A/N Busy weekend, but I finally got a chapter done, so enjoy (hopefully!).
Thanks to everyone who is reading along as I'm writing this, you are pretty amazing, and as always, review if you have a mo, so I know you're there!
X
Chapter Fourteen: Reversals
Olivia was startled for a second, then there was another tumultuous bang. The whole car shook and for the first time, she saw the assailant. A man wearing a ski mask, chest heaving, wielding a titanium baseball bat menacingly. He looked violently incongruous in broad daylight on an open street, but he certainly meant business. He swung the bat again, taking out the drivers side window, and Olivia had to duck quick to avoid being caught. She heard Casey curse and a shower of safety glass splashed over her. She quickly released the parking brake slammed the accelorator, praying there were no cars ahead of them.
Thankfully, the car did not immediately rear-end another vehicle, and once they had cleared a few feet Olivia sat upright again, finally getting her hands back on the wheel and her eyes on the road. She slammed heavily on the brakes, only just swerving in time to make a sharp corner.
"Shit!" Olivia said, still out of breath, "that was close!" Casey was ducked in the passenger, looking up at Olivia with wide eyes.
"Yeah," she said breathlessly, having to shout to outdo the roar of the engine. Just then, there was a faint cracking sound, as a bullet skipped off the roof of the car. Olivia checked the rear-view, sighting a red Buick Lasabre following them. On the passenger side, she could another ski masked man, possibly the same one from the sidewalk, popping out the passenger side window with pistol. His hand recoiled as he fired again, a bullet pinging off the bodywork frighteningly nearby.
"Fuck! Casey, you're gonna have to return fire," Olivia said, flooring the accelerator and taking her battered vehicle to nearly the top speed her car could achieve, noting that the pursuing vehicle was matching pace easily, and even gaining on them. Casey looked at her as if she had suggested she scale the empire state building using only a pair of bathroom plungers. "Novak, you said you knew how to use a gun, now fucking use it!" Olivia shouted, hoping to shock the lawyer out of her stupor. With the gunman hanging out the window, he could easily target vital parts of the vehicle, or even try shooting for her or Casey. They needed to fire back, as that would force the gunman back into the vehicle, meaning he'd have to fire blind.
"I've never shot at anyone!" Casey said, still not drawing her gun.
"Don't, just fire at the car, so they know we're carrying!" Olivia said, getting frustrated. It was tough enough driving at this speed without hitting anyone or any person without having to coach Casey through firing a few warning shots. although she had managed to navigate the chase toward an unpopulated area, an large industrial site which was all but clear on the weekend. She shot a sideways glance at the ADA, who had now freed her weapon of its holster and was moving to pop her head out the window. Olivia quickly reached across, grabbing Casey's shirt and pulling hard.
"Shit Case, are you nuts?" She snapped, relieved that she had caught the younger woman before she got herself shot in the face. She'd already had one Assistant District Attorney shot whilst in her care, if she lost another one it was likely she would be banned from leaving the DA's office with them. "Don't pop out the window, use the wing mirror to aim!" she instructed. When she had time, she was going to lodge a complaint with the NYPD's traffic department. Olivia hoped they would have heard about this chase by now and sent out a squad car or two to put an end to it. She heard a loud bang nearby, follow by another two. Casey was returning fire, and she checked her rear-view, glad to see that the gunman from the other car had returned to his seat.
"Good work, keep firing," Olivia said. Casey seemed to have gotten the hang of it, either that or was buzzing on adrenaline.
The other car continued to fire blind at them, and Olivia slammed the car around corners hard and late, trying to shake them off. Unfortunately, her car was well due for retirement. She had only really hung onto the old girl for nostalgias sake.
Now she needed no excuse for a replacement. She wondered if her insurance covered her for high-speed shootouts.
"I think we've got a tyre out!" Olivia yelled, her poor car protesting the abuse of its gear box. They were definitely slowing, despite Olivia holding the pedal to the floor.
"What do we do?" Casey asked, dropping the empty clip out of Elliot's borrowed pistol and fumbling to reload. Another bullet from the pursuing car took off the drivers side wing mirror. It was decision time, and Olivia had to call the shots.
"Ok, get ready." Olivia said, taking the car down a narrow track between two tall warehouses.
