A/N - Hello again readers. Next installment is here! Story intensifies!
Also, just want to be clear. Hopefully you read all the warnings in Chapter 1 because they still apply. If you can't handle that stuff, don't bother reading this, and especially the next three or four chapters, because it's definitely dark and will make some readers unhappy and uncomfortable. Okay . . Enjoy the story. Thanks!

Wednesday June 12

It's a typical hot June morning and Elliot wipes the sweat from his brow in his 'air conditioned' car, sweating already in his crisp white shirt. The tie and cowboy hat are part of the uniform, but in this summer heat, it's just stifling. And the coffee is only making things worse. Iced coffee is the only way to go and he made the mistake of getting it piping hot.

He slams the door to his car, stepping out into the sun and the real heat. The side door swings open and closed behind him and he takes the stairs two at a time up to the hotel room. It's been a good while since he's seen these two ladies and a lot has happened in that time. As soon as he speaks to them and delivers to them another meal, the plan is to collaborate with the Feds and the DEA to start bringing down a whole section of the cartel.

Granted, this section is small and most of the time works autonomously; the extended Velez family does have to answer to a higher power, and that's what the Feds will be most interested in. Taking down these guys first and then using them to infiltrate the big dogs.

Marcus is the first domino in this sequence and yesterday, he toppled over perfectly, giving up names and locations of his brother and cousins.

Elliot knocks on the door, standing outside in the hall with two paper bags in his hands. Waiting for a few more moments, he knocks again, growing impatient. It's almost 11 am. Surely they're awake by now. He knocks one more time before setting the bags down and pulling out his key.

It slides in the opening and back out, the green light glows and he pushes the door open.

"Good morning," he calls out before looking inside. Elliot knows better than most men the importance of giving women privacy before barging into a room unannounced. A wife and three daughters will do that to a person.

But still there's no answer, and right away the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Answer me, damn it, he thinks. He shoves the door open, hand going to his gun as it closes with a bang behind him. His footsteps are muffled by the cheap carpet as Elliot steps farther into the room. Eyes sweeping around the entire thing, he quickly determines that it's empty.

They're both gone. What in the hell is going on?

Reaching for his cell phone, he jams his fingers onto it, punching in Olivia's new contact and pressing send. On the third ring, she picks up for a moment and Elliot hears a rustling noise that sounds like the inside of someone's pocket and then the call ends. He tries Alex's new phone. The call doesn't even go through.

"Well shit," he mutters under his breath. Grabbing Olivia's files, Elliot makes sure he has all of them and looks around. Her job, after being threatened, was to simply make sure Alex stayed safe and if she learned any new information to let Elliot know right away.

So much for that. The door slams behind him again as he leaves the room. There's no note or anything. Olivia's stuff is all there, but there's no Olivia and certainly no Alex. Two key players in this whole deal. A twinge of panic grabs hold of his heart as his mind races through the possibilities.

Olivia wouldn't have done this willingly. She knows protocol. Either someone threatened them and they just took off or someone, Velez probably, came in and got them. But there were no scuff marks, no blood, no signs of struggle. Just two made beds and Olivia's stuff. It doesn't make any sense.

La Pasadita is a market inside a tiny building painted with bright colors with the typical bars on the windows, necessary for this part of town if business owners want to stay in business and avoid nighttime robberies. The door swings wide and the familiar myriad smells hit her nostrils. Fresh vegetables and fruit, spices, and as always, the long ice box along one wall filled to the brim with homemade ice cream and frozen blended fruit. This afternoon, the woman who runs the place is straightening up a shelf of canned goods, and she turns to wave at Olivia when she enters. This place has been the sometimes-meeting place for Velez and his cronies for several years. Whether or not the woman knows her market is a sort of drug cartel headquarters, Olivia has no idea.

It doesn't take long for Olivia's eyes to scan the small shop and find who she's looking for. Velez is seated at one of two small tables near the ice cream, hands folded on the tabletop and knees bouncing up and down nervously on either side of his chair. He looks a little crazed, like he might be on drugs. Either that, or he's just lost it. An untouched cup of coffee sits in front of him with steam rising lazily from the surface. "Sit down," he says, and his voice is cold but jittery. She complies, pulling out the chair with a squeak against the tile and sits.

