.good morning sunshine.

Special Victims Unit
Squad Room
Sunday, July 25th

Elliot and Munch had been working when the call came in. Olivia was in the back, getting a few moments of shut-eye, and her partner came in and sat on the side of the bed, gently shaking her into awareness. Rubbing her eyes with a weak fist, she asked, "Munch's turn already?" in a voice stretched from the yawn she muffled with the other hand.

"No, we got a call." This woke her up and she gazed at Elliot intently as he explained further. "A church in Abdullah and David's old neighborhood was hit. We're going to check it out. I thought you would want to know."

She stood up and grabbed her jacket from where it was hung up nearby as she ran a hand through her sleep-tousled hair. As she slipped the jacket on, she asked him, "Is it morning?" He nodded. She didn't want to but she asked the other question anyway. "Do you think it's him?

His silence was the answer she had suspected.

…

"Good morning, detectives," Warner greeted them, her face missing its usual cheerful smile.

"Morning. Same MO?" Elliot asked and the medical examiner nodded.

Olivia glanced around the building, noticing its partially burnt structure and a few stray firefighters on the premises. "He set the place on fire?"

She nodded again. "Yes, but it seems as though he did it deliberately away from the body, like he wanted us to find it intact."

"Who's the victim?"

"The local priest: Father Kirschbaum." Elliot's jaw flexed as Warner flipped back the tarp to expose the chest of the corpse. "From what I can tell, the killer removed the ribs premortem, as opposed to the first killing, and crucified the victim with them. The same saw was used, probably a small handheld, possibly battery-operated, and the copious amounts of blood around the wounds makes me believe that he probably sat back for a while to watch his victim suffer. Again, the heart was removed and appears to have been taken with the killer, along with the murder weapon."

"What's that?" Olivia asked from where she crouched down next to the victim's head, her gloved hand pointing at something embedded in his forehead.

"I believe that's a cross from a necklace," Warner answered. "The killer appears to have hammered it somehow into the victim's forehead. Postmortem, I'm assuming from the lack of blood surrounding the wound.

"He's escalating…" Olivia murmured as she stood up.

"Anything else unusual?" Elliot asked.

Warner's face adopted a grim smile. "Your killer took another trophy from the priest with him. Want to take a stab at what it was?"

"His kirschbaum?" Munch asked, walking up with a matching look on his face. It was a cold echo of his usual jovial expression.

Warner gave him a look but nodded. "That was removed premortem also."

Munch glanced at Olivia, who had a slightly confused look on her face. "Cherry tree," Munch offered in translation.

Olivia lifted an eyebrow at that, but her years in the squad and the previous developments in the case had numbed her to most of the surprise at that revelation. Elliot asked in a tone carefully devoid of emotion, "Is that all?"

Warner flipped the tarp back over the corpse and nodded to the detectives. "Yes, but if I find anything else, I'll be sure to give you guys a call."

"Thanks," Munch said and gestured his fellow detectives away. "I found something you two might find interesting," was all that he would say as they followed him to a bulletin board with pictures posted on it. Further inspection showed that they were pictures of the church's congregation doing various activities and also labeled pictures showing the families. With a smile that was vaguely triumphant, Munch pointed to a picture and asked, "See any familiar faces?"

Elliot and Olivia looked closely at the picture, the date on it proclaiming that it was taken a few years back. The picture was of a family, a tall man standing with his hands on two boys' shoulders. The father and one of the boys were Caucasian, but the boy was of obvious Arab descent with dark eyes that held a familiar look. "Elliot," Olivia breathed as she turned to look at him, her eyes wide in shock.

"This is their church."

…

"Has there been any movement?" Olivia asked Fin as she and Elliot got out of the car. Munch had already arrived at the suspects' apartment complex to work with Fin on how they were going to proceed and to wait for backup from the police.

"Nah, everythin's been quiet," Fin answered. "Last saw Abdullah arrive with a couple groceries bags about two hours ago. You got the search warrant?"

"Right here," Elliot replied, holding it up. They had stopped by Casey's office on the way over to pick it up after she had rushed it to a judge for a signature. "Where's the backup?"

"They called, said they didn't have any available troops at the moment," Munch said.

"How long will we have to wait?"

He shrugged. "Could be an hour."

Olivia chewed on her lip. "What if he kills again?"

"This is the only way in or out of the buildin'," Fin said, pointing to the door. "If he leaves, we'll see him." He paused. "Which of them are we talkin' about, anyway?"

Elliot shrugged. "We still don't know."

"What if he kills someone inside of the building?" Olivia asked, her expressive eyes still showing her worry for the unprotected individuals inside. When none of the other detectives presented her with a ready answer, she continued, "He's already killed Jacqueline; what if he has another neighbor he feels needs to be punished?"

"What do you want us to do, Liv?" Elliot turned to fix her with an intense stare. "Go in alone?"

"We've done it before," she shot back. "They don't own a gun. We outnumber them. We can do it."

"What if we underestimate them?"

"What if there's innocent people in there being brutalized, Elliot? What then?"

Elliot could find no answer to that and his eyes turned to stare up at the window of the shared apartment, his gaze searching the blinds as though he could see through them to see what they were up against. He turned to look back at Olivia after a moment, his face set in impassive stone. "Let's do it." He put a hand on his partner's shoulder. "But remember; we've just got a search warrant. It's not like we're planning on going in their guns blazing." She looked at him for a moment before nodding in acknowledgment.

"Why do I have the feeling that this is a bad idea?" Munch deadpanned.

"Maybe because it is?" Fin answered as he followed his fellow detectives into the building.

They stood in front of the shared Waters and Ali apartment, guns in hand and Olivia poised to knock on the door when they heard it. The faint sound was a low electrical buzz coming from inside of the apartment. It resembled the noise made by an electric razor, at least until the instrument being used hit resistance and then it had a grinding, sickening quality to it, somewhat like in horror films when the killer is using a chainsaw on his victims. Olivia glanced to Elliot with something akin to horror in her eyes when they heard a muffled scream rip through the air. Nodding to her, he stood back and kicked in the door, a feat that would take its toll later on in aching muscles and bruised flesh but he didn't care: he was only focused on the life that could be saved.

They moved into the apartment, Olivia going first with Elliot close behind and Munch and Fin pulling up the rear. Homing in on the noise, Elliot and Olivia followed it to a back bedroom while Munch and Fin cleared the other rooms.

Suddenly the noise stopped and silence reigned for a moment. It was soon broken however by the voice of the perpetrator. "Beg for your Father's forgiveness while you still can," the low voice demanded, eliciting a choked sob from his victim. "The Lord forgives those who ask it of him. Ask for this perversion to be cast out of your soul and the Lord shall exorcize it like the demon it is."

Elliot looked at Olivia and mouthed, "One, two, three," and then they moved into the room, bringing their guns to bear on the killer as they assessed the situation.

He looked up at them, his eyes sparkling with fervor and anticipation. "Detectives! How kind of you to join us." He tapped the point of the knife he held on his victim's chest before trailing it up to the throat as he continued. "You're just in time for the afternoon's entertainment. Care to take a seat?"

Elliot resisted the impulse to pull the trigger and managed to growl out through gritted teeth, "Put the knife down."

"Come on," Olivia coaxed, adding, "Nobody has to get hurt."

The killer's grin widened. "That's where you're wrong, detective. It's Sunday today; a day for sacrifices and the only sacrifices ever worth making involve a great deal of pain."