Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

1:50 pm – Office of Captain Don Cragen

35 hours until landfall

x x x

"'Beep'…'beep'…'beep'… 'beep'…The National Weather Service has issued a Hurricane Watch for central and northern coastal regions of New Jersey, the New York City metropolitan area, and coastal regions of New York and Connecticut. A hurricane watch means that heavy rain, tidal flooding, and winds above 74 mph are possible within the next 36 hours. Prepare to take immediate action in case a warning is issued…."

x x x

Cragen sat back in his chair and watched the words scroll across the bottom of the TV screen for the fourth time that hour. He doubted that four more replays of this would make the idea seem less far-fetched.

Like others whose conversations he had overheard for the past few days, he would much rather discard this information as if it were simply political fodder for the media, then to accept it as truth.

But his gut told him otherwise.

Looking at the entire picture was like watching a horror movie unfold. First, there were missing children. If they were lucky enough to escape the madman like Kaleb had, they had to take their chances against the elements.

Second, the storm, which had one of two possible outcomes where the case was concerned. Either nothing happens and it delays the investigation, or it sweeps in and there is little hope of recovering evidence. Meanwhile, the perp makes a clean exit only to resurface and claim more victims.

Time had always been a major constraint in this business. Emergencies or delays popped up all the time.

But this was different.

The New York City public schools had already announced closure in the next hour, and he had it on good authority that evacuation orders would be made as soon as it went through the proper channels. Then he'd have to decide the best possible measure where this case was concerned.

Then there was his detectives. Their safety. Their lives. They were stubborn enough to put these children's safety ahead of their own.

Finally, there was everything else. His mind still couldn't quite conceive of what a hurricane would do to the city. His city.

Cragen stood up and walked over to his office door. He considered heading over to the deli for a bite to eat. Even though he didn't have much of an appetite, he could use a minute to clear his head.

As soon as he stepped out into the bullpen, all of his detectives ended their discussion, and headed toward him. By their solemn expressions, he knew there was more news coming that would do nothing to lessen the gravity of the situation.

Munch spoke up first. "Cap, we just got a call on another kid from Tyler. Fraco Delmar, age 7. According to the school office, he never made it to school this morning and they're having trouble reaching his foster mother, Lia Gibbs. His body was found a block away from where Trinetta had been discovered," he reported.

Cragen nodded slowly, "Elliot, Olivia, you go talk to CSU. Maybe this perp will have left us something more to work with this time. Fin, Munch, you two go talk to the foster parent. There has to be something else these kids have in common besides Tyler. Good luck."

The detectives turned to leave.

"Guys, wait," he said.

The four stopped and turned back to face their captain.

"We're now facing a different sort of time table with this storm. Work quickly, and find out whatever you can, but then we'll need to gather back here and formulate a new game plan before we're shut down on account of the weather."

x x x

2:12 pm – Lower Manhattan, NY

Olivia waited for a cab driver to pass, stepped on the gas, and quickly pulled out onto the road. She was glad she opted to drive. Fatigue was rapidly catching up with her and driving kept her occupied at least.

She glanced over at her partner, who had remained unusually quiet. She realized he was going on hardly any sleep.

"Try to grab another two hours in the crib when we get back, El. You're not going to be worth much to anyone if you're fading in and out."

He made a faint sound in acknowledgement of what she said, but it was unclear as to if he was in agreement. He couldn't have processed the words, otherwise he would have argued, she realized, laughing to herself. Olivia let that go and began to focus on the road ahead of her.

Out of curiousity, she glanced up at the sky. Nothing out of the ordinary would lead someone to suspect an impending storm. The sky was clear and there was little if any wind. It had been like this for several days now.

After a few minutes had passed, she noticed her partner beginning to stir. She was relieved when she recognized the focused expression and alertness in his eyes. His mind had finally drifted back to the case. He was back in his element, and she figured whatever he was deeply worried about, would at least temporarily be pushed aside.

x x x

Last night…

1:16 am – SVU

They worked through as many profiles as they could, but just after midnight, hunger started to kick in. Munch had ordered a lot of Chinese food for the group earlier, so there were enough leftovers for a late night snack. Olivia microwaved some of it and fixed two plates for them.

"I think I've got the name of that parole officer, Liv," Elliot said, pausing to pick up his plate and shovel in two bites of rice and beef.

"Ken Marley?" Liv asked hopefully.

"Nope. Jack Tramble," he answered, as he swallowed the bite.

"Oh, damn," she replied.

"Why?"

"Thought I found a link."

Elliot took another bite, and then pointed to her plate with his fork. "Liv, eat. You'll have to nuke that… what is it now? A fourth time?" he laughed.

She rolled her eyes once and continued to read her computer screen.

"Come on, just take a breather," he suggested. "We've been at this together for hours. You even longer."

Olivia sat back in her chair and slowly stretched her arms above her head, feeling a small pop in her shoulders. She leaned over and picked up her fork. After two bites, she stood and walked to the microwave.

Elliot had finished eating, except for an eggroll Munch decided he didn't want.

