Chapter 38

To say that Hannibal Lecter loses his composure often is incorrect. He has always been calm and collected in even the most tragic of situations, but this was unfamiliar territory even for him. His innocent boy, the little lamb that he and Clarice had raised was captured by a wolf.

Clarice embraced Hannibal wrapping her arms around him tightly after he told her of the phone call.

"This man has greatly underestimated our abilities and overestimated his own. We will hunt him down Hannibal. Simple as that."

Hannibal took a step back so that he could look Clarice in the eyes, "Of course my love. But whatever we do must be don't discreetly and quietly. We need to go to the festival and find Amelia's car. Our search starts there."

Clarice took the time to prepare a small backpack full of some useful equipment that Hannibal and her had taken when they were on the hunt for criminals. Hannibal prepped the car. They had made it downtown to the festival in no time. Hannibal had kept his phone on him the whole time waiting for any sort of phone call. Not that he expected one right away. First they would get the boy somewhere secure and hash out a plan to contact. The first contact was accidental because Henry had managed to call him first. All in all this meant that Henry must have escaped his captors at some point. So perhaps someone at the festival caught sight of their son running and had some idea of what had transpired.

Hannibal and Clarice drove around for about 10 minutes before they finally found Amelia's car. When they checked the area surrounding the car, they found nothing other than a very small amount of blood on the concrete by the car door.

"Seems like an odd pattern." Clarice remarked.

"Most likely done with some blunt object. If it were a knife it would create more volume of blood splatter in a linear pattern." Hannibal noted.

"And if it were a gunshot then it would have looked more like a spraying pattern, and it would be more messy." Clarice added.

Hannibal concluded, "Then it must have been something blunt. Most likely Amelia's blood. Because Henry called me in a panic and I couldn't hear Amelia anywhere in the background of the phone call. Let's look around a little more."

They walked down the next street and noted police cars all around. They decided to investigate. People were gathered all around in shock and awe. A woman had been shot. The police placed a blanket over the body to hide it from the public eye. There was so much noise and talking amongst the people and Hannibal and Clarice made every attempt they could at listening to each person to see if they had mentioned anything about a boy. But no one said anything. The only piece of the story they could get was that someone had found her body around the corner after a loud thud noise and people screaming. Clarice caught a glimpse at the body. She wanted to make sure it wasn't Amelia and she was relieved when it wasn't.

Hannibal and Clarice stepped back away from the crowd. "Interesting that no one heard a gun shot. Whoever these people are, this is no hack job. They had to have used silencers." Clarice trailed off in thought.

Hannibal placed his hand on her shoulder, "We will get him back Clarice. I promise."

"I know."

"Let's take one last look around by the vehicle. Since they didn't take Amelia's, they probably already had a getaway car nearby."

"Right."

As they approached the car Hannibal caught a glimpse of motion out of the corner of his eye. He held Clarice's hand and squeezed twice. Clarice kept on walking as if nothing was happening, but she understood Hannibal's message. She stepped off walking away form the car and placed herself in between two big SUVs. She watched Amelia's car from a distance while Hannibal approached straight on. Hannibal noticed the figure kept following him. Hannibal flicked his wrist and his knife he kept in his sleeve slid down into his palm, ready for action.

He cupped the knife so as to keep it hidden. Hannibal pulled out of his other pocket, the spare keys to Amelia's car and began unlocking the door slowly. The game? That was simple. Hannibal would wait til the figure approaching was right next to him then Clarice would come from behind and they would force the individual into the vehicle. Simple, effective, easy to resist struggle with the knife in hand.

The person of interest approached and Hannibal placed the key in the car door and opened it slightly. Clarice saw the man approaching. She positioned herself behind him and waited til he was within arm's reach of Hannibal and pushed him from behind.

The man fell forward and Hannibal brought the knife to his throat, "Get in the car, now."

The man slipped inside while Clarice and Hannibal joined him in the backseat..

He was a small lean man with black hair and an olive complexion. He was whimpering and shaking. Clarice looked at Hannibal and Hannibal looked back at her. This man was not part of the group that had taken their son, then who was he?

