...if they found Lizzie and Dickie.
Lizzie gripped Dickie's hand in the back seat of the Chevy truck as it rolled into a parking lot. Dickie looked at her, afraid to say anything, and then glanced out the window. There were lots of semi trucks parked here and places to go to the bathroom. The car stopped and Greg opened the front passenger door. He gripped Kathy's forearm and pulled her out of the front seat behind him. She grunted as her feet roughly hit the pavement. Greg then reached into the car and pulled the driver's seat forward, leaving room for Lizzie and Dickie to climb out, which they did quickly, hoping silently for a chance to use the restrooms.
"Get out." Greg whispered gruffly. He held onto Kathy's arm as he pointed to the brick building. "I don't want you pissing inside the truck. Go use the bathroom. If you don't come back in five minutes, I'll put a bullet in your mom's skull."
Lizzie and Dickie took off running towards the bathrooms as Kathy started crying. "Shut up. You don't want to call attention to yourself right now." Greg said, eerily calmly, fingering the gun in his belt.
Lizzie and Dickie separated to use different restrooms and then quickly met up again in the lobby of the rest stop. It had definitely not been five minutes and an old payphone was sitting in the corner. Dickie ran to it and desperately started searching for change. If he could just call his dad, everything would be okay.
"Dickie! What are you doing!?" Lizzie hissed, nervously watching out the window for Greg and her mom.
"I've got to call dad, Lizzie. You go out there if you're nervous. You can distract him." Dickie said, now searching the ground for a quarter.
"No. I'll stay with you. Just hurry."
"Found one!" Dickie cried, triumphantly holding up a sticky, dusty coin. He popped it in the machine and quickly dialed his father's cell phone number. Elliot answered on the first ring.
"Dad?!" Dickie cried, tears streaming down his face.
"Dickie?! Oh my god. Where are you?" Elliot was stunned.
"A truck stop near Albany. I've been reading signs just like you taught us. We're at mile marker 12. Hurry! He's gonna shoot mom if we don't get back out there."
"Dickie, are you okay? How's Lizzie?"
"We're fine. Just come get us, Dad. I've gotta go."
"I'm on my way. You hang on, I'm on my way." Elliot was in tears now too and as he hung up the phone, his hand was shaking.
Lizzie and Dickie bolted back to the car. Greg and Kathy were standing just as they had left them. When Greg saw them, he pulled the seat back again and ushered them back into the truck. "It would be a shame if you did anything stupid." He said, cocking his gun.
"No, I promise." Dickie said. "We just went to the bathroom."
Lizzie nodded emphatically, hoping to convince him. She was beyond emotional at this point and her body had settled into a numb state. She and Dickie were both very much in survival mode now.
"Olivia," Elliot croaked through the phone "I just got a call from Dickie." Elliot, Fin and Munch were in the car following a line of uniformed officers and speeding towards the Albany rest stop. "We're on our way to Albany."
"Oh my god, El!" Olivia cried. "Are they okay?" He could hear her emotion through the phone and wanted so badly to wrap her up in his arms right then.
"I don't know. He sounded okay but they're terrified. He's a smart kid, Liv. He kept track of the mile markers." Elliot said with pride.
"El, he's yours. Of course he did." Olivia was beaming as well but she was desperately trying not to get her hopes up. She had seen too many of these cases to celebrate prematurely.
"Elliot, be careful." Liv whispered into the phone.
"I will. I love you."
"I love you too. I'll tell the girls. You call me as soon as you have them, okay?"
"I promise, Liv. I promise.
The cars sped along the highway, inching closer and closer to Albany. Elliot gripped the back seat window well in impatience and anxiety. What if they weren't there anymore? What if Greg found out that Dickie called him? What if they couldn't find them? A million questioned swarmed through his mind and he was starting to sweat.
Fin, as if reading his mind, handed him a cool bottle of water. "Here, Elliot. It's gonna be alright, man. Just stay calm."
"Thanks, Fin." Elliot said, smiling at his colleague in the rear view mirror.
They were a half hour away now. Almost there.
Olivia sat on the couch and summoned the girls from the kitchen counter where they had been sitting, going through old fashion magazines. She patted the cushions next to hear as Kathleen and Maureen walked over. They had concerned looks on their faces which bordered on terrified if Olivia looked in their eyes for too long. She had always been good at reading people's eyes.
"It's about the twins and your mom." Olivia said, quickly.
As if their fears had been realized, the girls sat down simultaneously and tears began to form in the corners of their eyes. Maureen was the first to speak. "Are they dead?"
"No." Olivia shook her head and looked at each girl briefly before returning her gaze to her hands. "They're not dead but they're not safe yet either." Olivia sighed. She settled back in the couch cushions and reached for Kathleen's hand who was seated closest to her. "Dickie managed to call your dad and let him know where they are. Your dad is on his way up there now with Fin and Munch."
"Olivia, you should go." Kathleen said, suddenly. "I want you to go. You can help them. You're the best on the squad, even better than daddy sometimes. You can save them." Kathleen burst into tears and buried her face in Maureen's neck.
"Yeah, Olivia. We're fine. Go get them, please? bring them home?"
That was all Olivia needed. She stood up, kissed each girl on the head and headed for the drawer in which she kept her gun and badge. "Are you sure you'll be okay? Don't leave the apartment. Don't open the door for anyone. Don't even answer the phone if it rings."
"We're fine. Please go. Bring them back safely, Liv." Maureen pleaded.
"We'll bring them back, girls. I promise." Olivia said, opening the door as she shrugged into her coat.
Maureen and Kathleen hugged each other tightly as the door shut behind her.