Looking to Will, she knew what he was feeling. He was feeling guilt and a sense of fear. He was scared of what he had done. He knew exactly what he had done and it sickened him. He had agreed to bait the dragon. He had placed his hand on Frederick Chilton's shoulder, knowing what it had meant. He had placed his hand there because he knew that the Red Dragon would read the body language. Will had known, yet he had done it. It had been a sense of impulse, but he had not stopped Freddie Lounds from publishing the photo.
And then the Red Dragon had gotten to Chilton. Will had found himself going back to the hotel suite that evening, hoping to find his wife waiting for him. Entering the suite, he saw that the lights were out and he wondered if she was in bed already. He had no doubt that Annie would be in bed, knowing that it was past her bedtime. But then he heard something.
Something was wrong. It was the grunting noise from a man and Will felt fear flow through him. Reaching behind for his gun, he took hold of it, picking up and holding it in front of him as he switched the light on. Looking into the living area, he saw his wife, dressed in some red dress Alana had leant her. She looked terrified and Will knew why. She was sat on the edge of the sofa, perched with her wrists bound and a gag in her mouth.
Behind her, he sat there. The same man who had let Reba McClane go after burning down his house and allegedly dying in the accident. But Will now knew better. He now saw exactly what had happened. He had staged his own suicide because the man who was supposed to be dead was currently sat behind his wife, an arm around her waist and a knife against her side.
"Let her go," Will demanded.
"Only when I get what I want," the man said, his voice gruff as Will saw the fear in Rachel's eyes. "I would keep quiet, Mr Graham. You don't want to wake your daughter, do you?"
Will looked to the side, knowing that his daughter was sleeping in that room. Instead he nodded, lowering his gun in his grip and standing by the armchair near the sofa.
"You are a closed book to me, Mr Graham," he spoke and Will shrugged.
"I see you, just as you see me," Will said. "But I know that there is only person you want to see."
"I shared with Doctor Lecter," he responded and Rachel wondered what the hell was going on, but she chose to keep quiet, trusting Will to know what he was doing.
"You shared with Reba," Will said. "But you couldn't change her, could you?"
"I didn't want to," he responded.
"But Hannibal Lecter…he is who you want to change," Will said. "He is the one who you want to change and I can help you do that. I can help you get to Hannibal Lecter, but I cannot do that while you are here…not while you are holding my wife hostage."
"And I can?" he asked from him. "I can have him?"
"Yes," Will said. "But you cannot have him if you hurt my wife because I would put a bullet in you if you dared to."
The man seemed to understand what he was saying then. He pulled the knife from Rachel's side and moved to his feet. Pushing himself to his feet, he looked to Will Graham, walking around him as Rachel remained still, her body shaking as she looked to Will, longing for him just to shoot the man. But she knew he wouldn't. He wouldn't risk it.
"How do I know I can trust you?"
Will nodded. "Because we want the same thing," he said in a whisper.
The man said nothing in response and left the suite, leaving Will to breathe a sigh of relief as he locked and bolted the door. He moved with haste, kneeling in front of his wife and removing the gag from her, his hands going to untie the rope over her wrists. She reached up, her hands moving to his cheeks as Will took hold of her waist.
"Are you alright?" he demanded from her, his voice harsh. "Rachel, are you alright?"
"Yes," she nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Will, he broke in…I was watching TV and I heard the door. I thought it was you, Will. I thought that you had come back…and then he told me to keep quiet or Annie…" she trailed off, unable to continue speaking as Will nodded.
"It's okay," he assured her. "I have you, Rachel. I have you."
"What is happening, Will? What is going on?"
"We have found out the name of the Red Dragon," Will said. "He is called Francis Dolarhyde. He took Chilton…Rachel…he took Chilton and he burned him and chewed his lips off. He is in a state. He is in hospital, but he is in a state. I did that to him. I agreed to go and plan to lure the Dragon out and this is what happened."
"Jesus," Rachel whispered in a soft voice as Will moved to stroke her hair behind her ear, focusing on that motion as he gulped and closed his eyes for a second, a sense of dread taking over him.
"Chilton said that a woman had been there. We found out who she was. Reba McClane had grown close to him…she is blind and she told us his body was in the house where he had set a fire, but it wasn't his body. She felt someone's body, but clearly it wasn't him."
"And now?" Rachel asked. "What do you mean about Hannibal? What does he have to do with this?"
"The Red Dragon wants him, Rachel. He wants him dead."
"And how is he going to get that?" Rachel asked as she sniffed, holding back her tears as she moved her hands against Will's upper arms, stroking them softly, the feeling of his grey coat under her fingers familiar to her. "Will, how is he going to get that?"
"There is a plan," Will said. "It is a plan you are not going to like."
Rachel tried to understand what he meant. She tried to understand what he was saying to her, but it soon made sense. Shaking her head, she moved to her feet as Will sighed, looking down before pushing himself up, knowing what she was going to say to him. She had pieced everything together. The puzzle was complete.
"No," Rachel said.
"It is the only way," Will said to her. "We transfer him to another hospital and stage his escape."
"But you can't!" Rachel yelled at him, her voice rising octaves as Will saw hysteria take hold of her. "You can't do this, Will! He's in that prison…he's in there and you can't let him go free…you can't do this."
