Finding Olivia
Chapter 4: In Deep
"You let her get away!" Cragen screamed at George.
"She jumped me with a lamp," George answered as a paramedic checked him out.
"Captain," Elliot attempted to get Cragen's attention.
Cragen turned to Elliot "What is it?" he was still pissed at this situation. Star had played him for a fool as well. After all he had had to sign off on Olivia's undercover assignment and take care of all the arrangements involving her apartment and personal possessions. It was almost as if Cragen himself had signed Olivia's death certificate. He hated himself.
Elliot held out a very worn looking three ring binder "Look at this."
Cragen took it and began to flip through the pages. The first thing he came across was a newspaper article. He read the caption out loud "FBI agent gone missing," the article was not accompanied by any photo. Cragen continued to read the article "On Saturday, in full view of a dozen witnesses and her partner, agent," he paused and looked up "This is unreal," he whispered.
"Tell me about it," Elliot muttered.
Cragen continued to read "Dana Lewis was abducted. The missing agent and her partner were investigating an underground pornography ring…" he flipped the page, unable to read any further and then wished he hadn't "Is that her?" he asked Elliot.
"Yeah," Elliot nodded.
"Why would she keep something like this?" Cragen asked as he turned the page to find yet more pictures "Whoever did this to her was a real sadist."
Elliot nodded "It's a scrap book of hell," he pointed to the binder.
Cragen finally found another newspaper clipping "Agent found near death," he read the caption. He held the binder out to Elliot, not wanting to have anything to do with it anymore.
Elliot took it from his captain and scanned the article "It says she claimed to have retrograde amnesia and that she had no memory of the eleven months that she was missing," Elliot looked at his watch and turned to the captain apologetically "I've got to get going if I'm gonna make my flight."
"We'll finish up here," Cragen assured him "You just go and bring Olivia home safe." Elliot nodded and was out of the apartment in a flash. Cragen watched him go and turned back to the binder "Good luck."
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Olivia watched as the sky lightened outside the windows of her apartment. She hadn't slept at all, she hadn't wanted to. She took one quick glance at the alarm clock and noticed that it was probably a good time for her to start getting ready for work.
She stared at her reflection in the mirror over the sink in her tiny bathroom. All she could think about was the events of the previous night. She would have been in a lot more trouble if Fletcher hadn't shown up when he did. She knew she was strong but Derek was so much stronger and she hadn't been able to get into a position where she could hit him in a weak spot.
When he had been on top of her, everything she knew about rapists and victims had flown completely out the window. She had fought back, using any and every move she could think of, no matter how futile the result. She knew that fighting back was probably what he wanted her to do but seriously, what other choice would there have been? She was not about to let herself willingly become a victim of Derek Moonshower.
She finished touching up her makeup and walked back into the main room of her apartment. Hers, this pathetic studio apartment was hers but thankfully, not for much longer. She would be going home, home to New York, back to her old job, back to Elliot. She wouldn't need to be Persephone anymore, she could cut all ties to that name forever. She never thought she would be as grateful as she was to be Olivia Benson again. Plain old Olivia Benson, the product of a rape. It was a horrible story but the story was hers to tell.
She grabbed a granola bar from the cabinet to the left of the stove and tore open the wrapping. As she chewed her breakfast, she thought about what Elliot had told her. Star had played them and gotten paid for it. Who could possibly do this? She tried to put the thought out of her head that Star had a specific reason for sending her to this town. After all, EDG members were in Oregon, just in a different part of the state probably. But Olivia couldn't shake the thought that Star had a reason for choosing this place, for setting her up to work at Derek Moonshower's store.
She had to admit that Moonshower made her extremely nervous. She had almost agreed with Elliot and hid in her apartment all day. It would have been a simple matter to call in sick and simply wait for Elliot. But she couldn't back down from this. She shoved her gun into the inner pocket of her jacket as insurance. Insurance that she hoped she wouldn't need to use.
Luckily the weather report had said that the temperature would be in the low fifties so it seemed perfectly reasonable for her to be wearing the bulky coat. She gave herself a final once over in the bathroom mirror, ensuring that the gun couldn't be easily seen. Satisfied, she headed out of her apartment only to run into Fletcher. And she quite literally ran into him. In her haste, she didn't see him standing in the hall and she knocked him over on her way to the stairs. She looked down embarrassed "Oh, Fletcher, I'm so sorry," she reached a hand down to help him up.
"Good morning to you to," he smiled as he dusted himself off "In a hurry?" he asked.
"I have to get to work," she answered.
Her answer caused the smile to disappear from his face "Persephone," he began in a concerned tone that Olivia knew all too well.
"I'm fine," she dismissed him almost effortlessly "I'll stay clear of him."
"You should stay home today," Maybe for the rest of your life, you have no idea how dangerous this guy is "Can't you call in sick or something?" he asked.
"I've only been working there for a week," she explained her cover story logic "If I take a sick day, I won't get paid." And he'll come looking for me, I know he will.
