Case 27 - The fifth SVU case

LA: <Events before The Rookie S1E12, Modern Family S9E13, SWAT S1E10>

NY: <Events 99 before Brooklyn S5E11, Suits S7E12 & 1.5 years after Castle S8 finale, around the time of Law&Order: SVU S19E12>

Ben sat upright on a gurney with his hands shoved inside a woman as they were wheeled into an ER. He did everything he possibly could to not move his finger even an inch while also not having too much body weight on the wounded gunshot victim lying beneath him.

"25 year old female, GSW to the torso, clean exit! Heavy blood loss! I have my finger on her superior mesentric artery! It's been knicked! Potential drug abuse, I've seen ketamine and LSD on site," Ben shouted over the cacophony of voices in the ER as the paramedic hurriedly wheeled them inside.

"Get them into room 2!" An asian traum surgeon ordered and briskly entered inside with them.

"What made you put your hands in my patient!?" The doctor sternly spat as she began examining the young woman who was barely conscious.

"She was bleeding out. Pressing on the wound did nothing. You should know," Ben excused with a small frown as he looked at the woman below him worriedly.

"You better hope you washed your hands properly this morning or any kind of saving grace you provided will be cut short as she dies off with an infection in her body cavity."

Ben shook his head at the doctor's words - but all options were horrible to him.

The woman below him was one of the victims whose location was described in the files Christoph Kraft had given him through his lawyers from Pearson Specter Litt. She was the last of those he would have been able to save with the SVU from the 16th precinct after a week of hard work and tearful moments.

<Cast: [special guest star] Irina Igorewna Antonenko as Gavrikov>

Just as he predicted, getting Irina out of that porn trafficking ring was close to impossible without an incident.

[Two hours earlier that same day]

"You're not going in there as a potential costumer," Benson denied as the group sat in an abandoned cafe in Port Washington, New York.

Ben looked at every other detective and the SWAT team leader before he argued, "Just going in guns drawn means they have three meat shields that we know about. I'm willing to enter and get more intel. Just give me a wire and a hidden camera, and we'll know more with me inside. I'm not losing Irina and the other girls those animals keep because we missed an assault rifle around the corner."

"You got some SWAT training in LA, right Detective Weiss?" The SWAT leader asked before Benson could refuse him.

"I know tactics, lingo, and signals. My body ain't there," Ben admitted with a nod.

"Good. I approve of him going in. Our sensors barely pick up any heat signals, drone's impossible to fly in this weather, and I'm not sending my guys into a situation with ten potentially previously hidden gunmen."

Ben gave the SWAT guy an appreciative nod and looked at Benson with narrowed eyes.

"Fine. But this is on you," Benson conceded after the whole team looked at her.

Rosa wanted to tag along, maybe play the role of the excited girlfriend 'shopping' for a threesome partner, but Ben declined... until Lieutenant Benson made him take Rosa along as a pretend girlfriend and a backup so he wasn't alone.

-----

"You look nice," Ben quipped once Rosa was finished dressing up in a lowcut dress hidden beneath a giant fur coat to stave off the freezing cold.

"I always look nice," Rosa countered and sat inside an expensive sportscar they had borrowed from Castle.

Ben gave a last nod towards the other three detectives and the SWAT commander on scene and followed Rosa into the car.

"So my trophy wife/girlfriend is the assertive type? I can't even drive the car myself?" Ben inquired from the passenger seat with a small laugh.

Rosa's smile turned scary sweet as she answered in a fake, high-pitched voice, "Honey. We gotta sell that I allow you to fuck a pornstar with me. Either I go scared bimbo who doesn't want to lose her meal ticket or I go tomboy girlfriend with a nice ass who likes to dominate you in bed."

"Tomboy with the nice ass, got it. Go ahead then," Ben confirmed and watched Rosa smirk as she stepped on the gas.

Once they managed to get past the first hurdle - telling the guards how and why they were there, Ben and Rosa were waiting outside a closed warehouse that miraculously had the lights on - despite them having confirmed earlier that nobody was on the lease for this property officially.

"Wait here," another guard with a decidedly fake Italian accent ordered.

"Someone watched Godfather one too many times," Ben loudly 'whispered' into Rosa's ear for the other guard to hear and she giggled, pretending he said something funny as he continued to give his observations into the hidden mic on his partner in a lowered voice. "There's a camera above the large door and one pointed at the walkway leading up to our target. Stay clear of those areas."

Not mere twenty seconds later, Rosa angrily addressed the lone gunmen remaining outside, "I'm freezing my tight little ass off out here. Can't you, like, get us in or something? Like, at the door? I'm not fucking a girl for my hubby while I'm shivering from the cold. Why this place got two people with rifles outside anyway?"

