Chapter 6
I apologize, I have noticed that each chapter continues to be longer than the last, but I hope it is at least adding to the story. Thank-you again for the comments and p.m's. Keep them coming! Enjoy!
Pelican Point Resort & Spa: Restaurant - 2:09 p.m.
Kyle stopped by the table to inform the detectives of their meeting time and place. SVU and the rest of the blue team were asked to meet in the garden in fifteen minutes. Their reward was getting an additional 10 minutes on their scavenger hunt. The SVU detectives had made their way back to their rooms to freshen up before heading back down to the lobby. As Elliot exited his room, he noticed Fin and Munch already making their way down the hall. He heard the rustle and latch of Olivia's door and waited for her to enter the hallway. When she opened the door, she appeared no more relaxed than before. Her chest was still flushed, but this time, it was accentuated by the white ribbed tank top and seafoam halter strap of her bikini top. Elliot took a long look at her tanned legs, stretching out from the dark denim shorts, and then met her eyes.
"Cool it Stabler!" Olivia grunted.
Elliot laughed, watching her walk away, "So I'm assuming you're still ... mad?"
Olivia ignored the comment, but had to admit, the game he was playing, as much as it tortured her, it sure was hot.
The teams met in the garden to await their instructions. Each team was given an envelope with a clue. Once they had figured out the clue, it would lead them to their location and a task to retrieve their next clue. The first team to reach the final destination would be given a reward for their cooperation and hard work.
"Alright," Said Don, "Clue number one says, Capture the Flag was a blast the first time. Let's do it again. To win, just solve, find, and return your team's flags to the end. To find you must solve. To solve, you must go back to where your reward began. Good luck!"
"Back to where our reward began? What is the reward?" Elliot asked.
After a few seconds Don spoke, "The paintball course. The teams starting right now received a head start as a reward."
The detectives looked at each other before moving towards the garden's exit. "Wait!" Fin said, "We should go through the lobby to throw 'em off." He motioned to the groups behind him.
The detectives jogged through the lobby, out the front door, and around the side of the hotel to the paintball course where they had earlier been. Fin and Elliot ran through the course trying to find a clue, while Munch, Don and Olivia moved to the armor shop. Olivia shoved the door open and found a table sitting in the middle of the dimly lit room. On the table a jigsaw puzzle sat, with only the edges finished.
"El! Fin!" Don yelled.
Elliot and Fin emerged from the course. Fin carried a Ziploc bag full of puzzle pieces.
"Do you think this, is it?" Elliot asked.
"We have the edge pieces inside!" Don ushered them inside the shop and closed the door.
The team got to work on the puzzle. "There must be a hundred pieces here!" Fin yelled.
"Probably more like eighty." Munch replied, receiving an eye roll from Fin. "Why don't you keep watch, and I will finish this puzzle."
"You're going to finish by yourself?" Olivia chuckled.
"Yes. And a whole hell of a lot quicker if you guys weren't moving the pieces around." The four other detectives looked at each other before moving away from the table. Munch continued to work on the puzzle, but Fin was getting restless. He moved to view the puzzle over John's shoulder. John had finished about half of the puzzle, but Fin recognized the image. "It's the restaurant!"
The rest of the detectives looked at the puzzle and agreed. They heard the other teams searching through the paintball course for the clue. Before sneaking out the back door, Fin used his hands to push the puzzle off the table, causing pieces to scatter in every direction. "Leave no clue behind!"
As they moved through the trees, towards the hotel, they could see the other teams, from the losing paintball team, had just been handed their envelopes. They snuck around to the front side of the building, and into the restaurant. There were envelopes placed on each table, labeled with the different team names. The SVU team found their envelope sitting on their patio table. Munch retrieved it and read aloud:
"Very well done at task #1. You have undoubtedly discovered that you need to be quick if you are going to win. You will be needing some equipment for your next station, so right now you're in charge of your own creation. Using anything in the restaurant, retrieve a sack from the branch of the pine. If you are successful in this, your stop at the boathouse will be fine."
