To Love and Be Loved
Chapter 3: One of Their Own
A/N: This story is about to take a pretty dramatic turn but those of you who know me will not be that surprised. Thanks to all of you who are reading. I hope you continue to enjoy this story. And for fans of "Fooling Ourselves" I have good news, I should have the next chapter of that story up in the next week. Love to you all.
The dimly lit room was empty. He cursed himself for not locking the door behind him when he left. The ropes he had used to bind her lay on the floor amidst the trickling rivers of her blood. She had gotten away.
"Damn it!" he shouted, kicking at the floor of the cellar room. He turned and ran up the stairs, cursing his underestimation of that bitch. He would never make that mistake again. He ran out onto the street. She hadn't left a blood trail. He couldn't track her but on the plus side, it would take the police longer to find the warehouse.
She had been disoriented. He had beaten her until she didn't know which way was up. He was confident that there was no way that she would be able to tell them where she had been held. Still, he couldn't risk staying put. He packed up everything he would need for his next guest and jumped in his car.
He would get settled somewhere secure before he took another woman. But even as he thought this, he felt the unyielding hunger inside him, the need to dominate another, to degrade that person, to watch them suffer as he plunged into their supple flesh. He knew he couldn't stave off the need for long.
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"She's stable," Doctor Stevens told Olivia as they walked through the long white hospital corridors "But she's very week. I can't in good conscience let you speak to her for more than a few minutes. If you cause her any undo stress, I don't know how it could affect her." They stopped outside Gloria's hospital room.
Olivia turned to Dr. Stevens "This woman may be our best hope of getting a dangerous predator off the streets."
"I understand that Detective but she's at a critical stage. I know you'll want to talk to her while her memory is still fresh but considering how much Nyquil we found in her system, I'm not sure how much difference a few hours verses a few days will make."
"In a few days," Olivia said, trying to keep her voice even "This sick bastard could grab and kill another woman while we sit around and do nothing," she was losing the battle and her tone was rising.
"A few minutes Detective," Dr. Stevens said firmly "That's all I can give you, I'm sorry."
Olivia sighed in resignation and entered the room. Gloria lay in a bed, a heart monitor on one side and an IV pole on the other. Olivia approached slowly and took a seat beside her "Gloria," she began softly.
Gloria's eyes opened and focused shakily on Olivia "You're the one who rode with me in the ambulance," she murmured in recognition.
"That's right," Olivia's smiled softly "My name's Olivia. Can we talk for a minute?" she asked gently.
"My husband?" Gloria asked, glancing around her.
"He's on his way," Olivia told her "But before he gets here, I'd like to ask you some questions about the man who did this to you."
Gloria's breathing became faster and Olivia could hear the doctor's warning voice behind her "Detective, don't subject her to this kind of stress."
Olivia turned and shot the man an 'I know what I'm doing' look before turning back to Gloria. She placed a comforting hand on Gloria's shoulder "Gloria, it's okay, you're safe. Take a deep breath," Gloria did as she was told "Good," Olivia smiled softly "Now, can you tell me about the place where you were when you got away?"
Gloria nodded slightly and Olivia took out her notepad as Gloria began to speak "It was dark," she began "He… he left the door unlocked. I got my hands and feet free and I… There were stairs. It was… so quiet. I got outside…"
"What did it look like outside?" Olivia asked, knowing that Gloria had to have been held prisoner in the neighborhood surrounding the drugstore; there was no way she could have run very far in her condition.
"There were trees," Gloria was having a hard time remaining lucid "Blue car parked out front," Olivia nodded, she must have seen the car that she had been abducted in. "I knew he'd be coming back," Gloria continued "Had to… had to… get… get away…" her breathing was coming faster again and the heart monitor started beeping, signaling that her heart rate was too high for safety.
"That's enough," Dr. Stevens said, stepping forward and physically pulling Olivia away from Gloria's bedside "I'm sorry Detective but no more. She's under too much stress as it is."
"Get your hands off me," Olivia seethed, pushing Dr. Stevens to the side.
The doctor looked shocked but he realized his error and followed Olivia into the hall "I'm sorry," he began "I was out of line pulling you away like that but that poor woman doesn't need to relive that hell."
