Casey reeled from what Hector had just told her. Her first thought was, 'As if that poor kid hasn't been through enough!'
"What's your source?" she asked Hector.
"An inmate right here," he replied. "I was talking to him about the details on a completely different case, when he told me about how this guy he met in the pen was bragging about how he was hired to 'do' Lily Beauchamp."
"Who's the guy doing the bragging?" Casey asked, pulling out a pen and a scrap of paper. "Please tell me you got a name!"
"Yeah, he's Marcus Sewell," Hector told her.
Casey wrote the name down. "And how is Mr. Sewell expected to go after Lily if he's in Rikers?"
"That's just it, Casey," Hector said with a shake of his head. "Sewell was released about three days ago."
'Oh Good Christ!' Casey thought, exasperated. 'This just keeps getting better!'
"I know it's not much," Hector said. "But the guy couldn't give me anything more than that."
"Are you familiar with the Beauchamp case, Hector?"
"Yeah, of course. This guy's the Jack The Ripper of rapists, isn't he?"
"And he's sitting in a cell right here at Rikers," Casey said, pointing to the building behind them. "The guard tells me that Beauchamp's been getting a steady visitor over the past few days. His name is Samuel Childs and I'd like for you to get as much info on him as you can. He was just here earlier today, so they'll still have his stuff on file. The guard who told me about him is Neville Owens. He'll I.D. Childs for you."
Hector nodded. "You got it."
"I'll meet you in there," Casey said. "I've got to call somebody right now." While Casey dug out her cell phone, she hoped to God that Olivia was still with Lily and Linda right now.
Special Victim's Unit Squad Room
16 Precinct
Manhattan
Olivia had just entered the squad room, and was about to apologize to Elliot for her behavior earlier, when her cell phone started ringing.
"How much you wanna bet that's lover boy calling?" Fin jokingly asked Elliot.
"That's not much of a bet," Elliot replied. "Because Eric's always calling her."
"For the last time, guys," Olivia muttered, as she pulled out her cell, "Eric and I aren't lovers--"
"--we're just friends," Elliot, Munch and Fin all said in unison.
"Sure, Liv," Elliot added with a knowing smile. "Whatever you say."
Olivia slowly shook her head in mock-aggravation. "Sweet Jesus, I'm in frigging kindergarten, here!"
"We're in kindergarten?" Munch excitedly asked. "Will there be finger-painting later?"
Olivia couldn't help but crack a smile as she brought the cell up to her ear and said, "Yeah, Benson."
"Olivia, are you still with Linda and Lily?" Casey frantically asked.
"No, we parted ways at the courthouse," Olivia said, her eyes growing wide as she sensed something was very wrong. "Linda was on an extended lunch break, she had to get back. Why?"
"I just got word that somebody put a hit out on Lily," Casey said. "A convict who was just released from Attica was bragging about getting the job. His name is Marcus Sewell."
Olivia stood there, stunned. Elliot, Fin and Munch--upon seeing her expression--all instantly ceased their joking and grew serious. "It's Casey," she told them. "She says somebody has put a hit out on Lily Beauchamp. The hit man is Marcus Sewell, an ex-con just released from Attica."
"Oh man!" Fin said, looking shocked. Munch simply shook his head in disgust.
Elliot abruptly got up from his desk and went over to Cragen's office. "Captain? We've got a problem!"
"You say somebody put a hit out on Lily," Olivia said to Casey. "But we know full well who the rat bastard is: Beauchamp."
"Don't worry, I'm handling it on that end right now," Casey assured her. "Beauchamp's been getting a regular visitor by the name of Samuel Childs, and I've got one of the D.A.'s investigators tracking him down right now."
"You think this Childs is Beauchamp's contact for the hit?" Olivia asked.
"That's what we're gonna find out."
"All right, we'll get Lily and her mom secure," Olivia said. "Talk to you later."
Cragen had come out of his office with Elliot, who had filled him in on the new developments so far. "Olivia, you and Elliot round up Lily and her mom, and bring them back here," Cragen ordered. "Munch, Fin: drop what you're doing and track down the whereabouts of Marcus Sewell, late of Rikers. Let's see if we can pay him a little a visit sometime today, shall we?"
"Will do, Captain," Munch said as he and Fin picked up their respective phones and got busy dialing.
"Casey has a D.A. investigator looking into a guy who visited Beauchamp in jail," Olivia told Cragen while she and Elliot threw their coats on. "Beauchamp's friend goes by the name of Samuel Childs."
"I'll wait on what Casey has to say about that end of it," Cragen said. "Meanwhile you and Elliot get going."
