"Law and Order: SVU" is the property of Dick Wolf.
For plot purposes, it's important to note that this story is set in the year 2012, which is when I originally began writing it.
He had been shot before, stabbed before, beaten up before. It never got any easier to handle. But he was still a Marine. He never gave in.
But this? This was a whole different experience altogether.
Even his most severe experiences of physical injury on the job as a cop always ended at some point, usually by unconsciousness setting in. This time, his tormentor seemed to know precisely how to work within the limits of the human body. He knew exactly where to apply the instrument of torture and exactly how to weld it to get the results he wanted.
He was a doctor, after all.
It didn't take long. Even the biggest, strongest creatures had a weak spot that made it possible to control them. In cattle, it was the nostrils. In dogs, it was the nape of the neck.
In humans, as it turned out, there were quite a few.
Once the other man had dragged the body of his associate out the door, Dr. King picked up the cattle prod and walked back toward Elliot.
Elliot jerked his hands against the handcuffs to the point of drawing blood, trying to break the chain. His panicked breathing became audible as the man came within inches of where he stood.
With eyes gleaming, King pulled the gag out far enough for him to be able to speak. Knowing with dreadful certainty what was about to happen, he threw pride to the wind.
"Help!" he yelled as loudly as he could. His voice bounced off of the walls of the large space. "Help me!"
Dr. King said nothing. He waited while Elliot continued yelling for help several more times until stopping to draw breath.
"Got that out of your system?" King asked coldly.
Elliot swallowed, glaring at him. He wished the gag had been taken off completely so he could spit on the bastard.
King rolled up Elliot's shirt to expose his chest and midriff. Cold air made goosebumps rise on the skin. He reached out with the tip of the cattle prod and touched it to Elliot's left nipple.
Elliot grit his teeth, moaning deep in his throat, and tried not to make a sound. King kept up the pressure, watching Elliot's face as tears of pain began burning his eyes. He struggled to stay silent.
"Tough one, aren't you?" Dr. King murmured, taking the prod away. An agonized breath exploded from Elliot. "Don't worry. That will be fixed."
He put the prod on the other nipple, this time pressing hard. Elliot just barely choked off the pained noise that time.
It was enough for Dr King. He narrowed his eyes, moved back a step, and crouched down.
When Elliot felt his shoe being removed, abject terror made him lose control of himself.
"No," he cried, frantically kicking. "No!"
King caught his foot easily and also removed the sock. Elliot moaned in dreadful anticipation, and when the electric prod was pressed against the sole of his bare foot, he could no longer keep from screaming.
King drew the prod away after a long moment, waited for Elliot to draw breath, and then pressed it back. Elliot hollered again, sagging down against the chain.
"This doesn't have to be so difficult," King said, easing the prod away again. "Just admit what you did. Say it."
Elliot moaned out breaths, in too much pain to use his foot to stay standing, but the chain prevented him from falling over.
"I don't know...what you're talking about," he gasped out.
The doctor's face turned stormy.
"You'll remember eventually, " he said hatefully. "Even if you have to beg for mercy first."
He stuffed the gag back into Elliot's mouth.
When the other man returned a little while later, King handed him the prod. He instructed his colleague to take the gag out, put the prod on the heel of Elliot's foot, and hold it there until he said to remove it. As the man moved across the room to obey, King took a cell phone from his pocket.
He stepped out of the room and waited until he heard screaming through the door before he dialed Detective Benson. He made sure to open it so that she could hear the noise.
As expected, she wasted no time agreeing to meet. King hung up with a narrow smile and walked back inside.
Olivia ran through the parking lot to her car. She watched her phone the entire time for the text but nothing came.
"Come on," she muttered as she started the engine. "Come on, you son of a bitch."
The man who had Elliot obviously knew what he was doing to her. He waited twelve minutes before sending the text with the address. When she pulled it up using Google maps, her heart sank.
It was in New Jersey. There would be no way to get there before thirty minutes were up.
"Shit! " she hissed.
She hurriedly opened the center console and scrabbled around inside until she felt the lipstick tube at the bottom. She backed out and hurried around the car, stopped for a quick moment, and then left her phone on the car beside hers before jumping back into the driver's seat.
She sped away from the precinct.
The man assisting Doctor King eventually removed Elliot's shirt completely because he was tired of pushing it aside with the prod. He also pushed down the pants in order to access the tender flesh near the groin. The shrill shriek that came out of Elliot when the prod touched him there was amazing and unexpected.
