Depths of Hell
Alvin Olinsky was dead, and it was all Adam Ruzek's fault. He knew this, he was forced to accept it. Nothing that had happened in the past few days would've happened, if he hadn't tried to bury his sister's DUI arrest. Woods wouldn't have sniffed it out, he wouldn't have blackmailed Ruzek into digging up dirt on Voight, he wouldn't have used the threat of Olinsky's arrest for the murder of Bingham into securing a confession from Voight, and Al wouldn't have been shanked in prison and died on the operating table. All of it came back on Ruzek.
He'd worked the case of Olinsky's murder with everyone else, but when it was finally over, he went home, drank every last drop of alcohol in his apartment, let his pent up anger and grief fester until he walked around his apartment and smashed everything in sight. He flung the bottles off the table and watched them shatter on the floor. He put his foot through the TV screen, heard the glass break, heard the electrical current buzz, saw a few sparks fly out of it. He walked up to the walls and hit them until his fists went through the drywall. When he ran out of energy to destroy everything in sight, he sank down on his knees and broke down sobbing.
The funeral was the next day, and as a police officer, Ruzek was obligated to attend, but he didn't. He couldn't face the others, he couldn't face what he'd done. He couldn't look at that casket and know the only reason Al was in it was because he'd screwed up. He stood at his window and looked out at the city, trying not to think about the funeral, about what was going on at every single minute. He'd already been to enough police funerals to have a good idea how far along it was, and where everybody would be at the cemetery. He stood before the windows and looked out at the city until the sky turned gold and the sun started to set. He had no concept of how long he'd been standing there, his legs were numb but he was able to turn and walk away.
Once the sun set it became dark quick, and before long it was pitch dark out, and out of nowhere, it had started to rain. It was pouring down. Now for some unknown reason, Ruzek felt compelled to go out to the cemetery and pay his respects, though he wondered if Al, wherever he was now, would actually accept them.
He drove out to the cemetery and found the gate open, he pulled up to where a fresh grave had been recently covered, and had already been decorated by dozens of bouquets of flowers, and candles, and cards. Forcing himself out of the car, he walked over to the freshly planted tombstone, and actually reading what was on it about killed him.
"I'm sorry, Al," Ruzek couldn't raise his voice above a shamed whisper.
He put his hand on the granite marker and felt along the edge and the engraving.
"I'm so damn sorry, Al."
The sky exploded in a blinding flash of lightning and a crack of thunder that shook the ground under Ruzek's feet. Suddenly he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as a sudden sensation came over him that he wasn't alone. He turned around and his heart stopped as he saw Hank Voight standing under a tree, his hands in his pockets, just glaring at Ruzek. There was another clap of thunder and Voight started walking towards him.
"Voight, I am so sorry, I didn't mean for any of this to happen," Adam said.
Voight waited until he was two steps away from Ruzek before responding, "Well it did," and he grabbed Adam by his collar and put his throat in a death grip.
Adam wheezed and struggled as Voight choked the life out of him. Then before Ruzek knew what was happening, Voight knocked him backwards and he fell and hit his head against the tombstone.
"Voight!"
Adam's eyes widened in shock and fear as he saw Voight had taken out his gun and had it aimed down at him.
"You killed my partner," Hank told him. "You go behind my back to rat me out to the feds and you get my best friend killed in the process to save your own ass."
"Hank, don't!"
A shot was the next sound that graced the air, and Ruzek felt a sudden excruciating pain as he was shot in the abdomen. He felt the bullet rip through his flesh and muscles and he threw his head back and screamed in unimaginable pain. He looked behind him, and his jaw dropped in sheer terror.
Alvin.
There he was, looking alive and well, standing, no, almost hovering just inches away from him.
"Al!" Ruzek called out to his mentor and friend. But Alvin didn't move.
Voight kicked Ruzek in the ribs and he screamed again as he could swear he heard a couple of them break.
"Alvin!" Ruzek screamed louder, desperate for all of this to stop.
Voight locked his hands over Ruzek's wrists in a death grip and pinned his arms high over his head.
"Stop fighting, Ruzek, you're only making it worse for yourself," he said as he tightened his grip even more.
"Alvin!"
He didn't actually see Olinsky take a step towards him, but the next thing Ruzek saw was Al hovering over him.
"Alvin, please!"
The older detective looked down at Adam with his usual unreadable expression void of any emotions. Though he would've sworn he saw something different in Al's eyes, a trace of pity perhaps.
"Take it easy, kid," he said, in that same voice he always addressed Ruzek with, "it won't be for much longer."
"Alvin, I'm sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen! Alvin, please!"
Voight jerked Ruzek's arms with enough force Adam heard his shoulders pop, and he screamed in agony again. A couple more times and he was sure Hank would dislocate them completely. The thunder continued to roar above, partially drowning out Ruzek's screams and pleas for the torture to stop.
"Ruzek!"
