All the characters will forever remain the property of Thomas Harris. I just continue to  borrow them for fun and NO profit.

Sorry folks, this is the longest it has taken me to upload a new chapter of Exchanges, and is mostly because I was involved in many projects.

Thanks to all who took the time to comments, Ducki, Fish/Shifter1, Hannibal-Hopkins, Elize, Iris Stuart, Absolut, and all the other nice folks, who read, and possibly enjoyed this fiction.

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Exchanges XXI –                                                                                                                                                             Pandemonium

Rachel DuBerry Rosencranz was, and had always been a socialite. A woman of great beauty, she had been a fashion icon on her days; back on the years when she was the darling of NY society,  mannequins fashioned after her likeness adorned  innumerable windows along 5th Avenue.

Before his incarceration, she was Hannibal Lecter's steady date,  and never entirely believed him to be guilty of anything other than no falling in love with her.

During their relationship, he had showered her with exquisite gifts that ranged from jewelry to books to wines, spectacular birthday parties, and even a weapon.

Once, he'd given her a small folding knife with a daunting clawlike blade, taught her how to use it and insisted she carry it in her purse,  just in case. He was never clear in case of what, but, to humor him, she learned how to use the curious item. Then, once he was out of her life, by means of incarceration, she kept the knife as she did every item he ever gave her.

Later in life, as the world turned more violent than one had expected. She began to carry it in her purse again and, once in a while, even practiced her dexterity at opening and closing it with one hand. When she traveled abroad, she packed it in the suitcase she'd check in, as required by airport security.

She never expected to use it, but it gave her a warm feeling of safety,  especially in elevators. A feeling, she imagined, not unlike the one of walking with a large dog late at night on a poorly lit deserted street.

More importantly, the items  reminded her of Hannibal Lecter.

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Right before he was shipped to Memphis Dr. Lecter gave an envelope to Barney and asked him to seal it and send it registered mail in his behalf. The envelope was addressed to Rachel Rosencranz, private and confidential and it contained a small number of letters Rachel had written to Dr. Lecter after his incarceration. They were of private nature and if they fell on the wrong hands they could have proven to be a great embarrassment to Mrs. Rosencranz.

She received the envelope just as she and her husband were  leaving for the Airport on one of his  business trips to Rome. Mrs. Rosencranz placed the envelope in her purse, and didn't open it until she had a private moment after they reached their destination. Once she did, she realized the importance of holding on to the letters until they could be safely destroyed.

By some inexplicable turn of fate, the letters had fallen in the hands of their Roman host Paolo Delponte, who used them to blackmail her for years to come.

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Lucy stopped the car at the entrance of the Villa and talked briefly to the guard at the door. He went in his cubicle and opened the gate to let the car in.

"We are going to get to the bottom of this now,  and get this over with." Lucy said firmly as she drove on the roadway leading to the main house.

"Keep yourself on the alert" Clarice suggested a little more forcefully than she had planned.

Lucy looked at her on the rearview mirror.

"I intent to," Lucy said with a confidence that Clarice was far from sharing. "I intent to resolve this issue one way or the other."

She paused, then added

"Clarice, do you remember the name of your new identity, the one you traveled under when you came to Europe?"

"Sure, I learned to respond to it" Clarice chuckled, "my name is Kay Miller"

"Is that your married name?"

"Yes, Hannibal is Dr Hansen Miller," said the new disguise expert.

"All right, my son in law is the man standing at the doorway there" Lucy pointed to the large house. "I'm going to introduce you as Kay Jordan , Dr Miller's fiancé, being such as it is that you both are  'getting  married', and hence….you know…"

"Kay Jordan, it is" Clarice agreed softly.

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Paolo Delponte was a slight man on his late fifties. His impeccable posture and his demeanor made him appear taller than he was.

He approached the car with a genial smile and easy manner. The man was clearly very confident on his abundant charm.

"Lucy!" he exclaimed opening the front door of the car while and helping her out as he planted a kiss on her cheek. "I heard you had a most unfortunate encounter. I hope you are both alright"

He opened the back door and helped out Clarice while Lucy made the introductions.

Paolo Delponte led his guests to a large living room while reporting about his wife, her enthusiasm at the prospect of their first grandchild, the constant shopping of the grandmother to be and, suddenly looked at Lucy and remarked. "You don't look anything like a great-grandmother to be!"

The two women sat on one of the large sofas , their host ordered refreshments and sat in a sofa facing his guests with his back to the door.

After the refreshments were served they made small talk for a while. Paolo, then fussed a bit on the sofa until he found what appeared to be a comfortable position .

"OK," he announced easily, "both Sal and  Dr Hansen Miller, aka Hannibal Lecter will be here in one half hour or so," he was pointing a magnum automatic pistol at the two women. "There is nothing to worry about, really, and if you behave everyone will be safe."

"Let me tell you the plan," he went on pleasantly, " both of you, and Mr. Franz Rosencranz have been kidnapped, Franz, by the way is safely in his room."

He paused to make sure they understood and went on.

"Both Sal, and Dr. Lecter will pay your ransom, while Mrs. Rosencranz will convince her husband to transfer to me the entire ownership of the Italian Branch of Rosencranz textiles. She and I have a deal, so she won't talk."

"We all know that neither Sal nor Dr. Hannibal the Cannibal Lecter can go to the police with this, so everyone will end up with what they want and we'll be all a happy family, as we should remain."

"You are dreaming," said mother in- law laughing dismissively without a trace of fear. "How can you be so foolish Paolo, this is the most ridiculous plan, even for you."

"You'll never get away with this," added Clarice, "you are grossly underestimating Dr. Lecter, and that is a big mistake."

