Author's Note: Thank you to everyone for the reviews, words of encouragement, and for just reading the story. This is the second to the last chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter Fourteen: Salvation
The warehouse was as silent as the grave. If one were to strain their ears though, they would only hear the breathing of the people inside. The three agents stood there with no expressions on their faces. In each of their eyes however was a different emotion. They had their guns positioned at the man and woman in front of them. The woman breathed in harshly, not wanting to move. The man, however, was cool and calm. He seemed not to need to blink. It was one of the agents who spoke first.
"Put down the weapon, Dr. Lecter. No one needs to get hurt," said Lugo.
"Your right that no one needs to get hurt, but I will not put down my weapon. If you were to– how does the expression go– let me walk out through the back door, I'll let Special Agent Starling go, unharmed."
"We can't let you do that," said Agent Ratcliffe.
Starling was so confused. Her mind raced with millions of thoughts yet she couldn't concentrate on them. She tried not to move as her arm was now on fire, the pain becoming unbearable. Her elbow was not made to bend at that angle for a long period of time. Some of hair came loose and hung on the side of her face. She looked at the Agents in front of her and saw Deming move to the side a little. She saw that his gun was pointed a little above her shoulder. She heard a single gunshot.
She felt her arm being let go and heard a deadened thump behind her. She breathed in harshly, not daring to look behind her. She moved her now free arm and looked up at the other agents. Lugo and Ratcliffe were stunned. Deming was smiling arrogantly. She heard a hiss of breath behind her. She slowly turned her head to see Dr. Lecter lying on his back, blood seeping from a wound on his shoulder. The bullet looked as if it had went clean through. His eyes met hers. Not even thinking of her actions, she bent down and ordered him to sit up slowly. She saw the disconcerted look in his eyes but he did as he was told.
"What are you doing, Starling?" she heard Deming's voice say.
She began to tug off the coat he wore and shred it into long pieces. She didn't answer Deming. Dr. Lecter stared at her as if seeing her in a new light.
"Step away from him, Starling." This time she couldn't tell who spoke.
Ever so slowly she moved her right hand to her ankle. She motioned with her eyes to get Dr. Lecter to look at the direction she was looking at. His expression never changed. She stood up slowly, pulling the .45 out of her ankle holster. She turned around. Only three gun reports sounded. All three agents dropped to the floor. She ran to them and kicked their guns into the middle of the room. When she got to Deming, he tried to lift his gun with his wounded arm. She shot his wrist off. An agonized scream issued out. Ratcliffe and Lugo both cradled their arms and moved out of her way. Lugo was amazed at what she saw. Later when she will write her report on the incident, she will write that Special Agent Starling had lost her mind. Clarice walked back to Dr. Lecter.
"Can you walk?"
"Yes."
She helped him up and put an arm around his waist to steady him. All three agents watched as she helped Dr. Lecter out of the building. Neither moved for a full five minutes. Once outside, Clarice hailed a taxi.
"Your going to have to direct him, Hannibal. My german is not up to scratch."
"The Kempinski Hotel Vier Jahrezeiten."
While on the way to his hotel, she bound the wound tighter. He only winced once.
"We have to find you a doctor, fast." she whispered to him.
He only nodded in reply.
"I can't go in like this," he said when they were parked out side the hotel. She nodded. He reached into his pants pocket and gave her his key.
"Remember to check all the draws. My suitcase is in the closet. Don't worry about my clothes. Just grab all the paper documents."
His face looked unusually pale. She nodded and sprinted into the building. She took no notice of the people staring at her nor of the beautiful surroundings. She found his room rather quickly, gathering everything he owned in less than five minutes. She found him outside of the hotel with a pair of car keys in his hand.
"I'm parked just over here. Your going to have to drive."
She accepted the keys and looked at the car he indicated. It was a Mercedes Maybach. She put his luggage in the trunk and got into the drivers seat. After driving for twenty minutes outside of Munich, the Doctor directed her to a hidden estate about fifteen minutes off the main road. Clarice watched him carefully. He was starting to look as pale as the first time she met him. She parked in front of the house and helped the doctor out of the car. A small fragile looking old woman answered the door. Dr. Lecter spoke to her for a moment. Her eyes widened and she walked away as quickly as she could. Dr. Lecter made his way into the foyer with Clarice still supporting him. An older gentleman then rushed into the room.
"Aber was den!" he said.
Clarice looked to the doctor for an answer.
"He wants you to follow him."
The gentleman lead them into a small room. He stripped off the bed sheets and pointed to it. Dr. Lecter walked to it and laid down. Starling didn't know what to do so she stood by the door.
"Vhat have you been doing, Herr Doktor, to warrant such a vound?" the man spoke in very broken English.