"How the fuck is it that I find out about my brother giving me up before you warn me?"

She stays quiet. It's hard to know exactly what to say in a situation like this, what exactly he'll react to. "I didn't know. Honestly."

"Bullshit. You're in with the Ranger. You told me you were. He would have told you all about this."

"I've been in seclusion."

Cesar shakes his head. He doesn't believe her.

"You're right. But you sure as shit haven't been at the hotel."

Fuck. Of course he's had someone watching. After their last phone conversation a few days ago, she should have known he'd have someone there keeping an eye out. Has he trusted her at all this entire time? When she doesn't answer, Cesar goes on.

"You should have told me you left the hotel."

"I'm sorry, it happened so fast . . ."

"No," he cuts Olivia off, his face contorts in displeasure. "Shut the fuck up. You're trying to hide her from me. I knew it. You two should never have crossed paths."

"No, Cesar, I'm not."

"Yes. You keep moving her, not telling me where she is, trying to stop me from hurting her. I had your phone tracked and knew what hotel you were at. But when you left, I lost the signal."

"We talked about this, remember? That when she was ready to leave the hotel, we'd make our move? If I was trying to hide her, I wouldn't be here right now." It's crucial to convince him of this. That yes, she's been keeping Alex in different places, but in the end, she's loyal to him, that she wasn't trying to pull one over on him.

"I think you're here because you want to protect her." Olivia's mouth turns dry and she tries to swallow but can't.

"Cesar, have I ever done you wrong?"

He smiles, shakes his head. "You just haven't had the chance yet."

"I wouldn't, Cesar." If he would just calm down, see things clearly. There isn't any reason he shouldn't believe her and realize that she's still on his side.

"I'm testing you all the time, Olivia. All the time. And this time you failed my test."

Olivia squints at him because he's not making sense. What test? "What do you mean?"

"You were supposed to contact me every step of the way. You've been quiet for four days."

"That's not what happened . . . " Cesar's face turns into a child-like pout as he ignores her completely.

"What did happen, baby? Did you fall for her?"

She scoffs, hoping he doesn't see how true that actually is. "What are you talking about? Of course not."

"I think you did. She's very beautiful. Irresistible really. But you know, I already had her first."

Her eyes squeeze closed. "Cesar . . ."

"No. Shut up." He leans over the table and speaks with a sneer. "She was a good fuck, too. A little unresponsive, but I could have fixed that within a couple of weeks. Maybe I'll get to have that one more time before I put my gun in her mouth and shut her up for good."

The thought makes Olivia's inside twist into knots. It's sick what he's done to Alex, and now she can see it written all over his face, how demented he really is, how much he doesn't care about how many lives he's torn apart. She wants to throw up, but he goes on, his eyes gleaming like two shiny black beetles. On top of everything, she feels the phone Elliot gave her buzzing in her right pocket.

"Because she killed one of my brothers and now the only family I have left has turned on me thanks to her. And you. So you're both going to pay for it."

"Cesar, please. You don't have to do this. It's going to make things worse."

"How can things get any worse?"

It doesn't seem like there's any chance of making up the ground she's already lost with him, but it isn't difficult to see that he's a man at the end of his rope. She sneaks her hand down, pretending to rest her hands on her thighs and hits the end button, hoping Cesar didn't hear the vibrations. He slams his hands down on the table angrily. The woman behind the counter jumps slightly but looks back down and stays busy.

"I have no one left."

Like the rest of us, Olivia thinks. It's almost comical, what he's just said. He's torn all their lives apart. Almost all of them, because her own family was small and dysfunctional to begin with, there wasn't much anything to tear apart.

"So here's what's going to happen. You're going to take me to her. Tonight."

She hesitates, again not really knowing what to say, but definitely feeling like everything is coming unraveled. There's no going back now. "You're going to kill her."

He nods. "Yes. And you're going to watch. Lying bitch. I own you."

Like before, his face twists up and he jabs his finger into her face. Staring past the finger back into his eyes, Olivia tries not to blink. "You think you can just do whatever you want. It's time to learn your fucking lesson."