Clarice pulled out her gun and clicked the safety off. The man's eyes began tearing up. Clarice placed the gun against the back of his head, "Speak!" she exclaimed.

The man held his hands up showing a phone and began, "My name is Giovanni. I saw you looking over the car and the blood splatter on the ground, and I saw you checking on the woman who had been shot. Earlier, there was a boy who was screaming for his father. I…"

"Have you told anyone else?" Hannibal interrupted.

"Of course. I called the police, and they said they would be here soon. So..so if you are the boy's parents maybe you can talk to the authorities and…"

Clarice grabbed him by the shirt, "How long ago?"

Giovanni looked confused, "Maybe 20 minutes ago. But they found the woman dead in the street…I."

Hannibal opened the car door and turned around to face Giovanni, "Get out, you are coming with us now."

Clarice and Hannibal hid their weapons, but Giovanni was ever mindful of them. He followed them back to their vehicle. Hannibal sat in the front seat to drive and Clarice sat in the back with Giovanni.

Hannibal drove off fast to leave the festival, and as soon as they hit the highway, Clarice broke the silence again, "Explain everything you saw and explain the order of events. If anything is out of line, you die. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"Go."

"I was at the festival, enjoying my day….and…and I saw these men fighting this woman from afar. I pulled out my phone and caught the whole thing on film. I saw a little boy running. He was…he was crying for his father. They managed to catch him too after he got away from them. They put them into the back of this vehicle and drove off. I called the police and they told me to stay there until they arrived. But when they got close they were flagged down by some of the locals because they found that dead woman. They told me they had to wait for back up to arrive first. So I waited by the car. I saw you two inspecting the scene….I thought that maybe you two were looking for the boy. I heard you say 'We will get him back.'"

Hannibal looked at Clarice through the rear view mirror. Hannibal stopped by the train station and parked the car.

Giovanni spoke again, "Why did you take me? Don't you want to talk to the police? Don't you want help? Who the hell are…"

He was silenced when Hannibal held up his knife, "Giovanni…I am giving you two choices and two choices only. Understand them well and do not hesitate. Option number one, you hand over that phone and you leave with this." Hannibal held up his other hand that clasped a sizable amount of money. "If you take this, you are not to speak to the authorities again and if they press you, you say that you didn't see a thing or perhaps you were drunk and don't recall the events correctly. You tell no one about these events, or about my wife and I. As far as you are concerned, we are ghosts. We just disappeared."

Giovanni was eyeballing the cash long and hard, "What is option 2?"

Clarice held her gun against Giovanni's temple and spoke "This is option two. I blow your brains out and I take the phone from your lifeless body."

Hannibal chimed in, "Do you understand the singular idea that both options have in common Giovanni because it is the most important?"

Giovanni was sweating, "That no matter what I am to remain silent or be silenced?"

"Correct."

Giovanni was shaking, "Got it. No more questions. I will take the money, and I never saw you two. Don't know who you are."

Giovanni handed Clarice his phone and Hannibal gave the money to Giovanni.

Hannibal spoke up one last time before Giovanni left, "Thank you Giovanni. I hope you understand that I wish these were more pleasant circumstances, but this is instrumental in getting to the bottom of this situation. Take the train here back to the festival."

"Yes sir."

Giovanni left the car and ran back to the train station to purchase a ticket.

Clarice let out a harsh sigh, "Hannibal this is a huge breakthrough."

Hannibal nodded, "Come. Let's hurry back home and look at the video."

The men had taken Henry to a large, dark warehouse. Graffiti covered the outside of the building and it stunk of mold.

Henry was smart he tried not to make too many sounds, but made note of everything around him. The drive to the warehouse took about 3 hours to get to from the festival. Unfortunately, they kept a blindfold over him the whole way so geographically speaking he had no idea what direction they traveled in. Amelia was with him in the car but they separated the two of them once they arrived at the warehouse. He hadn't heard or seen her since then. One of the bigger men that the others called Leo took Henry to a back room. The inside was set up much like an office with a desk, computer, TV, bookshelf, etc. A man sat behind the desk with a cigar hanging from his mouth. His hair was slicked back and he had a full beard and mustache. He looked strong and muscular and had a distinct tattoo on his forearm. Henry did not know what the mark meant, but he noticed everyone had one in the same spot.

