Jack had been called along with Will when the next new victim had been showed up. It was Paul Carruthers, a psychiatrist who had been found dead in his office with all of his blood drained and packed; a note asking to send the blood bags to the Red Cross for donation.

It was clear that Gideon was the one behind that attack but they were not sure why until Will took notice of the mouse that had been left in the dead man's hand. A few clicks and his computer came to life, only to see that the page it showed was none other than .

Jack paled upon seeing the latest article, written recently by Freddie about Gideon's escape; calling him the Cheasepeak Reaper.

"Son of a bitch, Rana was right" he muttered, realizing that her suggestion to look after Freddie was right all along.

Without wasting any time, he grabbed his phone and dialled her number. If Gideon had read the article or worse the Reaper did, Freddie would be the next victim and that meant that Rana could be in trouble.

His pulse started to quicken as the line kept ringing but there was no answer. That was unlike Rana, for she always answered her phone, no matter what. Memories of his time with Miriam flashed into his mind and his blood ran cold.

"You three, stay here with the body. Will, with me and the rest of the field agents too!" he ordered and rushed to leave the room, making everyone look at him with confused expressions written on their faces but they followed his order nonetheless.


Jack drove like a madman on the rather empty streets of Baltimore, two cars already behind him as they all passed the speed limit. At first, Will was confused until Jack had told him that Rana was supposed to keep watch for Freddie and was not picking up her phone.

It was then, that the male Wolfskin understood the importance of the moment as the worst scenarios passed through his mind and did not stop until they had reached the motel where the reporter was temporarily residing.

They exited the car and they noticed Rana's car having been left there, engine off and cold; indicating that she had left her car for quite some time now. Jack sent two of his men into the motel to ask questions while he started to look around, his eyes falling on the dark alley by the side of the old building.

Both he and Will grabbed their guns as they slowly marched into it, the light of the street lamps behind them offering only a small illumination.

"Jack" Will called out his name upon spotting something, his hands lowering the gun and his lips parted with surprise.

Just ahead of them, Rana's FBI Wallet badge lay open in the middle of the alley. Blood had stained it at one side as it had been discarded there, the picture of the female agent smeared by the red liquid.

Not too far away, a small puddle of blood had formed and there were drops of blood in other places as well.

"No...no..." Jack muttered, feeling as if he was back at the moment he lost Miriam.


Rana slipped in and out of consciousness for a while now, having lost track of time during the process. Someone was keeping her dragged for a long time; based on the sharp pain she felt often at the side of her neck. Her head felt heavy, hanging forward as her muscles were often too stiff or weak to actually move it.

Her body felt restrained and cramped, not having been moved from that position for quite a while. Her mouth was dry and her head was pounding, causing one heck of a migraine to just drill its way into the lobes of her mind.

As she tried to focus slowly on her body and her surroundings, memories would flash in and out; replaying themselves like some old movie.

"Don't worry, we will get out of this together' a familiar male voice said, reassuring her in a moment of personal worry.

"Who do you work for?!" another voice had shouted, followed by the sound of a slap.

"You watch little girl for he pays it first"

And last it was her own voice. "Thomas!" she shouted the man's name, voice cracking as the feeling of warm blood splattered across her face.

She could faintly hear the sound of a man shouting in pain, gunshots and eventually screams of men as they begged for their lives. The warm feeling of blood coating her body, soaking through her skin and leaving a metallic aftertaste on her lips.

"Monster! You are a monster!"

"Rana?" Jack's voice was heard after all that commotion was over. "What did you do?"

Eventually, the female wolfskin managed to regain control of her mind and her body. With a rather low-hummed groan that came from both the migraine and the soreness of her body, she slowly opened her eyes.

At first, the blinding white lights stung and she had to blink a few times as her vision slowly started to clear from the blurriness. She passed her tongue over her dry lips, feeling her own throat dry but she made no sound about it.

Her white hair fell mostly over her face but she managed to slowly push them to the side with faint movements of her head. A sharp pain came from the side of her head as she did that, realizing she had some fresh injury there that had yet to heal.

"Oh goody, you are finally awake" a familiar female voice said and Rana moved her head towards the source of it.

Her eyes fell on red bouncy locks before focusing on the face of the reporter she had started to truly hate her existence on this planet. However, her glare was only momentary as she focused on other important things.

The place she was in was rather empty but familiar, Gideon nowhere in sight. Yet, a medical table had been placed and on it was Dr. Chiteon, strapped and mostly naked from the waist and up. He was half-awake, fighting off whatever drug he had been under while Freddie was handcuffed to a chair close by.

"This is a cruel joke" Rana muttered, her voice hoarse as she focused on shallowing some saliva down her throat to hydrate it.

She tried to feel more of her body, now noticing that her hands had also been cuffed behind her back and had been tied to some low pole that was used to carry fluids across the room. Her legs had been tied with ropes, tight enough that not enough movement could be done and she was certain some of the blood flow had been restricted; based on the numbness coming from her toes.

She tried to move her body, now seeing that she had been sitting rather uncomfortably on the floor. Her feet had this stinging numbing sensation like hundreds of tiny needles forced into her skin but she fought through it, while she also tried to sense how much freedom her wrists had with those cuffs.

"For someone of your calibre, you got caught easily" Freddie commented, messing with her temper.

"Yeah well," Rana started, trying to focus on moving her body and mostly her legs to slowly loosen up those knots. "Why don't you get drugged next time and let us see how you will fight him off" she spat, clearly not in the mood to talk to her.

Just as she had started to feel more blood rushing into her feet and could see the faintest of strains on those knots, a door was opened and Gideon marched inside. Immediately, Rana stopped moving and placed her legs as they had been; not wanting him to get any suspicions.

