Chapter Nine

Running Point

It was early morning when Daniel Charles popped his head into the room and fired off a triumphant smile. "Hello Hank," he greeted as a set of dark brown eyes tracked his movements. "You look a bit livelier this time."

Voight huffed at that. "Been spying on me?" he asked sarcastically.

"I have to tell you, it's very unsettling to see you passed out in a hospital bed," he replied seriously.

"I am sure that's true for everyone you know," Hank pointed out.

The psychologist nodded thoughtfully as he pushed his glasses back up on his nose and sat down next to the sergeant. "Your team will be very pleased to hear that you are doing better. They have been worried about you."

"They just need someone to yell at them from time to time," he offered lightly.

Doctor Charles lips quirked upwards at that as he shook his head a little. "After all these years in the force, I would have thought you had a little better knowledge about human psychology and behavior," he chided kindly.

"Dan, please," he muttered. "My head is already killing me – without you talking in riddles."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you've become somewhat of a father figure to all of them. On top of being their superior officer," Doctor Charles said with a smile.

"They kind of feel like a bunch of children at times," he replied with a careful, half-amused, smile.

The psychologist chuckled as he rose from the chair he'd been occupying. "It's good to see you, Hank. Now, do try and follow the doctor's advice – get some rest – before you get yourself thrown into the mix again."

Voight frowned at that statement, wondering what Charles was on about, then he dismissed it and motioned for the doctor to come back. "Look, before all this craziness - or in the middle of it - depending on how you see it, I wanted you to come by the precinct to explain a few things about the psychology behind a cult."

Charles's lips curled upwards. "No problem," he said. "Let me know when-,"

Voight waved lazily at the wall-mouthed watch across the bay. "Just need them to get here. How about an hour from now?"

"Hank-," he began to protest, "-you should rest."

"I am fine. Be here in an hour."

OOOOOO

"Good morning!" Atwater said brightly as he stepped into the office, rubbing his hands together. He tilted his head a little seeing Ruzek hovering next to the coffee machine. "Did you dream of Oz tonight?"

Kim looked amusedly at Kevin who blinked as he shrugged out of his jacket and sat down behind his desk.

"Very funny!" Adam called sarcastically.

"What is?" Jay asked as he and Hailey joined them, coming from the garage.

"Hey boys and girls, listen up!" Platt shouted as she suddenly stood at the top of the stairs, her posture rigid, her facial expression one of annoyance.

They all turned to her, wondering why she was in such foul mood.

"Since Voight is not here, the commander has been breathing down my neck for some reason," she informed and then sarcastically added. "Carreira is upset and when he's upset, he's got a tendency to shout into the phone. Which is why I am now going to be filing a report about a work-related injury called tinnitus."

Adam harrumphed, trying not to choke on his coffee.

"Are you okay, Ruzek?" Platt deadpanned.

Kevin had to bite his lip not to laugh out loud.

"Yes, sarge, just didn't expect the coffee to be so hot," he replied.

"There has been another bombing," Trudy said, her voice a bit softer this time. "I have been on the phone with Hank. He's been briefed and accepted the case. From now on intelligence handles everything bomb-related."

"How is he doing?" Jay asked.

"He wanted me to tell you to get your asses over to Gaffney. He wants to talk to you," she said with a smirk.

OOOOOO

"Sarge!" Ruzek called jovially.

Voight awoke with a start and glared at him. "Wipe that goofy grin off your face," he commanded.

"Yes sir," Adam replied.

Kim had to bite her lip not to laugh out loud.

"Okay, you two-," he began as he gingerly shifted to get a better position.

Kim, who'd been used to accommodate people as an airline stewardess quickly moved to his bedside and pulled on the pedal to raise the bed a little so that he could sit up.

"Burgess," he warned, his voice hoarse but surprisingly light. "Stop fuzzing."

"I am aiding," she corrected. "It's good to be able to talk to you, sir."

A rare smile appeared on the gruff sergeant's lips. "Thanks," he said. "Now, I've been stuck here long enough. You'd better fill me in."

Adam walked up to him and handed over a folder with a bunch of pictures.

Voight went through them and grimaced as he found a picture of himself, unconscious in the elevator. "Obviously not one of my better days," he muttered sarcastically.

Adam and Kim shared an amused and relieved smile.

"What's the connection between us?" Voight asked curiously.

"You are all enemies of the Dark Demon Cult," Ruzek said seriously.

"Amanda Ross, the woman on the first picture-," Kim informed, "She's a state's attorney and the mother of Vanessa Ross. She has verbally accused the cult for kidnapping her daughter, brainwashing her and stolen her future from her. Vanessa Ross has been successfully rescued from the cult only to go back there when the readaptation to a normal life and society failed."

Voight frowned. "A lot of parents would do the same to save their children," he reasoned.

Kim nodded. "Ross went to the press. She is the reason the cult was put in the limelight in the first place."

"Wouldn't they be pleased to get some recognition?" Voight pushed, trying to approach it from all the angles presented.

"Their enigmatic leader claims they are creatures of the night and that fame would only hinder them to spread their message to true worshippers," Kim explained.

Adam shook his head. "Sorry to say it, sarge, but that man is beyond salvation," he nodded at the picture in his boss' hand. "The cult found Amanda Ross guilty of heresy. She was found to have an unaccepted and contradictory opinion about the cult."

"The punishment for such a crime was to be burned," Jay said by way of greeting as he walked into the room with Hailey and Will at his tail.

Something solemn crossed Voight's features.

"Hi, sarge," Upton said.

He nodded his acknowledgement.