A WEEK AND THREE DAYS LATER
AN UNDERGROUND FACILITY SOMEWHERE IN NEW YORK
"So," Olivia said, "I don't suppose you saw any convenient, unguarded exits while you were schlepping around up there with Hamilton." It was a blatant attempt to dissuade Casey from asking anymore questions about the DNA debacle, but Casey seemed too distracted with keeping her breathing even and shallow, perhaps trying to avoid angering her most definitely cracked ribs.
"I wasn't up anywhere," Casey said hoarsely . "I think we're in some sort of underground bunker."
"Great." Olivia muttered, letting a silence settle between them.
"Hey, I've got a question for you," Casey said, "and you have to answer it honestly."
"Go on then." Olivia said cautiously, hoping Casey wasn't going to start about the DNA again.
"Who's a better prosecutor, me or Alex Cabot?" She asked. Olivia smiled at the childish question.
"That's not a fair question." Olivia answered diplomatically, staying firmly on the fence. On paper, Casey's conviction rate put her ahead by a mile, technically. But unlike Casey, Alex had been a personal friend. Casey had rubbed Olivia up the wrong way from the moment she had walked onto the first crime scene. She was gung-ho, headstrong and too young for the job, with a tendency to speak before she thought.
Then there was how quickly Elliot had warmed to her.
Olivia wasn't jealous by nature, but she had to admit that she slightly begrudged the close bond Elliot had formed with the ADA, even more so now that she knew they were romantically involved. As much as she tried to hide it, she'd always had a bit of a thing for her partner, but of course, rules, and the fact that he was married, always dictated that nothing happened.
Olivia wasn't sure of the exact rules regarding dating your departments ADA, but she imagined it was frowned upon at least, if it came to light, defence lawyers would make things very difficult if Casey ever needed to call Elliot to give evidence.
But Elliot was willing to risk it for Casey, making Olivia wonder if the attraction between her and Elliot wasn't as mutual as she had always thought.
"So it's Alex then." Casey said, pulling Olivia from her thoughts.
"I said it wasn't a fair question." Olivia restated. The look on Casey's face was one of unexpected vulnerability.
"Yeah, but if you thought it was me, then you'd say so. But you just feel bad that you think Alex is better." Casey said.
"You're a good prosecutor too." Olivia said. For an instant, Casey looked hurt. Then her eyes clouded, and her expression quickly became neutral again. At first she thought Casey was just making conversation, she didn't realize her opinion would actually bother the ADA, and she felt a touch guilty despite herself.
"It's alright." Casey said, drawing her knees up to her chest and staring ahead blankly, "anyway, have you had anymore bright ideas about how to get out of here?" She asked, clearly eager to change the subject.
"I was thinking we find a dessert spoon, dig for China and hide our daily progress with the remains of that chair you broke." Olivia reeled off as seriously as she could.
"Liv, we're fucked aren't we?" Casey said, unimpressed with Olivia's admittedly weak joke.
"Yeah. A little bit." Olivia sighed, leaning her head back against the wall. Casey's appraisal of the situation was unfortunately rather accurate. But still, she had a little flicker of hope inside her. Elliot was still out there, and she knew he would give his life to save them, if that's what it took.
"Liv?" Casey said. Olivia exhaled heavily. Casey needed to learn the benefits of silent time. Olivia's body was begging her for sleep, whereas Casey had spent most of the last twenty-four hours unconscious and was most likely very well rested indeed.
"What?" She asked, ensuring she sounded as harassed as she felt.
"I'm scared." Casey practically whispered. Her voice was uncharacteristically soft, and Olivia knew she meant it. Olivia shuffled closer, hesitantly wrapping an arm around Casey's shoulder. For a moment, the other woman stiffened at her touch, perhaps surprised at the gesture. Then her muscles slackened, and she gently rested her head on Olivia's shoulder.
"Me too honey." Olivia admitted.
A WEEK AND THREE DAYS EARLIER
OLIVIA BENSON'S CAR, AN INDUSTRIAL ESTATE NEAR THE DOCKS
Once they rounded the corner and Olivia had brought the car to a possibly whiplash inducing halt, as instructed, Casey threw the door open and hopped out of the car, using her long stride and relative athleticism to catch up and keep pace with Olivia easily. As planned, the car following them rounded the corner blind at ridiculous speed, and with the narrowness of the track Olivia had parked the car in, the red Buick had no choice but to crash head on into the tail of the abandoned vehicle.
