Wednesday, November 3 – Medtex headquarters, Medford, Oregon
Olivia felt more and more nervous every step that got her closer to their target and she didn't know if her body was trembling and the tip or her fingers were burning because of the cold wind of November or the anxiety. All the way from their hangar to Medtex headquarters had been quiet and one could tell the tension was palpable. Olivia kept peeking around her, looking for her team and when the group stopped in front of Medtex building, she couldn't locate them in the dark night. She stood on tiptoe to see above the shoulder of the man in front of her when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Come here" she heard. She recognized Angela's voice and followed her in the crowd. Someone whispered orders somewhere ahead and the EDG members slowly dispersed. Olivia frowned with surprise when she saw Dereck turning left behind the building with Hope and her group. She decided to follow him but Angela held her back. "This way" she said, heading to the nearest corner where Jeff was waiting.
"You guys know what to do right?" Jeff asked. The women didn't answer but Olivia nodded gravely and Angela's eyes were filled with determination so Jeff clapped his hands. "Let's go."
"Wasn't Dereck supposed to be with us?" Olivia asked worried about the vision she had a few seconds before. Even if Dereck made her extremely uneasy, she wanted to keep an eye on him. She knew how unpredictable he was and feared he would resist his arrest. Plus, she knew he carried a gun and was trigger-happy. "Where is he?"
"The plan has changed. I need him somewhere else now" Jeff eluded. That's not good Olivia thought. "T-Bone is gonna take his place" Jeff added. Shit. Olivia turned around and saw T-Bone walking towards them. "Follow me".
Without another word, the small team entered the building. Chen who had been working all night as Andrew Harper's bodyguard escorted them to the president's office. On the way, Olivia looked through some open offices and noticed that a few employees were still working. That wasn't part of the plan. The building was supposed to be empty except for Mr. Harper and Chen. She exchanged a silent glare with T-Bone who looked just as confused as she was, but he just shrugged and Olivia knew her friend was lost. They were supposed to make the building explode, but T-Bone had shrugged at the thought of those innocent employees' death. After a few more minutes, the team stopped in front of a wooden door with the name "Andrew Harper" engraved in gold letters. Chen gripped the door handle, Jeff on his wheels, and Angela took a deep breath before walking behind Jeff who was supposed to be her bodyguard. Olivia stood there, not knowing what to do, but before Chen opened the door, he told her "the women's bathrooms are on the left of this corridor. You stay there until I come back and pick you up".
Olivia nodded and followed the way Chen just showed her. She pushed the door open and met a woman who was washing her hands. The woman looked up and smiled politely at her. Olivia smiled back and stood in front of a mirror, pretending to fix her hair. "Long day uh?" the woman asked.
"You could say that" Olivia answered calmly.
"I missed my wedding anniversary tonight" the woman sighed. "Harper wants all the reports ready for the end of the week. Even if we worked 30 hours a day it wouldn't be enough. I don't know when he will understand that."
"Harper only hears what he wants to" Olivia scoffed like she knew exactly what this woman meant. "Do you know how many people are working tonight?"
"Well with the technicians in the labs and everybody here and the layers' meeting downstairs… who knows? About 70 maybe?".
"Maybe you should go home and enjoy your anniversary" Olivia tried to convince her. "One night won't make a difference. We all know that. Maybe we should all leave. The hell with Harper"
"Ha!" the woman scoffed after drying her hands. "If only... Goodnight" she said before leaving Olivia alone in the bathroom. Olivia locked herself in a cabin and opened the bag that carried all the stuff she needed to make fake but convincing explosives. She opened one box full of powder, plunged her hand inside and pulled out the gun Porter gave her earlier when they established the plan. But of course the plan was screwed now. She had to warn him. The feds just couldn't send a squad to arrest them when there were so many civilians inside. Problem was, Olivia had no way to contact Porter now. She had to arrest Jeff, Chen, Angela and T-Bone all by herself, use Harper's phone, and pray that Porter's squad wouldn't be inside the building already. It was simply impossible. Olivia hid the gun under her clothes and was about to leave her cabin when she heard the door of the bathroom opening.