She returned with it heated, pushed a few notes and things in front of her aside, and made room for her plate. She picked up her fork and took a bite of chicken. As much as she liked chinese food, it definitely lost something after being nuked too many times. Elliot couldn't stand anything microwaved more than once. He'd sooner eat it cold. She glanced across at her partner who watched her eat as he smirked.

"Shut up," she told him when he started to laugh.

"I'll share my eggroll," he offered, holding up his plate. "It's cold, but you actually can chew it."

"I'm okay. Thanks, El."

They got off the topic of the case briefly. Elliot mentioned that Elizabeth was going to her homecoming dance this year and was eager to find the right dress. They continued to talk about Elizabeth, but eventually got on the topic of school parties, dances and proms they had attended.

Elliot told her about a Halloween party where he and his friends dressed up as characters from the Wizard of Oz. Elliot mentioned that he had a particularly difficult time with his costume because of the amount of drinks he had that night.

"Okay, new topic," he requested. Although he enjoyed watching Olivia laugh anytime, even at his own expense, he never wanted to stay on the topic of his high school days for too long.

"Fine," she replied, still laughing at the image in her head of Elliot dressed as the tinman.

He finished his eggroll, reached for his can of Pepsi and washed the last bite down. He was still sipping as she spoke.

"So," Olivia began, "what made you decide to ask Casey out?"

Elliot, caught completely off guard, began to cough hard on his last sip. He paused, coughing a few more times, and then slowly took a long sip hoping to quiet the cough.

"H -how'd you know about that?" he asked, shaking his head. He lifted his napkin to wipe his chin.

"Casey told me," she answered looking back at him smugly.

Elliot set the can down and sighed. "I honestly don't know, Liv. It didn't work out, but I'm sure Casey told you that too." He coughed once more and hoped that was it.

"No. Not really," she replied.

"My head wasn't exactly on straight when that happened," he explained. "It was nice getting to know her though," he remarked. "We're just friends."

Olivia shrugged. "It's none of my business."

Elliot cocked his head to the side and looked at her. "But it's nice to know things about your co-workers," he grinned as he continued, "so they don't catch you by surprise when you find out who they're dating," he said, smugly. He started to laugh when she shot him a nasty glare.

Olivia rolled her eyes, thinking back to how Elliot found out about her relationship with Kurt Moss. "You're an asshole," she said candidly, but then laughed.

"Okay," Elliot began, picking up his cup for another sip. "Dani Beck, Kim Tate, Courtney Williams, and Casey Novak," he said.

"What?"

"The women I dated while Kathy and I were separated," Elliot answered her. He looked away as he continued. "Only the last two I'm reasonably okay with admitting. Other than learning some interesting things about Casey and Courtney to keep conversations from just being about work, I regret going there," he admitted.

"Interesting things?" she asked.

"Courtney loves the zoo and theatre, and Casey loves waterfalls but has never been to Niagra."

"I knew that about Casey," Olivia said, taking a sip of water to wash down her last bite.

"You're stalling, Benson," Elliot teased.

"What?"

"Spill it."

"Spill what?"

"Who have you dated in the last 3 years?"

"Kurt Moss."

"And?"

"Can we not go there?" she requested.

"Why?"

"You know why."

"No."

"You know I don't date very much."

"Why not?" he asked.

"My job scares men away," she answered quietly. She finished her last bite, wiped her mouth with her napkin, and tossed it down on her plate.

Elliot sighed, deeply regretting that he practically forced her to admit something he had known, but chose to forget. He watched her head lower and each one got lost in their own thoughts.

He looked across at Olivia, caught her eyes as she finally glanced up from her desk and smiled at her. "Oh, and here I thought it was my job to scare them away."

Elliot watched her expression slowly change until a smile began to surface. First on her lips and then in her eyes. Finally, she tilted her head back and a laugh escaped, which warmed him instantly.

They both laughed for a moment.

Olivia stood, gathered the plates, and dropped them in the trash. She grabbed her cup for a water refill. She was a few feet away from their desks before she glanced over her shoulder and replied to his last comment.

"It is."

x x x

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

3:30 pm – Philadelphia International Airport, Philadelphia, PA

The young female ticket agent looked past the passenger leaving the counter to the next person in line.

"Can I help you sir?" she offered. Her voice did little to mask her fatigue as a yawn escaped, but she smiled pleasantly.

Mike stirred, glancing up from his blackberry to the United Airlines ticket agent and stepped toward the counter. "Yes, thanks. I booked a seat on flight 1789, the 6:15 to LaGuardia, but there seems to be a mix up. I didn't get the confirmation," he explained.

"Your name, sir?"

"Mike Logan," he answered. Anticipating her next question, he removed his wallet, took out his driver's license and handed it to the agent.

She took the card and examined it, nodding once in acknowledgement of his identity and then handed it back. Her fingers quickly tapped over the keys, pausing for a minute to read the screen. She grabbed the mouse, shaking it from side to side in frustration to get it to move where she needed it to go. She clicked the mouse a few times, tapped a few more keys and glanced from her screen to Mike. "I'm not showing you on this flight, and unfortunately it's booked. I can put you on standby or go ahead and book you for a later flight?"