"I know," Olivia said sharply "I'm just trying to make sure that no other women have to experience that hell for themselves," she turned and walked away, leaving Dr. Stevens in her wake.
Olivia's original suspicion had been correct. Gloria had been so focused on getting away and she had been so injured that there was no way that she could tell them exactly where she had been. Olivia didn't like having to put Gloria through that but she had to be absolutely sure.
Olivia pulled out her cell phone and dialed Cragen's number to report in "All I could get from Gloria is that she was held in a cellar," she told him.
"Elliot, Munch and Fin have got a list of potential cars that could be our mystery vehicle," Cragen informed her "They're checking some of them out now," his tone softened "Why don't you head home and get some rest," the fatherly part of him had picked up on the exhaustion in her tone "I'll make sure Elliot gets home at a reasonable hour," he added with a small smile.
"Thanks," Olivia murmured gratefully. She was too wiped to argue. She remembered her earlier conversation with Elliot though and the second she exited the hospital she haled a cab, because Elliot had the car, and instructed the driver to take her to the grocery store nearest to her building.
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He smirked. A new abandoned lot with a warehouse overgrown by trees and vines, the walls falling in but the cellar, relatively pristine, it was perfect. His smirk grew into a full blown smile as he thought of how soon, the floors would run red with the blood of another whore and how the thick cellar walls would muffle her screams so that no one would be able to save her.
He climbed the stairs and left the building. Now it was time to find a deserving victim. He got in his car and started to drive. Within just a few blocks, he found a grocery store. He parked and got out, looking around for surveillance cameras; he had been careless the last time at the pharmacy. He spotted one and decided that he should move on when he spotted her through the glass doors of the store. She was in line, paying for her purchases. Long brown hair, a figure that was both slight and sensual at the same time.
The uncontrollable hunger inside him flared and surveillance cameras be damned, he knew he had to possess this one, had to make her his own and hear her beg for the mercy he would never grant. He crept up to stand beside the doors of the grocery store and waited.
The grocery store was small and so late at night, there were no more than a handful of people milling around inside the building. She appeared to be alone as he watched. His hand moved inside his pants and he began to rub vigorously as he watched her flip a stray strand of hair that had come loose from her ponytail out of her face. He was going to enjoy this one.
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Olivia paid the smiling young woman behind the counter "Thanks Ashley," she managed a small wave as she scooped up her bag of groceries. She hadn't planned anything big, just pasta and jarred tomato sauce but it was better than the things they'd been eating lately. She had also remembered the coffee and she had picked up more peanut butter, a jar of strawberry jelly and a loaf of bread. It wasn't a lot of groceries but it would be enough to make sure they didn't die of malnutrition.
Olivia pushed her way through the doors and out into the night air. It was a three block walk back to the apartment but she figured she had it in her, no matter how tired she was. She'd only made it a few steps when she stumbled.
Dazed and trying not to land on top of her spilled groceries, she looked around for what it was that had tripped her when she felt something cold and metallic pressed against her throat. The surveillance tape from the drugstore flashed through her mind and she closed her eyes, thinking rapidly, trying to figure a way out of this.
The man pulled her to her feet and pushed her in the direction of his car, which Olivia also recognized from the tape. He reached the car and popped the trunk, the knife never leaving its place against the soft flesh of her neck.
"Get in," she heard the low rumble of his voice as he ground his hips against her rear end.
Her mind darted from possibility to possibility. When she didn't respond to his order immediately, he shoved her hard. He removed the knife from her neck just in time so it didn't cut her as she tumbled forward into the blackness of the trunk. He picked up a tier iron from beside where her head had landed and lifted it high in the air. She knew that he was going to try to knock her out. She rolled onto her side facing away from him and covered her head with her arms, minimizing the effect of the blow. He hit her two more times and she gasped but did not lose consciousness.
Finally, believing she was unconscious, he placed the iron back in the trunk and slammed it shut. Olivia rolled onto her side, her fingers grasping the cool metal of the iron like a lifeline. She heard the car's engine roar into life and she shut her eyes tight.
Then she realized that her abductor had made a fatal mistake. While with his other victims, he had left their personal possessions behind, he hadn't done so this time. She still had her cell phone. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out. It was at this moment that she realized that her fingers were slick with blood; the tier iron must have done more damage than she thought.