The gunmen looked Rosa up and down with a lecherous gaze he would later regret and called something in on the radio.

A moment later, the two were allowed to go in.

The warehouse looked like a barebones version of a Hollywood stage area with a few 'rooms' with only 2 walls for future porno shoots littered across the open space. But it was warm inside. Well, sweater warm, not tshirt warm.

Rosa opened her coat to reveal her cleavage for 'better negotiating power' - or just for distraction and Ben looked around 'curiously'.

Two trailers were parked inside the warehouse and so far, he made out nine goons and confirmed that - so far - he could see four girls.

Two of them were currently involved in what looked like a group porn scene with five of the goons, their rifles resting behind the stage wall.

It took all of Ben's willpower to not shoot those guys railing the clearly unwilling girls who were drugged out of their minds. And if Rosa's hard grip on his hand was any indication, she felt the same way.

"Introduce yourselves," another guy with a fake Italian accent ordered as he walked toward them dressed like an 80s pimp. Ben recognized him as the leader of the bunch according to the intel. Peter Hastings. "And ignore my outfit. I'm about to film a scene with our main girl. If I like what I hear I'll allow you to watch. Maybe even invite your girl here for a special guest star role."

As he looked Rosa up and down, she walked forward to 'feel his muscles' and Ben got ready for a shootout in case the NYPD detective couldn't reign in her deserved rage for the lecherous asshole.

"Ay, papi. My hubby's cock is the only one allowed in me. But he gets all hot and bothered when I go down on a man like I'm robbing a lollipop store," Rosa pretty convincingly cooed as she lightly shoved him away and walked back towards Ben and grabbed his junk. "Yep, definitely turned on~"

Ben played along despite taking zero pleasure in it, took out a bundle of cash, and offered 'Pete Langlong' - the man's official 'screenname', "I wanted to make our first anniversary special. A friend heard from a friend that if the price is right, the two of us can take your star Irina for a spin? We watch her to get in the mood sometimes. Looks just like my first crush."

"Mine, too," Rosa added with a sexy smirk.

"How's 10 large sound for you?"

"10k's for one night? Man, you lowballin'! I've seen your car, you drove up here in a vintage Corvette. And you still haven't given me a name," the man dressed in all purple with feathers spat. It looked like Ben's offer insulted him - or it was Ben's attitude.

"The name is Richard Reeds... but I only brought the $10k with me. It sounded more than fair in my head. If you want more... I'd have to take a trip back home..." Ben wagered as he looked around.

"Stop with those shifty eyes," the man blew up and pulled out a golden P35 9mm handgun and pointed it at Ben. "Get 50k more and leave the girl and the car behind. Nobody comes here without a direct referral, and nobody gave you a referral. Which means you have to pay extra."

He looked up Rosa who only stopped from engaging the man with her own hidden pistol because Ben stood completely still and he was the one the gun pointed to.

The LAPD took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment before he stepped forward with his head hanging low.

In a movement too fast for the porn director to see, Ben disarmed the man and pointed the golden gun at Peter's head.

"Try that again, bitch," Ben taunted and disassembled the gun as a few of the other goons started fishing for their weapons.

Ben stepped away from Rosa so she wasn't in anyone's cross hairs and moved to one of the trailers unbothered. With squinted eyes, he found a crying woman to be inside.

"If there's even a scratch on my baby, I'm gonna cut off your nuts and feed them to you," Peter threatened as he ordered one of his men to pick up the pieces of his golden pistol.

"Who? Just those five railing those drugged up girls on the west side of the building? You three bozos in front of us near the south side trailer? The two at the door? Or is there an army hiding in that trailer with the crying girl? Like the four guys in the second trailer at the back?"

"Why are you talking like that, you stupid asshole?" Peter asked as he roughly took an assault rifle from one of his men.

Rosa finally had enough now that Ben gave away the group's positions but also antagonized the criminals enough for a gunfight to be imminent. She pulled out her own gun, dropped the act, and ordered, "NYPD, drop your weapons!"

None of the armed men complied. Instead, they started pointing their own weapons up instead.

Ben reacted immediately.

Taking out his gun, the detective shot the men trying to point their guns at Rosa first and ducked out of the way.

Midroll, Ben fired four more shots from close to the floor at the ones holding assault rifles. His eyes quickly shot in Rosa's direction when he heard six more shots. Two of them belonged to Rosa, who took out a gunmen who came in from outside. She had successfully moved behind cover.