"Persephone?" Chen asked. "You in there?"
"Coming" Olivia answered. They both left the bathroom and ran to Harper's office. Olivia quickly scanned the room and saw no sign of Jeff or Harper in the room, but what she did saw was a small trail of blood on the carpet.
"We don't have much time" T-Bone pressed her.
Olivia dropped her bag on the circle table in the middle of the room and started to empty it. "What happened here?" she asked as she started to make her fake explosives.
"Jeff aimed his gun at Harper and asked him to quietly sit on the floor but Harper didn't call his bluff. There was a fight. Hurry up" Angela pressed her as Olivia was finishing the first set of explosives.
"You put this one here, and this one over there. And those two uh… right here" Olivia ordered T-Bone and Angela as she looked at the crushed phones on the floor. Now she had no way to contact Porter. "Where are they now?" she asked.
"Over there" T-Bone headed to a metal door. "I bet this is where he takes care of the sensitive business" he scoffed.
Olivia let go of her unfinished explosives and walked to the metal door. "Hey Pers, what are you doing? Come back here, we're not done yet!" T-Bone called her as Olivia pushed the door and closed it behind her. She was now in a very small room that looked more like a bunker. Jeff was standing there, his gun pointed to Harper's direction. His hand was trembling and his face was distorted with anger. As for Harper, the man was whimpering on the ground in a pool of blood, a hole in his left leg. Olivia got around Jeff whose body was blocking the view and she held back an exclamation when she saw Harper's distorted and bleeding face. He looked like a piece of meat.
"WHERE'S THE MONEY?" Jeff shouted.
Harper mumble something that looked like "no money" and Jeff fired next to Harper's other leg. The bullet ricocheted on the steel and Olivia pressed herself against the wall to avoid it. "What are you doing Jeff?!" she shouted.
Jeff looked toward Olivia like he just realized she was there. He looked confused for a second but quickly recovered and turned his attention back to Harper. "What do you think I am doing to this son of a bitch?"
"This isn't supposed to be about money Jeff" she scolded. "You hurt him pretty bad already. Let's go".
"Not yet" Jeff said as he aimed at Harper.
"I saw a safe" Olivia lied before Jeff pulled the trigger.
"Where?"
"The other side."
Jeff took a few seconds to think about it and eventually lowered his gun. Olivia opened the door for him as Jeff grabbed Harper's ankles to drag him back in the main office. Olivia took advantage of the situation and kicked Jeff in the back, making him fall headfirst on the ground. She snatched his gun and threw it across the room, then tried to step back but Jeff grabbed her leg, making her lose her balance and she fall on her ass. She tried to get up but Jeff was quick and jumped on her before she was back on her feet. They started to fight, sending kicks and punches until Olivia's fist hit Jeff's nose making him fall on his back. Out of breath, Olivia got up panting, her body aching. She grasped her gun with both hands and aimed at Jeff. "Hands up" she ordered before whipping the blood off her mouth.
"Persephone what are you doing?!" Angela exclaimed horrified.
"I won't let him kill him. That's not what we're here for. We placed enough explosives, and now we need to leave before we all blow up" Olivia said. She still needed to keep her cover until the operation was over.
"Where did you get that gun?" Jeff asked as he got back to his feet and raised his hands.
"That's my gun. I always keep it with me" Olivia lied. Jeff gave a quick look at T-Bone and gave him a silent signal.
"No!" Olivia cried. But before she had time to react, T-Bone had a gun pointed on her.
"Don't be stupid Pers" he said. "I don't want to hurt you".
