Olivia Benson shot up in her bed, startled out of a troubling nightmare, already fading, by the insistent scream of her phone. Her cell phone.
Instantly she was awake and alert. She grabbed the phone and silenced it as she leapt from her bed and tried to get dressed with one hand.
"Benson," she barked expectantly, yanking a sweatshirt over her head. It was 4:07 in the morning. She sighed, aggravated, waiting for an answer.
For a moment there was nothing but heavy breaths coming over the line. She rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, funny Elliot," Olivia snapped, annoyed and unnerved.
The voice that answered her was not Elliot Stabler's.
"Good morning, Olivia."
The voice was deep and throaty, yet smooth with intelligence and malevolence. Olivia felt a cold chill crawl slowly up her back.
"Who is this!" she demanded, fighting the sour panic from her voice. Only fellow officers knew her cell phone number.
"You'll know soon enough. But that's not your concern, Olivia. I called to do you a favor."
The voice was laced with evil and intensity. Olivia softened her tone. "And that would be…?"
A chilling laugh, low and powerful made her recoil. "I called to give you the location of your newest victim, Detective. Aren't you grateful? I could have just left the woman to die. But nothing but the best for one of New York's finest."
Olivia sucked in a breath, feeling the color leak from her face. Experience and intuition said this man was not lying. "You raped a cop. Where? Where is she?"
"Now, now, Olivia. A person's life is a precious commodity, and I expect to be given something in return for her location."
Fury began to slowly boil in the pit of Olivia's being. "What do you want!" she seethed.
Another low, rumbling laugh. "You, Olivia. But I guess I'll settle for your cell phone number, which I had to obtain myself, and your word that you will get to that woman before she dies. For now."
"You have my word!" Olivia snapped. Only the victim filled her mind.
"I knew you'd cooperate. She's lying in the alley on 4th and main. Probably has a skull fracture and some other decorations."
She struggled against her rage. She couldn't make this man angry, not when he obviously knew so much about her. Since she had what she needed, she prepared to hang up, not caring about finding him, only caring about the victim. Her thumb trembled over the red button.
He was still talking. "Hurry, Olivia. She won't last long. And watch your back."
The dial tone moaned loudly in her ears.
Olivia didn't hesitate. She grabbed her gun and her badge and cell phone and radio and took off out the door, dialing her partner as she leapt into her car and turned on the siren.
"Stabler."
His voice was alert and awake, even at 4 in the morning. The sound of his steady voice was comforting on her frayed nerves.
"Elliot, I just got a call from a rapist. On my cell phone. Telling me where to find his victim."
A mile away, Elliot shot up in bed. "What?"
"Yeah. God knows how he got my number. But my gut tells me this is no joke. He said the victim was a cop. Left her in the alley on 4th and Main. I'm on my way now."
Elliot's eyes darkened. "Liv, stop. This sounds wrong. Don't do anything stupid!"
Her voice was annoyed. "Hey, you want to help? Beat me to her. Or better yet, call for an ambulance and some back up to the alley. I'm going in. We have a cop down, Elliot, I know it. Radio for back-up."
She hung up.
Elliot cursed, and jumped from bed, leaping into clothes and grabbing his gun, radio, phone, and badge, and ran out the door without a word.
Kathy sighed, and rolled over without a word.
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Olivia reached the alley. She parked down the street, and turned off the siren. All the hair on her arms was standing on end as she canvassed the scene, looking for anything suspicious. She saw no movement in the alley. With a deep breath to calm her pounding heart, Olivia pulled her firearm, and prepared to run into the scene.
With the gun before her, she made her way into the alley. Vaguely she could make out the form of a woman sprawled at the foot of a dumpster. Not a sound in the alley. Olivia holstered her weapon, and moved to the victim.
She was in uniform. Covered in blood from a massive head trauma. Obviously raped. One eye was swollen shut, and she was covered in vicious scrapes and bruises. This lady put up a fight. After a moment, Olivia gasped. She knew the woman. Jordan McKinley. She was a young, smart-mouthed, genius crime scene investigator. Very efficient. Very passionate about the job.
"Jordan…it's Olivia. Hang on!"
A pulse. Faint and erratic. Shallow breathing.
Olivia knew she shouldn't move the woman, but she had to stop the bleeding in her head. She yanked off her coat, and pressed it against Jordan's head, reaching with her radio for the other hand.
"Benson, SVU. Confirming report of wounded officer, 4th and Main alley. Need an ambulance and CSU. Repeat, I have a cop down!"
Suddenly, her phone rang. She breathed a sigh of relief, smoothing Jordan's matted hair as she answered, hoping for Elliot's voice with some good news.
It wasn't him.
"You look angry, Detective. Don't you like my handiwork?"
Her eyes widened and the hair on her neck stood in warning. Her heart pounded wildly against her chest as she reached for her gun. But before she could answer, he hung up with a chilling laugh echoing in the bloody silence.
As she silenced the ominous dial tone, she heard two different sirens coming towards her. One, an ambulance. The other, she knew, belonged to Elliot Stabler and the rest of SVU. She whispered into Jordan's ear, holding her hand gently, "Don't worry Jordan, help is here. Just hang on for me."