After twenty-five minutes of using the electric device on various pressure points, Elliot's throat gave out from screaming. His cries of agony were reduced to whimpers.
The doctor withdrew the prod.
"Just admit it," he said. His voice became almost soothing.
He stood in front of Elliot and brushed a hand across the quivering bare stomach. The touch made Elliot recoil immediately.
"Just admit what you did," he went on. "Once you do that, all of this can be over. I'll even call your cop buddies and tell them to come get you. Don't you want that?"
Christ, yes. Elliot couldn't stop the thought.
Elliot couldn't support his own weight. His bare foot was raw, flayed, and bleeding by then and he couldn't stand on it. Watching him try was pitiful.
But just to show the man what he thought of his suggestion, Elliot steeled himself and then bore down on it anyway. Even while it made him yelp in pain, he still managed a kick with his cast leg that connected with King's shin.
"Fuck-" he gasped out. " ...Off."
It wasn't hard enough to hurt, but it was enough to infuriate the doctor.
He wrenched Elliot's head back with one hand far enough to make the joints crack painfully and shoved the gag back into his mouth so forcefully that Elliot choked on it for a horrifying few seconds.
"You want to be that way, you self-righteous prick?" he thundered angrily. "That's just fine."
He took a key from his pocket and unlocked the chain looping Elliot's cuffed hands to the wall. He let Elliot pitch forward and fall hard onto the concrete. Then he yanked Elliot's hands back upward and refastened the chain so that the detective was left hanging halfway upright. The position almost immediately caused the cuffed hands to start numbing from restricted circulation.
The doctor turned his head.
"Get the Phenothiazine, " he said to the other man. "Second cabinet, third shelf from the bottom."
Elliot 's heart hammered. He could only see the doctor's knees from his position, so King crouched in front of him.
"I gave you the chance," he said as the other man walked over and handed him a small glass bottle and syringe.
Watching the man prepare it sent Elliot into a frenzied panic of jerking against his metal bonds as hard as he could. They didn't budge.
King gestured at his colleague.
"Blindfold," he ordered.
He watched the terror spark in Elliot 's eyes as the blindfold came over his face again. Elliot tensed and then inhaled sharply when the needle slid into his arm.
"This was your decision," he said harshly. He capped the syringe. "All yours."
The drug began working immediately. He watched Elliot's body slump, knowing it wasn't diluted enough to induce unconsciousness but would render him temporarily unable to move.
Back in medical school, a professor had described in minute detail what was happening while administering the paralytic agent to a lab rat in front of the class. Upon receiving the dose per volume for its weight, monitors recorded the animal's heart rate accelerating and its brain waves measuring constant activity, even as its body remained still. It had still been able to screech throughout the experiment and had done so, repeatedly.
The professor concluded by saying it wasn't really possible to declare whether or not the animal was feeling emotions during the experiment, but that they should draw their own conclusions from what they were seeing.
Judging by the noise the animal made, and the fact that the rat ended up succumbing to a heart attack after ten minutes of the experiment, much of King's class had guessed it had literally been frightened to death.
Watching Elliot laying on the floor and hearing the muffled sounds he made as the drug now coursed through his veins, King expected the result to be similar.
He hadn't injected enough to actually induce a heart attack, because his goal wasn't to kill. Yet. Just knowing the detective was most likely feeling terrified while being unable to move was enough for now.
More than enough.
Munch was clicking through cases back from 1992 when he caught sight of a blonde woman walking in hurriedly, holding a small boy. He was taken aback at her mature appearance. She had been practically still a teenager the last time he had seen her and that was almost eight years ago. She had to have been in her late twenties.
"Maureen?" he called out, stopping her in her tracks.
She started at hearing her name and looked over at him. He stood up, noticing a wedding band on her finger as he walked closer.
"Detective Munch," he reminded her, seeing her trying to remember who he was.
"Right, of course," she said. She sounded frazzled and he didn't blame her. "I'm sorry."
He shook his head to indicate he didn't mind. Her eyes were slightly wild.
"My mom said my dad was...kidnapped." She said the word like she was hoping to be wrong. When she saw his grave expression, she blanched. "Oh, God. Is he dead? Is that why I'm here?"
She was close to tears. John drew an arm around her.
"We just want to make sure all of you are safe," he said. He was terrible at comforting women. He hoped didn't say the wrong thing. "You're here so we can make sure no one tries to come after anyone else in your family while we find your dad."
