Here it is: the conclusion.
From part 8:
Pointing the gun solidly on Lois, Denzler issued a warning. “If you feel the need to be heroic, Ms. Lane, don’t be.”
She tried to stay clam, but was terrified that she wouldn’t be fast enough if she attempted to kick the gun out of his hand with her feet taped together.
She couldn’t scream, she couldn’t defend herself, she couldn’t fight back at all, and the sense of helplessness was eating her inside. She was used to catching scum like Denzler when they made a crucial mistake. They’d let their guard down for a second and she’d kick at just the right moment, in just the right place.
But Denzler had been too careful. He hadn’t made that crucial mistake. He hadn’t looked away or gotten distracted. He hadn’t left her with any options.
Time was running out.And now...
* * * * *
**~Part 9~**
Juliana felt groggy as she came to, but the first thing she saw jolted her to full consciousness. She was staring wide-eyed down the barrel of a gun pointed straight at her head. Her mouth went dry, her muscles tensed up, and her heart jumped into her throat. She knew she should struggle or scream, but all she could think about was the silver steel, just inches from her head.
The gun retreated, along with its holder, and she realized that she was bound and gagged and alone with Lois in the back of what looked like a very expensive car. Now that Denzler was no longer pointing a lethal weapon at her head, she began to think more clearly. She hardly remembered what had transpired since she’d answered the call from her husband. Her mind was a blur of emotions, and vague recollections of movements.
Trying to remember was giving her a headache.
The car lurched forward, and she looked at Lois, trying to ask questions with the expressions on her face. Where were they going? What was he planning to do to them? Why was he doing this? How were they going to escape?
It was futile. Lois didn’t know the answers to her questions, even if she’d been able to ask them. Silent tears began to snake their way down her cheeks as she resigned herself to waiting for her unknown fate.
* * * * *
The ride to the mall was painfully slow. Clark looked out the window and watched the city go by. He sat relatively motionless, compared to the speed that he was capable of moving at.
He could be there right now. He could be holding her in his arms, stroking her soft hair, kissing her sweet lips, and whispering comforting words into her ear. He could be tying up Denzler, and crushing his gun with his bare hands and handing him over to the police. He could be doing *something*.
Instead, he was sitting in a cab, waiting for the inferior vehicle to reach his wife in time for him to save her life. He’d faltered for one second when trying to come up with an excuse to give Earl, and now it could cost Lois her life. He had a thousand excuses. He’d been using them for years. And then, when it had mattered the most, his mind had gone blank.
Clark sighed and buried his head in his hands. Earl sat next to him, repeatedly dialing Juliana’s number with no success. After a couple of tries, he’d called the police and they were now on their way to the mall, but he kept trying her number, hoping, praying, that she would answer. She never did.
* * * * *
Denzler looked at his captives in the rear view mirror and smiled. “Good afternoon, ladies. I hope you’re enjoying the ride. We’ll be arriving at our destination shortly.” His passengers did not look amused, but he continued on. “You may be wondering why I’ve requested the honor of your company in this manner. Well, it’s simple, really. Mrs. Gregg, you met Mr. Gendell earlier this afternoon, did you not? Well, we just can’t have that. No one is to be trusted with knowledge of the whereabouts of Mr. Gendell at any moment in time. Except for your husband and I, of course. I have been speaking with Mr. Gendell about the dangers associated with meeting untrustworthy people, but because he hasn’t heeded my warnings, I’ve had to take extreme measures. I’m afraid you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, Mrs. Gregg.”
He moved his gaze from Juliana to Lois and continued, “And as for you, Ms. Lane, well, this has been a pleasant surprise indeed. When I first saw that you were with Mrs. Gregg, I feared that the situation might get messy, but on second evaluation, I’ve realized that this is a pleasant surprise indeed. I was planning on having to purposely mis-schedule your interview with Mr. Gendell, hoping that he would forget the whole idea when you didn’t show up. However, this will be a much better solution to my little problem. You can’t interview him when you’re lying at the bottom of Hobbs Bay.” He smiled, admiring his own cleverness.
“At any rate, I thought I would set your minds at ease.” He pulled into a deserted parking lot near the Hobbs Bay Bridge. The bridge was situated at the mouth of the river, just above the bay, and was seldom used now that the Hobbs Bay area had practically been deserted by the respectable businesses of Metropolis.