Leo announced, "Here he is boss."

The man looked up over his computer and smiled, "Ah! So you must be Henry! I am very, very excited to meet you. Please have a seat."

Leo grabbed Henry's arm and forced him into the chair that sat across from the desk.

The boss scoffed, "Easy Leo! He is our honored guest. Leave us here and get back to our preparations."

Leo turned to leave the room and slammed the door shut behind him.

Now it was just Henry and this mystery man. He stood up and poured himself a drink and sat back down. Henry stood so very still he could have been mistaken for a statue if it weren't for his eyes following the man.

"Henry, my name is Elijah. I am sorry we had to meet like this. But I couldn't leave you a moment longer. As a matter of fact!" He glanced at his watch, "It is still your birthday right? I got you something."

He pulled a present out from under the desk. It was a blue box with green ribbon. Elijah slid the box across the desk.

"Go on, open it."

Henry hesitated, "My Dad told me not to accept things from strangers."

Elijah laughed a big hearty laugh, "That is rich Henry. You are a very funny young man." Elijah leaned forward in his chair, "but you have been living with strangers your whole life Henry."

"What?"

"Your mother, your father….what are their names?"

Henry opened his mouth to speak but Elijah held up his hand, he tossed a file to Henry with the word Knight written on the outside.

"Open it."

Henry did as instructed and found pictures of his Dad and Mom but both of them were dressed very differently. His Dad was wearing what looked like a prison uniform with a mask covering his face. His Mom was smiling in her photo with her FBI badge in her hand. On the file was a list of names.

"What are all these names?"

"Those are the false identities of your parents. All the ones they have used thus far that I could find. They are hard people to follow Henry."

"You are lying!"

Elijah pulled out another file, except this one was labeled as Lecter. Henry opened it up but immediately shut it back closed. The images were gruesome. Dead bodies hung up, one was an image of a man with his back spread apart like wings. Henry felt nauseous.

"These….these aren't real!"

Next Elijah turned on the TV. What was playing was a video of Hannibal in the insane asylum. They were doing some sort of check up.

Henry watched with big eyes, "Daddy?"

Then the film showed Hannibal attacking a nurse biting her face with such ferocity. Henry was terrified.

"I have more Henry….and I want you to watch these with me. I want you to understand . I want to help you."

Elijah turned the TV off and walked around the desk and sat down in front of Henry.

"That is all made up! It has to be! I…I….that looked like my Dad but…."

Elijah frowned, "That was your father Henry. Your father was Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter. A mass murderer. He has gone into hiding. Your mother was former FBI agent Clarice Starling. She was a magnificent agent. Unfortunately, your father manipulated her and poisoned her mind. That is why it is up to us to rescue her Henry. We must rescue your mother from your father. She is not safe with him."

Henry's breathing increased rapidly. Elijah handed Henry the box and opened it for him. What was inside made Henry drop the box on the ground. Inside was a gun.

"What…what is that for?"

"Henry. This is for you. No one can save your mother except for you. This is your protection from him. I will leave you in this room for a while. I know it is a lot to process. The computer is set up with lots of videos and pictures. There are also more files. Take your time, but I want you to read these things. I will come get you later."

Elijah picked up the contents of the box and left Henry alone in the room. Elijah locked the door and had a surveillance camera on Henry.

Leo chimed in, "How did the boy take the news?"

"Everything is going according to plan."

Leo shook his head, "I don't understand this round -a-bout method you are doing."

Elijah looked at the surveillance camera, "Leo, what you don't understand is that I don't want to kill Hannibal and I don't want any of you to be the ones to kill him. No….Henry will be the one to kill him when the time comes. I want to see Hannibal in pain and I want him lost; I want to see him suffer. And what better way, Leo, for a man to see his pride and joy, his little boy, to be the one to end his life."