Tears inched down her cheeks. Before she could say anything else, Kathy came out of the captain's office and went toward her. He moved aside as mother and daughter embraced and Maureen handed Eli over to her. Kathy hugged her young son close while trying to comfort Maureen at the same time.
John walked back to the far end of the office where Fin sat at the VICAP computer.
"Any leads?" he asked his partner.
Fin looked over at him. "Zip," he said. "No one in the system that is up for release has any obvious connection with anyone here. Elliot's name isn't on any arrest reports, victim's statements, or notes relating to any of them."
His frustration was evident. John thought about what Olivia had said.
"Is anyone named 'King' on that list?" he asked. "Olivia mentioned it as a possibility from the hospital."
Fin typed in the name. John came over to look as well and they waited while the computer generated over 100 people with that common name.
"Narrow it down," John said. "Start when Elliot became a cop. 1992 onward."
Nothing came up.
Fin furrowed his brow. "Was that Stabler's daughter I saw walk in?" he asked. When his partner nodded, he went on, "What year was she born? Didn't Elliot say before that he joined the force she was around 2? She looks too old to have been born in 1990."
Munch shook his head.
"Hold on," he said.
He walked back out and approached Kathy. Behind her, he saw the remaining three of Elliot's kids walking in.
"Kathy," he said. She turned to look at him. "What year did Elliot become a cop?"
She seemed puzzled by his question.
"19-" she began to say.
Fin yelled out from the office, finishing the answer before before she could.
"1986!" he shouted, sounding suddenly pumped with energy. "I got it right here! "
Hearing his yell alerted the captain. He made a beeline for the office right behind Munch.
"What did you find?" Cragen asked urgently.
Fin 's face was lit up by the computer screen.
"Joshua Daniel King, arrested June 8, 1986 by NYPD Lieutenant J. L Marlowe and Officer E.M. Stabler " he read from the site. "Convicted of assault with a deadly weapon November 4 , 1986, sentenced to 25 years in prison, no parole. Scheduled for release April of 2010, died while in prison custody October of 1990."
He kept reading.
"Mark Patrick King, arrested June 8, 1986 by NYPD Lieutenant J.L. Marlowe and Officer E.M. Stabler," he continued. "Convicted of accessory to commitment of a felony November 4, 1986, sentenced to 25 years in prison, released on parole last August."
"That arrest must have been from after Elliot got assigned his first beat," Cragen said. " Jo Marlowe was his training officer." He leaned closer to the screen. "Run a background check on both. I'll call the D.A.'s office and get in touch with Marlowe."
He looked out at the bullpen as he went back to his own office, intending to bring Olivia in there to see how she had known to look for the name "King." There were plenty of officers and detectives there. But he didn't spot Olivia.
"Where is Benson?" he called out in frustration.
"Captain," Munch said, coming in with a printout in his hand. A uniformed officer was next to him. "Officer Shepherd says he recognizes this mugshot."
Cragen regarded the officer with a raise of eyebrows.
"I'm pretty sure this is the same guy I saw at the hospital when we left with Stabler, " he said. "Said his name was Dr. King."
The captain looked at him for a moment before picking up the phone and dialing.
"Put me through to D.A. Marlowe," he said into the receiver. "This is Captain Don Cragen, Manhatten SVU."
The other two watched him holding the phone pensively as he waited.
"Jo?" he said after a minute. "It's Don. I need to talk to you about one of the first arrests that you made with Elliot. "
Doctor King checked his watch. Benson should be getting close by then.
All the sudden, he heard the faint sound of sirens in the air. They weren't police.
He turned to look angrily at the other man who looked bored as he stood by the door. It didn't take a genius to figure out what was going on.
I should've killed this idiot instead.
"Did you torch the car, you moron?" he asked in disgust. His friend looked at him sheepishly. "I said get rid of it, not set it on fire! Christ, we don't need firefighters snooping around!"
The other man reddened.
"It's down the street," he said defensively. "No one will think to come here."
"Go outside and bring Benson here when you see her," King said. "There's no way she actually came without telling any cops."
He looked over at Elliot. The detective had been still for longer than expected. Maybe he'd been wrong about the dosage after all. That would be a disappointment.
Raising his eyebrows suspiciously, King walked over to Elliot and prodded him with one foot. The detective didn't move. He bent down and felt Elliot's neck for a pulse.
It was thumping rapidly, indicating he was still alive. He was out cold, though, which wasn't as satisfying. King frowned in disappointment.
