trixie – Bank Manager".
"My sincerest apologies everyone, is there anyone NOT looking to make a deposit or cash a check?"
Her fingers folded in front of her as she observed for any responses other than vacant expressions.
"Don't you think we would've gone to you already if we didn't?" A male patron commented from about two persons behind him, making the man snicker to himself to her flustered expression.
Of course she had a painfully straight smile, yet they all knew he had made her uncomfortable.
Wait … that voice was familiar in its sarcastic tone and made him turn to look to the one who spoke and offer a crookedly amused smile, "John Munch?"
"Rafael Barba, as I live and breathe, how've you been?"
"Well other than standing in this obnoxious line for the past ten minutes, not too terribly."
"I have no hope then if you've been here already for that long," The elder Jewish man commented with a mock groan, earning a look from the man in front of him.
Considering he was about to jump the ship to not return late, the ADA moved to allow the man to take his spot to be in front of the retired detective to continue their conversation. He had not seen the man outside of the precinct since his retirement party. Keeping up with a squad that was constantly on the move had his social calendar booked till the end of June and it was only January.
"It's a nice change of pace at least – I'd rather wait to get money than wait to get into a courtroom filled with 10 raging parents who want to convict a neighborhood peeper."
"Ah the good ol' days, you're making me teary-eyed with such nostalgia."
Laughing, Rafael reached to clap the other on the shoulder as he gripped his briefcase with the details of said case, "I'm sure you don't miss everything, besides Fin has to give you plenty of information to keep you fueled."
"Oh if only, he puts on the kid gloves at home like I've never experienced or seen any of this. It's cute in a nauseating way," John wrinkled his nose to the commentary about his life partner: Odafin Tutuola. Considering they had been together and glued to the hip for such a long time, it was inevitable that Olivia teased it should have happened sooner the way they were constantly at each other's throats.
"He just wants to come home to normality I suppose."
"If he wanted normal, he should've gotten with some quiet girl from Michigan or something," He retorted as normal was definitely not an aspect he would use to describe himself. His track record of four ex-wives spoke for itself.
"Why Michigan?"
"I'm stereotyping, I'm sure Kansas works well with a little Dorothy."
The attorney had little interaction with the elder member of the SVU team; he had been brought on new as the other was exiting, but there had been a feeling of wanting to get to know him on an outside spectrum. After all, he was a plethora of knowledge that had untapped potential, he occasionally spoke to Captain Cragen from time to time unbeknownst to the rest of the unit.
"I think he knows exactly what he wants if he's with you."
"How's the old man doing anyway? At work I mean. He was complaining you got a new Sergeant after I TOLD him to go for the exam," His eyes rolling as they shifted up one more person as the line was finally moving after one more teller arrived back from break.
Rafael tilted his head then snapped his fingers, "You mean Dodds? He's alright, too green even for me. I think Carisi was more enthusiastic when he started."
"Carisi's TOO enthusiastic; he has his hand in all the cookie jars to see which one gives him the cookie," John mused lightly.
"It's good to be like that though, it shows initiative and prospect to grow," He was quick to defend though perhaps too quick from those bushy eyebrows rising at him incredulous, "Well he's been hanging around the prosecutor's office and worked a case with me in court. I'm going off of that."
"Sure you're not going off of something else, Barba?" The elder snickered as Rafael muttered incoherently under his breath in Spanish that he got caught.
"What brings you here anyway?"
"Smooth. I'll come back to that, don't think I'll forget," John motioned for Rafael to move up.
Rafael waved his hand, checking the time on his wrist as ten more minutes would have passed. Only two more in front of them now before he'd hit the tellers, he might as well stick out the wait. He could blame his lateness on 'traffic'. The peeper would appreciate the delay.
"John…"
"Fin and I have a joint savings account here. It was a mutual place since it's close to the precinct and not too far from our place to walk the 5 blocks up," A shrug as the elder tugged out a piece of paper from the black jacket he wore though that may have actually belonged to Fin considering it was large on the lithe frame, "We bought this new fridge and have to make the final payment so I'm here to get some money."
"Stainless steel?"
"The works, he's an idiot. Don't get between food and that man – Carisi's always hanging around the apartment after poker night to just get extras."
"You have poker nights at your place?"
"Come by next time, I'll tell Fin to send you the details. We figured it wasn't your cup of tea," John snickered at the blank expression of the Hispanic male, "Obviously can't judge a book by its cover-Oh finally!"
He motioned in front of him, they made it to the front so next open teller would be for Rafael and he could finally head back to the office. John had no pressing matter so the wait was not as annoying as it normally was. They had an opportunity to chat and catch up momentarily.
"Next!"
"I'll talk to you later then John, take care of yourself."
