4
The phone rang. This time Elliot was ready and it barely completed a whole ring before he grabbed it and answered.
"How is she?" he immediately asked. "Prove to me she is alive or we are finished." He hoped the bluff would work. As if he would just give up if they refused to give in to his request, he thought with a half-amused smile at the preposterous idea. It would be in their interests to prove she was OK so far. There was silence on the line for several moments, then a noise which sounded like footsteps on concrete. Elliot strained to hear anything else that could give them a clue as to where she might be being held.
"OK. Here she is," the curt reply came finally.
"Liv?" he asked cautiously. He was nervously wondering what state she would be in after being held for so long. Of course it was likely that outwardly she would appear as tough as nails, as per usual, but he knew her too well and he knew that the tough walls she had built up served to hide a particularly sensitive interior. They had encountered numerous dangerous situations over the years, but this lengthy captivity was a first and he knew everyone reacted differently to these types of situations.
"El?" she near whispered. His heart lurched as he heard her voice. There was an undercurrent of vulnerability in it which he had heard only a couple of times before over the course of all the years they had worked together. Despite her obvious attempt to sound strong, unfazed, he could hear her naked fear clearly but also that she was in considerable pain.
"Liv, yes it's me. We're coming to get you, I promise. Just hang in there. Are you hurt?"
"I'm all right," she lied. "They… they took the blindfold off."
Elliot winced, understanding immediately what she was telling him. Allowing her to see her captors likely meant they weren't worried about the repercussions, which meant they probably didn't intend to leave any witnesses behind. She had obviously wanted to let him know that a timely rescue was her only chance of getting out of there alive.
"Are there any landmarks, Liv?"
"Cars… maybe a road…" But, it was all she could say before she felt the sharp sting of the slap to her face and the phone was snatched from her hand.
"Liv, are you alright?" asked Elliot frantically, hearing the commotion and hating how helpless he was to do anything to aid her.
"She's fine. But don't do exactly what I say and she won't be for long. Are you listening?"
"Yes," replied Elliott, trying desperately to control the anger and desperation building up inside him. Then he heard the gut-wrenching sound of Olivia being hit with something again and obviously hard as he heard her cry out involuntarily. He fought the rage that immediately started to build and blinked away the tears which pierced at his eyes.
"What do you want?" he said, his voice shakier than he intended.
"I will send you my demands," was the cold reply and the caller hung up.
Elliot took a deep breath. He knew that he had just been given a warning. These people meant serious business and he would need to play every single card exactly right if they were to get Olivia out of this alive.
...
Olivia marvelled at the swiftness at which her captor seemed to change his mood. A few moments ago he had struck her hard with his gun, a steely glint in his eye and now he was gently wiping away the blood from the gash with a wet towel.
"You understand, I had to do that, to show them I am serious," he ventured in explanation.
"I think they realised that anyway," replied Olivia dryly, wincing every time her wound was touched. She hated the feel of his hands and fingers on her. She felt sick. Her captor just smiled, seemingly taking her comment as some kind of compliment.
"Just don't cause any problems and everything will be fine," he added. Olivia nodded not believing him for a second but playing the game all the same. Suddenly she was aware of the noise of someone else at the top of the stairs.
"Come on down Rich. Let me introduce you to our guest." Olivia felt the fear grip her afresh as the use of the man's first name confirmed to her that they really had no intention of letting her leave here alive. She watched tentatively as a tall and thin man started coming down the stairs. As he got closer Olivia noticed he had a huge scar across his nose and cheek. His eyes took an obvious sweep down her body, lingering a little too long and obviously on her breast area. He grinned nastily and she saw he had several teeth missing. He looked like he had been in a fair few fights. There was something else about him though which made her shudder. It wasn't something she could specifically put her finger on but he genuinely gave her the creeps. He came closer and she could smell his putrid breath, a mix of cigarettes, booze and something else she couldn't identify. She wondered if this guy had ever heard of a toothbrush.
"This is Detective Olivia Benson. The detective who, with Detective Elliot Stabler, helped put our Kenny away."
She started at the use of her and Elliot's full names. Rich glared at her not even attempting to slightly hide his contempt. Her heart sank further as she now understood better what this was all about. It was revenge. She realised her situation was even more serious than she had thought. It was personal. They obviously wanted her, and probably Elliot too, to suffer. She racked her brains trying to think which case they were referring to and it didn't take long to come to her. Kenneth Barton, a local gangster who had been rapidly rising through the ranks thanks to his ruthless way of dealing with anyone who crossed his path. He had been found guilty on five counts of torture-murder and numerous drug charges amongst other things. He would never see the light of day again. He had been particularly vicious and his victims had suffered long and painful deaths.