"We're getting hell out of here once Stabler is dead," he said, looking at his colleague as he stood back up. "I'm leaving with or without you."
Jo was horrified when Cragen told her what was happening. She immediately called the captain in command of the precinct she and Elliot had worked at together in 1986 and had the case information sent to SVU.
"I couldn't forget that arrest if I wanted to," she had said. "We went to a veterinary clinic to pick up Mark King, who was training there at the time, and the bastard let a dog loose on us. Elliot nearly got his face bitten off trying to keep it from lunging at me."
"Can you think of any reason why he might want to target Elliot now?" Cragen asked her.
"Well, Elliot did testify at the brother's parole hearing when they denied his parole," Marlowe recalled. "Maybe Mark King took it personally."
After speaking to her for a few minutes, Cragen came out of his office and walked over to the whiteboard. Everyone watched as he taped up a rap sheet and mug shot, writing "Mark King" underneath.
"Marlowe said she and Elliot arrested both Mark King and his brother, Joshua King, in 1986," he said. "Mark King was a veterinarian, which would fit with the name "Dr. King" that he used while Elliot was at Elmhurst and could explain how he managed to drug him without anyone noticing. "
He turned toward Munch. "See if you can find a current address on Mark King," he said. He looked over and noticed Olivia's empty desk. "Has anyone seen Benson?"
Olivia had to slow down when she turned onto the deserted road. It was pitch black and the headlights barely illuminated six feet ahead of the car.
She rounded a corner and then her hands clenched on the steering wheel in dread.
A few yards away, flames were leaping off of a car sitting by the side of the road. When she got closer, her stomach plummeted and tears swam in her eyes.
It was a white sedan.
"No," she whispered. She parked quickly and jumped out. "Please, no."
Please don't let him be in there. Please.
She heard fire trucks in the distance as she tried to get close to the car. It was too hot.
"Benson."
A voice coming from a few feet away made her whip her head around. A man stood near the hood of her car, pointing gun at her.
"Hands up," he said. She obeyed. "Walk towards me."
"Is he in there?" she asked desperately. "Tell me. Is my partner alive?"
"Lift up your shirt so I can make sure you don't have a gun or a phone, " he said, ignoring her.
She did. He made her turn around and show him the back of her waist, too. Satisfied, he took her arm.
"Come on."
As she walked with the man, Olivia mulled over her next move. She was hoping she was right in her instinct that Elliot was still alive. She didn't think anyone would actually be meeting her if they'd already killed him.
She wasn't sure how long it would take for her colleagues to see the message she'd left. But with firefighters already on the way to the car, she might be able to use them to her advantage.
This man wasn't the one who had called her. She knew by his voice. He also looked somewhat young and inexperienced with the weapon he held. He wasn't even pointing it at her as they moved. She could probably take him down with no problem right then.
But she didn't try. She didn't resist.
How could she? Elliot's life was at stake.
She had no choice but to think on her feet. First, she had to know where her partner was.
The paralytic was wearing off. King could see Elliot beginning to squirm around. He came over and pulled the gag from his mouth.
Then he looked down at Elliot in disgust and kicked him hard in the side of the stomach. Elliot groaned.
"Last chance," he said. "This is your last chance to admit what you did before I kill you, you piece of shit."
Elliot said nothing.
Frustrated, King kicked him again, over and over, until Elliot was screaming in pain. After a few moments of listening to the pathetic noise, he pulled the gag up again so he wouldn't have to hear it.
Someone had checked the women's bathroom, up on the roof, and in the crib for Olivia, to no avail. Cragen called her phone twice with no answer. Munch mentioned that she had left abruptly and had seemed upset.
It didn't feel right. Olivia wouldn't just walk away without a word after her partner had just been abducted.
Her phone was suddenly picked up when he called for a third time, but not by Olivia.
"This is Sargeant Sullivan, " a man identified himself. "Manhatten North Homicide." That division also worked out of the 16th Precinct.
"This is Captain Cragen of SVU," he said. "Why are you answering Detective Benson's phone?"
"I found it lying on the hood of my squad car outside, Captain," Sullivan replied. "Someone wrote on the back window, too. Looks like lipstick."
"What does it say?" Cragen asked. A pit formed in his stomach.
Sullivan squinted at the writing.
"201 K-A-I-G-H-N," he spelled out. "Also says 'Camden.'"