"Olivia Benson," The elder female answered the phone call to her cellphone as she stepped out of the elevator. She had been to a lecture at Hudson University that morning so it was her first time stepping into the office that day.
Shaking off any lingering snow from her jacket as it had started to fall on her way out of the college; she walked in looking very frosty and almost festive considering Christmas had come to pass.
The tree by the elevator was still decorated and probably would not be removed till February when they got confused gazes about it. For now, it added color that Olivia enjoyed.
A faint wave to Amanda Rollins who was situated at her desk, the woman responded in kind to her boss before going back to typing on her computer.
Sonny Carisi was standing in the breakroom with Odafin Tutuola, the pair of them inseparable after an incident involving the elder rescuing the younger from a rigged car bomb. The Italian drinking his third coffee of the day while the African-American was motioning with his hands some obscure story of the older days, it made Olivia smile. Their newest member, Mike Dodds, was nowhere to be seen but perhaps he was on lunch so that was not too surprising.
The slower season allowed them to enjoy some leisure time to themselves.
The voice chattering away in her ear was someone at One PP requiring their presence to report their latest stats to other precincts: they set the standards of failure and success.
The paperwork and social aspect of the job was the one she disliked the least, but when she needed to call in favors they came in handy.
Olivia paused by the reception's desk to set her bag down as her hand motioned for any messages she missed, "Yes Eugene, I understand. Let me just make sure everyone's alright with that date first – yes the whole team. It's a team effort after all, I won't come otherwise."
After getting the slips of paper, she nodded her head to the officer then shifted on her heels to turn towards her office; her feet moving while idly reading the messages.
"Lieutenant, we have a situation."
The voice making her glance over her shoulder to see Mike Dodds standing there looking disheveled and she stared at him confused to his appearance. It was like he ran back to the office in his three piece expensive suit.
She nodded towards the office to follow her, "Listen Eugene, I have to handle something so I'll talk to you later. I promise, yes."
Rolling her eyes as she tossed her bag into her chair along with the cellphone onto the desk, Olivia gazed to Michael Dodds with a look over.
"Sorry for cutting you off."
"You did ME the favor, what is it? Why do you look like you just won the New York Marathon in a suit and tie?"
The new Sergeant closed the door to the office then began to pace, "I was having lunch with my dad…he gets a call there's been a robbery at the Bank of Hudson Valley in progress so he cut the lunch short. I ran back to see if we could go provide back-up."
"You know we don't handle robbery situations that are the local squad's responsibility."
"I understand Lieutenant but considering we aren't working on anything pressing, I wanted to help him. He mentioned you're an excellent negotiator and the team can offer expertise for the hostages."
It was a hostage situation so it made it more difficult for her to say no to. She looked to the messages that did not require their immediate attention. It could get out of hand quickly if they did not get a handle to the demands of the criminals inside of the bank. A sigh escaping her as it was a hard call to make: they handle crimes pertaining to a sexual nature and this was an unfortunate bank robbery.
Before she could respond, the phone began to ring and she reached for it, "Lieutenant Olivia Benson. Wait, wait…I need you to repeat what you said out loud one moment."
Pressing the button for the speaker phone, she settled the phone back in its cradle as her hands were flat on the desk, "Go ahead."
"Lieutenant, we need you and your team to report to 7th Avenue and Broadway to handle the bank robbery turned hostage situation. The hostage takers are requesting for the best sex crimes unit in the five boroughs - you were recommended."
"Recommended?"
"That part isn't entirely clear Lieutenant, my apologies. I was told to contact you on behalf of the 110th precinct."
"What are we looking at?" She motioned to Dodds to start jotting down some information on his notebook rapidly.
"We don't have eyes on the inside to tell us what's going on but it appears to be around 4 of them from the little camera feed we could hack into – the one who called was an accented female, we could only determine her to be of Eastern European descent. We don't have a lot of information to go off of but require your presence immediately."
"We'll be there as soon as possible, don't let anyone get near the bank till we arrive is that understood?"
"Yes Lieutenant Benson," A click and dial tone made Olivia glad she had not bothered to remove her jacket. She looked to Michael with a calm expression, "Tell everyone to get suited with bullet proofs and I'll see you all there."
Once on scene with her team, she was assessing the situation immediately as Chief Dodds came towards the five of them looking like a bat out of hell, "Status, Chief?"
"The negotiator could only get minimal information about their demands – they specifically requested to speak only to the head of the unit as they had specific requests," He took a glance to his son briefly then to the other three members who had on their vests beneath their jackets.
"Are you Lieutenant Benson?"
