Mind of a Fanatic
Chapter 2
Ryan and Natalia stood next to each other in Layout. Eric had already arrived and found himself a stool at the corner of the large under lit table near the doorway. He moved it closer to his blonde colleague, sensing that she could benefit by his nearness. Ryan leaned close to Natalia, feeling the overwhelming urge to whisper.
"Any idea what Horatio wants to see us about?" he asked.
"I have no idea, but I can't shake the feeling that it has something to do with Calleigh. She doesn't look right." She shook her head, eyeing a very unsettled Calleigh; speaking in a whisper as well. Raising her voice she asked. "Hey Calleigh, you ok?"
"I'm fine," Calleigh said automatically, with as much inflection as a robot; flicking her gaze briefly to Natalia. She was anything but fine at the moment. A hard knot had taken up residence in the pit of her stomach, making it hurt. She had no illusions at all as to why Horatio had called the meeting.
"Alright," Horatio said as he entered Layout, a case file in his hand. He shut the door behind him and settled himself next to Calleigh, just close enough that he could steady her if she needed it. He noticed Eric doing the same. Good, lean on us, Sweetheart, he thought, glancing at her to try and judge her steadiness; she didn't look too steady to him, but the team needed to know what was happening.
He plunged ahead, laying out the crime scene photos that Calleigh had shot a dozen years ago. "I'll make this as brief and clear as I can; this is Officer Pamela Brooks of the New Orleans police department. She had been captured and tortured by a Father Peter Dupree. She managed to escape and was fleeing him when she was struck and killed by an unknown vehicle. Father Dupree was subsequently apprehended and sent to prison. Calleigh was the lead CSI on the investigation and her damning testimony put him away. At his sentencing, he leveled a clear threat at Calleigh. This would be of no concern to us if he hadn't gotten out of prison six months ago. NOPD lost touch with him three months later. I spoke with his parole officer and he hasn't heard from him in two months. He's in the wind, folks and from his profile and information that Calleigh provided for me, there is no reason not to believe that he will make good on his threat. The man is an obsessed psychopath. To call this a bad situation would be a gross understatement."
Ryan's eyes drank in the horrors of the photos and he couldn't help feeling a little sick. The guy who did this threatened his mentor and friend. "Calleigh, what was the threat?" he asked his voice gentle.
"Picture's worth a thousand words." Calleigh swallowed hard but couldn't keep her voice from wavering. "You're looking at it."
"I'm not asking; you're not ok." Ryan's head snapped up taking in her appearance and what he saw concerned him deeply. All her walls were down: she was terrified.
"Not even remotely," her brutal honesty in how she felt betrayed just how bad it really was. She took a deep breath and continued. "I'm sorry; it's just that I've seen, firsthand, what he can do. Horatio's right; he's an obsessed psychopath with a religious bent. Dupree is a Catholic priest, part of that ultra-conservative wing with the Latin name that I just can't recall right now."
"Opus Dei," Eric supplied, looking closely at the photos. "They can be pretty extreme in their methods, but I've never heard of them being into torture, and that's what this is; torture."
"They're not. When I ran the investigation, I spoke with the chapter house's director, Father Kozinski. He was very accommodating and supplied me with any and all information that I could need on Opus Dei concerning Dupree. He even gave me a copy of the document that removed Dupree from Opus Dei. It was signed by the Vatican." She extracted the document and laid it out for everyone to see. "The Father was very disturbed that Dupree would go and commit such crimes. It upset him a great deal and the man was no actor." A wave of fear ran through her. Oh, God, how am I going to deal with this? It was bad enough the first time… "This all happened after the date he was removed him from the order. He went rogue, took matters into his own hands and became dangerous."
Horatio could see Calleigh fighting for control. He took up the narrative, pointing to each set of photos in turn. "His first vic was Bonnie Snyder, 27, a firefighter. She now resides at the Bradley Institute for the Mentally Ill. Next was Jessica Cleveland, CEO of Cleveland Financial; now also living at Bradley. Haley Peterson, 30, electrical engineer for Maron Electrical Contractors, also at Bradley. His fourth vic was Patricia Robertson, 22, semi-pro boxer, also residing at Bradley. All were held for undetermined amounts of time; all with their minds completely broken and when found, all had similar signs of physical torture."
"Y'all need to understand something," Calleigh said suddenly, her accent unusually thick, breaking into the horrified silence that fell over the room. "At his trial he kept referring to his vics as "penitents" that needed to be reminded of a woman's place in the world. He kept going on about how no one understood the will of God anymore, women especially. They were second to men and should be subservient. He kept quoting the Genesis passage about God creating woman from Adam's rib. The light in his eyes when he said it….."