She struggled to dial the numbers as the phone kept slipping out of her hand. She pushed send and prayed for salvation.
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Elliot sat at his desk, rubbing his eyes "We're not getting anywhere," he sighed.
At that moment Cragen exited his office "You guys should go home and get some sleep. I'll get some guys from the night shift up here to help narrow this down."
Elliot stood up and was about to turn to leave when the phone on his desk rang. He plopped back into his chair, sensing that this call could only mean a long night for him, and answered "Stabler, Special Victim's Unit."
"Elliot," it was Olivia's voice but there was something wrong. Her voice was a distant and almost pained whisper.
"Liv," he said softly, his tone full of concern "What is it?"
As if on cue, Munch, Fin and Cragen automatically stopped what they were doing and listened intently to Elliot's side of the conversation.
"I was grocery shopping," she told him, very aware of how loud her voice sounded. She only hoped she didn't atract the attention of her abductor "Elliot, it happened just like how we saw it happen to Gloria. He tripped me and… I didn't know what happened…" she trailed off, her fear was grabbing her from the inside, like a cold hand, clenching her internal organs between its fingers. It had become hard to talk.
Elliot's heart had stopped beating. He pulled the phone away from his ear and spoke to the others "He's got her," those three words were all that was needed to set a flurry of activity into motion.
"Get TARU in here!" Cragen barked at Munch "I want a trace on her cell now!"
Munch disappeared from sight instantly and returned in a matter of seconds, practically dragging Morales and all of his equipment. Once the situation had been explained to the confused young man, he quickly set about locating Olivia.
"Liv honey," Elliot spoke soothingly. He didn't even bother to maintain an air of professionalism anymore. There were enough people around him who could be professional. "We're gonna find you. Don't worry, we're gonna find you," he was reassuring himself as much as he was her.
"Elliot," Olivia began, she couldn't remember being so terrified in her life, maybe it was because she had never stood to lose so much by dying before "I just want you to know… If something happens and…"
"Don't think that way," Elliot begged desperately, ignoring the presence of the others around him as he spoke "We're going to find you. I promise."
"Please," her voice was so small and so unlike her that it brought tears to his eyes "I just want you to know that I've never loved anyone as much."
"I know," he told her, inches away from sobbing "I know. I love you too. You've got to hang in there, we're going to get to you."
Olivia was going to say something else but the car's engine cut off. She tried to get a good grip on the tier iron but it slipped through her fingers. She heard the footsteps coming around to the trunk. Then the trunk was open and the night air rushed in. She had one chance and she grabbed one last time for the tier iron but he beat her to it.
"You bitch," he seethed, noticing the cell phone, clutched tight in her hand. He had made another mistake but he would make her pay for his oversight. He tore the phone from her bloody hands and threw it to the ground.
On the other end of the phone, Elliot could hear the new voice and he knew that the phone had been discovered when he heard the man cursing and what sounded like punching.
"Who did you call?!" he screamed as he lifted Olivia out of the trunk, fueled by anger and threw her to the ground beside her phone.
Olivia curled onto her side to protect herself from the repeated blows to her body. She reached for her gun, hoping for just one shot but just as she managed to pull it from its holster, the man kicked it right out of her hand. She scrambled onto all fours and tried to get away but the man threw his entire weight on top of her and she fell to the ground.
The last thing Elliot heard before the phone went dead was the man hissing "I'll make you suffer for that." And Olivia's pained cry.
The phone went dead "No," Elliot whispered, fighting against a torrent of tears.
"We've got it," Morales said triumphantly.
And just like that, Elliot didn't have time to surrender to tears, he pushed them back as he stood from his desk, grabbing his coat and putting it on in one fluid motion "Let's go," he said with nothing but determination.
Cragen opened his mouth to protest, to say that Elliot was too close to this. But he would have been a hypocrite if he had said anything to that effect because they were all too close to this in one way or another. And though none were closer to Olivia than Elliot Stabler, Cragen would never trust this to anyone else.
Elliot grabbed Morales by the collar of his jacket and pulled him and his laptop from the squad room. He was followed closely by Munch, Fin and Cragen. Each man prayed that they would get there before the unthinkable happened.