The sound of buckling metal and exploding glass was immense, followed by conspicuous silence and smoke rising from the wreckage.
From the vantage point the two had taken up at the end of the track, tucked in at the edge of one of the tall warehouses so they had cover if the car occupants began shooting again, Casey could see that the driver of the vehicle was not moving.
"Stay put," Olivia said, drawing her own weapon and cautiously starting toward the messy crash site. Before the detective had got halfway to the car, a man jumped out of the passenger seat, astonishingly sprightly considering the wreck he had just been in.
"Drop the gun!" She heard Olivia call out to the ski-masked man, who by now had his hands raised to ear height. His pistol clunked to the tarmac, and Olivia continued to approach slowly. Casey kept her eyes on the car, concerned that the driver might spring out at any moment.
"Novak!" She heard Olivia call out. Her eyes darted back to Olivia, who by now had the suspect cuffed to her trashed cars door. She jogged over to Olivia, gun held with both hands, but muzzle pointed at the ground, just in case.
"I'll cover you, can you check out the driver?" Olivia said, nodding at the Buick. The airbag had deployed, and the ski-masked driver was resting face first on it as though it was a pillow. He was conspicuously still. Casey nodded, handing her gun to Olivia and climbing into the passenger seat. She checked his pulse, but it was steady and strong.
He was just unconscious.
"He's alive." Casey said.
"Unmask him, lets see who this bastard is." Olivia said, still keeping the gun trained on him, eyes occasionally darting to the other suspect currently fastened to her wrecked vehicle.
Casey cautiously removed the black ski-mask. His face didn't look familiar, but that was no surprise.
Olivia was already unmasking the other suspect, who was similarly unidentifiable.
"What's your name?" Olivia demanded of the conscious man, gun levelled at his chest. He looked at her with a sneer.
"Your name is Olivia Benson, Junior Detective with the Manhattan NYPD Special Victim's unit, and that," He nodded in Casey's direction, "is Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak, also assigned to Sex crimes."
"I think we knew that already," Olivia said dryly. Casey tried to keep the concern off her face. It was disconcerting that members of M.I.T.P. recognized herself and Olivia. That meant, as Olivia had suspected, they were on their radar. "Alright fine, don't tell us, but you're still under arrest," she turned back to Casey, "Casey, call the precinct, tell them to send a squad car over." Olivia then grimaced at the car wreck. "And maybe tell them to send the fire department over so we can get speed racer over there out."
Casey pulled her cell out of her jacket, "shit, no signal." She said, loud enough so Olivia could hear. It was somewhat unsurprising, although the car chase had been short, it had been fast. They were in middle of a damned industrial site and the nearest phone mast was a good distance away. Casey had always wondered why the police used radio.
Olivia looked between Casey and the cuffed man, trying to look thoughtful while her mind raced. Both vehicles were unusable, her portable radio was at the station, and her car radio was likely ruined in the crash. Taking the prisoners back to the station on foot would be difficult, tedious, if not impossible. There was only one alternative.
"Alright, here's what we're gonna do," Olivia said, sounding surer than she was, "Casey, secure number two to the wheel, then I'll keep an eye on these clowns while you walk back toward the city until you can get a signal." Casey nodded and climbed into the passenger seat.
Satisfied that proceedings were going to plan, Olivia focused on the man secured to her now totalled vehicle.
"I think you better start explaining yourself no-name. We've got you on attempted assault, dangerous driving, possession of most likely illegal firearms…" Olivia's rhetoric was cut off by the sound of sudden movement behind her, she spun quickly back to the vehicle, and through the jagged frame of the shattered windscreen, she could see that the driver of the vehicle was now very much conscious and leaned across the passenger seat, pistol held against Casey's temple. Casey had her hands raised beside her shoulders and her eyes shut.
Shit.
Olivia had forgotten to search the other perp for a gun, it made sense that if one was carrying, so was the other. This was an unfortunate oversight.
"Drop the fucking gun!" The surprisingly hardy driver yelled. Olivia dared a quick glance over her shoulder. The man behind her looked sickeningly smug.