Cragen scribbled down what he'd said. "Stay there," he said. "I'm sending one of my detectives down. "
On a hunch, he turned to his computer and typed in the words into the search engine. The first thing that came up was an address in Camden, New Jersey that matched.
He snatched up the phone and dialed the Camden County Police Department. Once he spoke with them, he grabbed his coat.
"Munch, Fin," he said, hurrying toward the door. " Come with me."
They approached the warehouse after another few minutes and the man used a key to unlock a side door. He indicated for Olivia to go in ahead of him, taking her arm again once he was inside.
She looked around warily as he led her down a narrow hallway. The building appeared run-down but not quite dilapidated, like it saw very little use still. There was obviously still electricity running through it, as evident by the dim lights spaced out on the ceiling, but it was still so dark that it was hard to see.
The sound of a man howling suddenly filled the air. She knew without a doubt that it was coming from Elliot and her protective instincts took over.
Without thinking about what she was doing, Olivia abruptly moved to the side out of the man's reach and grabbed his gun hand. He was holding it clumsily to begin with, so wrenching his arm up took no effort and the gun fell easily out of his grip.
She tried to sweep his feet out from under him, but while he obviously wasn't the brightest, the man was scrappy in a fight. He pivoted away from her and aimed a kick at her left kneecap that sent her sprawling.
Hearing him pick up the gun, she struggled to her feet and took off running. She hoped he was as lousy at hitting moving targets as he was with gun control.
The bark of a gunshot sounded behind her as she neared a room with light coming through the closed door. Thankfully, the man missed.
Next to the door was a fire alarm. She seized the opportunity and pulled it, then burst through the door. The alarm began emitting ear-splitting shrieks.
Then Olivia stopped dead in her tracks. A man stood staring coldly at her, pointing a gun straight down.
At the end of his aim she saw Elliot.
Her eyes widened in despair at the sight of her partner. He lay face down, shivering visibly on the hard floor. He was blindfolded and gagged.
His hands were cuffed tightly behind his back, his shirt removed and his pants partway down. One foot was bare and bleeding and she could see burns across his exposed flesh from all the way over where she stood.
The man shook his head.
"Bad idea," he said.
While she had been preoccupied with checking over the state of Elliot, the other man had caught up. He barged through the door behind her and yanked her hard by the hair.
"Get over here, you bitch," he snapped, wrenching her head back and practically lifting her off of the ground.
She clawed and fought him savagely as he propelled her forward, managing to gouge one of his eyes, but he was stronger than she was.
"Ow, fuck!" he yelled, dragging her over to an empty dog kennel. "Bitch!"
He opened the kennel door, shoved her inside, and slammed it shut again. He engaged the sliding lock, holding his face and glaring at her.
Olivia rolled over, panting, as Doctor King walked over. The cage was too small for her to stand up in. She looked at him murderously as he stared at her inside.
"You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you? "King said. She was surprised when he put the gun away, tucking it into his waistband. He shook his head. "I specifically told you not to get involved."
"Let Elliot go," she said desperately. She gripped the small holes in the kennel with her fingers. "You have me. Take me and let him go. Please."
He quirked an eyebrow.
"Don't insult me," he said, annoyed. "I'm sure you've got backup already coming anyway. " He smiled. "It doesn't matter. However this goes, I'll make sure he dies, even if I have to go with him. For my brother's sake."
He sneered at her.
"Joshua should have gotten out," he went on harshly. "He should have gotten a chance. He would have, if your asshole partner hadn't conned the parole board. Because of him, my brother got killed in jail and I didn't even find out until after I was released. He ruined my life. I was going somewhere, finally getting my veterinary practice built, and that prick stole everything from me. Including my baby brother. "
He bent down and stared right into her face.
"Do you have any idea how it feels to find out that your brother, your best friend, was being murdered while you sat in a cage unable to do anything about it? " he asked. His eyes glinted and be stood up. "You're about to."
Olivia shook her head desperately, grabbing the side of the kennel so hard with her fingers that they turned white. She watched him pick up a chain and walk toward Elliot with it.
Captain Cragen held onto the side of the passenger door as Fin sped through the Lincoln Tunnel. He was on the phone with a lieutenant in the Camden County Police Department.
"Two detectives and I are en route, " he was saying. "We believe at least one of our detectives is being held hostage at the address we gave you." He looked in the mirror and met John's eyes in the backseat. He thought of Olivia. "A second detective may be there as well."
As he hung up, Fin stomped on the brake pedal and narrowly avoided rear-ending a minivan.
"Damn it!" he swore.