The five naked men across the warehouse running a train on two girls snapped out of their mood and ran toward their own assault rifles to arm themselves - except for one of them who wanted to use one of the drugged-up girls as a meat shield.

Ben took aim and shot all four men reaching for the rifles. Though, since the range allowed for it, Ben didn't aim for the torso to disable the men. He could get away aiming for something more sensitive, he judged, without getting into trouble.

Of the fourteen men he knew about six - one outside, four in the trailer, and a naked one holding the unwilling porn actress - were the only ones still standing. The rest were either already dead or screaming in pain.

"Stop reaching for that weapon!" Ben ordered when one of the downed men was stretching out his arm for the AK next to him.

When the man didn't listen, Ben looked in Rosa's direction briefly and shot the man's wrist.

That was when he heard one of the trailer doors getting kicked open.

Ben ducked behind the trailer with the girl inside and reloaded his pistol despite his magazine still having bullets remaining.

As he stood behind the four men who exited the second trailer, SWAT finally entered the warehouse.

"Drop your weapons," Ben ordered curtly as he stood several feet away, and just so none of the other officers were in his line of fire.

Three men complied once they saw the SWAT guys come in, but a fourth one didn't. Ben immediately fired at his arm and a second at his torso. The SWAT team immediately swooped in and arrested the four man team, giving Ben the space to secure the third girl he suspected to be Irina.

He kicked open the door to the trailer and turned toward the corner the crying girl was. His eyes constricted.

"Put down the gun!"

An armed suspect stood behind the girl he now definitely recognized as Irina.

"This place is surrounded. SWAT is on scene. There's no way out for you if you shoot her. I'll shoot you in the face if you do," Ben threatened, which he usually would never do in this situation. But his nerves were close to snapping from this horror scenario as he saw what he feared most for all the girls he couldn't save.

"Ben! You're real, right? Please, no... nooo... get me out of here," Irina cried out with a heavy Russian accent, openly sobbing by this point.

"You're save now. Irina, I promise you I'm getting you out," Ben softly reassured.

"Alright, alright. I wanna live, dude!" The man readily agreed with a shaky voice.

But then his gun, still pointed at Irina's back, went off, and Ben made good on his promise and shot the man right below his eye.

Holstering his weapon, Ben shot forward to catch Irina, ignoring the burning pain he felt on his shoulder. He succeeded, but Irina was bleeding like a fountain.

"We need a medic in here!" Ben shouted with a frantic voice as his hand pressed the wound. But the bleeding didn't stop. Not even remotely.

"Fuck, fuck, artery," Ben mumbled as he recognized the problem. "Irina, stay with me love."

"It's cold," Irina whispered as one hand reached out to touch Ben's face.

"This is going to be very unpleasant. But bear with me. Alright? I got you. I got you, Irina," Ben more pleaded than reassured as he pushed two fingers inside the bullet wound.

"I found the leaking artery, Irina. You're gonna be alright, I promise you," the detective affirmed as he gained a shaky smile.

"Ben, what's the status?" Rosa asked as she got inside the trailer.

"He shot her, I shot him. The bullet hit an artery. She needs to get to an ER as soon as possible!"

[Back at the hospital, surgery room]

"You care for this woman?" The asian trauma surgeon asked after Ben was decked out in sterile clothing and Irina had her clothes cut away and the skin surrounding Ben's finger sterilised.

"I do. So you better bring your A game," Ben confirmed with a sigh. "Please, bring your A game."

Irina was put under and the surgeon continued preparing for the surgery.

Recognizing that Ben wasn't very calm, the surgeon asked, "How'd you know to press on an artery? And how to find it?"

"My dad read me books on anatomy instead of picture books when I was a kid. Until I was 11, I did most of my homework up in the stands from the viewing room of the surgeries my dad performed. Fixing arteries and hearts was his bread and butter," Ben explained as he held the arm of the hand inside Irina.

It was cramping, and he finally realized that the bullet that hit Irina had hit him, too.

"Why only until 11?" The surgeon asked as she was handed the scalpel to open up Irina to further distract Ben.

"MS diagnosis. He started teaching instead. Frederic Weiss, cardio. Most of his work happened on the West Coast. You might have heard of him," Ben answered as his eyes were drawn to the scalpel.

"Oh my. We got royalty in the OR everybody. Has he ever talked about me? Fred and I dated for a month back in med school. He was too good for me, though. That's what the professors told me anyway. He was a rockstar even then," the surgeon asked as her scalpel halted, and she looked at Ben. "You don't look much like him. What's your name?"

"Yeah, got my mother's look. Everyone says so. Ben, Ben Weiss," the detective answered earnestly.

