Chapter 6: Journey Into Madness
The DEA had wanted Rene Ormeno as a leader of the vile and vicious MS-13. The DEA wasn’t the only one, but it got first dibs. He had been wanted on charges from possession with intent to distribute to human trafficking, and nearly everything in-between. It wasn’t so much a criminal organization as a religion that worshiped evil. And the DEA thought that flipping him would have been the solution to a great many problems. That was before Ormeno had been temporarily possessed by one of the legion within Christopher Curran. Now he was a gibbering lunatic inside Bellevue’s psychiatric ward, a guest of the city.
Do I have to say that the DEA wasn’t happy with New York City? They wanted someone to leverage. They got a delusional freak. But given that everything was coming back to haunt us, and Alex and I had been pointed in the direction of MS-13 by our boss, we had a reason to be there, and we were in the neighborhood. So we were going to try to get information out of him.
I hadn’t seen Ormeno since we had gone a few rounds in Rikers. He had nearly killed me, and I had barely gotten away.
Now, he was wrapped in a straight jacket, locked in a padded cell. Before we walked in, his jacket had to be strapped to the wall. He thrashed against the jacket and the straps alternately, unable to concede that he was in for the long haul. His unintelligible screams had echoed down the hallway before we even stepped off of the elevator.
But more pressing and horrific than the screams was the smell of evil that came from down the hallway. I couldn’t gauge the directionality of the smell, but I presumed it was only from Ormeno. It was the culmination of every rotting corpse at a body farm, compounded and compressed into one wave of corruption and filth. It didn’t make my eyes water the way a physical scent would, but the impact was almost a physical slap to the face. I was grateful that my stomach was empty, but I still felt the urge to vomit.
One of the orderlies met us at the elevator. He was big, burly, and Sikh. He had a black eye and disjointed nose and looked like he had barely won a fight. He shook my hand with an iron grip that had a practiced gentility to it, as though he knew his own strength and held back.
“You’re here for Ormeno?” he asked, raising his voice to be heard over the screaming.
I nodded, then looked to his black eye. “How’d you get the shiner?”
He shrugged, as though it were just another on the job incident. “From Ormeno.”
Alex cringed next to me. “Geez. Really? You guys let him out of his restraints?”
The orderly shook his head. “Nope. This was when he was strapped down. We haven’t let him out of restraints in months.”
Alex looked at me and calmly said, “I think I’ll stay outside his cell.”
The orderly shrugged. “No idea what you think you’re gonna get out of him. He’s been incoherent and ranting since you left him here. The cops, I mean.”
I nodded. “He may be a lead on a case. So we’ll at least try to get something out of him. Is he always in isolation?”
The orderly nodded.
“Always,” he had to call out over the wailing and gnashing of teeth. “We keep the cells on either side of him empty when we can. He makes his neighbors worse whenever he has any. It’s why he’s got a corner apartment. Next time you get a guy like him, I suggest you put him down like it the rabid dog he is.”
I rolled my eyes and gave an amused scoff. I couldn’t even take that seriously. Walking into a cell and shooting someone in the head was just so...1920s Chicago. “Sorry. We’re not in the assassination business, no matter how many headlines and op-ed pieces say otherwise.”
The orderly shrugged and led us to the back corner cell. The wails of the damned weren’t muted by the door.
“Scream if you need me.” He unlocked the cell and stepped away, leaving us.
Alex just gave me a look. “After you.”
“Gee. Thanks.” I grabbed the handle and pushed it open. The wave of evil’s stench hit me at full force. Ormeno may have been mad, but he was still evil.
The screaming suddenly stopped.
Rene Ormeno was bald and tattooed all over his face and scalp. He had twisted himself up in the straps so badly, he hung sideways off the back wall of his cell. But he relaxed as he fell off the wall onto his feet. Ormeno slowly turned to face us.
“Why, hello, Detective Nolan.” Ormena’s voice came out in a rasp, almost a hiss. “What brings you and your partner here?”
He sounded an awful lot like Christopher Curran. I heard Alex swallow behind me. Obviously, he caught it, too. I couldn’t begin to guess at what that meant. Was Rene still possessed? If that were the case, why hadn’t he broken out weeks ago? And if he were still possessed, did that mean that the demon that possessed him had lain dormant? Were the people we thought had been exorcized were still possessed, and Rikers was about to explode?
All of this went through my brain in an instant. I kept myself calm and my tone even. “We came to talk to Rene Ormeno,” I said. “Is he in? Or am I speaking to Someone Else?”
Ormeno’s eyes narrowed, amused. “I’m here, Detective. The brief guest in my soul had left an indelible impression. It was...” He gave a shadow of a smile. “Overwhelming. Overpowering. But I’m happy you’re here. It’s been a while since I’ve chattered with someone. Have they come for you yet? The cult of death?”
I finally looked back at Alex. He had stayed at the threshold, but gave me a look. A death cult was not a terrible name for what we were looking into.
Ormeno noted our faces and continued. “Oh, good. They’ve been by. So happy to see that the boys are keeping busy. It wasn’t the warlock, or you’d be dead already. Pity.”
Warlock? Well, then, this is gonna hurt. “What do you know?”
Ormeno laughed. His voice was low and amused. “Oh, nothing much. Whispers in the dark. Gossip from the lower depths. Water cooler chatter left behind by my house guest.”
I winced. I tried to imagine not only being possessed by pure evil but remembering what was in its mind. I’m not sure describing it as pure Hell would have been putting it strongly enough. But then again, the demon inside Ormeno had driven him mad...
“But don’t worry,” he added. “They’ll find you. Soon enough. Do think of me when they send you to join Mister Curran, Detective.”
I studied Ormeno closely. This wasn’t the gibbering nut I’d been told about. His screams stopped when I touched the handle. Either he’d been faking and knew I was coming, or else ...
“How would you know?” I asked. “If you’re only lucid when I’m here?” It was a guess on my part, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
Oh, let’s face it, I thought, it’s God’s presence that’s doing it to him. Not mine. I just brought Him along for the ride in a more manifest version. I guess.
Guess or not, Oremno’s eyes flickered. I’d hit a nerve. But the smile never wavered. “I’ll get an exoneration from the mayor if all else fails.”
Wow, he really is deranged. He couldn’t tell the difference between a governor and a mayor. I guess I can only cure demonic-created insanity.
“But then,” Ormeno continued, “you may not last long enough for the Cult of Death to get you. My men may not be so generous.”
I’m certain that Alex would have rushed to mouth off at him, but gunshots interrupted my thought.
Ormeno’s smile flickered. “Too late.”