The usual disclaimers apply.

The only ones that are mine are the Maugeris.

Once again my gratitude to Marcus Aurelius for checking out my mistakes. And for those you who took the time to post comments which encourage me to go on: Queen of the Bitch People, Ducki, Iris Stuart , Jem, Melanie-Anne, Elbereth8, AutumnLeaves and Shanna.

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Exchanges XIX
Unpleasant Ride

Later that night, while laying her head on Hannibal's chest, Clarice whispered, "I resented him, you know?" she paused and he waited. "After he sent me to you, he acted as if I had been contaminated. By you that is."

"Did you feel that I had contaminated you, Clarice...?" Hannibal whispered.

"No!" She paused again. "You were the first person who accurately showed me things about myself that I had not yet consciously discovered, it was simultaneously exhilarating, painful and wonderful, but not contaminating, not as Jack Crawford seemed to define it."

She went on, "He hated the fact that I trusted your perception, and how could I not? After the way you read me. He tried to smear your credibility every inch of the way. I resented that too."

She was silent for a long time. From her breathing, Hannibal knew she was still awake. "Maybe he felt, correctly, that we were each an opposite side of the same coin." Hannibal said, carefully. "The dark and the light sides of the same force, the yin and the yang if you will."

"To him," he added, "that made us the same..."

A long silence draped over them.

"What do you think I am, Clarice?"

She was almost asleep now, "An earthy replica of God," her voice was small and almost childish, as she was falling asleep "who takes it upon himself to administer his own justice and creates his own rules."

"And what did the tabloids call you?" He was sleepy too.

"Death's Angel, The FBI's Killing Machine..." Clarice responded in a very little voice.

A longer pause still, "If he wouldn't have sent you to me, we might have never met, Clarice. For that I've always been grateful."

She stirred a bit, and mumbled, "Me too..." paused, "…I …resented him anyway, though."


Clarice woke up to the sounds of Hannibal's moaning. She leaned over him and in the faint glare from the moon saw him thrashing in bed and sweating profusely, but he felt cold to the touch.

She kneeled beside him and sat on her heels to have use of both hands. "Hannibal, wake up," she wiped the sweat off his face with the top sheet, then held his shoulder and patted him gently, "you are having a nightmare."

She kissed him, holding his face between the palms of her hands, while repeating gently, "Wake up, Hannibal"

He shuddered violently and woke up.

She kept one palm on his cheek while using the other hand to wipe the sweat off his face and smooth his hair back. She had never seen him vulnerable and felt a strong need to protect him.

Slowly, she could see him recover his usual calm. Once composed, he looked at her, lifted one hand and touched her face, then held her against him, firmly, as if he feared she'd vanish in midair.

"Danger then, and now again..." he murmured as if talking to himself.

"You want to tell me?"

"In the morning..." he said, holding her tighter still.

"Okay." she kissed his chest and let sleep take her once more.

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As prearranged they came down for breakfast at around 10am. The Maugeris were both having coffee on the terrace while waiting for their guest to arrive.

After the usual morning greetings, Sal suggested it would be a good idea if they watched the International News at 10:30am before making any plans for the day.

They were in the middle of breakfast when the photo images of a devastating explosion appeared on the screen. The courtyard of their Villa in Lucerne was clearly recognizable.

"…tenants, a Brazilian businessman of ample means, and his young wife are still indeterminate. Inner sources suggest it's possible that the terrorists were unaware of the explosives when they entered the premises possibly to kidnap one or both of the tenants, and somehow managed to trigger the explosion. Others suggest the terrorist kidnapped the couple and then intentionally blew up the villa to eliminate any trace of evidence. Seven bodies have been recovered, so far. Identifications are still under way."

Hannibal Lecter looked at Maugeri with an amused smile, his eyes sparkling with mischief, head tilted to one side in a classic Hannibal Lecter fashion. "You planned that, didn't you, Sal?" he chuckled. "Were the explosives were in the second helicopter and set up by your men?"

Sal Maugeri reached for the hand of his wife of forty one years, "Lucy planned it," he declared proudly looking at her. "Lucy masterminded it and took care of the planning. I provided the manpower and the goodies."

Clarice was speechless, while Hannibal shook his head in admiration.

Lucia Maugeri looked at both her guest, her eyes reflected a mixture of affection, sadness, and fury as she reminisced and explained. "I was not yet 19 years old when Lucas was born, he was this incredibly perfect miniature person. I was awed at the miracle of his very existence." She got up and brought a framed photo from inside the house and handed it to Clarice. "Luke at age two," she explained as Clarice looked at the photo of a toddler whose features looked almost identical to his mother's.

