Chapter 7
We were able to locate the place where Patty worked which was a bar not far from the diner I was at the other night. Bell and I questioned her about Stabler and of course she was tight lipped and furious that he had played her. She wasn't about to give up any information on her brother. Having anticipated this was going to happen, we had planned for Jet to try and put a tracking device on her cell phone while we had Patty distracted with questions. Jet is a natural at undercover and a genius when it came to technology, so she was able to do it with no problem.
We headed out to the undercover van a few blocks away to wait and see if she made any calls or tried to leave. About five minutes later, she placed a phone call directly to her brother and we all listened in. She told him the cops were asking around about Elliot and he better be careful. He told her that he had Elliot in a safe place and was waiting to get what he asked for or he would go ahead and "dispose of him." My stomach churned when he said that especially in that brusque, cold voice he had. If we couldn't locate El in time, I was never going to see him again. He would never know how I really feel about him, and I truly do not think I can survive him leaving me again. While my thoughts were spiraling out of control, Jet was attempting to locate the phone that the call was made to. She exclaimed, "Got him!" This brought me out of my thoughts, and I focused on where we needed to go to find El. Bell called for backup and gave them an address of an abandoned warehouse 10 blocks away. She also told them that a detective was being held hostage and to be discreet.
We raced over towards the warehouse with me feeling sick and nauseous the whole ride. Bell glanced over and noticed the lack of color in my face. She reached over, grabbed my hand, and told me we would find him, and everything would be ok. I really wanted to believe that but having witnessed these situations firsthand turning south; I wasn't reassured. When we arrived, Bell called the number that Patty had called, and her brother picked up. He was on speaker phone. Bell told him that we were working on the immunity paperwork, and she wanted proof that Stabler was still alive. He must have put the phone up to Stabler's ear because I heard him say, "I'm ok." His voice was barely above a whisper and sounded very weak. Tears collected at the corners of my eyes. I wanted to run to him so bad and just hold him. Horrible images of what they had done to him flashed through my brain. It took everything I had to stay in the van and not run into the warehouse guns blazing.
Bell continued to talk to the mob boss to distract him and get more time for us to get to El. I noticed a SWAT team surrounding the warehouse and attempting to find a way in to take the guy out. I could suddenly hear commotion over the speaker phone, people were yelling, sounded like stuff was getting knocked over, and then I heard two gunshots. Silence ensued. I held my breath, my heart was pounding out of my chest, and I was frozen in place. Had El just been shot dead? What happened? I jumped out of the van and ran over to some bushes and vomited. I just could not go through this again with him suddenly out of my life. Why did I not just tell him how I feel? Bell came over to me and placed her hand on my back. "Are you ok?" I told her yes and we both headed into the warehouse to assess the situation.
We headed towards a back room where all the noise was, and I saw El lying on the ground with two other police officers bent down tending to him. I ran over to look at him and he turned his head and smiled when he saw me. I couldn't believe it, he was alive! He looked pretty banged up, but I was so relieved he was alive. I squatted down next to him and placed my hand on the side of his face. He told me that the mob boss had been shot by the SWAT team, but he had been beaten badly while being held hostage. Paramedics were on their way to take him to the hospital. I wanted to tell him I loved him right then and kiss him but held back since there were so many people around and I probably had vomit breath. I decided to ride with him to the hospital. I didn't want to be away from him ever again. It sucks that almost losing him was needed to bring down some of my walls. I became exhausted on the ride over to the hospital once the adrenaline had drained and I knew he was going to be ok. The doctors said he had several broken ribs and lots of bruising but should make a full recovery. Once he was settled in a room, I fell asleep on a chair next to his bed.