"Don't do anything stupid," Olivia said, keeping the gun aimed at the man in the car. She had a clear shot at his head. She could probably put him down, he was only yards away. She could almost definitely put him down.
But almost wasn't good enough.
Slowly, Olivia raised her free hand, in sight of the armed man, and leaned down placing her service glock on the tarmac, kicking it clear. It skittered noisily under the crumpled mess of the crashed cars.
Casey had been half terrified that Olivia might blow the mans head off while he was right there next to her, but now, with Olivia unarmed and the tables turned, she wished Olivia had, regardless of how traumatic that event might have been. The man in the car was around her age, with a few flecks or premature grey marring his otherwise carbon coloured close cut hair. He had eyes which were an almost white shade of sky blue, with wiry red veins that made them look bloodshot, though perhaps that was as a result of his very recent car crash.
"Out of the car." The man with the gun barked, nudging the muzzle of the gun against her head. She quickly obliged, keeping eye contact with Olivia, willing the Detective to invoke some sort of ninja move, like whip a Shuriken from her sleeve, or something equally as effective, and improbable. "Put your hands on the back of your head."
A WEEK AND THREE DAYS LATER
AN UNDERGROUD FACILITY SOMEWHERE IN NEW YORK
Olivia had just managed to drop off to sleep, the thrumming pain in her leg having died down, her nerves too exhausted to send pain signals to her brain, when the door crashed open again. Olivia did not see the need for Elliot to make such a dramatic entrance, though now that he had her attention, she found herself unnerved by blank expression on his face, and the agitation in his movement, shifting his weight from foot to foot at an awkward pace.
"Casey," He said, nodding his head back toward the doorway, indicating her presence was required outside of the room again. Casey remained still next to Olivia, no doubt cautious after what had happened to her last time Elliot had taken her for a little jaunt. Olivia was surprised though, that Casey's battered state hadn't evoked surprise, anger, or any palpable reaction at all from her Partner. Olivia had been certain Elliot would see red the moment he caught sight of her injuries, but he seemed almost indifferent.
"Now," Elliot added, when Casey had still made no moves to even get to her feet, let alone exit the room.
Casey started at the jump in volume, and the annoyance in his tone.
Reluctantly, she got to her feet, biting back a curse as she straightened up, her cracked ribs sending new shocks of pain down her spine, imploring her to remain stationary. She ignored this, skirting past Elliot in the doorway in an odd, crab like fashion, something in her head didn't want her to turn her back on him again, just in case. He had a resolute look on his face, the same one she had seen just before he'd punched her, then thrashed the hell out of her with Hamilton's belt.
She stood, shoulders tensed, waiting for Elliot to follow her. She heard Olivia call his name, and he turned round, shooting her a glare which made her weak at the knees for all the wrong reasons.
"Stay here." He said levelly, pointing to the spot she was rooted to. She swallowed hard. Fuck, had it taken that little to break her? A couple of cracked ribs, an evil stare or two and a beating with a belt?
Casey continued to internally rebuke herself as Elliot crouched by his partner.
"El, why did you leave Casey alone with Hamilton?" Olivia said quietly, for fear that someone might catch a bit of their conversation in passing.
"I didn't," Elliot said, brows knitting into one. Now Olivia was confused too.
"Then how did…" Olivia started, only to be cut off by Elliot pressing a hand over her mouth.
"Liv, can you walk on that leg, yes or no?" He asked, removing his hand to facilitate a reply.
"I think so…" Olivia started.
"Good, take this key, when I bring Casey back, you and her get the hell out of here," He said, sliding a key into her jeans pocket out of the cameras sightline.
"If we escape using your keys, they'll know it was you that let us go," Olivia said, praying Elliot wasn't going for the kamikaze option. He had to know by now, Olivia wasn't about to let him sacrifice himself for her sake.
"They're Hamilton's," Elliot said.
"Well what if he notices you took them?" Olivia asked. Elliot sighed heavily, unable to hold eye contact.
"He won't. He's dead. Now as soon as I bring Casey back here, you two make a run for it. I'll be right behind you." Elliot said, straightening up and marching out the door to join Casey, slamming it behind him. Olivia wanted to ask him what happened to Hamilton, but she had a sick feeling that she already knew.