Aside from Adam, the characters belong to Thomas Harris. Whom we have to thank for many things, indeed.
Thanks to all the kind readers who are following this fiction with such enthusiasm, I hope to maintain your interest throughout the coming chapters.
Chapter 10
False Safety
After breakfast, while Clarice fed Adam, the doctor disappeared for a few minutes; then returned with a large box that he set beside the table and proceeded to open.
"I think you are going to like this. I bought it yesterday in a whim on my way to your cottage." While he talked he removed from the box a folded Jogging Stroller and proceeded to unfold it.
"Oh! I've seen women jogging while pushing those. They are neat!" she found the prospective of jogging quite stimulating.
"We are in the center of a 5 acre property, Clarice, and there are paths on each side of the house leading to a single path that runs along the fencing that surrounds the property, you can use it as a jogging track. The fresh air will be good for both you and Adam, specially now, that the pollen season is over and the air is clean."
"You are coming with us!" Clarice declared sounding as if she wouldn't take no for an answer.
The Doctor tilted his head in the manner that was characteristic and stared at her curiously. She chuckled.
"Come on, is good for you, a little exercise will keep you in shape."
After jogging, they both took turns showering, not for lack of bathrooms, but because by unspoken agreement they never left Adam unattended. Clarice was the last one to shower and when she returned to the living room the doctor mentioned that he wanted to go out to get a few things.
"By yourself?" she asked tensely
"Well... I...yes, I thought..."
"No." she interrupted, more forcefully than intended.
"No?" there was an almost imperceptible edge in his voice
"No, please, don't leave us here, I'd get concerned about your safety and claustrophobic because I don't have any means of transportation just in case of ..."something."
He didn't even bother to challenge her logic.
"I see… Well, then we'll have to consider getting another car; eventually one of us is going to have to go inside a mall or supermarket; and soon it will get too hot for the other to wait in the truck with the baby."
She considered for a few beats
"Naturally I'd prefer that we go together, but the idea of waiting in the car makes me just as claustrophobic. Yet today, I'd rather we come along."
"All right, let's get ready them" he responded, the picture of agreeability.
During dinner, while the baby was sleeping and the TV remained on with CNN playing mute with the captions on, Clarice suddenly decided to ask the question that that had been nudging her.
"Don't you think is odd, that there are no reports of the death of the two goons that you dispatched by the rented cottage?"
"I don't know what to think, Clarice, they certainly must have been discovered by now. Do you suppose that their mission was so clandestine that their murder would be undisclosed to the press?"
"Well, if they are trying to commit a crime to hide another, then their unnatural deaths will be covered up. In fact we didn't even know who they were, whether they were official or off the books." Clarice reasoned. "And that makes it all the more sinister."
Once they finished their dinner, they moved to the living room for coffee, while they listened to Bach playing softly in the background.
The Doctor observed Clarice silently for a while as she sipped her coffee and after dinner liqueur.
"I'm pleased at how well you are holding up, Clarice." his voice was warm and soothing
She met his eyes with candid honesty and smiled.
"I'm fine, mostly thanks to you. I have total faith in your ability to avoid capture." She shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly as if implying that in his company, safety was a given.
"I feel absolutely safe here with you, even in the mist of all this chaos, and I like the feeling." She paused a second, looked at her hands and then back at him, her tone reflected a little surprise when she said : "In fact, I can't remember a time when I felt this safe, if ever."
He nodded, smiled vaguely, and waited for her to go on, thinking, all the while, how odd her statement might sound to anyone outside the room.
"Eventually I will like your help to sort out some thoughts and feelings. But first, I want a few days to try and sort others on my own." She seemed a little tentative. "Let's say a couple of days..."
"I'm not pressing you for anything, Clarice; you'll be ready when you are ready." He smiled with mischief, "Remember, 'All good things to those who wait'...so I'm patient.
Remember though: you don't owe me anything! Gratitude and sacrifice are not the feelings we want to bring to the table."
She looked at him in silence, digesting his words slowly. Small noises from the bassinet distracted them and the doctor stood up. "Don't get up, Clarice, I'll get him"
He picked up the infant and placed him on the crock of his left arm, holding his head in his hand like a football, while with the other hand flipped up the diaper changing module of the portable crib, placed the baby on it and strapped him.
"You need clean diapers, young man," he admonished seriously, in a manner so uncharacteristic that Clarice chortled.
"Your mama thinks we are funny. Imagine that?...she is making fun of the Lecters!...we'll have to take care of that, ah?...What do you say?
