Chapter 12: Lighthouse Park

Vernon Boulevard
Long Island City
15 Minutes Later

Having successfully pinged a cell phone GPS signal from Perry Gilbert's cell phone, Detectives Slootmaekers and Stabler were now in an unmarked black Ford Expedition police SUV heading down Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City. Stabler was behind the wheel, while the diligent expert hacker Slootmaekers was busy working on her tablet PC, keeping an eye on the now persistent GPS signal.

Stabler's cell phone, which was mounted on a hands-free cradle next to the vehicle's cupholders, rang with a call from Captain Benson. The driving detective hit a button on the steering wheel to answer the call.

"Liv," Stabler answered, "What's up?"

"I just wanted to give you guys an update," Benson replied from her side of the line, "Beck has the One-Five's entire territory completely locked down with their personnel, but they haven't come up with anything yet, same with Staten Island. Where are you guys?"

"We're in the car headed out towards Roosevelt Island," Stabler replied, "Jet and I were able to get a signal ping from Perry's cell phone."

"It's registering in an area close to the southernmost tip of the island," Slootmaekers added, "The closest possibility is the ruins of that old smallpox hospital."

"Got it," Benson replied, "Roosevelt Island's inside the One-Fourteenth Precinct's area, so I'll put some calls into their captain and ESU. Backup should be waiting for you by the time you get there."

"Copy that," Stabler said, "Tell whoever gets on the scene first to just keep their eyes on the hospital ruins for the time being. In case there's a full-blown hostage situation going on, we don't want anybody getting spooked."

"No problem," Benson said, "Elliot, there's one more thing."

"What?" Stabler said.

"The lab just called in with the results from the errant red hair that Fitzsimmons found on Dwayne Leung's body. The DNA identified it as a female hair, and it matches the sample we took from Mia Harris during her sister's stabbing case back then."

Stabler and Slootmaekers traded looks before Stabler responded. "Does anybody have eyes on Mia at the moment?" Stabler asked.

"Unfortunately," Benson replied in a noticeably compunctious manner, "No. After you and I interviewed her before, I spoke to the captain of the neighborhood precinct closest to Hudson University. He's a real old timer battle axe type. He essentially laughed at me when I asked for a covert team to shadow her."

Stabler sighed. "Alright," he said, "There's no use dwelling on that now. When you call for our backup, tell everybody that we want to set up a staging area at Lighthouse Park."

"Got it," Benson said, "We'll all be there as well."

Lighthouse Park
Roosevelt Island
4:21 PM

Stabler and Slootmaekers arrived in front of the literal lighthouse at Roosevelt Island's Lighthouse Park roughly 7 minutes later. There, they found Benson, Beck, Tamin, Bell, Ming, and Tutuola waiting for them.

Also in attendance to this briefing were members of both the NYPD's Emergency Services Unit, namely the squads from Lower Manhattan and North Queens, as well as members of the 114th Precinct and a negotiator from the department's Hostage Negotiation Team.

Heading up Lower Manhattan's ESU squad was Sergeant Gabriel Sando. Sando, a Hispanic man in his early 40's, was at one time an offensive lineman for a college football team who stood at a lofty 6'3. He was dressed in full ESU tactical gear and an ESU baseball cap with a tactical shotgun slug around his shoulders.

Representing the 114th Precinct was Captain Amy Lockwood. Lockwood was a tall brunette white woman in her mid-40's who was dressed in an NYPD windbreaker with a gray cotton blouse underneath, blue jeans, and black boots.

To Lockwood's right was another member of the 114th, Detective Mark Deegan. Deegan, a trained negotiator who also worked with the Hostage Negotiation Team, was a balding, tanned white man in his early 40's who was dressed in a polo shirt in the NYPD's distinctive blue hue with an embroidered HNT logo on the right side.

"Detectives Stabler and Slootmaekers?" Captain Lockwood inquired.

Stabler nodded in response. "Yes ma'am," he replied as he extended a hand to the woman, "I'm Elliot Stabler." He then nodded to Slootmaekers. "This is Jet Slootmaekers," he continued.