They all turned to a woman who was situated inside of the van stationed outside of the bank for hostage negotiations and the like. She waved for them to join her inside where they were hacking into the cameras and any other monitoring to detail who these people were and how many hostages are in the bank exactly to account for.
"Yes, I'm Olivia Benson."
"Stephanie Wallace, please have a seat and I'll try to patch through to the negotiators once again now that you're here."
The rest of her team was clamoring inside to see where they could assist, looking to the cameras that were poised to the snipers situated on the frozen rooftops opposite the bank to see if they could get a clear view inside.
"How many do you suppose are in there?" Sonny Carisi mused as he crossed his arms while Fin reached for his cellphone.
"We're hoping very minimal considering the time of day," the Chief responded with his arms crossed, watching Olivia intently as they were attempting the patch through.
"I'll be right back, I have to call John and let him know I'm not going to be back home at a reasonable hour today," Fin responded instead, moving to head back out into the cold to call his partner.
Amanda yelled after him, "Tell him we say hi!" She got a scolding look from the Chief making her appear sheepish and nod her head in apology for being loud.
"Rollins, Carisi – why don't you go help manage control outside and see if any bystanders might have seen anything about the robbers that can help now," The elder Dodds nodded his head to the door, not leaving room for negotiation as they looked to each other with a look that said they got in trouble then scurried away to go question the growing crowd.
"Dad …"
"This is no time for games."
Olivia looked sharply to the man who dismissed her people, opened her mouth to speak then heard static over the intercom as she reached for it, "Hello?"
"I told you I did NOT wish to be disturbed!" The voice on the other side was definitely female, accented and agitated.
"My name is Olivia Benson, Lieutenant of Manhattan SVU."
"Ah so you're the infamous Lieutenant of SVU, how do I know it really is you and not some useless no good cop?"
"I understand the situation is in your control right now and would not jeopardize anyone's life, including yours, to lie."
Chuckling, the voice appeared to be appeased, "He said you were very noble – it's good to see there's some sense of honor still in this world, Lieutenant. Back in Romania there is no such concept."
"Please call me Olivia and he who?"
"One of my hostages or rather two of them – they recommended I contact you for the solution to my situation. I didn't want this to get out of hand…" There was a hint of remorse then came back the anger, "I'm going to give you four hours to find someone for me-"
"I'll do my best I assure you so I need more time-"
"I don't need your best Olivia; I need your very best because every half hour, if I get NO update, I kill one hostage." Crying or whimpering nearby could be heard by followed by a smacking noise and silence, "You're not the only one who needs more time that we do not have."
"Okay, okay. Just don't hurt anyone. Just tell me who I need to find."
"First, I tell you a story. Six years ago, a woman moves to this country with a dream of something better – only to get raped the second night she arrives. Now pregnant and a single mother who had nothing was beaten again when her son was taken soon after birth. After fighting with a social worker, they were checked into a psychiatric ward, deemed unfit and held in there for six years. In hopes for a better life for herself and the child she knew existed, she got a double job as waitress and office cleaner. Finally, prospects!"
There was silence in the convoy as everyone was listening to this story: the hostages, the unit and anyone who was patched through.
"I'm sorry-"
"Let me finish! Anyway, this woman needed a loan to get an affordable apartment in this city: and all she had as collateral was jewelry from the old country. Was she approved? No. She was denied for her 'mental health' history, her low class background and criminal record for you see, the night she was raped, she had been arrested on solicitation of prostitution. It's such a twisted way the system breaks you down, Olivia Benson."
Olivia stood straighter as she listened to such a diluted and twisted story was this woman the one in the story or was she a relative? One could never presume identities, "What is it that you need for me to do?"
"Find the child, Lieutenant Benson. The damage of the rape has come and gone, all that is left is to find the child. The hospital, New Amsterdam Hospital, was working with drug dealers…and sold the children they stole. It never made the news as most of those mothers were crack-whores who went there to give birth on drug highs. You start there…"
"You seem to know a lot, why don't you and I meet and discuss this situation rationally while letting the hostages go?"
"I'm sorry Olivia. No one paid attention to me before, I doubt anyone will after if I release this power I have now. I'll speak to you again in a half hour."
The click of the phone was more resonating this time as she took a moment to step back to recollect herself, "Do we have any eyes on the inside at all? The security guard? She said someone who knows my unit mentioned us to her…"
"Is your entire team accounted for Olivia?" The Chief mused as the doors were tossed open before she could answer, seeing Fin looking like a ghost haunted him.
"Fin…"
"It's John, Liv…John and Barba are inside…" He showed her a text on his phone sent by his partner.
-Barba and I are inside of the B of HV…our phones are getting confiscated so will try to hide…I'm an old man so they might believe me … will keep you posted if I can - JM
To be continued…