Aftermath of the attack, chapter 7

Olivia was furious. She had arranged a rendezvous with William Lewis, but he had not shown up. Hours had been wasted in her search for the kidnapped Barba and Lewis's public defender, Vanessa Mayer.

She walked down the block to the unmarked car. "No show," Olivia said to Rollins and Amaro in exasperated tones. "I'm heading back to Barba's condo. Maybe Lewis left a message on Barba's phone." She hailed a taxi for the long ride across town. Her thoughts on various scenarios involving Barba and Lewis, but she tried not to dwell on 'what-ifs.'

Olivia unlocked Barba's door. She took two steps inside when she felt a heavy object hit the back of her head. She cried out and stumbled. Stunned, she was caught under the arms and dragged down the hall towards Barba's bedroom. She cried out when her broken arm swung out and hit the door jamb.

"Just in time for the festivities," William Lewis smirked. He showed Olivia a gun; her gun stolen from her apartment during her attack. "Behave, or I'll use this," he growled.

Lewis must have been watching Barba's condo and broke in the minute she left, Olivia surmised.

Olivia gasped at the sight of Rafael Barba naked and spread-eagled on his bed, his wrists and ankles tied securely to the bedposts. Blood and other liquids had stained the sheet. She shuddered remembering her own restraints and torture at the hands of William Lewis.

She saw burns and cuts covering Barba's arms, legs, and chest. She briefly looked away in embarrassment, feeling she was violating a friend's privacy. Barba's eyes were closed and when he opened them they had a glassy look. His mouth was open and he was breathing heavily.

She staggered over to his bedside and lightly touched his head.

"What has he done to you, Rafael?" she whispered plaintively.

Barba moaned and gazed at her with unfocused eyes. "Olivia?" he asked uncertainly.

"Shut up," Lewis snapped and pulled Olivia back to him by her shirt collar. She gave a strangled cry. He thrust the gun barrel under her chin and fiercely pushed it into her skin.

"Go lie down on the bed next to him."

Olivia spied a coil of unused rope on the bed. I'm going to be tortured or raped again, was her immediate thought. She lay on the bed next to Barba. He whimpered and said something she did not understand as the touch of her body irritated the open wounds on his right side.

Lewis stood next to the bed, looking at them with a maniacal grin. He unzipped his pants. One hand still held the gun. Olivia was planning how she could wrest her gun from Lewis when there was a knock at the condo door and she heard Rollins call her name. Lewis looked towards the doorway, hesitated for a moment, then zipped his pants and ran towards the kitchen where there was a second exit to a service hall. Olivia leapt off the bed. She tried unsuccessfully to untie Barba, then she covered him with a sheet and ran to answer the door. She opened it just as Amaro was about to force it open.

"Lewis was here. He ran out the back way," she said. Amaro sprinted down the hall with his gun out.

Olivia held her right arm tightly against her stomach and winced.

"Are you all right?" Amanda asked, staring at Olivia.

"I'm okay, but Barba's in bad shape, cut and burned. I think he's also been drugged."

Olivia led Rollins into the bedroom. Rollins pulled back the sheet covering Barba. One look at Barba's unfocused eyes and wounds and Amanda drew out her radio and called for a bus. "Officer down," she stated. Barba was an 'officer of the court,' wasn't he? She looked at Olivia. "You're going to the hospital, too."

Olivia ran into the kitchen to look for a knife. She found a serrated knife and used a napkin to pick up an empty unlabeled pill vial sitting on the counter. A vodka bottle lay in the sink. Empty cigarette packs and candles littered the stove, the same torture tools Lewis had used on her.

She returned to the bedroom and knelt beside Barba's bed, sawing through the cords binding his hands and feet. "Rafael, they'll be here soon to take you to the hospital. Hang in there." She wet a cloth with cool water and gently washed the blood from his face. He smiled irrationally and reached out to grab her wrist.

"You're strong and smart, smart and strong, pretty and tall, tall and pretty.…" He was blathering nonsense. It was the drugs talking, she thought.

Olivia shook him gently by the shoulders. Her arm was aching. Did I reinjure it when I hit the door?

"Did Lewis give you these drugs?" She held the vial in front of his face. He tried to focus his eyes. Then he nodded. "Yup, Liv, pills and booze. He got me in the kitchen, hit me, knocked me out. I went down, down, down," he repeated. "Where's Vanessa?"

"Amanda, can you check the kitchen for more drugs? And look for Lewis's public defender?" Olivia asked.

When they were alone Barba said, "he raped me, Liv. You got raped. I got raped too. He made me…"

"He sodomized you?," Olivia interrupted.

Before he could answer, he turned his head and vomited all over the pillow.

At least he got some of the drugs out of his system, she thought.

The EMTs entered the bedroom. They wrapped Barba in the sheet and lifted him onto the wheeled stretcher. Olivia gave him a quick pat on his shoulder and said, "I'll see you at the hospital later."

She took one technician aside and told him to tell the Emergency Room staff that they needed to do a rape kit on Barba.

Amanda handed the other EMT a plastic evidence bag containing the drug vial. "ADA Barba said the perp gave him some of these with alcohol."

Amanda looked at Olivia and said, "I checked the second bedroom, Liv. His lawyer, Vanessa, is in there. It looks like she was beaten to death. I called for CSU and the medical examiner. You need to come with me now, too, Olivia. You need a rape kit?"

"No, no, I don't need one."

Amanda pointed to Benson's clothes. "Those are semen stains, Olivia, aren't they?"

"I don't want a rape kit, Amanda."

Amaro finally appeared, breathless from his chase. "He got away again. But I called it in and we'll be looking for him."

"I'm taking Liv to the hospital," Rollins explained. "Do you want to wait for CSU and Warner, Nick? There's a body in the guestroom- Vanessa Mayer."

Nick nodded and left to check out the other bedroom.

Amanda led Olivia out of the apartment. "I probably should have my arm checked at the hospital,"
Olivia said.

When they were seated in the car Amanda demanded, "what is this about not wanting a rape kit?" She handed Olivia a bottle of water.

Olivia took a swallow and began to explain. "Lewis didn't rape me again. But the semen could be his … and maybe Barba's also."

"What do you mean?" asked Rollins.

"When I got here, Barba was semi-conscious, tied to the bed. But before I even got here Lewis did things to Barba more than cutting and burning. I don't even want to think about what. He made me lie down on the bed next to Barba. There was semen on the sheets. Then we heard you at the door. God knows what he was planning to do next if you hadn't come when you did." Olivia shuddered.

Rollins frowned. "Maybe Barba won't remember, drugged like he was?"

"I don't think so. I remember everything Lewis did to me. I want to talk to Huang. I need to find his number."