She took a deep breath. She felt both Horatio and Eric move closer, closing ranks; even Ryan inched closer. "He said that he had to teach them their catechism; that I needed to learn mine and that when he got out, he would teach me." She pointed to the photos with a hand that shook visibly. "That is his method of teaching catechism; what he's threatened to do to me." Tears pricked at her eyes so she turned her back on the group and leaned against the lab table, head hanging. Breathe; remember to breathe …
Out of the deafening silence came a voice and a soft hand on her arm. "Jesus, Cal,' Eric breathed.
She was glad of his nearness and gentle touch. It gave her some measure of strength. "Yeah; even after all these years it's still enough to make me shudder. But that's just the physical fallout. It's his means of systematically breaking his vic's mind that's truly frightening; if you're subjected to enough pain for a long enough period of time, you'll do anything to make it stop. It's not a question if you'll break; but when. From the survivors I interviewed; he's very thorough. All they could say to me were disjointed Bible passages, things in Latin I didn't understand; church things."
She stopped to try to get herself under better control. It was getting to her more and more as the explanations went on. Feelings of fight or flight were beginning to war inside her and she fought it with all she had and she was beginning to lose. "Horatio…"
"The point is, folks, is that Calleigh is now in an unenviable position of being a potential victim of this man and that, ladies and gentlemen, is something we cannot allow to happen." Horatio stated with absolute finality.
He glanced at Calleigh, saw how hard she was fighting to remain in control; it broke his heart. He ached to gather her in his arms and calm her. Just hang in there a little longer Sweetheart …
He returned his attention to his assembled team. "Until Dupree can be located and taken into custody, she is not to be alone outside this lab; not getting a meal, not on a crime scene, not off duty - never. We can theorize that if he intends on making good on his threat and from the evidence that we already have, he does, then he'll most likely try to take her when she is alone and unprotected. If he is here, he's been watching her; knows her routine, where she shops, where she eats, her route for her morning runs. The guy is smart and he is dangerous, but most of all he is a psychopath focused on Calleigh. Experience has shown that guys like this do not stop until they're caught or they're dead. Dupree's already broken his parole; by targeting Calleigh he's automatically made this a capital offense in the offing. He has nothing to lose."
Calleigh launched herself away from the table; the war was lost inside herself, flight took control. She pushed past Ryan and Eric and made straight for the elevators. "I need some air."
Horatio made a move, but Eric was faster off the mark. "I'm on it. Fill me in on the plan when I get back."
He jogged to keep up with Calleigh's furious pace. He caught up with her at the elevators. He gently grabbed her arm, disturbed that she jumped at his contact. "Hey, not by yourself; you heard H."
Calleigh remained silent as the elevator stopped, they got in and she punched the button for the top floor. She continued her silence as the moved down the corridor, up a short flight of stairs and out an access door; she waited until the door snicked shut on the roof before speaking. Calleigh turned to him; her voice wavering as she fought again for some semblance of control. "Eric, if you breathe a word of what I'm going to say to anyone, even Horatio; I'll never trust you again. Promise me you won't."
"I don't know if I can promise that, not if it puts you in any more danger than you already are in," Eric said, moving close to her. He could see she was shaking again and that frightened him; she was holding on by a thread and it was already frayed to the breaking point. Eric had never seen her this terrified in all the years he'd known her not even when she'd been run off the road and into the canal a few weeks back. She'd been shaken then, but had brushed it off, more upset by the evidence being compromised that the reality that she could have died.
"Please."
"Alright, not a word," he replied.
She ducked her head, unwilling to meet his eyes. Her voice was so soft when she spoke that he had to strain to hear her. "For the first time since I became a cop, I'm scared; bone deep, paralyzingly terrified. Those other women were all bigger, heavier and physically stronger than me. You know, I can handle physical pain; the possibility of being hurt like that doesn't bother me. It's what he does to their minds; the fact that he uses that pain and anguish to break them down, leaving them a shell of their former selves. Eric, if I-"
Eric's heart broke and he wrapped his arms around her in a hug. I have to do something, say something or she's going to shatter right here, right now. Dupree won't even have to touch her. "Don't go there, Calleigh; it's not going to happen. We won't give him the chance. You're too strong, too intelligent for him to break you. You have something else that the other women didn't have; the best body guards in Miami. You have every right to feel the way you do. If it was me, I'd be scared out of my mind, too."
