Juliet and Juliet?

Chapter 20

"You're lying," Olivia said with forced calmness.

Agent Dean Porter leaned heavily against the front wheel well and used his left hand to cradle his useless right arm in his lap. He shook his head as he answered her, "Liam Connors escaped from a maximum security facility three weeks ago. His escape has been kept off the grid because of potential international embarrassment and undue panic," he said flatly.

Olivia had followed Connors extradition with morbid interest and remembered that he had been transferred to Portlaoise Prison in Ireland, a Supermax facility and one of the most secure in Europe. The prison was patrolled 24 hours a day by the Irish Defense Forces. She had looked up the history of the prison and had noted several attempts had been made to escape in the past but only a handful had been successful. Escaped prisoners had either been caught or killed. She studied Porter's face, he was a man she once respected, even admired, but who now sat before her a complete stranger.

A million questions touched her lips. The man a few parked cars away firing a weapon and threatening to blow them up reminded her that this wasn't the time to ask them all. She needed to make a decision. She looked to the diner's entrance and caught Alex's eyes, she held her gaze long enough for Alex to realize she was searching for something. Alex tilted her head in question, Olivia smiled back at her. She moved her head back to face Porter.

"Four years ago I woulda trusted you, no questions asked. Three years ago, I started asking questions...now... I want you to answer one of mine," she said, waiting for his response.

He looked at her and nodded.

She broke eye contact briefly to look at his weapon that she had retrieved and now held in her left hand. She had removed the clip and confirmed her fears, he hadn't fired a single shot. She brought her gaze back to his face and asked, "Would you have taken us to Liam Connors?"

Elliot Stabler moved stealthily along the drainage ditch that ran parallel to the deserted road.

The helicopter sat in the adjacent field, pilot at the controls and co-pilot standing guard protectively, weapon drawn. Bursts of gunfire were clearly audible from the parking lot. He could hear the four members of the Tact Team talking to each other via the earpiece he was now wearing. They were trying to surround Connors but he was shooting wildly at anything that moved.

Elliot exited the ditch, kept his body crouched low and ran for the cover of a parked car. He eased his head above the trunk carefully, checking Connors' position. He edged along the back of the vehicle to the next one and moved until he was behind the hood. He was only three cars away from Connors.

He scanned the area in front of the diner, where he'd last seen Olivia and Porter from his vantage point in the chopper. Nothing. He whipped out his cellphone and dialed his partner's number.

Olivia sat staring at Porter, trying to read the expression on his face, waiting for his answer.

The vibrating in her pocket momentarily startled her, she wanted to ignore it but knew it was Elliot. She placed Porter's retrieved weapon in her pocket and reached for her phone.

"El?"

"I'm on the ground behind Connors, you okay?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"Yeah. Connors claims to have a bomb but I think he's bluffing. D'you see anything like that in his file? Cos all I saw was targeted kills," she asked, staring at Porter.

"Nah, this guy don't whack for free. Not every Irishman's a bomb expert, even with his ties to the IRA... I'm gonna get closer and take the shot. Porter giving you any trouble?"

"Porter says he was supposed to take me and Alex to his brother somewhere along this route," she replied.

"Another brother? Jesus, I'm beginning to have concerns about my own brood," he deadpanned.