Fletcher whipped out his wallet "How much do you make in a day?" he asked as he began to count out bills. You have no idea what you're getting yourself into. I don't want to see you get hurt before we have enough to arrest this guy.
Why are you offering me money to stay home? "No, no, don't do that Fletcher," Olivia waved the money away "I'm telling you, I'll be fine." She pushed past him as gently as she could "See ya later," she called back.
Fletcher watched her go. I hope you're right. I really do. He headed back into his apartment and picked up the phone. He dialed a familiar number. When the person on the other end answered, he didn't even bother to introduce himself before he blurted out "We have to move on this now or there'll be another one!"
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Elliot settled into his seat in the airplane. He leaned back and closed his eyes as the flight attendant went over the safety preflight safety stuff that he knew already. He sighed, he was going to bring Olivia home and when he did, he would never let her out of his sight again.
The captain's voice came over the speakers and filled the cabin. Something about the altitude that they would be flying at, Elliot really didn't care. All he could think about was getting to Olivia. Someone had attacked her and tried to… he didn't want to think about it. And she had said that she was going to work that day, back to the same place where that man, her boss, worked.
On top of all of this, Elliot couldn't get Star out of his mind. She'd received a payment the day that he'd been injured in that explosion. Was he supposed to have died? Was Star hired to get rid of them? Who would want to go to such lengths to get rid of two people? Had he and Olivia pissed someone off that much?
Elliot could think of a few people who had either Olivia or himself on their shit lists. People they had put in jail, definitely. Elliot remembered a few perps who had had it out for Olivia but he couldn't think of anyone who was out of jail or alive. Could it be an angry family member? There were certainly enough of them. Family members of perps, of victims, either cases that had never been solved or people whose loved ones had been killed in jail or… He could remember someone that Olivia had put away who had been innocent, that is until he got out and set his sites on her. But Eric Plummer was dead, Olivia had shot him and he had no family that Elliot knew of.
"Excuse me sir?" Elliot was shaken from his train of thought by a flight attendant who stood beside him "Would you like something to drink?" she asked.
"Umm," it took Elliot a few moments to readjust to reality and grasp what was going on around him "No thank you," the flight attendant nodded and moved on.
He returned to his thoughts. He wasn't thirsty, he wasn't hungry, he couldn't think of anything other than Olivia and whatever danger that the two of them might be in. Another thought occurred to him as the small talk of surrounding passengers threatened to invade his mind. They'd pissed off drug cartels once or twice. But if a cartel wanted them dead Elliot was sure that they'd do something more straightforward than sending Olivia to the other side of the country.
He sighed, all this thinking was getting him nowhere. He wished he had Olivia with him to bounce ideas off of. He did his best thinking when they bounced their theories back and forth between one another. But there was nothing else to do on this long flight but think about the events that had led to this point.
He had tried to push her away when Kathy left. He had felt like a failure and it had been hard to ignore the fact that he sat across from a completely passionate, kind, accepting and dare he admit to himself gorgeous woman. He had pushed her away because at the time, it had been too soon to admit to himself what he had probably always known.
She had always come back, no matter how hard he pushed. That is until Victor Gitano. His feelings for her had been pushed to far to the surface to fast, even faster and more forcefully than when Kathy had left. And how had he dealt with the realizations that threatened to drown him? He had lashed out at her, told her that he needed to know that she could do her job. What kind of crap line was that? He knew she could do her job. She was one of the best cops, if not the best that he knew. The problem was that this didn't stop him from worrying about her.
And then in the warehouse, when Gitano had held that gun to his head, he had tried to apologize to her but the words came out all wrong. The way it sounded when he replayed it in his head, it sounded almost as if he regretted choosing her. She said she would have done the same thing and he knew she would have. God, she was too good for him.
He had told George that she made him turn away. She never made him do anything. He was always the one who dragged her into situations that might endanger her job. He was always the one doing the stupid risky things. She was the brains and the beauty of the outfit. He knew that if he spent the rest of his life apologizing to her, that it wouldn't be enough.
He made a solemn vow on that plane ride. He would spend the rest of his life loving her the way she deserved to be loved. He would try and repay the kindness that she'd shown him while he'd been too lost in his own self pitying crap to notice. He wondered why she had even put up with him for so long. There had been a time of course, before Kathy left, that he had reciprocated the kindness, when he had been there in those times that she needed a shoulder to cry on. But when Kathy left he started to push her away and she came back because, Elliot realized, she'd known nothing better in her life. This just made him hate himself all the more.
He went over in his mind all the things that he had to apologize for. In the midst of making his mental list, a horrible thought flashed through his mind, sending chills through his body. God, please let her be okay when I get there. Please don't let it be too late.
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"Hi Persephone," Jeremy looked up from the table in the middle of the store room where the checklist for inventory lay "How are you doing? Sorry that I had to ditch you last night."
"No problem," Olivia lied "How's your wife doing?"
"Much better thanks," Jeremy answered before getting back to the inventory "Wanna give me a hand here?" he asked.
"Sure," Olivia took her place beside him and helped him check off the things they still had in stock and make a list of the things they were out of.