Cragen reached in the console and pulled out the portable warning light.
Munch raised a surprised eyebrow. It was no secret that their captain wasn't a fan of the devices. He usually chastised officers when he saw them using it.
The captain saw the look Munch gave him as he opened the window and stuck the light on the roof. He ignored it.
"No!" she screamed as he wrapped the chain tightly around Elliot's neck. It forced Elliot's head up and she watched him jerk around helplessly, trying to escape. "Don't touch him!"
Frenzied terror made her see red. She immediately began ramming her shoulder against the kennel door with all of her weight, trying to force the sliding lock loose. It hurt her arm like hell but she didn't stop.
King looped the chain three times around Elliot's neck as tightly as he could. The other man came over and stepped on Elliot's back, trying to keep him still.
Sobbing gasps tumbled out as Olivia realized she was getting nowhere. Elliot was barely twitching by that point and she knew he was about to strangle to death right in front of her.
Screaming wildly, she resorted to kicking at the lock.
Units from Camden PD located the warehouse easily because dispatch advised that a fire alarm had been activated there and that fire engines were already nearby responding to a vehicle fire.
The lieutenant in charge was waiting for the hostage negotiation team to arrive. But when the sound of a woman yelling came through the garage door, he didn't hesitate.
He ordered the officers to get the battering ram.
A series of loud bangs was suddenly heard from the outside garage door. King whipped his head around, still holding the chain taut around Elliot's neck.
The garage door opened suddenly from outside and Camden County police officers began pouring in. They were yelling for everyone to freeze.
King dropped the chain.
"Run, you idiot!" he shouted at his colleague as he sprinted toward the door.
Several officers gave chase. One of them tackled the second man before he could get through the doorway.
Olivia nearly tore her nails off rattling the kennel cage when she saw officers heading toward her. She shook her head and screamed at them.
"No, help him!" she yelled frantically. "Help my partner!"
One of the officers unlocked the door. She shoved her way out, stumbling, toward the other police officers who were kneeling by Elliot. She pushed through them and hit her knees.
Elliot was retching and gagging violently as the officers unwound the chain from his neck. His face was almost purple. She moved in front of him and took him by the shoulders.
"It's ok," she gasped, taking his weight. "Elliot, I'm here. I'm right here."
His eyes were wide and terrified looking into hers as he struggled to breathe through whooping coughs.
His throat felt like he had swigged acid. It burned to the point of making each inhale feel like torture. Elliot choked in panic as he stared at his partner desperately.
The chain fell away. He slumped forward, nearly taking her to the ground with him. He let his face sink against her chest, relieved and overwhelmed, and sucked in air greedily. He couldn't stop shivering.
"I've got you, " she said tearfully, hugging him close. "You're ok. You're ok."
The state of him was almost too much for her to bear. Olivia shrugged off her coat with one hand and draped it over his bare back as an officer unlocked the handcuffs.
The scene that greeted them when Munch, Fin, and Captain Cragen pulled up was organized chaos. Four police cars surrounded the open garage door with a fire engine behind them.
Officers were walking out and firefighters were walking in. The captain hurried out of the car.
"Did you find my detective?" he asked the closest officer he reached.
The officer nodded. "Victim is still inside," he replied. "Ambulance is on the way. "
Fearing the worst, Cragen raced inside. Munch and Fin were on his heels.
They saw Olivia, sitting on the ground, holding Elliot close. A firefighter was placing a blanket over them both because he had pushed himself against her and wouldn't move away.
She caught sight of them and nodded to tell them that Elliot was physically alright. They could see tears in her eyes.
The captain let out a breath of relief and nodded back.
"Has the assailant been arrested?" he asked, turning to the nearest officer.
The officer gave him a suspicious look until Cragen showed him a badge. Then he nodded.
"Yes, sir," the officer replied. He indicated a squad car outside with officers standing outside of it. "Both suspects are in the car. That's my lieutenant over there. "
Cragen looked at the two detectives with him.
"Help secure the scene," he told them.
Munch and Fin moved further inside to start assisting. The captain stood for a moment, looking around.
He took in the smeared blood trail leading to the interior door, the chain lying haphazardly on the ground, and a man's shoe that looked eerily abandoned in the middle of the floor. Then he let his gaze come to rest on Elliot, laying against Olivia, half-covered by a thick wool blanket. He had never seen any of his detectives looking as vulnerable as in that moment.
He swallowed hard and turned to go talk to the lieutenant.