Disclaimer: I do not own Law and Order: SVU. It belongs to a genius named Dick Wolf. No profit is being made from this story.
The rest of the day brought no progress. Elliot had been missing for approximately 36 hours, and the captain was getting scared. The obsession to find him stemmed from the reality that no one could ignore: they were police officers. They knew what happened to people who went missing. He sat in his office, twisting a pen between his fingers, and sighed. He decided that the team was going to have to step back and refocus.
"Olivia, John, and Fin," he called, stepping out of his office. They looked up and he gestured for them to come in.
Being tied up wasn't the worst part. Being gagged wasn't the worst part (although it was coming very close). The worst part for Elliot was the darkness. Wherever he was, it was so dark that he couldn't see anything. The man never made noise whenever he approached, and so Elliot was constantly on alert. His heart was pounding so frantically it seemed to explode from his chest. He twisted his hands and moaned as prickling shards of pain coursed through them. Hot tears slid down his face. Please send help, God, he prayed. Please don't let me die like this.
"Come in and shut the door," Cragen instructed as the three approached. They looked at each other in wonder before doing as instructed.
"What's wrong?" Olivia asked, not liking the look on his face.
The captain sighed and shook his head. The helplessness crashed down on him again, making him blink tears back. "This isn't working."
The expression on each of their faces told him that they were all thinking the same thing, but were too afraid to say it. Saying it made it become real….saying it made them face the reality that their best might not be good enough to reach Elliot in time.
His tone was frustrated, and he rubbed his eyes wearily.
"We've reached four precincts so far," Fin said, hopefully. "They said they will do everything they can from their end."
"It wouldn't matter if we had the entire state of New York out looking for Elliot," Cragen said sharply. "Not one of us has the slightest clue where he is. He could literally be anywhere on the face of this earth."
Olivia was becoming bristled at his tone. It seemed to her like the captain was deeming the search useless. She bit her lip to contain the angry remarks that she wanted to throw at him, knowing that hot tempers were the last thing any of them needed at the moment.
Munch sat back and stared at the captain, seemingly deep in thought. He spoke a minute later, his voice soft and ominous. "Everyone is tired. Nobody can really take it anymore."
She narrowed her eyes at his statement, shocked when Fin nodded his agreement. Appalled, she looked to the captain again.
"We just….we can't keep this up forever," Cragen said, his tone dismal.
"What the hell is wrong with you guys?" Olivia could no longer stand it. She leapt to her feet, turning mutinous glares on each of her colleagues. Her words were venomous with anger. "So, what….you're saying we should just give up on him? Is that what you're all trying to imply?" Her voice rose until she was shouting.
"This is not some random victim this time! This is Elliot! He is part of our family! How the hell could you…?" She turned her murderous glare on Cragen. "You, of all people…. you're just going to sit back and let him die? Doesn't he mean anything to you?"
Tears had begun streaming down her face as she whipped around to face the other two. All three of them were so shocked that they couldn't speak. "You two….Elliot has loved the two of you like brothers. He puts us before his own flesh and blood, for Christ's sake! How the hell can you just give up?"
She was sobbing now, her body shaking with anger and despair. "I'm not going to let my best friend die," she sobbed. "If I have to sell my soul to the devil himself….I am going to get him back." She flung the door open, unable to control her voice from becoming hysterical. "Why bother talking about this? Why don't you just kill him yourselves?"
She ran through the squad room, ignoring the horrified faces of the officers who had been listening to every word, and bolted through the doors.
The three men sat still. Not one of them moved, blinked, or even seemed to breathe.
His pitch-black prison was damp and incredibly chilly. Water was dripping on top of him at a steady pace, and was slowly soaking through his light jacket and t-shirt. He shivered, his teeth chattering.
The man descended quietly down the rope ladder again and clicked on the flashlight, aiming it at Elliot's face. He jumped in surprise and quickly shut his eyes against the painful invasion of light. He cracked open one eye, his breathing becoming rapid in fear.
