Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, except for the ones I've made up myself.
Family Blood
Chapter 13: Showtime
"No, I refuse to believe it," Clarice shook her head as she paced back and forth in the office. "Jack Crawford was my friend, he would never do something like this."
"Sometimes it doesn't take much to drive a man over the edge," Elaine tried to calm her down, to no avail.
Dr. Lecter spoke up. "I wouldn't say that this turn in events is too surprising. Jack Crawford had taken a lot of abuse from the FBI during his time here. Personally, I'm just surprised that it took him this long to finally lash out."
Jadis shook her head. "Something just doesn't add up here though. Wouldn't the FBI know if he had been doing stuff like this by now? I thought you guys still kept tabs on former agents and employees."
Pearsall nodded. "Yeah, we do. About five months ago Crawford had reportedly went on a long vacation to Europe. A month later the Silversted murders began again. We had decided to give Crawford his privacy while he was on vacation so we didn't bother to check in on him." He sighed before saying, "And now look what happens, one of the Bureau's greatest has become a serial killer."
"It's always those you least expect," Dr. Lecter commented under his breath more or less. Pearsall grunted his agreement.
"Well," Matthew spoke up. "We still haven't found out who the third person is, so we're at a disadvantage in that respect. I suggest that we should keep a closer watch on the hotel and Quantico. If they come around again then we may be able to catch them."
"I don't know how much help that would be," Ardelia argued. "They already managed to get pass us last night when they killed Vermont and Lawrence, and the security at the hotel was already extremely tight. Not even an ant could get through without arousing someone's attention."
Elaine looked at Ardelia critically. "You have a better idea Mapp?"
The other woman thought for a moment, but eventually sighed in uneasy defeat. The tension in the small room seemed to grow thicker by the minute. Clarice wouldn't stop pacing back and forth no matter how many tries the group had taken to clam her down. The reality that Jack Crawford had become a serial killer stung hard for all of them, but especially Clarice. To her Crawford was her mentor and guardian angel when she was still in the FBI. To see him as a cold blooded killer was almost too much for her to take.
Pearsall sighed and spoke up. "Okay, so until we can figure out the best way to go around this, we'll beef up the security around the hotel and Quantico. It's the best we can do at the moment. I'll go talk to Noonan about this new development as well. He might be able to help out in some way. How does that sound to everyone?"
Elaine shrugged. "Better than nothing I guess," she muttered.
Pearsall nodded and a little hesitantly left the group alone to sort out their thoughts.
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Later that day, when the sun had left the sky, two men walked through a large empty building that had been roving with activity just an hour before. Their footsteps echoed in the eerie silence.
Richard Silversted looked over at his companion. "You sure that this is going to work Jack?"
Jack Crawford nodded. "I'm positive Richard. We should at least be able to take one of them down here. The rest we'll get at the other place. Our source says that they'll be here in about an hour."
Silversted grinned. "You know what? This has been a little too easy to manipulate them. It's almost like they want to die."
The two men shared a laugh at the thought. Jack Crawford had tracked down Silversted months earlier when he was in England. Silversted was getting treatment for his eye, under an alias of course, and Crawford met up with him afterwards. After ensuring that he wasn't going to turn him in to the FBI, Crawford had made an offer to Silversted. If they worked together to help destroy Hannibal Lecter, Clarice Starling, and Jadis Lecter, then Crawford would reward Silversted with thousands of dollars and help him stay out of the FBI's grasp. Silversted couldn't resist the offer and instantly agreed to help. From the inside of the Bureau Crawford had maintained a close friendship with someone. In exchange for an advancement and fame, his contact offered to become an inside source of information and the like. Now the two revenge bent men were getting ready for the showdown. Silversted wanted Jadis for himself, whereas Crawford wanted to kill Clarice himself. They both wanted Dr. Lecter dead.
Looking down at his watch, Silversted grinned. "Almost show time," he said, his voice vibrating with barely contained excitement.
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Elaine practically flew down the hallways of Quantico from her workplace to the group's office. Her breath was burning in her throat and lungs and she more or less shoved her way pass the people that dared to get in her way. Her excitement caused her to see everything in slow motion even though she knew that she was running at top speed. They finally had a chance to confront Silversted and Crawford.
Bursting through the door, she had to make herself stop running by racing into the desk and using her hands to keep herself from falling. She was out of breath and took a few minutes to regain her air. Around her the group was startled by her rapid entrance.
"Parker," Jadis inquired. "What's going on?"
Elaine tried her best to ignore the burning sensation in her chest as she breathed out her response. "The mall," she managed to get out.
Matthew leaned in closer to hear her. "What about the mall?" he asked.
Elaine straightened herself up and once she was breathing reasonably better she answered, "It's Silversted and Crawford. We just got a tip off that they broke into that new mall across town."
The group looked at each other and back at Elaine, seemingly unsure if they should believe her or not. She nodded and said, "I've already told Pearsall, he said that us six should go there right now and try to apprehend them. We have to call for back up once we get there though."
That was enough convincing for the group. All they wanted was to get this case done and over with, though a few of them were out for blood as well. Making a quick stop to get a few guns and anything else they may have needed, in about ten minutes they were on their way to the dark mall to confront the source of all their troubles.