She took a frightened breath and turned around, but too late. Something hit her hard in the back of her head, and her legs collapsed.
And before all went black, she saw, by the light of the flashlight that had fallen to the floor, a dark figure standing in the doorway with a shovel in his hand.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
When Olivia regained consciousness, she had to blink because her vision was so blurry that everything had blended into one indistinct mass. Her head was pounding, and for a moment she didn't remember what had happened. The only thing she was aware of was the pain in her arms, and she tried to gather her thoughts to figure out what was causing it.
Then she realized that her arms were tied somewhere above her head, and since her legs didn't work, her entire weight was hanging on them. Hastily, she forced her bound legs to obey her, and managed to stand up. Her arms were tied quite high, so her feet barely touched the ground. As the weight left her arms, the pain slowly began to ease, giving way to rational thoughts.
She looked around and realized she was in some dark room. It was messy and dusty and stuffy and made her throat tickle. The only light source was a lamp hanging from the ceiling a little further away, around which the flies circled as if enchanted.
This is like a... Basement.
The basement.
The tornado.
Mr. Murdoch's house.
Someone hit me.
And then distress hit her as if someone had hit her again with a shovel.
Elliot.
Where's Elliot?!
No… No no no no no…
Someone had attacked her and imprisoned her in a room that, by all accounts, was a basement. The smell of soil was wafting around her, and the dust tickled her lungs as they struggled to gasp for oxygen as her breathing sped up and panic grew inside her. She didn't even need her years of work experience to realize that the perp had to have something to do with the murders.
She wanted to scream, but panic stopped her voice from coming out. She managed only to wheeze, which made her panic grow. She was suddenly sure that the attacker had hurt Elliot, that he was dead, that he was lying bloody somewhere in the backyard. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks, and she tried to jerk her hands free, but to no avail.
And as the panic attack slowly began to subside, it was replaced by anger. She hated the attacker, she hated from the bottom of her heart the one who had hurt Elliot. But most of all, she hated herself. She hated that she had let Elliot come to the house, she hated that she hadn't protected him.
And finally, the anger became so strong that it clouded her thoughts again. She felt like she was going to explode if she couldn't do something, so she took a deep breath and shouted as loud as she could:
"HEY! COME HERE, COWARD!"
Getting no answer, she went on for so long that her voice became hoarse. But the screaming had a slightly wrong effect, because the longer she screamed, the more her anger weakened, and began to be replaced by pain. Tears welled up in her eyes again, and her last exclamations were drowned out by sobs.
Elliot was dead. He was dead, this time for real.
And it was her fault.
"El…"
She felt her legs collapse from the force of her cry, but she no longer cared about the pain that immediately returned to her arms. Nothing mattered anymore. The pain inside her overcame all physical pain, and it felt like it was tearing her into pieces, pulling her back again into the darkness she'd been chained in for two years, but from which she'd found back into the light with Elliot's help.
But this time, she knew she wouldn't be able to find a way out. And she actually didn't even want to.
But then there was a click, and the lights turned on in the basement. They dazzled Olivia's eyes, and she had to squint for a moment.
"I heard that you had woken up," there was a man's voice somewhere in front of her. "You have guts, I have to admit."
"Who are you?" Olivia asked with her hoarse voice from the screaming. "And where's my partner?"
Then a dark figure appeared from around the corner, dragging something wrapped in burlap. Olivia had expected an old man, but was surprised, because he was about her age. By all accounts, it wasn't Gilbert Murdoch at least.
So who the hell is he?
The man raised his eyebrows and dropped the thing he was dragging on the floor. "Your partner? I thought he is your cousin."
The cover story returned to Olivia's mind, but she couldn't bear to care about it anymore. It was clear that the man would eventually kill her too, and since Elliot was dead, she didn't have to protect him anymore…
But then something clicked in her head.
The man had said "I thought he is your cousin", not was. It might have been a complete coincidence, a tense that the man hadn't thought about, but it still ignited a spark of hope inside Olivia.
As long as there was even the slightest chance that Elliot was alive, she would do anything.
"Oh, yeah, sorry," she cleared her throat. "My bad, he's my cousin, but also my best friend. My partner in crime."
Partners for life.
"For better or worse."
"Sure he is," the man didn't sound convinced, but turned his eyes away from Olivia and started untying the sack lying on the floor.
"Where is he?!" Olivia asked again, then turned her gaze to the sack and swallowed. "And what's in there?"
The man grinned, but his gaze lacked warmth. Looking more closely at the sack, Olivia knew without seeing what was in there.
A body.
"You are pretty curious," the man got up and took a knife from the table. Olivia's heart skipped a beat, but then the man crouched next to the sack again and began to open the straps with a knife. "All in good time, sweetheart."
"No," Olivia tried to sound determined, even though fear was slithering inside her. "You tell me right now where he is, or else I..."
"Or else what?" The man looked at her with amusement. "I hate to tell you this, but it seems to me that you don't have very many options." Then he tore open the sack, and when Olivia finally saw what was inside, her blood froze in her veins.