Mike sighed heavily. "How much later?"

"I've got a spot on Flight 1842, leaving at 9:14 tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow? You don't have another flight leaving until tomorrow? I really need to get home," he added, appearing more disappointed than impatient.

Her fingers raced across the keys once again, her eyes glancing over the information in front of her. She reached for her mouse, clicked it once and rolled her eyes impatiently at the screen. "Sorry, this computer is so slow, sometimes you'd swear it was going backwards."

"I've got one of those too," he joked.

"Been out here long?" she asked, making light conversation as she waited for more information to appear.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, too long. For work."

"Missing the wife and kids, I'll bet," she assumed.

"Nope, no wife and kids."

"Oh-h," the girl responded, feeling slightly embarrassed about her assumption. She smiled shyly back at him and returned her attention to the screen. After a few more clicks, she shook her head. "I'm sorry, sir. Nothing before tomorrow. Do you want to attempt the stand-by for tonight? There's always a chance someone won't show up," she smiled, encouragingly.

Mike shrugged. "I've never had much luck with stand-by. I'll take the 9:14."

x x x

5:00pm – SVU

Fin and Munch met with Fraco's foster mother, Lia Gibbs. She had been under investigation by child services for drug abuse and was one warning away from having Fraco removed from her care. Despite what she had been told and what the police and CSU had found, she swore that Fraco had gone to school that day.

x x x

Munch, Fin and Lake sat at their desks, with two large pizzas for dinner. Most of the businesses in that part of Manhattan had closed up because of the weather, but a handful chose to wait it out.

"The Long-Island Express is what they called it. The Great Hurricane of 1938. There's a good book I read on it," Munch began, as he spoke to the others.

He swallowed his last bite and continued. "Anyway, Weather Bureau tracked it from the Bahamas to Virginia. Some rookie forecaster in Norfolk said the hurricane would head straight north, and he worried about it hitting the New England area. But, the senior meteorologists outranked him,
said he was wrong and that the hurricane would curve and head out to sea. They predicted cloudy skies with a few wind gusts for the New England coast," he explained.

"Should've listened to the rookie," Lake quipped.

Munch shrugged. "They didn't know a lot back then," he said.

"They still don't," Fin scoffed.

Munch continued, glancing at a website he pulled up earlier. "Anyhow, it took off at full speed for the northeast. By the time it reached the New England area, it had speeds near 180 mph. They still didn't know what they were in for until it actually hit."

"Where exactly did it hit?" Fin asked.

"Mainly, Long Island, Connecticut and Rhode Island," Munch replied. "Oh, and get this. The New England hurricane is a 70-year storm."

"So?" Fin replied.

"So every 70 years, give or take a couple of years, a major storm like that can hit this area," Munch replied.

Elliot and Olivia walked back into the bullpen, drawing the attention of the other detectives.

"How'd it go?" Fin asked them.

Elliot's cell phone rang as he put his jacket down, and he moved away from the group to answer it.

"CSU found a footprint near the body that might match the one found near Trinetta and a glove that may have been worn by our perp. They're checking into it," Olivia told them.

"Any word on the autopsy?" Munch asked as he approached her.

"Melinda said she'd give me a preliminary report," she replied with a shrug, her voice hinted at uncertainty.

Munch nodded, understanding what she had implied indirectly. He put a hand on her shoulder as he spoke. "They're going to shift this into emergency preparations and all else is going to fall to the back-burner, Munch told her. "It's to be expected," he added as he walked away.

Elliot walked back toward the group. He stood next to Olivia, both perched on the edge of her desk. She glanced in his direction, sensing he was upset.

"El?"

He turned to look at her.

"Everything okay?" she asked, almost in a whisper tone. But she could read his response without him uttering a word.

"We can't do anything right now," she said, referring to the case. "Do you want to go somewhere and talk?"

He thought for a minute, then nodded.

Olivia reached on the back of her chair and grabbed her jacket. "Do you want to go get something to eat?"

"Sure," he replied quietly although he knew he didn't have much of an appetite.

Elliot walked around to his desk and grabbed his jacket just as Cragen walked out of his office, headed toward the group.

"Hey everyone, I need your attention. I have more news, and I'm afraid it's not good," he began.

Elliot and Olivia exchanged a look and both set their jackets down on Olivia's chair.

"It's official. Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued by the city."

A few gasps and surprised expressions filled the bullpen. Many still couldn't quite fathom what was happening.

"There are specific guidelines set by the Office of Emergency Management as to how that will go down, and where to go to evacuate for those who do not make it out of town in the next 24 to 48 hours. I've got that information for anyone who needs it. As of this point, you may take care of whatever necessary plans you need, and evacuate," he told them.

"What about the kids?" Olivia asked him, catching his arm, just as he started to walk away.

Cragen briefly glanced at the others and then looked directly at her, somberly. "It's out of our hands now, Liv."

x x x

Next chapter: Mandatory Evacuations