<Cast: [special guest star] Lucy Liu as Doctor Fan>

"She must have been quite the looker," the doctor quipped and started to open Irina. "Doctor Lucy Fan. You may call me Lucy."

"Fan? You don't happen to have a pretty daughter or niece in LA who just finished her internship at St Francis?"

"Oooh, you met Chloe?" The surgeon asked with a suggestive laugh. "Did my niece fulfill her Fan destiny and take a Weiss to bed?"

Before Ben could answer, Lucy ordered him to take off his finger and give her and her team some space to work. So he waited for a few minutes until the hectic hand movements stopped.

"She fixed my leg on her last day of internship. GSW with no ligament damage, minimal muscle damage. Drove me home to get out of partying with her colleagues... huh, actually haven't seen her since now that I think about it," Ben explained with a frown.

"You can step out now. We'll have to flip her over in a few and we need you off of her to do it," Lucy ordered after having a short laugh.

"I... I'll be waiting outside," Ben conceded and took the exit via the doctor's wash room.

Copying his father's movements that he had seen his entire pre-teen life, Ben washed his blood-soaked hands as he watched the surgeons work on Irina's body from the wash basin.

Once outside of the surgery wing, Rosa and Lieutenant Benson were waiting for him.

"How's she?" Rosa asked as Ben walked over.

"They fixed the artery, but she's not completely over the hill," Ben explained.

"And you? Your arm's still bleeding," Benson said as she pointed at his arm.

"I hadn't noticed," Ben mumbled and Rosa called over one of the nurses.

Ben winced as he undressed down to his undershirt and revealed his bizeps. A skin-deep cut, though merely a graze.

Nothing a few stitches couldn't cover and help heal in a week or two without the need for physical therapy like his last gunshot wounds.

"Okay, now that you're out of the worst of it. Ben Weiss, you're no longer allowed to act as NYPD police officer pending investigation into today's shooting," Benson solemnly declared and asked for Ben's pistol. "IA will want to talk to you tomorrow at the latest."

The SVU detective didn't look like she wanted to stay near Ben another minute, though he wasn't sure why that was. She wasn't particularly warm for the entirety of the five cases they worked together.

"She dislikes me," Ben mumbled as a nurse helped put a bandage over the three stitches he got.

"She does," Rosa confirmed immediately as she was her usual brutally honest self.

"I wonder why..."

"I wouldn't know. But I decided I... don't dislike you. You walked away after that Peter guy pulled the gun. You got me out of their line of fire. Staying cool-headed like that. That takes balls," Rosa admitted as she regarded Ben up and down with an impressed look. "Speaking of balls. You shot off four dicks earlier. Was that on purpose? Because if it was, I might ignore that you have a girlfriend and jump your bones right here."

"How could it have been on purpose? It was a hectic gun fight and those four rapists were on the other side of the warehouse. The lighting was terrible," Ben scoffed in disdain.

"I have to go," Rosa suddenly said as she sprung up. Ben saw her grab a handsome male nurse down hallway and shove him into a supply room.

-----

Ben stayed in Irina's room long into the night. Eventually, Lucy entered the room in civilian clothes. Ben was slumped into a chair in Irina's room and idly browsing files on his phone.

"Shift over?" Ben asked in a tired voice.

"Yup. Thought I'd find you here," Lucy confirmed with a small smile.

"Anything I need to know about Irina here?"

"She'll be fine. We had to give her quite a bit of blood. But she's young, and I'm hopeful she'll pull through. She's going to need some serious therapy and rehab, though. You said you found ketamine and LSD on the crime scene? Cause tox screen shows she had quite the cocktail of bad stuff in her system. Those two you saw were just the tip of the iceberg..."

"Yeah, I feared... those guys held her and the others like cattle," Ben mumbled as he looked at Irina with a frown.

"They took your gun? Nurse Tina told me," Lucy asked as she leaned against the doorframe.

"Oh... yeah... about that. It was an open gun fight when we rescued her. Ideally, we would not have had to fight them, but since we did, that's on me. And, uh, eight of the armed gunmen died. And four lost their... member," the detective explained with an embarrassed shake of his head.

Personally, he wasn't feeling particularly bothered by their deaths like he did at the Brenson Estate shootout. Serial rapists and human traffickers deserved a special kind of hell, in Ben's opinion. His time undercover robbed him of any sympathy he held for these types of people.

They lost their humanity in Ben's eyes. And, therefore, he didn't mind doing to them what he didn't want to do to other humans.

"Good riddance, I say," Lucy disdainfully muttered.

Apparently, she didn't like rapists much either.