Sophia and her sisters were still in the warehouse basement. As none of them had their phones, and none of them wore watches, they weren't sure just how much time had passed.
But Sophia knew that she was hungry again, and that it was getting dark.
"Kim, what are you doing?" Sophia grumped.
"Giving me motion sickness, is what." groaned Amanda. "Make her stop."
Kim had spotted a window that looked big enough to climb out of, although it was a little high off the ground. Upon inspiration, she began stacking crates from around the basement until she'd made herself a makeshift ladder. She'd just been moving so fast that Amanda had become a little queasy. It was up to Sophia to remedy the situation.
"Kim, come on." Sophia said. "Like we really need Amanda vomiting."
"Okay, fine."
Kim sat on the floor, crosslegged in front of the others. She began to feel bad, though: Amanda really was looking a little green, and Sophia wasn't too far behind.
Without any preamble, she said, "I'm going to leave."
Amanda and Sophia stared in surprise.
"Don't be ridiculous." Sophia said after a beat.
Amanda pointed towards the locked door at the top of the stairs. "My squad has been looking for Karissa Lee and Reagan Turner since the day of the gala. I don't know how Reagan factors into the mess, other than that she's a trick who was doing dad when he died, but I think that Karissa Lee is gunning for revenge against the SVU."
"Revenge for what?!"
Amanda told her sisters what she had learned about the Brannon Lee Redding case.
"That's crazy." Kim said when she was finished.
Sophia nodded in agreement, shivering. "It is. Which of our 'hosts' is whom?"
Amanda did the math. "Reagan took us and hurt mama, so you met Karissa."
"I think she is the brains."
"What makes you say that?"
"Reagan was talking about you and Kim, telling Karissa that she'd taken you both. I think that Karissa was only banking on it just being Amanda and I because she flipped out."
"What did she s—"
BANG!
The sound of a single gunshot rent the air overhead. It was muddled because the basement was underground, but it was enough to make Sophia and Kim press closer to Amanda.
They listened as a fight broke out, although it ended quickly with another gunshot, and the sound of a body falling to the floor.
Sophia spoke softly. "Oh, my God. One of them is dead. But who?"
Amanda touched a hand to her arm. "Hang on."
There the sounds of someone walking around, and then a car starting. Nobody dared say a thing until they heard the garage door open and then then close again as the car pulled away.
Kim broke from the pack first.
"Look," she said, getting back on track. "I have to go."
"You don't even know where we are!" Amanda protested.
"But I know that you two are in more trouble than I am. You're as sick as a dog, and you can't even walk without help, on account of your busted ankle."
Kim glanced at Sophia and cringed. The younger woman didn't have the healthiest-looking complexion, and she was looking more green than she had a few moments prior. This, however, furthered Kim's determination and she looked back at Amanda.
"Sophia isn't looking too hot, either, and you're both pregnant. You've also both got partners and even daughters who are at home, worried about you. I'm not pregnant, I don't have any children already, and I'm definitely able-bodied." Kim pointed up at the window. "Amanda, I can fit through there and get out, if you just give me a chance. I know I can't even begin to count all of the wrong things I've done to you, your squad, and the family, but for all of that, I am so sorry. I'm not that person anymore."
Amanda had been apologizing for Kim's errors for as long as she could remember, and for the longest time as adults, Kim had always been very selfish. Ever since she'd gone back down to Georgia to live at home again, she'd been working on turning over a new leaf. It was beautiful.
Amanda became so deeply moved by Kim's words because she genuinely believed them, so she hugged her and then touched her face fondly.
"I forgive you."
Then she looked around.
"Have you seen a jimmy, or something?"
Sophia spoke up. "I'm going to have to brush up on my Southern slang after this, but is this what you mean?"
She was holding a up a pry-bar.
"They may have managed to collect all three of us, but what Karissa Lee and Reagan aren't is bright if they had one those laying around." Amanda said as the pry-bar exchanged hands. "I don't think I'm going to forget this for a long time."