"We're gone," Olivia said over her shoulder, as she and Elliot rushed out the squad room. Within minutes they were in their squad car and racing down the street with Elliot driving.
"Is Lily back in school?" he asked.
"That's where Linda was taking her when I left them," Olivia replied. She shook her head. 'I was just with them! If only we had remained together,' she thought. 'If only Casey had called earlier. If only, if only, if only….'
"All right, we'll head for the school and pick up Lily, first," Elliot said.
Olivia pulled out her cell phone. "I'm gonna call Linda and let her know what's going on."
Elliot nodded as he weaved the car through the New York City traffic. "Good idea."
Olivia speed-dialed Linda's work--she was a receptionist at an uptown insurance company--and got one of her co-workers, a solemn-sounding woman named Lola Manning.
"Yes, this is Detective Olivia Benson," she said. "I'm calling for Linda Beauchamp."
"She's not here," Manning replied. "She had an emergency and had to leave."
"What kind of an emergency?" Olivia asked, startled.
"Her daughter had some kind of an accident at school."
"How long ago was this?" Olivia demanded.
"Uh, she just left a few minutes ago," Manning said, sounding perplexed. "Why? Is there something wrong?"
Olivia hung up on her. "We've got problems," she told Elliot. She relayed everything that Manning said to her partner.
"Not good," Elliot said, as he lit up the cherry--the car's emergency light--and switched on the siren. "This doesn't sound very good at all."
"I'm calling the school," Olivia told him. She was glad she had all of the important people and place in Lily's life on speed-dial. Olivia normally didn't do this with every case; it was just because Lily had made such an impact on her life.
When a school receptionist answered, Olivia gave her name and asked if Lily Beauchamp had been in an accident.
"Why, no," the woman--who sounded elderly--answered. "There's been no accident here. Jane?" she asked someone off the phone. "Has there been an accident with a girl named Lily Beauchamp?"
"The place where her mother works said they got a phone call from you," Olivia told the woman, as a feeling of dread crept up her spine. "The caller asked Linda to come to the school because her daughter was involved in an accident."
"Oh my!" the woman said, sounding shocked. "No, nothing like that has happened here at all!"
"Elliot," Olivia said anxiously, "it's a set up! Drive faster!"
"We're almost there!" he said, grimacing as a taxi tried to cut them off. "Get out of the way, you son of a bitch!"
"Ma'am, listen to me," Olivia said to the woman. "We believe Lily Beauchamp is the target of an attempted kidnapping. Please get her from class and do not let Lily Beauchamp out of your sight. And do not let anybody--including her mother--take her until the police arrive. Do you understand?"
"Oh my God! Oh, yes, yes, of course, Detective Benson!"
"We'll be right there," Olivia assured her. She hung up and then called in the kidnapping attempt on the police radio. Olivia was abruptly jerked to one side of the car as Elliot sharply swerved to avoid hitting a Lexus that tried to pull out in front of them.
"Stupid bastard!" Elliot shouted at the other driver as they drove past. "Can't you hear the damn siren!"
"Just one more block," Olivia said, almost to herself. "Just one more block, now."
"You realize if this really is a kidnapping, then they've already got Linda," Elliot grimly point out.
"But they're not getting Lily," Olivia firmly swore. "Here's the turn!"
Elliot pulled the car off the main avenue and onto the side street where Lily's school was--only to come to a dead stop when a truck that was double parked in the street blocked their way.
"Oh for Christ's sake!" Olivia cried. "I could run faster than this!"
"Then go!" Elliot told her. "I'll meet you there."
Olivia pulled off the seat belt and got out of the car. As she ran past the parked truck, she saw the panicky driver appeared to be having trouble starting it up.
She ran down the street, arriving at the main doors of the school and bounding down the hallway towards the main office. When she entered the main office, Olivia flashed her badge at the women behind the counter. "De-Detective Benson," she said, still out of breath from her run.
A woman with snow white hair stood up from a desk behind the counter. "Yes, Detective Benson. I'm Fiona Proctor. We spoke on the phone."
Olivia glanced around the main office, but could not find Lily. "Where is she?"
"He's bringing Lily down right now," Proctor told her.
"Who?" Olivia asked.
"Harold," Proctor cheerily replied, "one of our security guards. Don't worry, she's in good hands."
'I'll believe that when I see it,' Olivia thought ruefully, as she went back out into the hallway to wait for the security guard. She smiled when she saw the guard escorting Lily around the corner at the far end of the hall. Olivia's smile faded as she watched them both stop as Lily stared at something in surprise off to her right.