Realising just what she was dealing with, she closed her eyes and tried to control her breathing rate as the panic threatened to overwhelm her. It wasn't death itself that she particularly feared. It was the lead up to it that thoroughly terrified her. She hoped these guys weren't quite as insane as the guy she and Elliot had locked up, although she didn't particularly like her chances. She longed even more for Elliot to come bursting through the door, but it seemed they still didn't have a clue where she was.
After he had finished cleaning her wound, her captor disappeared back upstairs with Rich and Olivia was left alone again. Now more terrified than she had ever been in her life and aching from the fever she lay back down on the hard bench and closed her eyes. She was exhausted. Maybe she could try and sleep a little, regain her strength and even think about escape? She knew she needed to try and get out of here as soon as possible.
...
Another night had passed. Elliot had managed to get about two hours sleep ion the crib but he was now once again at his desk, staring in disbelief at the list in front of him. This guy was taking the piss. Half his demands were just ridiculous. Some he knew were impossible. There was no way on earth the powers that be would ever agree to the release of Kenneth Barton, one of the most high-profile violent gang leaders he had ever come across in his whole career. He had been convicted for five brutal murders but was suspected of several more. Every single one had been so shocking that the finer details had been kept under wraps in order not to thoroughly terrify the general public. Most of the officers who had been first on the grizzly murder scenes were still struggling to get to grips with what they saw in counselling. Some would never work again. This was what they were dealing with? Elliot felt the knot of fear in the pit of his stomach as he recognised just how much danger his partner was really in. He realised her only hope was for him to somehow stall her captors long enough for them to work out where she was and then to attempt a rescue and hope no one was killed in the crossfire. Whatever happened, he knew this was unlikely to end uneventfully.
"Any luck on the trace, Munch?" he barked at his colleague, who like him had refused to go home while Olivia was still missing.
"Afraid not," sighed the detective reluctantly.
"She said there was a lot of traffic noise," Elliot reminded him.
Munch didn't answer. Traffic was a par for the course in a city. She may as well have said the sky outside was blue. He bit his tongue to prevent himself from saying as much out loud. Elliot was much too wound up and was definitely not in the mood for the usual teasing and banter that helped to keep them sane doing the job they did.
Elliot gave up on Munch and instead headed towards Cragen's office. He knew already what he would say, but he had to try.
"There's no way we can even consider releasing Barton," his boss confirmed. "It would be chaos. We'd have every gangster in the country arranging the kidnapping of the arresting officer."
"They are going to kill her, you know!" he yelled in frustration.
"I know," said Cragen softly. "It's hurting all of us." It was true. Olivia was well liked and respected. It was devastating the whole office.
"Can't they see she was just doing her job? Why couldn't it have been me, not her?"
"Maybe you should take a short break Elliot. Go to the gym for half and hour or something?"
"It's just so damn frustrating," snapped Elliot, annoyed at his Captain's apparent calm and resigned attitude towards the situation. There was no way he was going to accept it. "She doesn't deserve this," he said through gritted teeth before storming out of the office. Cragen let him go, hoping he was heading towards the gym to take his advice. The truth was he felt the same, but it wouldn't do to let his officers know just how close he was to teetering on the edge himself over Olivia's kidnapping. He had to at least pretend he had things under control.
Elliot slammed his fist into his locker, the dent blending in somewhat with the previous ones. His knuckles started bleeding slightly, but he barely noticed. He had to find her. He thought back to the phone call when he had spoken briefly to her. It had of course been recorded as was standard. He decided he would listen to it again and try and get the tech guys to amplify the background noise and see if there were any clues to be found there.
Murray Taylor was your stereotypical computer nerd, but he was extremely good at his job and Elliot respected his skill enough to usually put up with the banal banter. Today though, he wasn't in the mood. However, even Murray sensed the urgency of the situation and stuck to the topic at hand. As they listened to the enhanced background recording of the phone call, mostly all Elliot could hear was traffic, travelling at speed too, which made him wonder if she might be near a highway. Then suddenly he heard something he hadn't noticed before the enhancement: a couple of fire truck sirens which suddenly appeared out of nowhere, suggesting that they had been switched on assumedly as a call had come in! Was she near a fire station? All he needed to do was find out from the fire service exactly which engines were called to a fire at the exact time of the call and if they were near a highway they would have a reasonable clue as to the general area she was being held. From there it would be a matter of deduction and trial and error to hopefully find the exact building. This was it. The vital clue they had been looking for!
