FicWad

Fin arrived back at the House triumphant.

“What’s that?” Munch asked as Fin walked into the bullpen with a clear plastic bag.

“All of the shit we found in Olivia’s apartment,” Fin replied as he set it on Munch’s desk. “There are five bugs, three camera’s and even an infa-red sensor.”

“Jesus,” Munch replied as examined the items in the bag. “Makes you wonder what’s in your apartment.”

“The kind of bugs in my place don’t have wires.”

“You checked Elliot’s as well?”

“Tech team is heading over there now,” Fin replied as he picked up the phone on his desk.

“It is a sad state of affairs when the common man can get his hands on gadget’s like these.”

“Who said this is a common man?”

“You think the government is drugging Olivia?”

“You’re the conspiracy guru, you tell me,” Fin replied while listening to his voice mail.

“It is not out of the realm of possibility,” Munch replied taking on the challenge with thought. “Olivia was working for the Feds for a while, perhaps the equipment was left over from her undercover work and they decided to just re tap into it.”

“Why the hell would they do that?” Fin asked before hanging up the phone. “We both know Olivia’s as clean as they come. Hell, she turned herself into IAB for what happened with her brother.”

“Ah yes but it may not be what she did but whom or what she knows,” Munch added. “Perhaps Olivia or Elliot stumbled on something important or classified that neither of them realized.”

“And this is whoever’s way of getting them to shut up?”

“Or a way to test their strength against being coerced.”

“That’s pretty fucked up.”

“You asked,” Munch replied with a shrug. “Either way there is one definite here. Who ever is instigating this is serious and knows what they are doing.”

“It’s definitely a pro, so they’re going to be harder to catch.”

“Maybe not catch but definitely prove.”

“We’ll they’d better pray that we don’t catch them cause as soon as Elliot gets a hold of them we won’t need to prove anything.”

“Except evidence of Elliot’s unbalanced mind.”

*

Finishing with the doctor’s examination, Elliot went back to Olivia’s room seeing a CSU tech team inside scouring for the source of the photo. The thought of it made his skin crawl and seeing Cragen out of the corner of his eye he walked to the man.

“Done?” Cragen asked.

“Yeah, have you heard from Munch and Fin?”

“Fin just called,” Cragen said as he moved down the hallway to the elevator. “They found several camera’s and listening devices in Olivia’s apartment. CSU is checking Olivia’s hospital room and your apartment. The stuff they found at Olivia’s is at the lab they’re going to call me if they find anything that will help.”

Elliot listened, walking with Cragen as the elevator opened. Both men stepped in and Cragen pushed the button for the 10th floor.

“Here,” Cragen said, handing something to Elliot.

Elliot took it from the man’s hand realizing it was a new cell phone. “Yours is evidence now. I figured you needed a replacement.”

“Thanks,” Elliot replied examining the phone.

“Look who ever is doing this obviously has an agenda. None of the events have been in any way random.”

“It’s like waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“I talked to George and depending on Olivia’s condition when she wakes up we want to move her and you to a secure location.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know yet but I’m working on it.”

“If this guy is as good as he seems he’s going to be expecting that,” Elliot countered as the elevator stopped and they stepped off. “Captain we can’t run from this. It’s not going to do anything but isolate us. Potentially making us even more vulnerable than we already are.”

“None the less it is our best move,” Cragen replied with a shake of his head. “Until we have something more than circumstantial evidence we need to keep the situation under control.”

Elliot nodded, not because he agreed but because he understood.

“Olivia’s room is 1028,” Cragen said motioning down the hallway. “It was swept before she was brought in. We have guards outside the door and at the nurses station.”

Elliot looked down the hall feeling comfortable with the setup. His chest tightened and he wondered how long they were going to have to be prisoners to this psycho.

“I think the doctors just finished checking on her so you can go see her if you want,” Cragen offered, sounding like he was giving the man permission but meaning it more like an approval.

This struck Elliot oddly, Cragen had always been supportive but wary of his relationship with Olivia. Its boundaries had always been fuzzy and Cragen had challenged their ability to work together objectively more than once. Cragen not objecting to Elliot’s obvious need to be with her through this was confusing.

“Cap,” Elliot started, feeling the need to explain himself.

Cragen looked back to him. His worn face was drawn and showing signs of exhaustion. He’d been there as long as he had, on the phone, overseeing every aspect of Olivia’s treatment and the investigation. Elliot also saw the man who knew the meaning of loss and fear.

