| 3rd Page of BOUND. At some point early in the conversation with Crawford, she realized that he always seemed to be there whenever she had a run-in with her superiors � both in his �supportive� calls to her in the aftermath of whatever current unpleasantness had occurred and, more importantly, in the general atmosphere of wariness that had followed her through the bureau since graduation. She was in no mood for his peculiar brand of encouragement this time, and ended the call quickly, telling him that she had decided to take advantage of her temporary exile and had travel plans to make. The sputtering on his end when she told him she had wanted to see Florence for some time now was most particularly rewarding. Had she really decided to go to Italy on the spur of the moment because she knew it would make Jack Crawford uneasy? No. There was a far more compelling reason than Crawford, but she swept it aside. If Crawfish and everyone else in the Bureau was determined to be spooked by her, then it was high time she did something to deserve it... at least that�s what she�d told herself at the time. It was a convenient excuse, and close enough to truth to allow her to believe it. Section 3 Florence was beautiful. It was easy to see why he was so taken with it. She was staying at a small hotel situated on a hillside just out of the city proper. It had taken only a couple of days to get her bearings and develop something of a routine. For the past three days, she�d spent her mornings visiting museums and wandered over the city in the afternoons. It was during one of these afternoon strolls that she spotted him. He was across the piazza from the small caf� where she was finishing her lunch. She thought at the time that he hadn�t seen her, but she wasn�t so sure by the time she caught up to him. She wasn�t even sure just who it was that had spotted whom. No, that was wrong. Lecter had obviously let her catch a glimpse of him and led her exactly where he wanted her to go. And she had followed dutifully. She�d hurried after him, just barely managing to keep him in sight as he led her to a less traveled section of the city. She�d had no idea what she would actually do once she caught up to him. Airline security being what it was these days, she had declined to bring her gun, not wanting to manage the paperwork required to carry it on board. She had only her badge and a spare pair of handcuffs that she�d tucked away in her purse and forgotten about until they set off the metal detector when she went through security at JFK. She�d had no business following Lecter at all. Quite simply, she should have contacted the local police and alerted the Bureau that Lecter was in Florence. And yet, here she was. At some point she had realized that he must know she was there, that he was leading her somewhere out of the way... and still she had continued to follow. She had an image of a ship crashing into a rocky shore after following a siren�s call, but quickly shut it out before she could think about what she was doing. She ignored the obvious recklessness of this little game and followed. She�d already followed him to Florence, was this so really so much farther? And now she knew where he had been leading her. Where he was leading was this church that appeared to be the only one in Florence not over-run with tourists. Why here she had no idea, but she was sure this had been his destination. This was where he had let her catch him, after all. He had stepped up to a door and was about to open it when she reached him... and now she was handcuffed to the FBI�s most wanted. Be careful what you wish for, Starling. She heard the distinctly unhelpful voice in her head and noted that this particular advice was about 5 years overdue. Section 4 �How very brave of you, Agent Starling.� Amusement danced in his deep maroon eyes as he went on. �I can�t easily call to mind anyone else who might wish to be handcuffed to me.� She took a moment to catch her breath and then responded in a voice that sounded far stronger than she felt. �I suspect if you had wanted to kill me, Doctor, I would have been dead long before this.� He chuckled softly, but said nothing. Turn page to next part of story.... |