As she talked,  the door behind Paolo Delponte opened, and Rachel Rosencraz entered the room, looking as prim and elegant as she always did. She seemed to be holding a small item barely visible, in her right hand.

Paolo, turned briefly and muttered, "there you are Rachel, nice of you to join our friends here." He turned back to the two women.

Rachel murmured, "don't get up Paolo," and stood behind the sofa placing her left hand on his shoulder.

It was then that  Clarice recognized the item in Rachel Rosencranz hand and her mouth fell open

"Surprised, Special Agent Starling?" asked Paolo, misunderstanding the reason for her surprise,  he went on "Mrs. Rosecranz and I had a little business deal going for years,  right Rachel?" he asked with sarcasm, not turning to look at her.

They could hear the sound of Helicopters nearby, and without waiting for Rosencranz reply,  Paolo commented further; "here come the heroes to the rescue! How touching."

A helicopter was landing somewhere nearby.

Clarice wondered how he was going to handle this, it seemed funny, in a way, that this one man, would delude himself to believe that he could  handle, by himself , killers of the caliber of Hannibal Lecter, herself and even the Maugeris. "The guy has to be out of his mind," she though, "or have something up his sleeve."

Somehow, in her estimation, Paolo Delponti didn't appear as someone with anything up his sleeve, or between his ears, for that matter.

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A rugged, handsome man of about 40 entered the room. His face was heavily scared and he limped  noticeably.

"Hi mom, Hi Paolo",  Luke Maugeri  went straight to his mother bent slightly and kissed her on the cheek,  oblivious of his brother in law sitting behind him, pointing a gun at his back.

"Hi Luke, nice of you to come. Please, let me introduce Clarice Starling, on the chair next to your mother's, and Mrs. Rachel Rosencranz, here behind me."

Luke turned to his brother in law and when he saw the gun, a look of dismay crossed his eyes, "this will break my sister's heart," he though. Instead, he said.

"Oh, Paolo, get off it, we can still fix this, whatever your grudge is and keep it in the family." Luke walked towards his brother in law, his hand extended. "Come on Paolo, be sensible, give me the gun and let's forget this momentary madness."

The sound of helicopters approaching was, again, unmistakable.

"I always wanted to do this," said Paolo Delponti and fired the gun, shooting Luke in the upper arm

Clarice wondered if he meant to kill him and missed or if he just always wanted to shot Luke in the arm.

Lucy got up to help her son, screaming at Paolo in Italian as she did. While Rachel Rosencranz fainted, falling to the floor right behind Paolo Delponti sofa, the Harpy making a dry, cliquey  noise as it hit the floor.

The room was out of control and everyone was talking at the same time, mostly in Italian.

"Go help Rachel," Delponti said to Clarice, waving the gun from side to side, "one false move and I 'shot' you."

Clarice snorted in her effort to repress a laughter at the evidence of Paolo's mounting clumsiness, as he perceived, correctly, that the situation might become more complicated than he expected.

"This is becoming quite entertaining," she thought to herself,  "I can't wait for Hannibal to meet this character. He'll have some fun."

When she reached the woman on the floor, Clarice pocketed the Harpy and lifted Rachel's upper body while trying to make her drink some water.

Sal Maugeri and Hannibal Lecter walked into  the pandemonium, Sal facing his son in law who pointed a gun at him, both men yelling at each other.

Hannibal approached Clarice who gave him Rachel's Harpy and a meaningful look.

Dr. Lecter, now in possession of two  Harpies, one in each hand; the folded knives small enough to be practically unnoticeable; walked quietly toward Sal and Paolo with his arms  hanging lose alongside his body, and addressing the later, said calmly over the noise, "Hello, I'm Dr. Hannibal Lecter, how do you do?"

The other man, taken back by the approach, took his eyes from his father in law and turned to Hannibal.

Dr. Lecter, unfolded the Harpies as he lifted his arms and with firm, ferocious strokes slashed both of  Delponti wrists twice, once with  the outwards stroke and once on the back stroke to bring his arms back to the down position.

Paolo Delponti dropped the gun, some of the tendons and muscles of his wrists slashed along with the veins, Paolo looked at his wrists, he no longer had use of his hands,  then in mild shock began to babble,  "I'm going to bleed to death" his voice sounded high and carried  a hint of hysteria , "you are not going to let me bleed to death, " looking up at Hannibal, he went on in a shrill, " you are a Medical Doctor, you've taken an oath."

Hannibal Lecter turned his head to the side and gave him a curious look, then  proceeded to verify that the blades of the Harpies were clean before carefully folding them slowly and  placing them back in his pockets.

Clarice picked up the fallen gun and wedged it inside the waist of her pants.

Sal Maugeri directed his attention to his wife and son, while the Dr. at last addressed Delponti question.

"Those wrists are going to need extensive repair. " he agreed.  "First I'll reassure myself Rachel didn't have a coronary, then I'll take care of Luke, and then see to the condition of Franz Rosencranz, in the meantime, I'm sure Sal has many questions to ask from you and I'll add some myself, when I finish making my rounds." the calm politeness in his voice was chilling. "If you can give us the information we are seeking, then we'll see about your wrists. "

On second thought he added. "Keep your wrists on the couch so as not to bleed on the floor. Blood is very slippery, an accidental fall will only add to the list of patients ahead of you."

Clarice pulled him to the side, kissed him on the cheek while she chuckled and  murmured "my hero," then asked, "you are not going to patch him, are you?"

"Not unless, our hosts ask otherwise," he answered calmly, his eyes twinkling as he winked and peeked her on the cheek.

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All right enough for now. Please comment.

Thanks for reading

Clariz