Denzler parked the car, got out, and reached for the handle on the back door.
* * * * *
As the cab pulled into the parking lot, Clark pulled down his glasses, scanning for any sign of Lois, Juliana, or Denzler. He’d been listening for Lois to call his name, but he couldn’t hear her.
Or she couldn’t call to him.
Had Denzler already…
He shook his head to rid himself of the thought. He couldn’t let himself think about that. He had to think positively. He had to concentrate on finding Lois—alive—and finding her soon.
He continued his scan and came up with nothing. Where could she be?
“You check the women’s department, I’ll check the shoe racks.” Earl instructed Clark as they jumped out of the cab and ran inside.
Clark agreed, and then he watched Earl dash through the aisles toward the other end of the store.
Pulling down his glasses and starting with the women’s department, Clark scanned the entire department store. Still no sign of Lois, Juliana, or Denzler. They weren’t in the parking lot and they weren’t in the mall. That could only mean one thing: they’d left the vicinity entirely.
He checked to make sure no one was looking in his direction, and then he ducked below one of the racks, made a quick change, and bolted from the store and into the stratosphere.
* * * * *
Lois’ stomach churned. Denzler had cut the duct tape that had bound her feet and had forced her at gunpoint over to the middle of the bridge. Now his body, along with that hateful gun, was pressed up against her back. She could smell the cologne he had so carefully applied that morning. She could smell the shampoo in his hair and the soap on his skin. It sickened her to think that this psychopath got out of bed every morning, showered, dressed, shaved, and prepared for the day, all with full intentions of committing cold-blooded murder. The thought was revolting.
Looking down at the serene waters below was not comforting. They were so calm and quiet, unaware that they were about to be an accomplice to her own demise. The irony struck her, and she closed her eyes tight, refusing to look down.
* * * * *
Juliana panicked. As soon as Denzler had taken Lois out of the car, she scrambled for some way to save them.
Twisting her arms and legs, she tried to free them from the duct tape, but to no avail. She tried frantically to scrape the tape off of her mouth by rubbing it against her shoulder, and she managed to loosen one corner, but trying to get it off completely was useless.
Her next thought was to unlock the door and crawl out. Putting her back to the door, she stood up as best she could and yanked up on the door lock.
It wouldn’t budge.
* * * * *
The blackness that came with her eyes shut brought Lois a comforting image. Clark. She saw his face looking back at her with those familiar eyes, and she wished that he was there now.
Where *was* Clark when she needed him? He’d always been there before. He’d always come before it was too late. But it was getting down to the wire now. She was standing at the edge of her death, listening to Denzler mumbling something about trust and loyalty. All she could think about was the water below her, and about how all that stood between her and death, was probably her husband. A man who was nowhere in sight.
She wanted to call out his name, but the duct tape over her mouth didn’t allow it. The best she could muster was a muffled whimper.
* * * * *
Clark hovered above the city, scanning for any sign of Lois, Juliana, or Denzler, but even with his super vision ‘gizmo’ as Lois liked to call it, the city was too big, and there were too many people and too many sounds. He could usually pick her voice out, especially if she was calling his name, but his super-hearing wasn’t picking anything up. For some reason she wouldn’t—or couldn’t—call to him.
They couldn’t have gotten very far. Clark flew in a circle around the mall, hoping to find some sign of them.
* * * * *
Stupid childproof locks! What was she supposed to do now?
Juliana sat down on the floor of the car, leaned up against the back seat, and began to cry. The tears ran down her cheeks, and she had no way to wipe them away. She had no way out, no one knew where she was, and she had no way of making a sound.
… or did she?
Denzler had made a mistake.
Straightening up and sniffling a bit, she wiggled her way toward the front of the car. Her shoulders ached as she squeezed her body between the seats, pinning her arms behind her. She squirmed her way forward, closer to her goal. Closer to her cry for help.
Closer…
* * * * *
Standing on the bridge, only a railing separated Lois from the expanse of air and the water below her. Her whimpering had stopped Denzler’s muttering, and now he was addressing her directly.
“You have two choices, Ms. Lane: jump off yourself, or be pushed. It makes no difference to me.”