"The Red Dragon wants him," Will said to her. "We let him take him…we let him do what he has to do and then we kill him."
"And Hannibal?" Rachel demanded from him.
"I don't know," Will admitted to her. "I don't know what will happen, Rachel, but we need to do this."
"No," Rachel shook her head. "This is wrong. This is all wrong."
"It is the only way," Will told her.
"And if he hurts you?" Rachel demanded from her husband. "What if Hannibal actually escapes and hurts you? What if he does what he promised to do in his kitchen all of those years ago? Or have you forgotten that? He almost killed you. He almost took you from us."
Will said nothing and Rachel felt her chest heave and she wondered if it was possible for a heart to break. She always thought that people were being dramatic when they said things like that. She didn't believe in heartbreak. She believed in pain. She knew pain. She believed in unbelievable sorrow. But she only felt heartbreak when she looked into Will's eyes and knew what he was thinking. She knew what was going through his mind.
"Annie needs you," Will whispered to her.
"No!" Rachel snapped.
"Rachel, if he kills me…if one of them kills me…then-"
"-Then they will be free and out on the streets," Rachel said, interrupting her husband. "No, Will, throughout this marriage…throughout this relationship…I've seen you risk your life and stood by too many times. I have stood by and watched you run into fights instead of away from them, but not now, Will…not now."
"There is no other option. The Red Dragon wants Hannibal and we both know the only way Hannibal will agree to be bait is if I go with him," Will said.
"No!" Rachel snapped at him. "Will, don't do this. Don't do this, please. I am actually begging you. I am stood here and I am begging you not to do this."
Will closed his eyes, a feeling of fear taking hold of him as he thought about what his wife was asking from him. He could walk away. He could leave. He could go somewhere else. But he would never be free from Hannibal. So long as Hannibal was alive, freedom was not his. It never would be.
"We can run," Rachel continued speaking. "We can take our daughter and we can run. We can get far away from here. Please, why don't you just see sense for once. Why can you just not be the hero?"
"Because I am no hero," Will informed her. "Rachel, I am anything but a hero. I have killed. I have murdered people…I became a monster at one stage…when I lost you to Hannibal Lecter, I became a monster. I became someone I never thought I would be. Someone who wanted to kill. But I should have done it. I should have killed him years ago and then none of this would be happening. He would not be hanging over us like a plague."
"Then leave," Rachel said. "Leave him rotting in that cell and let the FBI catch the Red Dragon."
"Rachel, the Red Dragon will not be caught unless we do this. If we don't do it then he will be free…he will come after me and look how easily he got in here tonight. I am not risking it. I am not risking you or Annie."
"Please," Rachel begged from him, moving to take hold of his hand. "Will, I never demanded anything of you…I begged you not to do things, but I never demanded anything of you, but now…right now…I am going to do it. I am going to do it and say that I don't want you to do this."
"Relationships are not built on demands, Rachel," Will said. "We both know that."
"I know," she said, closing her eyes as a stream of tears rolled down her face. "I know, Will, but this is the one thing I am asking of you. Please."
"I'm sorry," Will said to her and Rachel dropped his hand and backed away from him. "Rachel, I am so sorry."
"Don't," she said as he reached out to try and grab her, but she held a hand up. "Don't, Will…I just…there is nothing else to say, is there? What else can we say? I am not going to watch you walk into this willingly. I am not doing it."
"Then what are you going to do, Rachel?" he asked from her as she shrugged.
"Anything to stop you."
….
"He wants you to say pretty please," Alana said as she looked to Will.
Her, Jack and Will were stood in her office, looking on the screens in the corner that showed Hannibal Lecter downstairs. All of his privileges had been taken away from him after the stunt he had pulled with the Red Dragon. Will had left Rachel that morning, telling her that he would be back that night after they discussed the plan. She had been curt with him, offering him her cheek when she had tried to kiss him. He had sighed in frustration, but he understood her point of view. He knew what was going through her mind.
"I thought he might," Will said. "So what? I go down and ask him and he agrees?"
"Seems like it," Alana said with a nod. "But I am having nothing to do with this plan. I am taking Margot and our son away from this. If he is out of that cell, even under police protection, then I am going to be nowhere near here."
"And that is why I need a favour," Will said to Alana as Jack arched a brow.
"You want her to take Rachel and Annie?" Jack checked and Will nodded.
"Consider it done," Alana said. "But perhaps they shouldn't go alone, Will."
"I had enough of this conversation last night," Will complained. "I'll go and talk to him."
Jack watched Will walk away, moving down the steps and away from the two of them towards Hannibal. Entering the room he had become familiar with, he stepped inside and looed around, doing his best to consider what was going to happen.
"You know that I will only do this if you ask me," Hannibal said, his back turned to Will.
"And that is why I am here," Will said. "We need your help, Hannibal."
Hannibal smirked. "Of course, but I have two more conditions."
Will stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Name them."
"I want you in the convoy."
Will nodded. "I suspected as much," he told him. "And the next one?"
Hannibal turned around, his lips quirked. "I want Rachel there too."
…
A/N: Do let me know what you think!