When he opened the baby's diaper, the doctor stopped and turned to Clarice.
"Clarice, the baby is 4 days old, we can remove the clip from his navel now."
She gave him a curious look.
"Hmm...the pediatrician told me to keep it for what, one or two weeks?" the last two words carried a note of curious dismay
The doctor brought on finger across his lips to indicate silence, then made a gesture with his hand across Adam's belly, not unlike the one he made when he wanted her to scan the baby seat.
Without a word Clarice got the scanner. When she turned it on and approached the baby, the machine promptly lit up.
The doctor removed the clip without hesitation, handed it to Clarice, replaced the gauze pad that covered Adam's navel, then quickly wiped, diapered and dressed him with a stretchy that he fetched from a bin on a lower shelve of the unit. Finally he picked up the boy, leaned over and whispered in Clarice's ear
"What are you going to do with it, how do you deactivate it?"
She made a gesture to indicate that he should follow her and he did, carrying Adam against his chest. Clarice went to the kitchen and placed the clip on a cutting board, then took a small pointy knife from one of the drawers and pried it open, "Bingo!" she said while she removed the small chip.
"A tracking device", she announced, triumphantly, showing him the tiny chip that she held carefully between her thumb and index fingers. Then she placed it on the cutting board, took a meat tenderizing mallet from the Doctor's utensil holder, lifted it, and brought it down on the chip with all her might, shattering it in a million pieces.
"There, "now it's deactivated."
"Why do you suppose they haven't shown up yet, Clarice?
"When you picked me up at the cottage, and we went back to check the bodies of the two that had been watching me, I disabled the receiver they had in the car. The bodies were probably not missed until the next day, so that gave us a head start. We are quite a distance away right now and they'll have to produce a much stronger receiver to pick up the signal of this particular chip, and even after they produce the receiver they'll have to have luck in their side to aim at the right direction." Once she finished the explanation she looked down at her hand, back at the Doctor,
"It would be wise to consider leaving as soon a possible; there is no doubt that our security has been compromised. We might have to go to a hotel, and then keep moving on from one to another."
"I have that covered, Clarice"
"Ah?" she looked at him, once again amazed by his planning.
"Before I came back to the US, I made sure to rent several properties such as this one, all across the country, covering every possible exit route. Just in case I had to drive with an infant, while killing time until he had enough immunity to travel abroad by plane. The cost is not much higher than that of a good hotel, but the privacy is priceless.
That is why I only bought several portable cribs and other portable items, bassinets, changing table, etc. So that if one house became unsafe, I could pick up the baby paraphernalia, put it in the back of the Expedition, and drive away to the next location.
I wasn't sure then that you'll come along, but I was hopeful."
Clarice looked at him in awe
"To think that I once hoped to track you down...is laughable. I'm no match for you."
The doctor stared at her characteristically tilting his head to one side.
"You are quite a match for me, Clarice. Never doubt that!" he seemed amused "Why don't you go to your bedroom, put the baby in the bassinet and start preparing the contents of the nursery to load them all in the truck. There are suitcases in the linen closet right outside your bedroom, use what you need. I'll fold this portable unit here and start preparing too."
"Are you going to start loading the truck now?" she sounded a little breathless
"No, we'll keep the truck in the garage until we have everything ready to load, then I'll bring it in front of the door and we'll load everything at once and be gone. It works better that way."
Clarice took the baby from him and headed for her bedroom. The fist thing she did was place the baby in the bassinet, hook the Harpy in her right pocket, where she could swing it out in one sweep, then strapped her small gun to her ankle and wedged her K-frame Smith and Wesson on the waistband of her pants.
In ten minutes she had cleaned up her closet and drawers and filled two suitcases.
She put the baby in a warmer pair of pajamas and set aside a blanket in preparation for the car ride, then, working fast she began to fold the dressing table, and one of the bassinets.
She was in the process of lining up all the folded items in the hallway when the Doctor called her from the kitchen.
"Clarice, dear, come to the kitchen and bring the baby, we have company." His voice sounded casual but, to her ears, slightly restrained."
"Coming, just give me a second" she called, back equally casual
While she picked up the baby, Clarice thoughts went back to Ivelda Drumgo, then placed him in the sling across her chest, and like Ivelda before her, covered him partially with a blanket that concealed the weapon in her right hand. She was more outraged than concerned and felt confident enough in her skills to handle whatever awaited.
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C