"I'm not taking you to her."

He pulls out his gun, and now the little old woman behind the counter lets out a tiny shriek and shuffles into the back room. This meeting has not gone the way she hoped. In fact, she's already wishing she'd just stayed at Alex's uncle's. But it's too late to start thinking about what if, and she has to deal with what's happening now. In defiance, she juts out her chin, daring him to make the next move.

"Shoot me. I don't care. But I'm not going to let you hurt her again."

He sneers. "You let me hurt her in the first place. You didn't stop me from sending my brothers to her house the second time."

"I didn't know abo . . ."

"Shut the fuck up!" He screams in her face as he waves the gun again. He's acting like she was in on all of his little side schemes, where he and his brothers secretly stashed Alex away and secretly went back to her house to intimidate her more.

"You're going to tell me where she is."

Olivia gives him a hard look, gets ready to take a bullet to the face. But she has a feeling Cesar has worse things in store for her.

"Okay," he says, his face morphing into a mirror of Olivia's. Calm and collected. "You want to play hardball? Let's do it."

A piece of paper crinkles as he pulls it out of his pocket. "Elliot Stabler, wife Kathy, daughters Maureen, age 16, Kathleen, age 13, Elizabeth, age 10 and Richard, age 8. Two three zero nine Calvo Street." He waits, looking for her reaction. It's almost impossible to keep her face from moving.

"Recognize that shit?"

Fuck. He sees the look pass over her face.

"That's right. You've made a new friend. And I know you haven't known him very long, but think of the children."

"You wouldn't."

"The fuck I wouldn't. I'm going to have your friend the Ranger killed. And his family. Kathy and all his little brats. And you know I'll do it."

She stares at him, beginning to feel a little helpless. There's no reason not to believe him. He's done it before, ruthlessly murdered families.

"You're going to take me to her. Let's go."

The store is long deserted by now and no one is around to see him pull her viciously towards the door. Her sidearm is heavy against her hip, but it's useless because his gun is still out and digging threateningly now into her back. They walk together out to the parking lot where Cesar's black pickup waits.

Two other pickups sit next to Cesar's and Olivia can see several of his cousins occupying their cabs. Of course he would have backup, ready to go. Cesar holds his gun on her until she gives up her own. She pulls it out reluctantly and hands it to him. Inside the truck, he climbs in next to her in the backseat and holds the gun on her with a cold expression. Not long before today, Alex sat in this exact same seat probably also with a gun to her face. God, if only Alex had gone a different direction that first morning. Olivia has no choice but to give him directions to the lake.

It will be dark by the time they get back to Alex's place. Her phone vibrates again and she jumps in surprise. Cesar notices and watches her with furrowed brows. The phone is making an audible noise now and there's nothing she can do about it without drawing more attention.

"Who's calling you?" he demands, but when she doesn't answer, he points the gun at her again. "Look and see."

Hand traveling slowly down to the pocket again, she pulls the phone out this time, knowing that it's either Elliot or Alex. If it's Elliot, she has a feeling what he's going to say. He was supposed to visit them at the hotel today, and that means he knows they're not there anymore and that something is up. Looking down at the glowing screen, she breathes in deeply. It's Elliot. She shows the phone to Cesar and he inclines his head towards it.

"Answer it, tell him you're okay," he says quietly. "But don't you fucking say a word about what we're about to do. You warn him and they all die."

She nods and presses the accept button.

The panic Elliot feels is spreading. His job was to protect Alex and now she's missing. And Olivia too. He paces the floor in his office, running a hand over his close-cut hair and trying to figure out what the fuck to do about everything. Once more he grabs his cell phone and dials Olivia's number. This time she answers. He breathes out, relieved that at least she's not dead.

"Elliot."

"Liv, where the hell are you? Why aren't you at the hotel?"

She hesitates on the other end and Elliot listens hard, waiting for her response.

"Hello?"

"Yeah, I'm here. I . . uh . . we had to relocate."

"Relocate? Relocate to where?" He's trying not sound desperate for answers. But he is desperate for answers.

"That's not important right now. The important thing is that Alex and I are safe."