“Elliot, just go.”

*

He softly turned the knob of the door, and stepped in and surveyed the room. A large armoire, a couch, and a comfortable looking chair sat next to the bed where she was sleeping peacefully. Elliot carefully closed the door behind him and then moved to the armoire opening it. He placed the bag and sweatshirt inside. He noticed the clothes she arrived in hanging neatly above.

He took the blanket he’d grabbed off her couch and moved toward the bed. He shook out the rumpled blanket before spreading it gently on top of her legs. She didn’t move and he took a deep breath. He sat in the cushioned chair and sunk down into it.

He pulled out the phone Cragen had given him and dialed Kathy’s number.

“Hey,” he said quietly into the phone as he rose from the chair.

“Hey, how is she doing?”

“Um, good, how are the kids?”

“El, they’re fine, and clueless that anything was going on. At least they would’ve been until the detail showed up.”

“Sorry, I forgot to tell you. It’s just a precaution.”

“This isn’t my first day in your life you know.”

“I know,” he said feeling guilty that his work put them in this kind of danger.

“Elliot is there something you wanted to tell me?”

“Yeah I,” Elliot started and then hesitated. “I just wanted to check in and give you my new cell number.”

Kathy seemed to buy the response and Elliot gave her the number before he hung up.

Complicated, he hated it when it got complicated.

Was it really that complicated though?

Kathy and he had reached a good place. The kids, except for Eli, were grown and starting their own lives. He was free to have a life, more or less. The job had always been a big part of that definition. He found anything outside of that he didn’t have the time or the tolerance for and so that left him here.

It was an unfamiliar territory. This bubbling, intense, emotion that had erupted within him. Its focus, this incredible woman his friend, his partner was something he didn’t recognize. The aching need when he wasn’t near her or hadn’t talked to her was growing, evolving.

This is ridiculous.

This is simply a reaction to an extreme situation, as George would say.

Elliot pushed it away, knowing that this wasn’t the time or place to begin reassessing his life and relationships. He moved back to the chair retaking his seat next to her. He sat staring at her sleeping form. His mind replaying the past eleven years, until his eyes became heavy. His body was unable to deny its need for sleep any longer.

*

The list of distributors was short. The research into each was tedious and frustrating. Then a name popped up raising Munch from his chair.

“Fin, I think we just got the break we needed.”

“What did you find?”

“Turns out that Alghen distributors number one buyer of Beta 29 is Ryandan Corp. aka Helios,”

“No shit.”

“I think we should go pay a visit to some old friends.”

Munch and Fin arrived in the lobby of the Helios Corporation twenty minutes later.

“Can I help you,” the receptionist asked.

“NYPD, we need to speak to Arthur Becaon,” Munch explained.

“I’m sorry Mr. Beacon is unavailable at the moment. I can make…”

“That’s okay we’ll wait in his office,” Fin said as he walked away from the desk toward the man’s office. “I think I remember the way.”

“Sir you can’t go in there!” the receptionist objected as Munch grinned and they continued their path toward the man’s office.

Fin shoved the door and it banged heavily against the wall as it opened.

“Very posh,” Munch said as he entered the room just behind Fin. “For a guerilla group.”

“Security Integrity force,” Fin corrected as he began walking around looking at the various items on the man’s desk. “Well how about that, looks like Mr. Beacon received a call from our friends at Alghen. Maybe to warn him we were coming.”

“That was nice of them, almost like setting us an appointment.”

“What’s going on in here,” Mr. Beacon demanded, entering the room with the receptionist at his side.
“How nice of you to join us,” Munch greeted.

“NYPD, we need to speak with you about your purchase of a drug called Beta29,” Fin added while they both flashed their badges.

“Of course, I’m always happy to assist the police, as we have proven in the past,” he replied brushing the receptionist away before entering the room and closing the door behind him.

“Good so you won’t have any problems detailing the use of Beta29 by your company,” Munch said.

“Beta 29, I am not sure what you’re talking about?”

“It’s a synthetic psychotropic drug created for the treatment of schizophrenia, severe manic depression and various other disorders,” Fin replied.

“Which in larger doses creates symptoms including paranoia, fearlessness, severe headaches, nausea, memory loss, loss of appetite, dry mouth, insomnia, night terrors…” Munch added.

“Basically screwing with a person in any mental way possible.”

“Sounds a lot like a way to torture possible terrorist’s and criminal’s doesn’t it?”