Lockwood and Deegan formally introduced themselves and the 2 detectives then each took a turn shaking hands with them.

Deegan then looked behind him at Sando. "I'm told you guys already know Sergeant Sando from ESU," he continued.

"We do," Stabler replied before waving to Sando, "Hey Gabe."

"Hey guys," Sando said, "Sorry we're not seeing each other over beers or something."

Stabler and Slootmaekers both traded looks and chuckled in retort. "Maybe next time," Slootmaekers replied, "What do we know so far?"

"After Captain Benson notified us that you all would need backup out here," Lockwood began explaining, "We sent two pairs of officers to scope out the ruins of the old smallpox hospital not far from here."

"They confirmed that they have four hostages being held in there," Deegan added, "Hence the reason I'm here. There's a pair of adults, a young brunette woman who looks to be in her early twenties, and a dark-haired younger woman who looks to be a little younger than that first female."

Stabler then realized something. "Is the hostage taker a young red-haired female in her early twenties who stands at around Five-Foot-Six?" he asked.

"Actually," Lockwood replied, "Yeah. How'd you know?"

Captain Benson then stepped out from the others standing nearby and went over to stand next to Stabler and Slootmaekers. "That's Mia Harris, Amy" she said, "She's been interviewed twice by both Detective Slootmaekers and Sergeant Tutuola as well as Elliot and me. We all thought something was off with her."

"She seemed like she was trying to pull believable answers out of her ass," Stabler added, "Sorry to say it so bluntly, but like Olivia just said, we all thought she was lying."

"What's Mia's mental state as of right now?" Slootmaekers asked.

"According to our guys," Deegan replied, "She's been pacing back and forth for the past fifteen minutes talking to herself, yelling about somebody named 'Steven'."

"Steven Zhang," Benson said, "We think that was Mia's accomplice, both in the stabbing of Enzo Ricci and the murder of Steven's friend, Dwayne Leung. We have forensic implicating her in Mister Leung's murder."

"Have your guys been able to confirm whether or not she's armed?" Stabler queried.

Deegan nodded. "They say she has a knife," he candidly replied.

"So," Slootmaekers chimed in, "It's possible that Mia has no idea that we have Steven Zhang in custody, then."

Lockwood briefly held her hands up. "Wait a minute," she said, "I'm lost. Someone fill me in a little more, please."

"Our ADA, Sonny Carisi, negotiated a deal with the Brooklyn DA's Office to keep Steven Zhang in Manhattan custody for car theft and evasion charges," Benson explained, "There's no way in hell that one of our judges is going to let him out just to appease a hostage taker."

A now more extrapolating Lockwood nodded. "Got it," she replied, "And I agree. I guess the question now is, what's our game plan to get those people out of there without incident?"

Getting an idea, Stabler looked to Sergeant Sando. "Gabe," he said to him, "Are you and your guys okay with hanging back while Olivia and I handle face-to-face negotiations?"

Sando thought for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders. "If you guys think that's for the best," he replied, "then fine, but why you guys specifically?"

"I've dealt with Mia personally," Benson said, "Both with this case and in the past."

"I'll compliment Olivia's approach by playing the fatherly role," Stabler added, "It may take a little bit, but once we're able to deescalate things, I want Dani, Kat, and Ming to sneak in, free the hostages, and escort them to safety. The rest of you guys can provide extra support if the situation calls for it."

Captain Lockwood nodded in agreement before looking back at everyone else behind them. "Alright then," she said to everyone, "You guys heard them. Let's mount up!"

Everyone then dispersed to their respective vehicles to head towards the old hospital site. Benson, meanwhile, gestured to Stabler to come towards the Emergency Services Unit truck nearby. She opened the truck's side equipment compartment and removed something from inside, but Stabler couldn't see what it was due to the open door blocking his view.

"What is that?" Stabler curiously asked.

"Some things that could keep this situation from getting any hairier than it needs to be."