"We need to find sacks?" Elliot questioned.
"From the Pine." Olivia said looking out to the trees. She squinted, but saw a bunch of tiny burlap sacks hanging from a branch near the patio. "Over there!"
The team moved over to the edge of the patio. Even standing against the rail, there was no way they were going to be able to grab the bags.
"Using anything from the restaurant…" Elliot repeated, then sprinted into the restaurant. He returned with a box of white plastic straws and an empty roll of scotch tape. "We can build a stick to reach across and hook the bag."
"The straws will be too flimsy at the connections to get across." Munch pointed out to the group.
"It's the best thing we have. You guys get started, I'll go see if I can find something else to strengthen it." Olivia said.
As Olivia searched the restaurant, Fin, Munch, Don and Elliot went to work putting the straws together, doubling up at the joints. Just as they finished up, Olivia emerged from the restaurant with a bag of Marshmallows.
"I had to flirt with the cook, but they handed these over. These might help stick them together. We better hurry, there is a team inside making a stick with the knives."
The detectives reinforced the connections and set up to grab the bag. Fin leaned the straw pole on the railing and pushed it across to the branch. With a little help from Elliot, the pole steadied and Fin was able to hook a bag's draw string and lift it over the branch. Slowly they brought it back to the balcony. Don grabbed the bag and loosened the draw strings. He turned the bag upside down and let the contents fall into his hand. A small deadbolt key appeared in his palm, with no other hints or clues.
"Good. We can unlock it. Whatever it is." Munch said, letting out a sigh.
"The boat house." Fin said, "just like the clue says!"
Elliot destroyed the straw pole just as the other team made their way onto the balcony.
"We're coming for you SVU!" A familiar RCMP officer laughed.
After sharing a smile, the team made their way down to the boat house. When they reached the boathouse, the door was unlocked. When they went inside, they found dozens of boxes with locks on them.
"This will be easy." Elliot whined.
The detectives had tried nine locks before hearing the RCMP team burst into the boat house.
"We got you now!" the RCMP captain yelled.
Fin sped up his actions sweeping the room and trying each lock. On the 13th lock he felt it click. "Got it!"
"This one!"
The detectives all looked over to the RCMP group who was also tearing the lock off of a box.
"Dammit! Hurry up!" Olivia yelled.
Inside the box sat a compound bow, four arrows, and an envelope. Fin opened the envelope and read it to the team.
"The aim of the game is to be first. Your last clue and task will be revealed when you hit the bullseye."
"The archery range!" An RCMP officer yelled a little too loud.
The SVU detectives looked at each other with smiles on their faces. And followed the running RCMP officers to the Archery Range. The RCMP officers reached the range first, firing two arrows unsuccessfully. Don took the compound bow from Fin and lined up at the end of the range. The other RCMP officer fired a third arrow, narrowly missing the target. Don loaded an arrow, took aim and a deep breath. In a swift move, he released the arrow, at the same time as the RCMP officer. Don's arrow sailed through the air and stuck in the bright white and red target, set up far down the range. Elliot, Olivia, Fin and Munch, as well as the RCMP officers stared in amazement. While they were picking up their jaws, an envelope appeared on a string. The Target had been attached on a pulley, releasing the envelop into Don's hands.
"Shall we?" Don asked smugly.
"What was that Cap?" Elliot asked.
"That was me pulling my weight, now it is time for you to pull yours. The clue has a map for the docks. Let's get going."
The RCMP team was collecting their arrows to continue trying for their own clue. SVU jogged down to the docks. The beach was empty, the sun was beating down on the heated detectives. They raced down to the end of the dock, searching for a clue. Elliot spied something bright out on the water.
"Ummm, I found our flags." As the team turned to look, Elliot pointed out on the water. A bunch of flags sat out on the dock, sitting 30 yards from the shore. The detectives all looked around at each other, trying to decide who would be jumping in the water. Their eyes seemed to all come to rest on the trunks Elliot still had on. "Really?"