It was Mike.
"What are you…" Her voice was stifled as she forced herself to speak. The man lifted the boy from the floor and carried him next to Olivia. Tears clouded her eyes as she looked at the little lifeless boy who had been full of life just a couple of days ago. "You..."
"Don't worry, he's not dead," the man started tying Mike next to her.
"W-what?"
"He's not dead," he repeated, and then grinned ominously. "Yet."
Olivia didn't understand at all what was happening. She could tell the man was the murderer, but he hadn't killed Mike. Instead, he was tying him up next to her in the basement, apparently under or next to Mr. Murdoch's house, but the man was not Gilbert Murdoch. Gilbert wasn't with his brother in Dallas or at home, but someone had been sleeping in his bed.
And where was Elliot? Who was this man, and why was he keeping them imprisoned in the basement?
Two concussions in a couple of days clearly weren't very recommended, as Olivia's brain felt like porridge, and she had to force it to think. Worrying about Elliot was taking a toll on her already poor concentration, plus the lifeless looking boy next to her made a lump rise in her throat.
"Who are you?!" Olivia snapped and jerked her hands. "Why are we here?! And where's E-… James?!"
That's when the man turned to look at her and raised his hand in front of her face. He grabbed her chin and looked her straight in the eyes. Olivia swallowed but didn't look away from his blazing green eyes. They had something similar to Elliot's eyes, but the warmth in Elliot's eyes made their blue color glitter in a way that made the warmth spread inside her as well. This man's eyes were blazing, the warmth was gone, and there was something menacing, something pure evil that instead of warmth made Olivia's heart go cold.
"You know, sweetheart," he touched her lips, and Olivia tried to jerk her head away. "Usually I like quick-tempered women. But like I said, all in good time."
And then he leaned forward and, despite Olivia's resistance, planted a light kiss on her lips. Then without a word he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come. Olivia turned to look at Mike hanging next to her and felt the man's lips still on hers.
And she wanted to vomit.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Olivia wasn't sure how long the man had been gone, but it felt like forever. She had stood motionless, her hands still tied above her, watching Mike, who looked like to be sleeping. The only explanation for his lifelessness was that the man had drugged him or otherwise knocked him out. She had sunk into her thoughts, watched the flies dancing in the light of the lamp, and thought about her life.
She was sure they would die. They would all die. Elliot was possibly already dead. They had brought themselves to the serial killer like on a tray, and no one would be coming to the house until morning. By then, they would be dead.
She had watched Mike, thought about the little boy whose life had been just ahead of him. It should have been full of opportunity, full of joy, full of adventure, but instead he was imprisoned in the basement, waiting to die. It had been her job to protect him, but she had failed him, and now she got to witness the consequences of her failure.
She had thought about herself, her career in SVU. Being a cop had been her vocation, she had loved it despite its horrors. It had been meaningful, she had been able to help those people who had experienced the same fate as her mother, people whose lives had been derailed.
And if being a cop had been her vocation, being Elliot's partner had been her destiny. She had enjoyed chasing criminals with her best friend more than anything. With Elliot, she had gotten a best friend, a partner, a person she could trust completely for the first time in her life.
And finally, she had fallen in love. She hadn't planned it, hell, she hadn't even wanted it, but it had happened against her will. She wasn't sure when it had happened, she had denied her feelings for so long. But she had fallen in love, and now, when she finally let her emotions break free, she realized that she had never loved anyone as much.
Only love can hurt like this.
She would have given anything to see Elliot one more time.
But then, it was as if the universe had heard her wish, because she heard the basement door open, and then someone stumbled down the stairs.
Elliot.
Relief erupted from inside her as a sob as tears filled her eyes. But then she saw a figure walking behind Elliot holding a large knife.
"Stop," he commanded, but Elliot took a few fumbling steps towards Olivia. His eyes were wide with terror as his gaze darted between her and Mike.
"I said STOP!"
The man's roar echoed through the basement, and Elliot froze in place, not taking his eyes off Olivia. The man walked up to him and pressed the knife against his neck, causing another sob to escape Olivia's lips before she could stop it.
"What do you want?" Elliot growled, and an ominous smile spread across the man's face. Then he began to speak:
"You know, kidnapping Mike was as easy as taking a lollipop from a baby. Everything was going as planned, but then the tornado happened…" He paused and shook his head. "Forever in memories, house." Then he looked up and slid the dull side of the knife along Elliot's neck. "In general, I like routines. But when I saw you two, I realized that I could deviate a little from my old habits. That would make this… More exciting." Then he moved the knife to Elliot's throat, causing Olivia's legs to nearly collapse again.
"You see them?" The man nodded towards Olivia and Mike. Mike had started to move and was blinking his eyes, his gaze unfocused. "I know you care about both of them. And for some reason, I like you. You are a decent man, hardworking and modest. So, you get to choose."
"What do you…" Elliot started, but then the man dug a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at Olivia and Mike, before announcing with his voice ice cold:
"The other dies. But which one? It's your choice."