And then Lily ran off by herself, her arms out-stretched as if to embrace someone, while the guard merely stood and waved.
"LILY!" Olivia shouted as she ran full-tilt down the hallway. "LILY!"
"Excuse me," the guard said imperviously as she ran up to him. "But is there a problem, Miss?"
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?" Olivia shouted at him. "You were supposed to take her to the main office! Where did she just go!"
"She went with her mother and the police officer," the guard said. He stared at Olivia as if she were insane. "Right out there, see?"
Through the glass of the door, Olivia saw Linda standing with a man outside. And for a brief instant, all appeared well. Olivia figured that the back up that she requested via radio had already arrived.
Until Linda abruptly let out a cry as she tried to run towards the door. The man grabbed her from behind, covering Linda's nose and mouth with a handkerchief as he effortlessly hauled her off.
"Oh, Jesus, no!" Olivia shouted, as she pulled her Glock from its hip holster and ran towards the door.
When she hit the schoolyard, which was framed by stonework, Olivia saw two men running off, each had a prone Linda and Lily in their arms. They were making for a van that was parked on the street just ahead of them. Olivia ran after them and then, once she had a clear shot, stopped and held her Glock out at the men. "POLICE!" she shouted. "FREEZE!"
Just then, a third man, who wore a ski mask over his face, stepped out from behind the van with an Uzi in his hands.
"Freeze this, bitch!" he snarled, just before he sprayed the entire schoolyard with bullets.
"Shit!" Olivia muttered as she ducked behind a low stone wall. She could hear the bullets hitting the masonry on the other side. 'Thank God all the kids were inside and the schoolyard's empty!' she thought.
Sudden movement to her left caught Olivia's attention, and she saw Harold the security guard staring out the window with impossibly wide eyes. "What's going on?" he mouthed to her.
Olivia just frantically waved for him to stay where he was. She was grateful to hear the approaching sirens. Reinforcements were on the way.
"Come on, come on," Ski Mask shouted. "Get moving, now!"
Olivia slowly stood up behind the masonry gate post--which was the tallest part of the stone wall--and snuck a peek from around its corner. When she saw that Ski Mask and his Uzi were gone, she took a chance and stepped put from behind the stonework.
Olivia dropped to one knee, aimed at the legs of the man who carried Linda, and fired.
The man let out a grunt of pain as the nine millimeter bullet struck his thigh--which was just where Olivia had aimed for--knocking him and Linda to the ground.
Olivia drew a bead on the second man who carried Lily towards the van, but her concentration was broken when Ski Mask reappeared with the Uzi. She hurriedly ducked back behind the safety of the wall just as he opened fire once more. Another gunshot ended the flurry of bullets. And Olivia glanced over the fence and saw Ski Mask running for his life. Olivia looked behind her, and saw where the single gun shot came from.
It was from Elliot.
He came running up the street, hunched down behind the parked cars, until he reached Olivia, who had taken cover once more behind the stonework.
"You all right?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she said. "You get him?"
"I aimed right at his chest, and I saw him flinch, so I think I hit him," Elliot said. "But he must be wearing a vest."
"They still got Lily, El!" Olivia was about to go back into the line of fire until Elliot pulled her back.
"They've also got some heavy firepower," he warned her. "Stay down."
"I can't move," a man cried. "She shot me in the leg!"
"Leave him," another man--who sounded like Ski Mask--said.
"We were supposed to grab the broad, too!" a third man said.
A police siren squealed loudly from down the street.
"We're gonna be grabbed if we don't get the fuck out of here right now!" Ski Mask roared at his comrade.
"Don't leave me!" the wounded man cried.
Both Olivia and Elliot risked a look over the stone fence. Linda Beauchamp lay sprawled out on the sidewalk as her would-be kidnapper tried to crawl into the street. The reason he did this because he was frantically trying to catch up with his buddies, who had jumped into the van--with Lily--and were taking off.
This time Olivia pulled her arm away from her partner's protective grasp and run out onto the sidewalk. Pointing her gun at the crawling man, Olivia screamed, "Police! Don't move!"
"Ah, Christ," the man said, as he rolled over on his back and put his hands up. "You got me, lady. Don't shoot!"
Just as the van began to speed away, carrying poor Lily to a horrible fate, a cold stab of fear ripped through Olivia's her body when it occurred to her that she would not be able to reach the van in time. Nor would she even be able to get in a good position to fire at it.
Just then Elliot ran into the street and aimed his Glock at the van. He abruptly pulled the gun up when a woman stepped into the gutter and right in his line of fire.