"The usual I'm afraid, my friend," replied Dr. Lecter.
The gentleman walked around the room and pulled out various medical instruments. Dr. Lecter sat up once more and tried to pull off the make-shift bandages and his blood soaked shirt. Clarice rushed to his side and began to help.
"Thank you," he said while meeting her eyes.
She gave him a small smile.
"I've been terribly rude, Clarice. Let me introduce you to Herr Doktor Alois Schrader. Schrader, this is Clarice Starling."
Schrader looked up for a second and nodded to her.
"It's nice to meet you, Miss Starling. If you vill excuse me, I need to start vorking on de doktor."
"Of course," she said.
"You'll be valking around ehe man sich's versieht."
It amused her the way that Schrader switched from English to German in mid sentence. He bent over Dr. Lecter and began to examine the wound. He poured a bottle of antiseptics on it. Dr. Lecter hissed through his teeth.
"Damn it, man. You could have a least warned me."
Schrader chuckled.
"Your very lucky, Hannibal. The bullet did no extensive damage. You haf lost a lot of blood but vith bed rest and plenty of liquids you should be up in no time. The bullet did not exit either. I vill just stitch you up."
He threaded a needle. Dr. Lecter stared at the ceiling as Schrader closed the wound. Starling settled herself down in a chair by the corner. The past couple hours had seemed like a dream to her. It was surreal. She felt like she was out of her body. She tried not to pay attention to it.
"All done," said Schrader, "if you vill excuse me."
He left the room. Clarice looked at Dr. Lecter. There was a vertical row of about fifteen stitches running down his shoulder. If he was lucky he will only get a thin scar. She suddenly thought that it will mirror her own scar. His eyes were closed. She got up as quietly as she can so as not to disturb him and walked towards the bed. She sat down lightly.
"Clarice."
She caressed his cheek, seeing his eyes open again.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine. I only hope my shoulder won't give me any trouble after this. How are you?"
Looking into those maroon eyes, she answered him.
"I don't know. It seems so cataleptic to me. They probably already have a warrant out for my arrest. I don't know how I feel about that."
"Like I've said before, Clarice. You lack perspective. Now you can do whatever you please. You do not have the bureau to boss you around and shun you. You'll revel in your new found freedom soon. It will be all that will matter to you..."
"That won't be true to me," she whispered.
He raised an eyebrow.
"How so?"
"You matter to me."
She leaned forward and their lips met. It was a gentle kiss until he wrapped his "good" arm around her and pulling her closer. Schrader chose that moment to walk back in.
"Hannibal, I vas vondering if—."
He stopped dead and left the room. Both Clarice and Dr. Lecter laughed until he silenced her again. Her face was flushed when she finally pulled away from him. She became very quiet and had a serious look in her eye. She opened her mouth to speak, but he interrupted her.
"I want to apologize for what I did at that warehouse. It was probably a very uncomfortable position I put you in."
"Would you have killed me?"
Her eyes searched his face for an answer. He laid there avoiding her eyes. It was silent for a couple of minutes.
"You just told me, Hannibal," started Clarice, "that all that matters to you is your freedom. Would you have killed me to gain it?"
"No," he said quietly. "If I had done that I would have shackled myself to your memory. You would haunt me the rest of my life like my sister does now..."
"Sister?"
His eyes met hers. He could see her going through her memories of the case file on him. He had thought Mischa would have been in it.
"Mischa. She died very young, too young. I did not kill my own sister," he said at her questioning look, "quiet the opposite. I tried to protect her, but a group of starving Nazis pulled her away from me. That was the last time I saw her."
"That's horrible," said Clarice quietly.
He nodded. Taking her hand in his. She smiled faintly. Schrader glanced into the room and then walked in when he was sure he was not interrupting anything.
"Frau Starling, I took the liberty of securing another pair of clothing for you. I'm sure you vould like to wash up and change?"
Starling looked down at her own clothes and noticed for the first time that she was covered in blood.
"Thank you, Dr. Schrader."
Dr. Lecter kissed her hand and watched her walk out of the room. The old maid was waiting for her and showed her upstairs. Dr. Schrader turned to Dr. Lecter.
"I have not see you in quite a while, my friend," said Schrader in his native tongue.
"I've been traveling and avoiding the authorities," smirked Dr. Lecter. "Surely you get the news down in this secluded place."
"I do. If I'm not mistaken that woman, Clarice, was the one who was supposed to be on your case. Do you trust her? She use to work for that infernal institute."
"With my life."
"Hmm... I'm not going to ask you what happened because I will probably find out tomorrow," said Schrader as he rose from his seat.
"Rest, my friend. Your going to need it. We'll talk in the morning."