"Oh good, our final guest has been awoken," he said, a sadistic smile on his face as he marched her way.

"Yeah, not thanks to you" she muttered, still feeling the effects of the drug in her system.

She could fight them, raise her adrenaline high enough and use her gift to break free. However, with Freddie watching her like a hawk, Rana knew she couldn't. She had to be careful and play the part in order to be successful before more people died; although Dr. Chiteon and Freddie were not really at the top of her list of who needed to be saved.

"Now, now, play nice Agent Stones. You are but the final part in this grand present" he said as he stopped in front of her.

Rana lifted her head, craning her neck in order to have him in her field of view. As humiliating as this position was, she focused none on it but rather on what he had just told her.

"What do you mean?" she asked, clearly trying to figure out his intentions.

"Oh, you will see soon enough," he said as he placed a bandaged hand beneath her chin, keeping her head pushed back as he inspected her like a fine horse during an auction.

Rana felt repulsed by that contact but she did not fail to notice the bandages wrapped around the said arm. Based on her experience, she figured that she had indeed managed to harm him with that last shot; although she had failed to harm any serious organs, unfortunately.


Hannibal had been furious the past 4 days, ever since Gideon had escaped. At first, he kept his cool but first Freddie's article and then the latest murders had started to test his self-control. Dr. Gideon had started to mess with forces he was not aware of but he would soon enough.

When Hannibal found out that he had kidnapped Rana, only then did he see red. Whatever plans he had for Gideon to be exposed and simply killed were long gone out of the window. Instead, he now had new more sadistic and torturous ways of choosing to mess with his mate.

It was clear why he had chosen her and he suspected what Gideon had in mind for her, a mere re-enactment of what he had done to Miriam if at least not close to it. It was then, that Hannibal Lecter chose to become an active participant in this stupid game.

He already suspected where Gideon would be hiding, the man was simply too predictable to truly hide his track correctly. Now, all that was left of Hannibal was to leave his own little message to the FBI; with a direct lead of where to find the copycat and stop him before he tried to harm Rana.

For as much as he wished to do it all himself, he knew that it would risk exposing too much at that moment. He would not take the risk and despite his anger, he knew he could still time and help the FBI to interfere in the nick of time

On top of all, he knew Rana and he was certain that she would not make it easy for Gideon in any way. She was more than capable of defending herself if needed and she could even handle herself just fine without anyone's help; if worse would ever come.


Rana had remained tied where she was but she had a front view of everything that was taking place. While Gideon had his back turned on her, she focused silently on the task she had started before.

If she could get the knots loose and release her legs, her hands would not take that long; judging by the rustiness of that pipe. Perhaps she wouldn't even need to show her other side and she would be able to take down the psychopath in front of her as well.

Dr. Chilton had started to wake up, gaining more of his consciousness but by then; all he could see were the medical drapes across his body and Gideon standing above him. At first, he tried to move but found that he couldn't.

"Did us both a favour and sedated you. You'll be a little fuzzy around the edges but fully aware." He said as he double checked his prepped tray of scalpels. "I've found surgeries are better done with the patient conscious under local or epidural. Reminds me there's a person there trusting me with their life. Not just a piece of meat being manipulated. However, in this instance, I mostly want to see the look on your face."

Dr. Chilton starts to panic. "You're not the Chesapeake Ripper, you don't have to do this." He said, trying to somehow save himself that way.

But Gideon was immune to his tricks by then. "No, I'm not. And yes, I do. You got inside my head, Fredrick. Now I'm getting inside you."

Chilton felt horrified and tried to look away, only for his attention to fall upon Freddie Lounds, who was busy holding a pump ventilator.

Gideon noticed that and smirked. "You've met Freddie Lounds. She'll be assisting me today. More you. I'll have her manually pumping the ventilator to keep you breathing." He explained as a terrified Freddie tried her best not to look the madman in the eyes. "I advise you to behave, Dr. Chilton. Our latest guest has complicated my surgeon skills by shooting my hand" he explained, turning his head to glare at Rana.

The female Wolfskin had been placed and tied at an angle that she could see all three of their faces, although due to her being on the floor; obscured the image of Chilton's body that would soon be ripped open and dissected.

The man of the hour looked at her with horror, his eyes pleading with her to help him and she hated receiving that look. She did want to help him, partially, and she would but nothing was truly as easy as it seemed.

"Before we begin, I have to ask: while you were fumbling with my mind, did you ever think the real Chesapeake Ripper would kill again?" Gideon asked as he focused on Chilton once again.

"He'd be dismissed as a copycat."

"I hope he considers what I'm about to do to you an apology for any part I played in that insult." He explained as he made a long incision along the abdomen, slowly separating the first skin layer as blood started to seep.

"What are you doing?" Chilton asked terrified, but he was not the only one else in the room.

"The Chesapeake Ripper collects Surgical trophies. In the event we never meet, I thought I'd leave him a gift. Or rather a gift basket. A nice basket of his favourite organs and a little extra" he continued, glancing momentarily at Rana.

Her coat had long been ditched somewhere and her shirt had been ripped to one arm, leaving her skin fully exposed. Gideon had done his little work while she was unconscious, going as far as to mark small edged lines with a black marker on her arm; an indication of the place he would eventually cut.

Rana had long realized the role she played in that plan, even before Gideon explained her briefly his idea in a little monologue. The Reaper had killed Jack's first protégé; Miriam and eventually her arm had been found when the copycat had first started to kill.

Now, Gideon aimed to add Rana's arm in the gift basket; since she was Jack's second and last protégé. It was a rather accurate but also sickening comparison between the two cases, a clear representation of the messed up mind of Aibel Gideon.