"Persephone can I talk to you for a second," Olivia looked up to see Derek Moonshower standing in the door of the store room. She subconsciously patted her jacket, which she still wore, to make sure that the gun was still there.
"Sorry boss," she tried not to make eye contact with him "Gotta finish the inventory."
"I can handle it for a few minutes," Jeremy smiled up at her.
Thanks Jeremy "Okay, if you're sure," Olivia looked at Jeremy pleadingly but the man simply didn't understand.
Derek motioned to Olivia and stepped aside from the door to let her pass "We can talk in my office," he told her.
For a moment, Olivia considered bolting. She wondered if she could make it all the way back to her apartment building before Derek caught up with her. Then again, he had beaten her there the night before and could probably do so again. During the day, there was no guarantee that anyone would be at the building and she would rather have a confrontation with Derek at the store where she knew there were other people around.
They stepped inside the office and Olivia could hear the distinct sound of Derek locking the door. She felt her heart jump into her throat and she reached inside her jacket, grasping her gun but not bringing it out into plain site, not just yet anyway.
Derek looked at the woman in front of him. He had made a mistake getting drunk last night and trying to do her in that stairwell. He had forgotten the plan; they hadn't even had time to come up with a good plan. He was surprised that she had actually showed up today. He expected her to call in sick and force them to come get her. But this just made his job a bit easier. He crossed the room to her in less than three strides. She looked nervous, perfect. Her hand was in her jacket. He wondered about this, considered whether it was a threat and then there it was, a gun. He put his hands up in surrender "Its okay Persephone," he said in a carefully practiced tone meant to lull his prey into a false sense of security; make them think that they had control over the situation "I'm glad you came in today. It gives us a chance to talk things out. You can put the gun down. I won't hurt you," he was lying.
Olivia didn't lower the gun, she didn't trust this man. She tried to quiet the tremor in her hands "We have nothing to talk about," she said as evenly as she could.
Derek looked over her shoulder for a minute and was reassured. He kept his hands in the air "Did you come here today to kill me?" he asked still in the role of nervous hostage "I can explain," he pleaded "I was drunk, I wasn't thinking right."
"Why did you lock the door?" Olivia couldn't help how her voice became choked back with fear. She could just pull the trigger, pull the trigger and be done with it but somehow she couldn't bring herself to take this man's life.
Derek tried not to grin as the moment drew near. His mouth opened to begin answering her question but there was no longer any need. Andy and Jack had grabbed her from behind, Rickie had grabbed the gun, whatever threat that she might have posed was nutrilized.
Olivia bit the hand of one of the men as he tried to cover her mouth. That little maneuver got her a slap across the face from that same hand. She fought back the cry of pain that threatened to burst through her lips "Let me go!" she shouted as she fought the men who held her.
"Shut her up," Derek hissed "I've got to go cover for her sudden disappearance," he left the room.
"You're a feisty one aren't you?" Jack said as he managed to shove a sponge into her mouth.
Olivia spit the sponge back out at him "Go to hell."
"She's gonna be difficult," Rickie smiled. He had been standing on the sidelines until this moment but he stepped forward, laying the gun that he had nabbed from their captive on a bookshelf on the far side of the room "Let me have a go at her."
Jack and Andy laughed "If the two of us couldn't do it," Andy began but was cut short when Rickie had pinned their target to the floor and had successfully gagged her.
"Get the door," Rickie told the two others.
Jack was the quickest to run to the back of the office and open the door to the basement. Rickie hauled Olivia to her feet and shoved her towards the door. She found herself being plunged into the darkness. Her feet couldn't find the steps fast enough and she landed hard at the bottom of the stairs.
"We'll be back later sweetie," the men taunted from the top of the stairs as Olivia heard the door slam closed and the click of the lock.
She reached her hand up and undid the gag. She pulled the filthy sponge from her mouth. Damn, she should have listened to Elliot, she should have listened to Fletcher. She stood up as her eyes began to adjust to the darkness. Going back up the stairs was not an option; the door was locked and more than likely those men would be right on the other side.
She felt her way around the basement, looking for another way out. She couldn't even find a window. The light in the room came from one corner of the room. As she drew closer she thought she could make it out but she wasn't sure. She reached a hand out and found, video equipment, high tech video equipment and it was recording her, although she was reassured that it probably wasn't picking up much of a picture in the dark.
She continued to walk around the basement, searching for anything that she could use to defend herself but found nothing. Her knee bumped into a piece of furniture. Upon further inspection, she discovered that it was a bed. It had no sheets or blankets, just a bare mattress. Since she couldn't find anything to defend herself, the next best thing was to hide. She bent to crawl under the bed but found that the space was already occupied with chains and handcuffs and other implements of torture "Dear God," she muttered. She was in over her head here. She scooted up against the nearest wall and drew her knees up to her chest. Her best hope now was that someone would find her soon.
TBC
A/N: Okay this is bad isn't it? I'm in trouble with the cliff hanger police now aren't I? I'll update sooner if I get a whole bunch of reviews. They fuel my aching fingers.