"No you wouldn't. You'd be angry and go looking for him." She rested her head on his chest and let out a small, humorless chuckle. She began to feel better, grateful for Eric's incredibly loyal friendship. Between that and the certain knowledge that Horatio had already outlined a plan of action made the fear recede into the background until it became white noise. She was humbled by Horatio's fierce, yet tender protectiveness over her.
Eric's cell shrilled. He released a now much calmed Calleigh. "Delko….yeah, everything is under control. We're on the roof…..She's better; just needed to talk it out a little…..Alright….." He looked hard at Calleigh, who seemed to be returning to her normal self. "Yeah, I think she can do it. We're on our way."
He cut the connection. "That was H. We have a shooting on the Causeway, lots of casings for you. I'm taking the first watch on you; think you're up for it?"
She stepped back from his comforting sphere and looked up at him, determination replacing the fear in her eyes. "Damn straight. I have one of the best body guards in Miami."
Although it looked like chaos, processing the crime scene was easier than anyone had thought. It was an apparent display of road rage; one firearm, one vic, one shooter already in custody with the gun still on him. All the team really needed to do was collect the evidence, bag and tag. It made it easy for the team to collectively keep an eye on Calleigh, who had all the outward appearances of returning to her usual self; the revelations of the morning a distant nasty memory. Eric, knowing her better than that, kept as close as he could to her, since she was his responsibility. He snapped pictures of the shooter's tire tracks while Calleigh collected the several dozen casings.
Calleigh dropped another collected casing into her evidence bag; fully concentrating and completely content in the focus and routine of her work. When a soft hand landed on her shoulder, she startled badly; still on edge, despite outward appearances. She stood and in one swift, fluid motion, spun to face her attacker, right knee rising to emasculate him. The blow connected with jarring force.
Ryan grunted in pain, doubling over.
"Oh my God, Ryan; I'm so sorry!" Calleigh cried, reaching out to support him. "The hand on my shoulder; I was startled. I'm so sorry. Are you alright?"
She led him over to the back of one of the Hummers and leaned him against it. She opened a door and helped him to sit, hovering over him, apologizing yet another time.
Eric had taken in the entire exchange and turned away, stifling a chuckle. While he could sympathize with Ryan's obvious discomfort, he knew the guy had it coming, startling Calleigh like that. Act without thinking, take the consequences … He glanced back at them and saw that Horatio had joined them. Ryan was slowly and gingerly getting to his feet, but that wasn't what drew Eric's focus; Horatio was speaking softly to Calleigh, his hand on her arm. He asked her a question. She answered him, shaking her head. She was clearly upset with herself; her reaction. With another exchange she broke away from him, returning to processing the crime scene. Eric stood as Horatio approached.
"H?" he asked.
"I assume you saw." Horatio said concern coloring his words; eyes invisible behind his sunglasses. "I thought you said she could handle it."
"She can." Eric replied, feeling a little defensive. "Did she say anything?"
"No." Horatio shook his head. "She shut down on me; I'm not surprised. We're at a crime scene, in the public eye. She's embarrassed at her actions as it is; some idiot's going to talk and I know there'll be a visit from IAB. See if you can talk her down while I check on Alexx. If you can't, get her back to the lab immediately; she's in no shape to be out here. Make it look like you're done. I don't want any rumors."
"H, she just overreacted." Eric said. Horatio sounded detached and remote, but Eric could tell by his former brother-in-law's body language that he was anything but. Horatio was just as concerned, perhaps even more so than he was, over Calleigh's well-being. He could see that Horatio would like nothing better than to take her back to the lab himself, but was prevented from doing so by the fact that he was their Lt. and needed to stay on the scene. "I'll talk to her; if I can't get her settled, I'll take her back to the lab. You want time to talk to her, right?"
"Right," Horatio moved away to let Eric do what he needed to do.
Eric squatted down next to Calleigh. "Hey."
She glanced up at him. "Hey."
"Look, Wolfe had it coming; he should have known better after this morning. He could have gotten your attention some other way."
"I shouldn't have kneed him," Calleigh said dejectedly. "I was way out of line; maybe I shouldn't be here. You should have left me back at the lab."
"Calleigh, you were fine before Wolfe startled you; there's no reason that you can't focus again," Eric coached. "Close your eyes and breathe deeply. I've got your back."
With only a slight hesitation she complied with Eric's coaching. Slowly, gradually, she calmed and was able to focus again. "I'm better; thank you." She let out an exasperated sigh. "I hate being this on edge. Maybe I should take a page from your book and get angry and hunt him down." She flashed him a grin.
Eric returned it. "That's the intimidating Calleigh I know."