"Look at her" Jeff spat. "She chose his side" he said gesturing at Harper. "She betrayed us. Dereck was right. She's not one of us. She's never been". T-Bone made a step toward her and Olivia made a step back and aimed at him. T-Bone had his finger on the trigger and was about to shoot but suddenly, the floor began to shake. Horrified, Olivia realized it was due to an explosion on a lower floor. This was not supposed to happen. Hope's team was supposed to wait until they all evacuated. What the hell was going on? Olivia didn't take time to figure it out, and stormed out of the room as fast as her injured body allowed her. On the hallway, she turned back and noticed Chen was gone. A second explosion made the building shake, harder this time and she fell on the floor. She heard gunshots at her direction, quickly went back to her feet and ran to the nearest staircase. She never stopped running until she reached the second floor and a third explosion made a piece of ceiling fall in the stairs, blocking the way. The building was falling apart. She had to find another way out. She heard footsteps above her and knew her attackers were close. She opened the door to the second floor and froze. The floor was filled with smoke and she could feel the heat of a fire. She couldn't see ten feet away but she didn't have much of a choice. She covered her mouth and nose with her arm and blindly crossed the room, always walking along the wall. At some point, she heard the door opening and ran blindly, which caused her to collide with a wall and whimper.
"She's here!" Jeff shouted, running to her direction. Olivia picked up the pace and reached the door of another staircase. She ran through the stairs, Jeff and T-Bone getting closer and closer. When she reached the first floor, a few pieces of ceiling fell on her head and stunned her. Olivia starting to cough hard as her lungs were filling with dust and she heard footsteps on her back. She turned around and saw Jeff standing twenty feet behind her. A shot was fired and she felt a vivid pain on her ribs. She gasped, covered the wound with her hand to restrain the bleeding and kept running, much slower than earlier. But fortunately, the smoke was so thick that Jeff and T-Bone could barely see her. She slipped between broken furniture and crossed a room she recognized to finally end up in a large open space. She recognized this place. She had walked through this room earlier when they all entered the building, before the apocalypse. She knew the front door was close, somewhere, even if she couldn't see it with the smoke. Suddenly she heard a loud cough and someone was calling her name.
"Persephone ! Run!" Olivia saw her friend Hope rushing to her.
"Hope watch out! Go away!" Olivia shouted as the shots were raining behind her. But Hope didn't listen to her and kept running towards her. "Noooo!" Olivia cried as she saw Hope's body fall on the floor. She rushed to her friend's side, totally forgetting she was in a falling building, totally forgetting she was shot too, totally forgetting her attackers were on her heels. She dropped to the floor and grabbed Hope's dead body, pressing it against her to protect her from the pieces of ceiling that were still falling. "Come on Hope, open your eyes! Hold on, you can do it, come on!" Olivia shook her. But Hope's limp body didn't respond. Olivia started crying like she never cried before. Her friend just took a bullet that was aiming her. She closed her eyes, holding Hope's body tight like she was keeping her alive. She couldn't let her go. Suddenly, something teared her from Hope's body and her back hit the ground. She felt a heavy weight on top of her and a hand on her neck, trying to choke her. Her ears were ringing, but she could discern T-Bone's voice.
"This is all your fault! You killed her! You bitch! You killed her!" she felt waves of pain hitting her, one after the other, on her face, on her stomach, on her limbs. She had killed Hope, and now T-Bone was killing her. She didn't even try to fight back. Relax, a few seconds to go, and this is all over, she though as T-Bone's strong grip on her neck was stopping her breathing. Her vision blurred and just when she was about to pass out, Jeff grabbed T-Bone by the arm.
"Let's get out of here. She's dead anyway". T-Bone released his grip, got up and gave her one last kick in the stomach before leaving the building. Olivia gasped for air, holding her stomach and stood there, on the ground. Jeff was right. She was dead anyway. She was going to die far from her home, far from her friends. She would never say goodbye to Elliot. Suddenly, she heard Elliot's voice in her head. This is not you Liv. You can't give up! he scolded. And Olivia thought he was right. She rolled on her stomach with a scream of pain and started to crawl. When she felt wind on her face, she knew which way was the door. She managed to get on her fours and crawl a little more when another bomb exploded somewhere near. The blast of the explosion threw her a few feet away and she violently hit the ground, a few feet from the front door. Through her blurry vision and ringing ears, she could see and hear the sirens outside. But before she had time to even try to get up, the remaining of the building collapsed and buried her under the rubble.
SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU-SVU
... ok, maybe I went too far with the drama xD but in my head it didn't sound that bad lol