“Unfortunately, this same drug was found to have been used to torture a New York police detective,” Fin said steeping closer to the man’s desk.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about. As far as I am aware Beta29 is used to treat severely depressed and emotionally distraught soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s been approved by the FDA as a safe and non hazardous, and has been very useful in keeping the men and women serving this country alive in time of extreme stress.”

“Who administers the drug to your soldiers,” Fin asked.

“A team of accredited military doctors evaluates and distributes the drug for use.”

“Mind if we have a look at your patient list?” Munch inquired.

“Actually I do…”

“How about you give us the name of the doctor in charge of administration and we will call it even.”

“How about not,” a second man replied as he entered the office.

Between the stiff suit and the relief on Beacon’s face, they knew that this was the end of the interview.

“I am Kenneth Dwight, lead attorney for Ryandan Corp. and Mr. Beacon is not handing over any proprietary information without just cause and a warrant,” the man said gruffly as he handed Munch his business card.

“Helios is a government contractor, all of its files are a matter of public record,” Munch objected.

“Not as of midnight on the 23rd of October,” Dwight replied in satisfaction.

“That was two days ago,” Fin replied.

“As of that date Ryandan Corp. and all of its subsidiaries became a privately owned, void of public scrutiny unless order by the court,” Dwight explained with a grin. “So now that his conversation is finished I’ll have to ask you gentlemen to leave as you are on private property.”

Munch and Fin exited the room and were promptly escorted out of the building.

“That was convenient,” Munch said as they walked back to the car.

“Too convenient,” Fin replied. “Let’s talk to Norris about how we get back in there.”

*

The buzzing in his pocket forced him to open his eyes and there was instant pain. Slowly moving, his neck had stiffened from sleeping in the chair. He was in agony. Olivia was still sleeping soundly as Elliot rose from the chair quickly pulling out the phone.

“Stabler,” he answered looking out the small window in the corner of the room onto the street. The sun was up and his eyes unconsciously looked for anyone suspicious on the street or the neighboring buildings.

He heard Fin, and listened as he detailed their findings of Beta29. Elliot heard the name Helios. The case they’d worked involving less than humane torture methods flooded back to him. He could feel his blood pressure rising. Fin finished and Elliot told him to keep him posted before hanging up.

His mind raced with possibilities, and concern. Helios in the equation added whole new level of terror. He knew these guys, these mercenaries. He’d dealt with them in Iraq, and he knew they didn’t have limits.

He heard Olivia’s soft voice. His head snapped around and he saw her struggling to open her eyes. His heart leapt out of his chest as he moved to the bed taking her hand.

“Liv,” he said softly. “Liv, open your eyes.”

She turned toward his voice as her eyes slowly opened.

“Hey,” he said with a smile as she focused on his face.

She looked at him in confusion. He waited as she gathered her surroundings. Without warning she jerked upward. Her back stiffed as she pulled her hand from his.

“Calm down, you’re okay.”

“Where am I?” she said in a raspy voice her eyes darting around the room nervously, as her breathing quickening.

“You’re in a hospital,” Elliot said as calmly as evenly as he could. His heart now racing in concern and relief. “You’re okay Liv, you just need to relax.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Liv,” he said as he saw the fear in her eyes.

“Stop calling me that!” she demanded as she tugged on the covers of the bed in an attempt to get up.

“Whoa, hold on there,” Elliot responded as he walked around the bed. He gently touched her shoulders and eased her back.

“Stop it!”

“Just settle down,” he said again his own panic beginning to rise in his chest.

“Leave me alone,” she said pushing him away. He stepped back watching her in confusion. “Who are you?”

Moments after she said it the doctor and several nurses pushed past him into the room. Elliot stopped breathing as his head became fuzzy. He moved without thought. He left the room. Someone said something to him and he continued to walk, the voices and sounds all a blur around him. He saw a door, opened it and stopped. He looked around and realized he was in the stairwell. He finally allowed air into his lungs and leaned back on the concrete wall.

When she’d said it, he thought he was losing his mind.

Who are you?

The words cut him like a razor. All of the relief he’d felt when she opened her eyes had vanished. Now replaced with bleeding painful panic and confusion.

Who are you?

His body sank down against the wall as his whole world disappeared in an single moment. His gut was twisted and empty, as if someone had sucked out his soul and left him barren.

The emptiness quickly turned to a ball of fury, anger and rage. Elliot rose from his position on the floor and headed down the stairs toward the parking lot.

*