"Police, get out of the way!" he ordered. He rushed past the woman, but the van was already moving before he could draw a bead again with his gun. Instead Elliot stood and stared intently at the van as it drove off.
'Secure the suspect!' Olivia told herself, forcing herself to stay focused on her own problems. But she couldn't stop thinking about Lily.
"Roll over on your face, and put your hands behind your back!" Olivia ordered the man. When the man did what he was told, she handcuffed his wrists together behind his back. "Don't move!"
"Lady, I couldn't move even if I wanted to," he said with a heavy sigh.
As she ran over to check on Linda, Olivia glanced at Elliot, who stood in the street calling in the van's license plate number on the police radio, and the direction it was last seen headed. Several of the NYPD patrol cars that responded to the scene just kept going right up the street--obviously, they received the alert Elliot had just sent on the van and were now in hot pursuit.
'Jesus, let them find her, please!' Olivia thought, as she knelt down beside the prone Linda. 'Please, let them get to Lily in time!'
"Linda, are you hurt?" Olivia gently asked.
"Olivia?" Linda said, looking dazed. There was a strong odor of chloroform all over her. Her abductor must have used it to try and knock her out. But thanks to the commotion, he didn't have a chance to keep the chloroform on long enough for it to have the full effect. "Olivia, they used me! They used me to get Lily! They made me stand outside and wave to her!"
"It's all right, Linda," Olivia soothed her, as several NYPD police cars pulled up to the scene. "They were armed. You had no choice. It's not your fault."
"Where is she? Where is Lily?" Linda desperately asked. "Is she all right?"
'Oh God,' Olivia thought, as she dreaded having to tell Linda that her little girl had just been abducted.
"Liv!" Elliot called. He stood with his police radio by his ear. "They got them! They found the van a block from here."
"Great," Olivia said, relieved. "You go, El. I've got to stay with--"
"Is Lily in the van?" Linda asked.
"Yes, Linda, she is," Olivia replied.
"Then you go get her, Olivia," Linda said. "I know my baby girl, she'll be very scared. But Lily trusts you, Liv. She'll feel better if you're there. Please, Liv, go get my baby for me!"
"All right, Linda," Olivia promised. "I'll get Lily."
A uniformed officer came over and said, "We'll stay with her."
"Call a bus for her," Olivia told him.
"It's already on the way," he informed her.
Olivia ran down the street with Elliot to their car, which was now parked in front of the school.
They took off with Elliot driving once more. With the cherry flashing and the siren blaring, they weaved in and out of mid-town traffic until they reached an indoor garage. It wasn't hard to find the crime scene; there were half a dozen police cars parked outside.
Olivia clipped her badge onto the lapel of her jacket as she and Elliot strode inside. The van was parked in the empty garage, with all of its doors opened, and about a dozen uniformed officers milling about. Olivia rushed up to the van and frowned when she saw that it was empty. "Where is she?"
"Benson and Stabler, SVU," Elliot said to a uniformed sergeant. "We were the ones who called it in. What you got?"
"The van was already empty when we got here," the sergeant replied. "We just did a search of the building, but there's nobody here."
When a gentle breeze blew on Olivia, she turned to see another garage doorway on the opposite side of the building. Like the doors on the van, it had been left opened. An empty lot led to a side street--which Olivia knew led directly to the West Side Highway. Her heart sank when she grasped that the kidnappers were gone, along with Lily.
'I promised her,' Olivia thought with crushing despair, 'I just promised Linda that I would bring Lily back to her! And now I failed them! I failed them both!'
Elliot stood next to her, also staring out the garage doorway. His eyes grew wide as the realization of what just occurred also hit him.
"They switched cars," Olivia solemnly said. "The fuckers had a second car waiting for them in here!"
"Call CSU," Elliot told the sergeant. "Get them over here ASAP!"
Olivia stared at the side street beyond the empty lot and saw a thriving bodega. 'Maybe somebody there saw the kidnappers leave in the second car,' Olivia thought.
When she started running towards it, Elliot called to her. "What're you doing?"
"Keeping my promise to Linda," Olivia said. "I'm gonna question the people in that bodega and see if they saw the second car pulling out here. Maybe we can get a description."
"Great idea," Elliot said with a nod. "I'll stay here and work the scene."
Olivia was about to leave when Elliot abruptly came over and gave her shoulder a brief, tight squeeze as a sign of support. "We'll find her. You hear me, Liv? We won't rest until we find Lily safe and sound."
"Damn straight," Olivia replied. As she began walking briskly over to the bodega, Olivia thought, 'We will find you, Lily. Even if I have to tear this frigging city apart brick by brick to do it!'
To Be Continued...