"How are my beauties?" the man rasped, directing the beam directly into his eyes.
Elliot twisted his face away from the beam, trying to clear the spots from his eyes. The man lifted up his face, examining his throat and neck, and ran his fingers over his Adam's apple. He trembled at the contact, making the man laugh.
Olivia sat on the edge of the roof, her face buried in her arms. Her sobs floated into the air. She cried all of the tears she had been holding in since the minute she saw the kidnapper's note.
Don snapped out of it first. He got up from his chair. "Damn it, you guys. What the hell's the matter with us?" He stepped into the doorway and turned back to face them. "He's counting on us." He walked out into the squad room.
"Everybody shut up!" he bellowed, making the occupants jump. "Every single one of you, pick up a file or a phone, NOW. We've never abandoned a brother in trouble, and we're sure as hell not going to start now! No one so much as pees without somebody covering them, got it? I want a lead in the next five hours."
He strode out of the room, and the officers stood still in hesitation.
"What, did he stutter?" Munch yelled. "Get moving!"
The officers jumped into gear. Fin was shocked; he had never heard his partner yell like that before. Then again, he never dreamed the squad would ever be in a situation like this before. The urgency communicated itself clearly to the other officers, and they began working with new determination. Fin and Munch quickly picked up phones and joined them.
"Olivia."
She gasped in a breath and looked up. Her boss was kneeling beside her.
"I'm sorry, Captain," she said softly, shaking her head. "I'm sorry for going off on you guys like that."
"I'm not," he said frankly.
She looked at him with surprise.
"I'm glad you chewed us out, Olivia," he said. "Somebody needed to tell us to get our heads out of our asses." He looked at her with fatherly concern. "Do you want to come back and join us now, Detective?
She swallowed hard, tears beginning to seep out again. She shook her head and looked away from him.
"What is it, Olivia?" he asked.
"I just can't stop thinking about him," she said, her voice shaking. She started to cry again. "He's all alone and he's scared. There's no one there to tell him it's ok."
In a very un-characteristic gesture, Cragen pulled her into a tight hug. "You have to be strong, Olivia. This is killing all of us…but we can't fall apart. You're right; he is scared right now. We need to pull out all of the stops and get him out of there."
She nodded, wiping her eyes. He got to his feet and extended his hand to help her up. "Now," he said, his voice firm. "Get a hold of yourself, Benson. There's no crying in baseball."
She gave him a small smile at the familiar words and followed him back inside.
Forty hours and counting. The man had disappeared again. Elliot was so tired that he couldn't hold himself upright anymore. Every time he nodded off, the tight straps would cut into his skin, making him jump awake again. He tested the tape again, trying to pry his lips apart, but it wouldn't budge. He tried to yell out, hoping the sound would echo enough for someone to hear him, but it was too muffled to produce anything.
"What's the matter?" The raspy voice cut through the darkness, and Elliot jumped. He instantly was on the alert, trying to figure out where the man was. "Cat got your tongue?"
The man moved closer to his prize without turning on the flashlight this time. Elliot started to shake when he went silent, knowing he was somewhere he couldn't see. The breathing through his noise became loud and panicked.
The man moved closer to Elliot, enjoying the reaction he was causing. He hissed in Elliot's ear, and he made a frightened sound at the surprise, his head darting around wildly to try and locate the man in the darkness.
"Round and round and round he goes….." The man circled around his captive, reciting the children's rhyme slowly, his voice becoming sinister. Elliot closed his eyes, his entire body beginning to quiver violently. "Where he stops….." He leaned against Elliot's ear again. "Nobody knows!" He quickly shuffled around to his other side.
"Don't stop now," he hissed, drawing a knife from his pocket. He slunk towards Elliot's shaking form and got next to his face. His voice dropped to a low whisper. "The game is just beginning."