Chapter 5
"Hey," Munch greeted them in the lobby of the E.R. and walked them up a flight of stairs "The Doc's almost done patching her up. 147 stitches." He shuddered at the thought.
"Where'd they find her?" Stabler asked.
"An ambulance on a false 9-1-1 saw her bleeding through the back of her t-shirt and picked her up." Eames said, handing Munch a coffee and taking a gulp of her own. "Coffee?"
"No thanks." Stabler said, eyeballing the hospital 'food'. Goren shook his head and walked over to the nurse's station.
"Excuse me nurse? Detective Goren, NYPD, where-"
"You here for the girl with the cuts all on her back?" Goren nodded. "Exam four, that way." She pointed to a corner room with both curtains drawn, shielding its insides from view. "Her name's Shelley."
"Thanks…" He headed for the door and knocked, and waited, knocked again, waited some more. "Hello?" Goren said, opening the door. It was clear that someone had just had stitches done, but the room was empty.
"What is it?" Stabler asked as Goren flew past him.
"Cover the exits!" He yelled as he slammed through the door to the stairs. He leaped down the stairwell and hung onto the handrail to swing him through the door into the E. R.
"Did you see a girl walk by here?" He asked the security guard by the stairwell door, flashing his badge.
"Yeah, just a second ago with her father…" He pointed toward the large, white double doors that led out of the hospital. Goren shoved two doctors out of the way, crashed through the doors and around the side of an ambulance before he saw them.
"Police! Stay where you are!" Goren yelled, drawing his gun. Next to him, Elliot was pulling his 9mm.
"Step away from the girl!" Stabler yelled, poising himself to shoot. The two might as well have kept quite for all the good their words did, for seconds later, they had to dive behind the ambulance as they were fired upon by the man. Goren leaned out slightly to fire back, but the man was using the girl as a shield, tightening one of her arms behind her back. When he saw Goren's face from behind the ambulance, he turned the gun on the girl, pressing it into her head.
"Throw your weapons out here or I will kill her!" He said with a thick Russian accent. Two guns came sliding out on the asphalt.
"Just let her go sir! It doesn't have to end like this, let her go and you can just walk away, all we want is the girl! Just walk away!" Elliot yelled from behind the bus. Goren reached up and slammed a fist into the side mirror of the ambulance, shattering it. He grabbed a piece and used it to look around the corner. He could see the man comprehend what Stabler had said, looking down at the girl in his arms; silent tears were falling down her cheeks. In a split second, the man had shoved the gun down his pants and was running full-speed down the street with the girl.
Goren flew to his feet and grabbed his gun. Despite his tremendous size, he easily outpaced Elliot and pursued the two. Not willing to risk the girl's life, Goren holstered his gun and used his arms to give himself more speed. The girl, in her weakened state, was unable to keep up with her captor; the two split up, and Goren went for the girl. He caught her on a turn and wrapped his large arms around her.
"Let me go please! Please!" the girl pleaded, trying futilely to free herself.
"It's okay, it's alright, calm down Shelley…" Goren said, keeping her locked into his arms. Suddenly she stopped struggling, dropping her head back against his chest and staring, backward, up at him.
"More people are going to die for this. It'll be my fault, and yours for stopping me." She said. But a second later, she had collapsed, unconscious from the blood loss. Goren picked her up, she was so small in his arms, and carried her lifeless form quickly back to the E.R. and a gurney.
"I lost him." Stabler said, walking up behind him and breathing heavily. "What'd she say?"
"She said, it was her fault, and that more people were going to die because I didn't let her go. I guess we'll see."