Her eyes darted around wildly, her mind screaming at her that something was wrong.
She stood, watching as Elliot jumped from his car and began jogging towards her. Suddenly, sharp staccato sounds erupted from the roof of the nearby building. In an instant, Olivia made a decision. Instead of reaching for her gun, she hurled her body over the victim, covering it with her own.
Elliot watched, horrified, as the shots rang out. His eyes widened when Olivia threw herself onto of the victim. The officers behind him opened fire, though it was absolutely dark. He joined them, aiming from where the last shot had come. The shots stopped. Impulsively, Elliot holstered his firearm and sprinted towards the pair on the ground. His trained eye immediately flew to a GSW in Olivia's arm. He moved to lift her, but she hefted herself off the victim with her good arm. He grabbed her, steadying her, and supporting her. He looped her good arm over his shoulders.
"Easy, Liv."
Her free hand immediately flew to the wound, trying to put pressure on the opening.
"Hey!" she yelled at the paramedics. "We got a raped cop over here! Let's move!"
Elliot smiled dryly. "And a shot one. Are you hit anywhere else, Liv?"
"No. God, I played right into his hands. He waited for me. He knew my cell phone number. How in hell did he know my cell number! My stupidity could have gotten Jordan killed!"
Elliot helped her to the ambulance. "Or you. But I know you. You checked the scene before you entered. You knew you had backup coming. There was nothing that led you to believe there was danger. Wait. That's Jordan McKinley? That smart-ass CSI?"
"Yeah." Olivia wasn't convinced. A paramedic moved towards her with bandages. She recoiled visibly, causing herself to wobble. "No way, chief. Her first. This is a flesh wound."
The pair of paramedics strapping Jordan to the stretcher moved to get her in the ambulance.
"Nice job, Detective," one called admiringly. "No GSW's on this victim."
"Yeah, but we got one on my partner!" Elliot snapped, his arm around his partner tightening. He didn't see the blush that he caused.. "Get in the ambulance, Liv. You can talk to Jordan while they patch you up. Munch's calling the captain as we speak. He's going to want a report. And you know what? I want one, too."
"Yes, sir, Detective Stabler," Olivia said, fondly, saluting with her good hand, covered with her own blood. He rolled his eyes as she was helped in the ambulance.
Fin ran up to him as the ambulance rode off. CSU was swarming the place.
"Elliot, what the hell happened?"
Elliot sighed loudly, massaging his temples as he sat on the hood of his car. "Here's what I got so far. Olivia gets a call on her cell phone. From the perp. He lets her know where to find the victim. Tells her it's a cop."
Fin waited, expecting more. Then he raised an eyebrow. "That's it? How the hell did some rapist know Olivia's cell number?"
Elliot shot him an intense glare. "Wouldn't I like to know." He stood again. "I gotta get going. I should go check on her at the hospital."
Fin's eyes widened. "She got hit?"
"Yeah, you didn't see? She threw herself over the victim to protect her. The victim wasn't shot. Olivia got hit in the upper arm. Fairly minor, but needs stitches. She was ordering the paramedics around before they loaded her in."
Fin gave a tight grin. "Sounds like she's fine, then. But a rapist that attacks lady cops latching on to Olivia? This doesn't look good man."
"No shit."
Munch walked up to them. "Captain wants us all at the precinct since it's pretty much morning now. He's fairly pissed about Olivia getting shot, and even more so about some perp calling her."
"Great. Tell him I'll be late. I'm going to check on her."
Munch and Fin exchanged glances, then shrugged, walking to their car.
Elliot knew immediately where to find his partner after being directed to her hall. Of course the room they'd assigned to her was empty. That didn't surprise him. Jordan McKinley was on the same hall; no doubt he'd find Olivia there.
His hunch was right. His partner's arm was wrapped in gauze and in a sling. Blood from the outline of the stitches made a jagged red scar on the white bandages. She was silent as she watched over their colleague. The clench in her brows told Elliot all he needed to know; she was blaming herself.
"Liv," he said, startling her. "Stop thinking what you're thinking. You got there was fast as you could. You couldn't have stopped this. Because of you, Jordan doesn't have a bullet in her. If the press finds out, they'll want to give you a medal or something."
That got her attention. She shuddered. "Ugh. Please. It's the job, and I do the job."
He grinned. "Yeah, we all do the job. And frankly, I must request as your partner that you NEVER scare the hell out of me like that again."
She didn't laugh. "I know this creep, Elliot. His voice…god. I just couldn't place it. But I know him, I can feel it."
Elliot nodded seriously. When Olivia Benson said the words "I can feel it," she was usually accurate. The woman had some intuition.
"Well, I don't like it, Liv. I can only pray there's not a pattern coming."
She stood, casting a lingering glance at the young officer. "Yeah. I'm not going to let any more cops take the heat for some con's grudge."
Elliot frowned. Obviously, she wasn't thinking quite the same thing he was. He was afraid the perp would come after HER. But Olivia, being Olivia, would be the last person to think—or care—about that.
That's what worried him most.