One day, around mid-January 2004, Detective Olivia Benson picked up her mail. Upon checking and sorting out the junk, she came across a manila envelope. There was no return address, but the postmark showed it was mailed on the 10th, from Las Vegas. The address was hand written in a familiar script. She opened the envelope and let the contents slide out onto her kitchen table. There were several sheets of paper, all hand written. On the topmost of these was a letter. Taking along everything, she went into her bedroom and shut the door. Settling on the bed, she turned on her bedside lamp and began to read.

January 5, 2004

Olivia,

If all went well, this letter will find itself in your hands about a week after I wrote it and sent it out. I sent you the letter through a remailing service so if the wrong person finds this letter and the envelope it came in, they won't be able to trace it back to me.

First, let me assure you that I'm alive and well. I've been living well in another part of the United States, having just settled in a few weeks ago. I'm still getting used to living my new "life."

Unfortunately, I can't tell you any specifics about my new life. This is not because I don't trust you, but that there's always a chance of a message being intercepted. In general, considering the circumstances, my life is good. My shoulder has healed, my health is good, I've made some new friends, and I'm keeping busy teaching.

There were so many things that I wanted to say to you and Elliot that night. I just didn't have time, nor the privacy, to say them. When you were on the verge of tears, I wanted to hug you and reassure you that I would be ok. I miss you. You are my best friend, and you are like a sister to me. These past few months have been hard for me, but I'm holding on. It wasn't the pain of leaving, it was not knowing when it would end. You know about the Cartel, you know how hard it'll be to bring him down, and even then that won't guarantee my safety.

While I can't come back to New York, I hope we can correspond like this. Phone calls are out of the question, as is e-mail. However, while everyone has focused on technology, they've forgotten about the more "quaint" means of communication. Using a remailing service ensures that even if someone intercepted a letter, they can't trace it back to me. However, we both have to be careful to keep out certain details on both ends. We also have to write our letters by hand, which will make tracing the origin of my letters more difficult.

Attached you will find the details of how to write back to me safely. Keep this attachment locked up in a safe place. There are also details on what to do if things go south. Call me paranoid, but I've learned more about the Cali Drug Cartel than I ever wanted to know.

Olivia, they are extremely dangerous. I can not stress that point enough. It's not just a matter of having hundreds of millions of dollars at their disposal, they have technological and intelligence resources that rival our government.

I wouldn't worry though, as far as they know, I'm dead. As long as we're both careful, neither of us will be in danger. Then again, there's always bad luck. You can show this letter to Elliot, and anyone else in SVU that you trust.

Write to me, don't write to me; it's your choice Olivia. Even if you don't, I'll keep writing to you and keep you updated on the general details of my new "life." Remember that I'm still alive, and living my life as best I can. I promise you that whatever happens, I'm not giving up on myself.

Your friend always,

Alex