"Pay your dues Stabler." Fin smirked.
Elliot hesitated for a few seconds before lifting his t-shirt off his head and performing a cannon ball off the side, splashing his coworkers in the process.
"Jack Ass!" Munch yelled at the man swimming out to the dock. As Elliot reached the dock, he noticed the flags were attached to two large cinder blocks by chains. He looked back to the dock, "I think I'm going to need some help."
As Elliot made his request, the team could see the RCMP officers coming out through the trees. They needed to make a move. Fast. Without a second thought, Olivia crossed her arms in front of her, grabbed the hem of her shirt and lifted it above her head. She toed off her flip flops and quickly unbuttoned and slid her denim shorts down her legs. As she stepped out of them, she stretched her arms high above her head, and dove into the chilly water below. When she broke the surface, Olivia transitioned to a quick stroke, leaving a few baffled detectives on the dock behind her. Meanwhile, Munch had found the last envelope with a map to their final destination, another beach area, just a short trip down the beach's hiking trail.
Elliot watched the scene from 20 yards away, but still felt it hit him below the belt. As Olivia pulled herself onto the dock, his eyes scanned her body. His eyes fell to her breasts, barely contained by the blue fabric, and then down to the blue string bottoms resting low on her hips. His eyes moved around her body to the many red and purple wounds marking her skin.
"Liv? Is that from…"
"Paintball? Yes." Olivia laughed, "C'mon Stabler, it's fine. Let's just get this flag and win, so you can give me what I've been waiting for all. day."
Elliot's breath caught in his throat. He loved that she was playing with him now, but he wouldn't let her take charge. Not this time.
"Oh! You mean…" He stepped closer, lowering his voice, "My head buried between your gorgeous thighs. You screaming my name, while you writhe under my tongue. Having me buried all the way, hitting you just where you want it. Is that what you've been waiting for?"
Olivia let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. She squeaked out a quiet, "Yes."
"And I bet," Elliot said, stepping so close their breath was on each other, "If I untied these string, I would find you wet and ready for me. Wouldn't I?"
Olivia swallowed hard and nodded her head. Elliot pulled his fingers back from the strings sitting on her hips.
"Well then, I better not untie that, or the boys are going to get a really good show! Same with those officers." Elliot nodded his head towards the dock. Olivia looked behind her and saw that two RCMP officers were removing their t-shirts to make the swim. "Better get going," Elliot said grabbing one of the cinder blocks, "We need to finish this so I can give you what you want!"
Olivia, still in a daze, grabbed the flag and the second cinder block and jumped in the water behind Elliot. Slowly, they made their way back to the dock, lifting the cinder blocks and themselves onto the edge. Fin and Don grabbed the flag and blocks and started off down the dock, "Let's go!" Munch yelled seeing the RCMP starting to return with their flag.
Elliot and Olivia scooped up their clothes from the dock and followed their team mates to the hiking trail. Elliot stayed back a few feet, allowing himself to watch Olivia's nearly nude body move ahead of him. He wanted, more than anything, to reach out and pull her back to their room. He began to understand her frustration from the morning as he watched her toned ass running ahead of him.
Elliot nearly ran into the back of her when she stopped abruptly. Looking up he saw what had made her stop. The separate beach had been set up for a special dinner. Tables held warming trays that were awaiting food from the restaurant. Lounge chairs and benches were scattered on the beach and around a large pile of drift wood set up by the water.
"Welcome! I just knew it would be you guys!" Kyle greeted them cheerfully, "Tonight, we feast! The restaurant is serving supper down here, we have music, and, once the sun starts to set, we will start up the bonfire. The other officers and detectives are not far behind you, please find a seat, go grab a drink and relax. You all earned it!"
"So everyone gets the reward?" Munch asked.
"Yes sir! We didn't want to leave anyone out. Your reward should also include getting to know your team a little better. Oh! And we brought the hard alcohol down too, so, you'll definitely get to know the other participants better too!" Kyle winked and moved to greet the group of RCMP officers that had just arrived.