Chapter 13

In a cold, dark, isolated cell, a woman sat with her hands chained above her head tethering her to the solid stone wall behind her, adding pain to her already broken bleeding body. Her head was hung low, as if she was sleeping, her matted brown hair covering her bloody face. The only contrast in the darkness was her pale ghostly skin under the tattered remains of what had been her SVU jacket. She only moved when she heard movement outside her cell. She strained with the strength she could muster to hear what was going on, not to listen to the pounding in her head. She opened her eyes slightly, but saw nothing but darkness. She didn't think she was going to, but for the first time in her life, Olivia Benson started to panic.

They weren't back, were they? She made damn sure the other wouldn't turn back and follow her. All the suffering and pain she had gone thorough she had endured for the past two weeks would have been in vain. She saw the look in Elliot's eyes, and knew it was a look of fear that she'd never come back. She sighed in pain when she realized the commotion in the cell next to her was over food. She found it very ironic that she was hoping against her rescue.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door to her cell opened and a bright light flooded the cell, giving her an instant blinding headache. She had become accustomed to the darkness that she had been in for the past two weeks, making it hard for her eyes to adjust.

"So, have you made up your mind yet, Benson? Are you going to hand over the information we want, or are we going to have to beat it out of you?" asked the man who had entered the cell, moving toward her with the light shining on her.

Not bothering to give him the answer he wanted, she ignored him and closed her eyes again. She felt her head tilt up, so that she was face-to-face with the man. She opened one eye slightly, wondering what they would do to her this time, but she didn't care anymore.

"You're just full of surprises aren't you?" he asked, looking at all the bruises and scratches that covered her face. "They say you're a real prize with the men back in New York. Who in their right mind would want to give all that up, just because they're too fucking stubborn to give a little information? As soon as we figure you out, things will be totally different."

She didn't have any time to reply, before a knife was plunged into her leg, up to her knee. She didn't make any noise, just a hiss in pain. Her lack of reaction only angered the man, so he plunged the knife into her thigh and ran it down to her kneecap, staining her dirty blood stained pants black.

"You're a great rag doll, but we both know that's not what we want," he said as his fist knocked out several more of Liv's teeth and splitting her lip open again. The man looked for any sign of weakness, any little peep out of the detective, that he could at least get her to scream. He pulled out the knife and added another slice to her arm.

Liv tensed when she saw the man lunge for her arms. They had already been broken in 12 places the first day she was there, and having them tied above her only made the pain worse. She hoped the man hadn't seen the sudden change, and would stop, but the gods just weren't on her side. She should have known this, because they hardly ever were.

"What's the matter, Detective, you don't like that?" he asked her, mocking her pain. "Well, how about this?" he said with an evil smile as he grabbed her arm and sliced through it up to her shoulder. Liv's screams were music to his ears. He kept his firm grip on her arm, earning another whimper in pain.

"You know it's very easy to stop this. All you have to do is tell me where you're keeping the file. Don't say the feds' office, because we've already looked there. Tell us where it is, and we'll let you go."

"I've already told you, I don't know where that file is," she said, through gritted teeth.

"We've told you to stop the lies. We know you know, so make it easier for the both of us and tell us where it is."

"We both know I'm not going to tell you a damn thing, and there's no way in hell you're ever going to let me go, so spare yourselves the time and kill me already. That's what it's come to isn't it?"

"You'll talk, everyone does eventually. All it takes is finding out how to make a person break, and we get what we want. Besides, you're no use to us dead yet Benson," said the man with the knife. He ripped out of her shoulder and walked out of the cell.

Liv looked up to watch the man leave, happy that he had finally left, but knowing full well that the torture would begin again any minute. She tried to take advantage of the time by closing her eyes, needing sleep, but she was too on edge. Any chance of falling asleep was put down as two more men entered her cell, how wonderful.

"So, is here anything you want to tell us?" asked the first man as they walked in. One of them unchained her hands while the other pinned her to the floor.

"No way in fucking hell am I ever going to tell you anything. I'm very surprised the other guy didn't tell you how totally useless I am," she said, smirking at them, or close to it. She bit her lip in pain when they moved her and prepared herself for what was coming next.

One of the men stretched out Liv's arm, watching as the broken bones moved. He smiled when he heard Liv's yell in pain cut short when the other man kneed her in the chest, splintering her already broken ribs and knocking what air was out of her lungs.

"He told us you don't like cooperating, but we think we can change that," said the man on top of her. He had taken something from his pocket and handed it to the other man. "You might not want to tell us, but we have something that will make you come to your senses."

While one of the men were talking to her, the other took a hammer and a nail from his belt loop. He balanced the nail on the top of her hand and beat it in. An hair-raising scream filled the air as muscle, tendons, and skin parted company as the nail was driven all the way through.

She gritted her teeth as she panted through the pain. Liv turned her head to see blood oozing through the hole in her hand. Holy fucking hell, these guys were nuts, but she knew they were far from being done.

"If you want us to stop, you know what we want," said the man holding her down as the other placed another nail on the top of her hand.
"Well, since there are no objections..." his sentence was finished with a sickening gush of red blood spattering to the floor.

Liv didn't scream this time. She groaned in pain and bit her lip tight, her bloody face contorted in pain. There was another gush of blood as nail tore through flesh. Blood filled her mouth as more of her teeth parted company with her gums, muffling her cries. By the time the nail had gone through completely, blood had started dripping down her chin and Liv lay unconscious.

"Come on, Benson, is that all you can take?" asked the man holding her down with a laugh as he felt the detective go limp. "Go get some water, she's not done that easily," he ordered.

About two minutes later, Liv sputtered awake after having a bucket of water tossed on her. Coughing up water and blood, she tried to sit up, only to realize that the same man from before was still sitting on her, making it harder to breathe than it already was.

"Didn't think we were going to let you have it that easily did you?" asked the other man, yanking violently on her arm, pulling it from its socket, making the detective yelp in pain. The same man put another nail where her arm and shoulder used to be connected.

Knowing what was coming, Liv bit her already raw bloody lip and closed her eyes, wishing with all her might that they hadn't waken her up for this.

"Oh no, you're going to watch this time," said the man that was still pinning her down, pressing his knees into her already broken ribs, making her eyes water. Liv opened them, but there wasn't any sense in trying to delay what was going to happen.

"One more chance: tell us where the file is," said the other man, holding a nail against her skin.

"Just get it over with," she hissed, the wait making her almost nauseous.

The hammer seemed to move almost in slow motion, but it was too fast for her to brace herself for a bone rattling cry that ripped through her throat. She could see her blood pooling where the hail had gone through, forming another pool on the stone floor.

She was hardly aware that the man on top of her had finally gotten up and slammed the cell door closed, leaving the cell once again shrouded in darkness. Once she was finally able to breathe again, she tried to fall back asleep, finally accepting the fact that she was going to die here like road kill on the side of the road.