"Oh, I don't think any of us will."
This was from Sophia, who suddenly remembered something.
"Wait!"
Kim looked at her in surprise. "What's up?
Sophia pulled a sheet of folded paper that she'd stuffed down her shirt and held it out to her. "I don't know what this is, but Reagan dropped it."
"But you were blindfolded." Kim was incredulous as she tucked the paper down the top of her dress for safekeeping—she didn't have any pockets. "How did you manage?"
In spite of the situation, Sophia winked. "Half of my survival depended on pickpocketing in the pre-Melissa years."
Kim shook her head in amazement and then focused on the task at hand.
She'd left The Plaza that afternoon in a tank top, a long skirt, and a lightweight duster jacket. She also wore a hippie headband. Nothing, including the knee-high gladiator sandals she was wearing on her feet, were designed for warmth, much less long walks, but she was already putting that aside and tucking the excess of her skirt into her belt, to keep it out of the way.
She turned to Amanda and Sophia again, hugging them before she climbed the ladder. At the top, she found that the window had a ledge big enough to sit on. She did so, and was delighted to find that even using the pry-bar, she was able open the window easily. The sight outside was also promising.
"I see a street!" she told the others. "That's a good sign!"
Amanda nodded hurriedly and made shooing motions. "Go, Kimmie, go!"
With one last, "I love you both," and promise to be back soon, Kim slipped through the window, closed it behind her, and vanished into the night.
When she got up to the street level, she hid the pry-bar in a bush and fixed her dress before investigating her surroundings.
She was in what looked like an abandoned neighborhood. There were numerous buildings and businesses that lined the avenue, but they were all run down or vandalized. In some cases, both. Even the streetlights overhead weren't functioning properly. There also weren't any people out, or even a stray animal.
The building she'd just emerged from was large, and amongst the line of abandoned properties. A sign bore the address number 2447 and 'PARKER'S AUTO' in big, faded letters.
This was all Kim had time to take in before the sound of an approaching car caught her attention. She watched from behind a tree as a regular four-door Nissan passed her by. It stopped ahead at a stoplight, but when the light turned green again, it continued on.
Kim had no idea where she was, but deciding that the car was another good sign, she followed it in the direction that it had gone.
This was better than nothing.
Kim walked for quite awhile, although much to her dismay, it began to rain. It wasn't enough to be compared to Noah's Flood, but it was more than enough to slow Kim down.
Lost, cold, hungry, sobbing, and very wet, she just kept walking.
After losing track of time and any possible clues about where she could be, Kim finally arrived in a more populated part pf the borough, although anyone that was out was dashing down the sidewalk with umbrellas, or else newspapers over their heads to keep their heads dry. Nobody seemed to notice her, although she felt that this didn't matter. She was already much safer than she had been when she'd left the auto shop.
Finally, she spotted a building just down the street with a light-up sign affixed to it. The sign read 'POLCE.'
Crying in relief, Kim headed towards it.
57th PRECINCT
EAST 96th and EAST 98th
BROOKLYN
Brain Cassidy sat at the front desk, just inside the 57th Precinct in Brooklyn, very bored.
He had just a week left before his life in New York was over, and he could go join his new fiancée at their new house in California. He was really looking forward to it.
Tonight was just a bummer because it was raining outside. Rain always meant things were going to be slow. Little did he know that that wouldn't be the case.
Just as the clock on his computer monitor struck nine, the precinct door opened and young woman burst through. She had definitely been caught in the rain, but something about her seemed a little bit off.
"Hey, are you okay?" he asked.
Kim looked around to see Cassidy coming down from behind the desk. She'd had an adrenaline rush when escaping the auto shop, and now she was crashing. The hunger was also kicking in even more because she couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten. This was making her feel nauseas.
"No, I'm not. Will you help me?"
"Of course I will." Cassidy said cautiously. "What's your name?"
But Kim didn't answer because her adrenaline crash had finally done its work, and she collapsed.