Elliot shakes his head, thoughts whirring around in his mind a hundred miles an hour. "But where are you?"

"I've got to go. Don't worry, Elliot. Everything's fine."

She hangs up and Elliot moves the phone away from his ear, staring at it in disbelief. What in the hell was that? He puts the phone in his pocket and scratches his head. It's like one of two things: Olivia's saying that she's okay and she's really not, or she and Alex are actually fine.

But the last one doesn't make sense. Why would Olivia willingly leave the hotel and refuse to tell Elliot where they are. It doesn't feel right, so he makes a decision to look into things. He's already spoken to the people at the hotel and that was a bust. They never saw Alex or Olivia the entire time. It's either Olivia's being forced to say they're okay, or she's got something else going on. And the easiest way to figure that out is to do a little digging into the trooper's past few days. He grabs his keys, pulls out his phone and makes a quick call to Olivia's captain, making sure what he's about to do is not a problem for the Department of Public Safety.

...

Ten minutes later, he arrives at Olivia's workplace, greeted by Captain Aarons and is led inside to her desk. As they walk, Elliot asks the captain if Olivia has ever given him reason to believe she might go rogue or lie about her whereabouts. Aarons shakes his head, bewildered that Olivia would do something like this; it doesn't sound like her at all, he says with a skeptical expression.

Sitting down at the computer, he wakes it up from its hibernation and looks first at her browsing history; it comes up like he thought it would, with news article searches about Alex Cabot and her parent's murders. He's already been through Olivia's interview with Alex from the hospital. All standard. He tried tracking the phone after talking to Olivia, but it was no good. The phone was turned off, and they could be anywhere. At a loss for new ideas, this is the only thing left he hasn't been over.

Her traffic stop tapes are stacked up and ready to be viewed. Captain Aarons stands behind Elliot to observe as he puts the first disk into Olivia's computer. He fast-forwards to her most recent stop, the one with Alex on the motorcycle. The video begins as soon as she turns her lights and sirens on and he hears Olivia's voice faintly on the computer's speakers, calling out her number to the dispatcher and what exactly is taking place.

His focus, however, remains on the actual video, and as the cruiser accelerates, the motorcycle comes into view and he can see it weave in and out of traffic up ahead. It slows down after a while and he can hear Olivia talking in the background, probably to herself. The rest of the video plays out just like Olivia said, she gets the blonde's license and registration after asking a few unsuccessful questions about why she's going so fast and who the bike belongs to. Olivia asks if something is bothering her, if someone is after her and Alex's voice denies that anything is wrong, although her posture in the video says otherwise. She looks awful.

Next, Olivia walks back to the car, types in the name and gets the ticket printed out. She's back standing by Alex before long and then pulls out her radio when Alex refuses to let Olivia search her bike. The K-9 unit shows up, the dog does its thing and they get back in the car. No drugs. And finally, Olivia hands Alex the ticket and the blonde shoves the helmet back on her head and zips away.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Aarons asks. Elliot scrunches up his face and scratches his head.

"I don't know. Anything out of the ordinary that will help me figure out what the hell is going on with her."

Aarons frowns for a moment. "Well, whatever it was she saying at the beginning of the stop was pretty out of the ordinary. She normally doesn't talk to herself."

Turning back to the screen, Elliot drags the cursor back to the beginning of the video and lets it play, this time reaching over to turn up the volume.

Olivia's voice comes in louder now, giving her location and situation. And the engine is louder too, revving up and accelerating to match the high speed the motorcycle is traveling. But suddenly there's a noise they didn't hear earlier. It's a rustling sound and then Olivia's voice again, sounding distracted.

"Yeah? I'm here. Kind of in the middle of something right now, though." Her one-sided conversation sounds agitated, like someone is calling her and she's too busy to listen to them. Which she should be. Troopers are supposed to be focused on accomplishing the task at hand, not making personal phone calls.

"Who the hell is she talking to?" Elliot mutters and he can feel Aarons leaning in closer over his shoulder. He's wondering the same thing. After a moment and in between dodging a few semi-trucks, Olivia speaks again. "What?"

Disbelief is what he hears next in Olivia's voice. Whatever this is, Elliot thinks, it better be damned important if she's talking on the phone while driving probably one-handed and at a high rate of speed.

