Chapter 10
"What the hell happened?" Olivia asked as she approached the officers who had been guarding Albert. They had called for an ambulance and now the Captain, with Elliot in tow, were meeting outside the surgery wing doors.
"He wasn't doing too good, Captain. Sweaty, pale, and he was definitely in pain. I radioed for a bus. His mom was freaking out. The kid actively tried to refuse treatment when the EMTs got there. They were never going to allow that, given he's a minor," the first officer explained to her.
"He was fine when I left him," Olivia said, shaking her head.
"Doctor figured it was an infection. Not uncommon given how he was found and the location of the wound," the second officer said.
"So, what are they planning? Where is Monica?" She wanted to know.
"The doctors are hoping it's just a quick flush of the wound and load him up with antibiotics, but they weren't sure if they'd need to remove any dead tissue. As for the mom, the nurses said that only she could go back there with him," the first officer spoke up again.
"We need Albert to give us Oscar Papa," Olivia was worried that Albert rather die than testify against the man who was his boss. They'd already lost another possible witness in Maria Garcia. Duarte's best detective, Grace Muncy, had found her and they were supposed to meet after getting Albert's mother to him. Olivia and Duarte arrived at Maria's parents' restaurant only to find Oscar Papa waiting for them. They'd been set up. It was a tense meeting that thankfully saw everyone walk away in one piece, but the case had fallen even more apart.
"Dispatch was supposed to reach out to Captain Duarte, but we haven't heard back," the second officer said. Olivia frowned and pulled out her phone, telling them that she would call him. Given the hour, she expected the Bronx Gang unit leader to answer but he did not. Right to voicemail. She continued to frown and then called Amanda. The blonde answered her phone and as expected, she'd been sleeping. With the kids at home and the last few days being as crazy as they had been, Olivia would have expected nothing less.
"Rollins is calling Velasco and seeing if they can't find out what Duarte is up to," she told Elliot.
"So, not exactly playing well together like the Chief asked huh?" Elliot gave her a look.
"I guess not. This could be another long night," Olivia heaved a sigh before thanking the officers for the call. She wanted to press Albert but now she worried that wouldn't be possible.
"Then we wait for the doctors and we wait to hear from Rollins," Elliot walked her over to the nearby waiting area and they took a seat.
"We have to find a way to get Oscar Papa off the street," Olivia shook her head.
"You and I both know that getting him off the street isn't going to shut BX9 down. There might be a vacuum or Oscar Papa will just keep playing his game from behind bars," her former partner told her.
"But it might help all of those victims from the rape trees," she said. Elliot nodded. Oscar Papa would try and clean house to protect himself and that would probably get some of his worst cohorts off the board.
"This guy likes to play the long game. He's been one step ahead so if we lose Albert over there. How do we get one step ahead?" Elliot wondered.
"I don't know. Most of the people who could help won't because they're running scared. Can't exactly blame them given the track record for those that turn on Oscar Papa. I'm out of my depth here and having to trust Duarte… it's even harder to do given that he knew about the rape trees and said nothing," Olivia huffed. Before Elliot could say anything, his former partner's phone buzzed. She quickly looked at the text message.
"Rollins says the lab got DNA hits on some of the underwear from the rape trees. Duarte and his team are out rounding up our two criminals," she was pissed that Duarte had left her out of the loop.
"Deal with Duarte later. I'll man the patient watch. You get back to the precinct," Elliot told her.
To Be Continued…