"Which is why the woman had third degree burns across forty percent of her body," Will added darkly. "She passed away a little over an hour ago. Her husband and son are with her, saying goodbye."

Voight's jawline tightened; his left hand balled to a fist but he said nothing. There was nothing he could say to make it better. Instead, he urged them to continue by stating; "Since Adrian Lewis was in charge of the cult's finances, I am guessing he was accused of being greedy?"

"I am sorry to disappoint you, sarge," Hailey said. "They wanted him tried for fraud."

"Yeah," Kim added. "They chose to interpret his deception and his cooperation with us as him being a fraud. It is the eight circle - almost as low as you can get – which is probably why the cult chose to interpret the punishment for that sin to be thrown into the river."

"They should have been thrown into a trench," Voight said to the teams' surprise. "But they chose to interpret that word as a deep-sea trench? Which is a very hostile environment." When they stared at him, he couldn't help but to give them a tight very faint smile. "Try and spend some more time with Professor Franklin on a regular basis. He'd fill your heads with so much crap it hurts for weeks."

A chorus of snorts and laughter spread through the room despite the gruesome things they had been discussing earlier.

"I thought I heard voices," Doctor Ethan Choi said as he appeared in the doorway to Voight's cubicle. He noticed the entire unit was in the room and his missing colleague, Will Halstead.

Voight debated whether or not he should call it because, even if it were unusual circumstances, the team was debriefing and there were rules which specifically forbid them to talk about a case when other people were present.

Jay seemed to have the same thought. "Yeah, we were discussing the case-," he began. "If this is to be done by the book, no one but the team is allowed to hear."

"You know, Jay," Voight said cunningly. "Technically both Doctor Halstead and Doctor Choi is involved in the case since they have been treating several of the victims," he pointed out.

"You'd be surprised at how many shades of grey you can find," Ruzek quoted with a smirk.

Voight threw him an innocent look. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he deadpanned.

Choi debated whether or not he should check on Voight but decided to wait. Will was there and he didn't look overly concerned and the sergeant did look pretty good, all things considered.

"Who else didn't make it," Voight asked solemnly.

"Barry Costa, the other private detective hired by the Don Lewy family," Jay volunteered the information. "Apparently, it wasn't the first time he tried to help people out of the cult. They wanted him to feel their wrath. That particular sin is tied to the seventh circle and it's not really a correct interpretation according to Professor Franklin."

"Mr. Costa bleed out, drowned in his own blood," Doctor Choi informed Voight darkly. "They gave him medication that prevented the blood from clotting and then stabbed him."

"Like I said before," Adam muttered. "There is something seriously wrong with these people."

"You asked who else didn't make it," Kim stated seriously. "A woman named Le Ann James."

Voight brought a photography of a young, good-looking blonde to the front of the stack of papers in his hand.

"They accused her of treachery," Kim added. "It is connected to the innermost circle of hell, the ninth circle. It is punished by ice. Which is probably why, after she'd been subdued, she was temporarily stored in a large freezer before she ended up here at Gaffney, in the service elevator."

Atwater unconsciously put his arms around his torso, his hands moving slowly up and down, as if trying to get warmer.

"Why? What had she done?" Voight asked calmly, his voice neutral.

"She managed to break free of the cult and ended up as a caretaker to those who'd been freed. She served as a counselor and aide to those who wanted to be reintegrated into the real world," Kim explained. "They saw her as an angel of mercy."

Voight temporarily closed his eyes. He didn't mean to but he couldn't keep them open.

"Which brings us to the ones still among us," Jay said as he watched his boss in concern. "Maybe we should continue this later?"

Hank forced his eyes open. "I am listening," he stated.

Kevin glanced at the two doctors in the room, they looked like they agreed with Jay. "Sarge, I think you need to rest."

Something sparked in those dark brown eyes. "You could at least tell me why I got mixed up in this," he demanded.

Jay made a face. "Let's face it, sarge. You did put away their enigmatic leader, Joseph Morgan. Furthermore, you kind of threatened him and let him know, in no uncertain words, that he would never see the outside of a prison ever again."

Voight smirked. "I'd do it again," he reasoned. "Perhaps I should have blown his head off while I had the chance."

"A good thing you didn't boss, they might have viewed that as a sacrifice being made," Adam reasoned. "Doctor Charles said that such a group of persons would consider a sacrifice like that the outermost affectional act a true leader can do in order to secure the survival of the cult."

"Okay," Doctor Choi said seriously as he was about to shoo everyone out.

"And my punishment for that was to get a - what – Ming vase in my head?"

"The fifth circle," Kevin offered. "Punishment for anger. You rattled their cage a bit too much for their liking and draw their ire. Therefore, you should be locked into an eternal battle."

"A Ming vase?" Adam asked curiously.

Voight sighed as he reached up to touch the bandage taped to his skull, near his left temple. He grimaced and glanced at Jay. "Yesterday, you asked if I remembered where I was before they got to me," he began. "I was in Chinatown and exchanged a few words with good old Na Lao Min."

Choi tensed at hearing the name of the old, cunning drug-dealer. He practically stipulated his own laws downtown. No one who wanted to live for another day went there willingly.

"And?" Jay asked.

"And nothing," Hank returned sourly. "The SOBs refused to give up on his low lives."

"Okay-," Choi tried for a second time. "Everybody needs to leave, right now. You need to give your sergeant some time to rest and recuperate."

"No, they need to get me out of here," Voight reasoned.

"Don't take this the wrong way, sarge but – huh - considering what happened the last time, we'd rather wait until you're cleared for duty." Atwater said apologetically.

OOOOOO

To be continued