Hank Voight came on the scene after hearing two shots, and with only the light of the street lamps to see by, automatically saw one of his men down, another one standing, and the shooter on the other side of the street ready to fire again. Voight beat him to the punch and emptied five rounds into the gunman.
"Olinsky!" Voight ran over to see what had happened.
Alvin was crouched down beside Ruzek trying to assess the damage. "He saw the gun before I did, he pushed me out of the way."
Voight turned on his flashlight and they traced the entry wound to Ruzek's lower torso, his bullet proof vest hadn't been able to stop it. He was losing a lot of blood fast, Voight got on his radio and screamed for the others to bring the van over to their location and gave orders for Antonio to have the first aid kit ready to go, they had to get pressure on the wound and rush him to the hospital ASAP, they couldn't wait on an ambo. Adjusting the light he saw that Ruzek's forehead was bleeding too, but a quick inspection turned up it was only grazed. Adam's pupils weren't dilated but they still looked like he was a million miles away.
"Stay with us, kid, you'll be alright," Voight said as he pressed both hands against the bullet wound to keep the bleeding in check until the others got there, which was about 15 seconds later.
The van pulled up to a screeching halt and everybody jumped out. Antonio had already ripped all the gauze pads out of their wrappers and helped Voight pack the wound the best they could. Then they pressed the rest of the pads against the wound and secured them in place with bandage tape.
"We gotta move him, we gotta get him to Med ourselves," Voight said, "so everybody get ready to lift him and keep him as still as possible."
"Got it, Sarge," Atwater said.
Voight addressed Halstead and told him, "Get ready to drive like hell."
"On it!" Jay ran on ahead and jumped in the driver's seat.
Voight, Olinsky, Atwater and Antonio all got on one side of Ruzek and grabbed him.
"On my count," Voight told them, "Now!"
They lifted Ruzek's body up and slid him into the back of the van and piled in, and they took off for the hospital.
Shortly after they tore out of there, Ruzek's head started bobbing from side to side as if he was trying to see something, and he raised a hand and called out, "Al? Al?"
"I'm right here, man," Olinsky told him as he kept his hands pressed against the gauze to maintain pressure.
But Ruzek didn't seem to hear him. With a completely lost look on his face, he looked up and said, "Al, I'm sorry."
"This can't be good," Antonio murmured.
Adam's body tensed and nobody was sure what to make of it, suddenly he shifted gears and the next thing they heard him saying was, "I'm sorry, Voight."
Hank wasn't sure what it was about, but he responded, "It's alright, we'll be there soon."
Suddenly, Ruzek screamed as if the pain was just starting to hit him, and he panicked and tried to get up, everybody had to grab him and hold him down before the situation became worse than it was. Voight grabbed his wrists and pinned them over his head.
"Hank, don't!"
Voight knew he wasn't holding on that hard, and he was worried what this meant where Ruzek's mental state was concerned.
Olinsky could feel the blood leaking through the gauze pads and pressed harder on the wound, Ruzek struggled against it and screamed louder than before.
"Atwater, hold him!"
Kevin took the middle ground and pressed against Ruzek's upper torso so he couldn't weave around on the floor, Ruzek continued to scream in excruciating pain and tried to writhe around under them, and made it harder for everybody to maintain a hold on him. Voight tightened his hold on Ruzek's wrists into a death grip. Without looking at the man, Ruzek started calling out Olinsky's name, as if asking the older man to help.
"Ruzek, stop fighting, you're only making it worse for yourself," Voight told the man bleeding on the floor under him.
But Adam wasn't hearing him. He continued to struggle under the restraint of three men and continued to scream out, "Alvin, please!"
"Take it easy, kid, it won't be for much longer," Olinsky told him, figuring they had to be damn close to the hospital by now.
Futile though it was, Ruzek continued to struggle against their hold and continued to scream out pained cries of apology, for what was beyond anybody's guess.
"We're here!" Jay called from the front seat.
"About time!" Voight said.
The back doors of the van opened and the paramedics were there with a gurney.
"We'll take it from here," one of them said. He looked at Voight, who was still holding Ruzek's wrists as he lay on the floor struggling, and told him, "You can let go now, sir."
Voight shook his head, "Forget it...I let go of him, he'll kill you out of pure instinct, I'm not letting go until he's sedated."
"We can't do that until he's moved," the paramedic told him.
Voight looked at the man and responded bluntly, "Then lead the way."
One by one the other detectives got out of the van, the paramedics got in place to move Ruzek onto the gurney, Voight kept an iron grip on the younger man's arms and on three, they all lifted and got him on the gurney and strapped him on. Through it all he never stopped screaming or struggling against them, and when they tried to get Voight to let go to lay his arms down at his sides, Ruzek lashed out and started ripping the gauze off, so Voight latched his hands back on the younger man's wrists so he couldn't harm himself or anyone else, in the process they heard his shoulders pop and Ruzek screamed even louder. Voight stepped out of the van and kept Ruzek's hands over his head as they took him in through the front doors of the hospital, and quickly caught the paramedics up on Ruzek's medical history, which was promptly passed along to Will Halstead.