Lucy shook her head as if to chase away the memories, then added fiercely, "When we got him back home, after the kidnapping, I swore I'd hunt everyone responsible for torturing and almost killing my boy."


Clarice squeezed Hannibal's hand. He looked at her and tilted his head but didn't comment.

Maugeri's cell phone rang and he answered "Speak of the devil," he said, then, "tonight will be fine, I'll tell mom…Only you and the baby?… OK, make sure you're here early enough, I don't like it when you fly at night…." He listened for a few beats and chuckled, "I know, but parent's worry; you know how it is."

"Luke's is coming for dinner;" Maugeri announced, "he is bringing the baby. They'll sleep over. He and Andrea think it will be good for the rest of the gang to get their mother undivided attention."

"Luke is coming?" Hannibal asked, sounding enthusiastic "this is a treat!"

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"If you love birds can stand being apart from each other for a few hours," Lucy teased, "then perhaps Clarice and I can workout for an hour or so and then go to Catania to see what we find there for the wedding. I fear we might have to fly to Milan for the gown, though," she turned to Clarice, "What do you say?"

Clarice gave Hannibal a quizzical look, smiled and got up. "Did you have any plans?" He chuckled and kissed her with unashamed enthusiasm. "It's fine, I'll have to spend some time on the phone making arrangements for Barney's trip anyway."

"Then it sounds like a plan, " she said to Lucy.

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The two women had a bonding exercise session. In the mist of chat and sweat, Clarice told Lucy about the events of her arrival in Switzerland and how she and Hannibal had killed both Erik and his partner.

"That little box with the syringe is the most surprising close contact weapon I ever came across." Starling commented. "I carry one in my purse without fail now." Dreamily she added. "Hannibal is amazing."

"He is a very special man." agreed her new found buddy.


After showering and dressing they met at the back of the house, where the helicopter was waiting.

At the landing pad in Catania, a family limo was there waiting. Lucy exchanged a few words with the driver, inquiring about his family; then turned to Clarice, "From here, it's a half an hour drive to Catania."

Once inside the limo, Lucy closed the partition that separated them from the front seat and explained that the driver didn't have control of the partition from his end. She showed Clarice how the limo was customized so only the passengers could control whether the driver could hear them or not. She also explained the driver couldn't see them, but they could see him.

"Neat stuff" Clarice commented.

They drove for about 10 minutes when the limo had to stop due to a roadblock that appeared to be the result of a recent accident. Two men seemed to be arguing beside the two cars involved.

Their driver lowered the window and asked the men if they needed assistance. One of them approached the limo and suddenly pointing a gun at the driver, ordered him to get out of the limo. Once the driver was standing by the car the man shot him in the head, signaled to his partner to drag the body and drop it in a deep ditch by the side of the road.

That done the two men exchanged a few words. Then one got behind the wheel of the limo and the other tried to get in the back but found the door was locked. The man shrugged and got in the front beside his accomplice.

They drove in silence for a while; Clarice opened her bag and pointed to it. Inside, Lucy could see the little box. Clarice then pointed to the voice switch as if to inquire if it was safe to talk. Lucy nodded.

Clarice lifted the leg of her pants a few inches and Lucy was able to see the little gun Clarice had strapped to her leg.

Then she showed Lucy the Harpy she had clipped to the right pocket of her pants.


"We want to get one of them alive," Clarice said, as she mentally fine tuned her plans, "so we can get more information from him."

Her friend nodded.


Clarice was sitting behind the passenger's seat. She took the little box from her bag and handed it to Lucy.

Then she explained her plan.

"We get coordinated," she said, "you push the button to lower the partition, at the same time I shoot right through the back sit and kill the guy in front of me. Then turn and point the gun at the driver, who would now be no longer behind the glass. I'll tell him to stop the car, if he doesn't you give him the needle. Inject him on the neck. That will give me time to pull him from behind the wheel and try to avoid an accident."

"If he stops, and I think he will, I'll hand you the gun, tell him to get out of the car, and you keep him at gun point while I search him for weapons. I can tie his hands and then we'll make him get in the trunk and drive away to safety. Wherever that might be."

"Sounds good" Lucy said, and chuckled, to make light of the situation. "Who gets to sit next to the dead guy?"

Clarice laughed softly. "We are going to be all right." she thought.

Lucy looked at her "On the count of three…"

The women both moved their lip to the count of one…two…three.

Lucy hit the button and the partition began to lower. Clarice shot twice.


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That's all for now, folks, please post comments and suggestions.

Clariz