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.
Sighing, Don ended the call and dialed another number.
"Jeff Hammond, please," he said, when a voice answered. "This is Captain Donald Cragen of Manhattan Special Victims."
He drummed his fingers on the desk as he waited.
"This is Chief Hammond," a man said.
"Jeff," Don greeted. "It's Don Cragen."
"Donny!" the man exclaimed. "How the hell have you been, man?"
He smiled briefly. "Can't complain, Jeff, can't complain." Leaning back, he got straight to the point. "What's this I hear about you guys talking to our D.A.?"
"A blow torch?" Elliot asked skeptically. He looked at Fin quizzically.
Fin nodded. "Yeah, that was our reaction, too."
"What's a prostitute doing with a blow torch?" Olivia asked. "Surely the johns haven't gotten that extreme."
They all saw Munch's face twist into the smug look that he always got when he was about to spout off some conspiracy theory.
"Don't," Fin cut him off, holding up a warning finger. "Spare us, please."
He looked insulted. "So quick to judge," he said. "I was just going to say…maybe she hooked up with a biochemist?" He snorted in amusement at his own joke.
Olivia smirked and rolled her eyes. Elliot and Fin exchanged looks of disgust before each throwing a pen in his direction.
Cragen came out of the office then, holding a sheet of paper. "We're working, I swear," Elliot said quickly, getting his pen back.
The captain had a preoccupied look on his face. "What's wrong, Captain?" John asked.
He looked at them hesitantly, trying to figure out how exactly to piece together his bombshell. "We've got… an interesting dilemma with this new case," he hedged.
When he didn't say anything else, Elliot looked at him curiously. "How so?"
Don cursed inwardly. Figures that Elliot would be the one immediately interested.
"Well…it's a little more complicated than it looks," he said finally. He was still stalling, and by now they could all recognize that.
"How so?" Olivia pressed, echoing her partner.
"Your prostitute isn't a prostitute," he burst out, tired of the dance. He would have to get it out sooner or later anyway. "Guys, I don't know how we weren't made aware of this, but it seems that our dead girl is actually a dead undercover cop."
Their expressions turned into stunned horror in a matter of seconds. "Wha-?" Fin began.
"The Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms for the state of New York has been tracking an apparent serial arsonist," Cragen said. "They have been chasing him for a little over two months and found out that apparently, the guy is well-known for his habit of picking up prostitutes. The agency decided to send in one of their own as a decoy to draw him out."
Olivia closed her eyes. "He made her," she surmised grimly, her voice turning the statement into a hesitant question.
"How come Warner didn't say anything?" Elliot asked, staring at the captain with a new look of intensity in his eyes.
"She didn't know," he said quickly. "ATF provided a false ID, which is what was found on her body. There was too big a risk of her cover being blown for her to carry a piece and shield…she was just supposed to be eye candy long enough for the others to take down the guy."
"So what went wrong?" Olivia continued quietly.
"No one knows," the captain said gravely. "I spoke to Chief Jeff Hammond a few minutes ago. By the time the undercover agents got to the hotel room where the guy had taken her, they were both gone. He killed her, dumped the body, and took off again."
"That explains the blow torch," Munch murmured suddenly. They all looked at him. "Serial arsonist…maybe he was trying to light her on fire and she fought back, which is why he choked her to death instead."
The statement was so gruesomely disturbing that it made them all cringe. But they had to admit he may have had a point. "How many places has the guy burned down?" Munch continued.
"According to Hammond, over twenty retail stores in Jersey," Cragen confirmed. "They didn't think about the possibility of him moving to New York until there were another three suspicious fires last week."
"How did ATF know that the guy liked prostitutes if they haven't been able to catch up with him?" Elliot suddenly burst out. He had been sitting with his brow furrowed, obviously in deep thought. "If they were close enough to watch him looking for his next fix, how is it that they weren't close enough to arrest him?"
His tone was skeptical and full of criticism, which wasn't lost on the others around him.
Cragen chose to ignore the questions. "Hammond went to Arthur Branch," he said. "Since we're the closest precinct to the area where the guy has been known to appropriate, he wants us to get in on the investigation."
"Why?" Elliot burst out. "So that we can get one of our female officers killed?" He was looking at Olivia when he said this, and Don knew he was thinking about her.
"We're not going to go that route," he said quickly. "They sent an ATF agent from Jersey down here yesterday to join our team as part of a new surveillance detail. He's going to be our mediator for ATF, because they want to stay to look for connections in the fires there."
"When do we start?" Munch asked.
Cragen checked his watch. "He should be arriving any time…his flight left South Amboy at noon."
"So, is it just our precinct working this?" Olivia asked. "I would think that we'd have a better chance of catching this guy if the other SVU teams in the area were involved as well."
Don cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Well…" he stammered. "It's actually funny you should say that."
He was speaking to everyone, but his gaze fell on Elliot. "The agent coming here actually requested us," he said. He bit his lip. "And….he also requested to team up with Elliot for this."
Elliot's face reflected surprise and confusion as he looked at him. The other three looked at Elliot, then Don in confusion as well.
"Does this guy know me?" he asked.
Ceagen closed one eye in trepidation. "You…you might say that," he said slowly.
At Elliot's uncomprehending look, he handed him the piece of paper he was holding.
Elliot scrunched his eyebrows suspiciously as he began reading over it. Cragen was holding his breath, waiting for what he knew would be coming.
Olivia was watching him warily, but her thoughts were becoming dangerous….who did this guy think he was, wanting her to give up her partner for a case?
There was a tense silence as they continued watching. Elliot scanned the bottom of the page, and suddenly his eyes widened.
"Aw…hell no!" he burst out suddenly, making them jump. He jerked his head towards Cragen with disbelief in his eyes.
"Elliot," Don said carefully. "We have-"
They were surprised again when Elliot jumped up. "No," he said quickly, cutting him off. "No, Captain….forget it. It's not going to happen."
A threatening look began taking over the captain's face. They all recognized it…you're on thin ice and wearing heavy shoes.
"This isn't a request, Detective," he said edgily.
They now knew for sure that trouble was about to brew. The captain only addressed them as "Detective" when he was pissed.
Elliot folded his arms and looked Don straight in the face. "I'm not doing it," he said boldly.
Olivia's eyebrows shot up. Her partner had the judgment of a lima bean…as many times as he had pissed of Cragen in the past, one would think he would know when to shut up and say "yes, sir". She swallowed and waited tensely for his reaction.
The dark eyes narrowed into dangerous slits as Cragen stepped closer to Elliot. Just as he was about to open his mouth, a voice from behind them interrupted:
"Sorry I'm late; my flight got a little delayed."
Swiveling around, Olivia looked toward the source. A tall man with sandy blond hair was standing in the doorway. He wore a black jacket with an "ATF" patch on the left breast pocket and an imposing-looking Beretta on his right hip. His expression was cool as he looked at everyone.
Elliot's eyes narrowed as the captain stepped away from him.
"Don't worry about it," he said, going over to the man. He stuck out his hand. "I'm Captain Donald Cragen."
The man shook his hand firmly, but his eyes were looking at Elliot. He said nothing.
Clearing his throat awkwardly, Cragen turned around. "Welcome to the team," he said, facing the man for a minute. Then he addressed the detectives.
"Manhattan Special Victims Unit….meet Agent Sean Stabler."