"Tell me you can sedate him," Voight said.
"We'll get him prepped for surgery and take it from there," Will said, "He won't feel anything by the time we start."
"And how long's that going to take?" Voight asked.
"We'll get a line in him and start right away," Will said as they neared the OR doors, "I'm sorry but you'll have to stay here."
"You're telling me?" Voight asked.
Under him, Ruzek wriggled from side to side around his restraints and was still yelling, tears were pouring from his eyes as he continuously screamed in agony. Voight was sure there wasn't any way Adam could hear him, but all the same he lowered his head towards Ruzek's ear and told him, "You just hang tight, Ruzek, you got the best doctors in the city of Chicago working on you, you got this."
Al came up beside him and looked down at the man writhing on the gurney and told him, "You'll be alright, kid, we'll be right here when you come out."
Ruzek was hooked up to an IV and as the drugs started to take effect, the fight started to leave him and he gradually wore down and couldn't struggle anymore. Finally, Voight let go of his wrists, which were bruised with telltale handprints now, and they wheeled him past the OR doors, leaving Voight and Olinsky standing in the middle of the hall, Ruzek's blood on their clothes and Alvin's hands. He looked down and noticed Voight's own hands were also covered in blood, his half dried, other than that his hands were void of any and all color from all the time he spent holding Ruzek's arms in a death grip to keep him from harming himself.
Al leaned back in his chair in the waiting room. Surgery was taking forever, it had been a long night already and showed no signs of letting up anytime soon.
"You alright?" he asked Hank.
"I'm fine," Voight responded.
"You don't usually wear a hole in the floor," Olinsky pointed out as the sergeant continued to pace around the waiting room.
"I don't usually sit on my knees for 20 blocks in a van," Voight replied, "I don't feel like sitting down."
"What do you think he was talking about back there?" Alvin asked.
Voight shrugged, "He was delirious from blood loss."
"Yeah, well don't look now but here comes something to be sorry about," Al said.
Voight turned and saw a familiar and unwanted face as Denny Woods entered the waiting room. Smug bastard, even now he had that Cheshire cat grin on his face.
"Hank," he said, "Olinsky."
"What're you doing here, Denny?" Voight asked.
"Well I'd heard that one of your men was shot in the line of duty tonight," Woods replied, still not able to wipe that condescending smirk off his face. "I thought I'd come and see how you were holding up."
Voight pursed his lips together and merely grunted, "Mm", the way he always did when he waited to see what somebody was going to say to hang themselves.
"How is Ruzek holding up?" Woods asked.
"Still in surgery," Voight answered. "You can leave now."
Woods actually had the gall to laugh. "There's no need to be uncivilized, Hank. We're all old friends here."
He was good. His statement was so sudden and unexpected, that Voight actually missed half a beat, before responding, "You have a strange way of remembering things, Denny."
Woods took a step back and replied, "Okay, I get it, you're worried about your guy, I get it, I'll come by another time and we'll...chat."
"Hm," Voight grunted.
Neither of them said anything as Woods turned and left, once he was finally gone Olinsky said to Hank, "I think the flowers at the front desk wilted when he went by."
"What the hell was that about?" Voight asked.
"Beats me," Al replied.
"Al!"
The two men turned at the mention of Olinsky's name and Voight saw Burgess a second before she collided against Olinsky and hugged him.
This caught both of them off guard, it took Al a couple seconds to shake it off and reply, "Hey, Kim."
Burgess pulled back and said, "Antonio told me what happened...are you okay?"
"Ah, yeah, I'm fine," Al said.
Kim turned to Voight, "Adam?"
"Doctor hasn't come out yet," Hank said.
"W-wh-" Kim looked from one to the other and asked, "Is that good or bad?"
"He was shot, Kim," Voight said simply, "every surgery's different."
"How long's he been in there?" she asked.
"About an hour," he answered.
"And the guy who shot him?" Kim asked.
"Dead," Voight said simply.
"Hank." Maggie came up to them and said, "I thought I'd let you know, there have been some minor complications, but it doesn't look serious."
"What kind of complications?" Voight asked.
"The bullet hit Ruzek's appendix, it had to be removed in addition to the bullet," Maggie said. "The other thing he is apparently woke up halfway through the surgery and had to be put under again." She noted the mortified look on Burgess' face and explained, "It's not uncommon for patients to come to during the surgery, a lot of doctors try to cover their asses by saying anything remembered at that point was just a dream and couldn't possibly be anything heard during the surgery."
"But?" Voight asked.
"Will mentioned that when he woke up, he was trying to talk," Maggie said, "I don't know if this time it actually was a dream or if it had something to do with before he was brought in."
"What'd he say?" Alvin asked.
"It's my understanding it sounded like he just kept trying to say 'Sorry', over, and over," Maggie told them.
"What does that mean?" Kim asked after Maggie left.
"I don't know," Voight told her as he finally sat down. "He was doing the same thing the whole way to the hospital."