"Vicente's bike you said?"

Elliot's eyes grow wide. Vicente. Olivia didn't know about Vicente until after the traffic stop. What in the hell?

"Good news. I've already got her. I'm in pursuit right now."

Another pause. "Yeah. I gotta go."

"Who's Vicente?" Aarons asks and Elliot continues to stare at the screen, unable to compute what he just witnessed. It can't be.

"Hello? Stabler?" Elliot jerks his head up and blinks. "He's . . uh . . he's part of the drug cartel. Or was until that woman," he points at the screen to Alex. "killed him in self-defense."

"And Benson knew him before this?"

Standing up, Elliot ignores him, grabs his keys and takes off out the door and into the hall, mind going again at a hundred miles an hour, trying to sort out what to do. Olivia Benson is with the drug cartel. Holy shit. And he's entrusted his star witness, the woman whose family has been all but wiped out, the woman who'd just been tortured and raped and beaten, to a trooper working on the side for the cartel. Holy shit.

First things first, he needs to call Alex and he hopes to god or whoever else might be listening that she answers. After that, he'll get with the feds and get a jump on the situation. Maybe, just maybe, if Alex is with Olivia, she can explain what all of this is and reassure him that what seems to be happening is not really happening. But the sinking feeling in his gut tells him otherwise.

He dials Alex's number as he pushes out through the DPS headquarters' front doors. She picks up on the second ring.

"Alex, thank god you answered. Are you okay?" His voice is frantic, but he doesn't care.

"Elliot? Yeah, fine. What's going on? You sound like you're freaking out."

She sounds calm. Shit, he thinks. She must have no idea. But it's good that she's not panicked. He wants to keep it that way and takes a deep breath to calm himself.

"Is Olivia there?"

"No, she said she was going to see you. You had just talked to her on the phone and you said something about Marcus giving up information on Cesar. That he hasn't said anything about the murders yet . . . What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. Where are you?"

"What do you mean where am I? Olivia said she told you."

He's quiet because his mind is trying to catch up with everything. Olivia left Alex alone somewhere, probably without a mode of transportation and then lied about where she was going and what she told Elliot. Alex catches on quickly. "She didn't tell you."

"No," he says quietly, starting his car and leaving it idling for a moment.

"She lied to me. What is going on?"

He ignores her demand and makes his own. "Tell me where you are."

"I'm at my uncle's lake house. Medina Lake."

"Okay, give me an address." He jots it down on a scrap of paper as she recites it to him. It's a good hour and a half away from where he is now. It will be dark by the time he and what team he can throw together get out there.

"What's going on, Elliot?"

"I'm not sure yet," he says, unsure about whether or not to just tell her. The last thing he wants is for her to panic.

"Just stay there, I'm coming to get you."

"But why?" Alex demands. "I thought I was safe here. Why would Olivia lie?"

"Just, stay there. Please don't go anywhere. I haven't been able to get a tracking signal on your phone, so please don't go anywhere."

"Okay," she says, sounding unsure. He hangs up and throws his car into drive, zipping through traffic as fast as the speed limit will allow to get back to his office. Screw it, he thinks as he dials numbers on his phone and gets all the right people on the line to put a team together. And in the back of his mind, he can't believe what's just happened. A state trooper who went over to the other side. What could have propelled her to do something as drastic as that? What could Velez possibly have on her to keep her loyal to him? And god, imagine all the shit she probably let go through on the highways. And worst of all, he's trusted the safety of a battered and abused woman to one of Cesar's own people.

The last phone call he makes before pulling into the headquarters is to a buddy of his who works with the DEA. But ten minutes later, frustrated and close to throwing his phone against the wall, he's gotten nowhere after explaining to them what happened and asking if they have any information on Olivia Benson. His buddy claims that he's unauthorized to comment on any ongoing cases and asks Elliot to wait five more minutes for them to accompany the team to Lake Medina.

"God damn it, I don't have five minutes. A woman is in danger!" And with that, he hangs up the phone and confers briefly with his team. They waste no time in suiting up, loading into several SUVs and barreling onto the road, heading west.