A tear collected in the corner of her eye, and she stood perfectly still, defiant toward his directions.
“Suit yourself.” Before she knew what was happening, her feet were no longer on the ground. She was tossed over the railing and was free falling toward the glassy water below.
She’d free fallen many times before. Time seemed to stand still. Her stomach leapt into her throat, the wind rushed by her, filling her ears, and her hair was swirled around her, blocking her vision.
She fell… and fell… and fell….
* * * * *
Juliana braced herself and banged her head squarely against the steering wheel. A loud HONK! resounded. She repeated the assault on her head, over, and over, and over. She smiled through the pain of victory. The bump would be worth it if it saved her and Lois.
* * * * *
A car horn honked in the distance, and Clark’s instinct was to ignore it. There were millions of cars within his hearing range, many of them honking periodically, and he usually tuned them out. But for some reason, his intuition nagged him to check this one out.
Altering his course slightly, Clark raced off toward the honking horn.
It was coming from the direction of Hobbs Bay, which would be a perfect place for a murderer like Eric Denzler. That district was full of the lowlifes of Metropolis, and it wasn’t very far from the NorthMet Mall.
The horn was sounding again and again, with varying degrees of length and volume. As he gained on it, he saw something that filled him with terror and relief at the same time.
Lois was falling toward the deep waters of the bay below the bridge. He was going to be in time to save her.
* * * * *
His strong arms hugged her close to him and his warm embrace felt better than it ever had before. She was safe. She was safe. She repeated that to herself, over and over, and she was so relieved that she began to cry.
He flew them up underneath the bridge and as soon as he removed the tape from her wrists, ankles, and mouth, she threw her arms around his neck.
“Clark. Oh, Clark,” she managed to whisper before her lips met his in a long, sweet kiss.
Their lips parted. “Are you all right?” Clark asked, before going in for another kiss.
“Yes.” She succeeded in uttering in between the thousands of kisses. “I’m fine…but…” Lois stopped their reunion to remind him that his job wasn’t finished. “Juliana. She’s still up there.”
Clark answered her with another kiss, and then flew her up to the Lincoln and set her down out of harm’s way.
Denzler was opening the back door, and Clark could see that Juliana was inside, duct taped, just as Lois had been. In an instant, Clark was standing over Denzler with a menacing look.
“Your corporate days are over, Denzler.” Clark said, hoisting him up by his collar. Denzler said nothing, but looked frightened enough for Clark’s satisfaction, so he turned and smiled at Lois. “I’ll be back for you in a minute.”
With that, Clark flew off, taking Denzler with him and headed straight back to the mall where Earl was still searching for Lois and Juliana. The police had arrived and were combing the mall, inside and out, as well as sending officers out to patrol the surrounding areas.
Clark descended near where Earl was giving information to one of the police officers. Earl’s face changed from awe as he noticed Superman approaching, to anger when he saw who his passenger was.
“Denzler!” Earl said through gritted teeth. “Where’s Juliana?”
Clark spoke up before Denzler could open his mouth. “She’s with Lois. They’re a bit shaken up, but they’re all right.”
“Thank you, Superman,” he said emphatically, but the look of relief on Earl’s face was all the thanks Clark needed.
“You are Earl Gregg, right?” Clark asked. Earl nodded, and Clark continued. “Denzler had them out by Hobbs Bay Bridge, but I’ll bring them back here.”
With that, Clark took to the sky, but he could hear Earl start to say, “Could you find Clark, too?”
* * * * *
Denzler was handcuffed, read his rights, and put into the back of a police car. Gendell wouldn’t survive without him. There were too many weirdoes out there who would do anything to get to him and his billions. Denzler had been the only thing keeping Gendell safe, he was sure of it.
But it was his own fault, and he knew it. He had unwittingly trusted that Gregg’s wife wasn’t intelligent enough to attract any attention to herself. He’d underestimated her, and now he, and eventually Gendell, would be paying for it for the rest of their lives. He cared little for his own fate, but he knew that the constant worry for Gendell’s safety would haunt him forever.
* * * * *
One week later, Earl and Juliana sat in the 12th row on the 40-yard-line watching the Tigers beat the Bills, 51-16 with 6 minutes left in the third quarter. Earl looked lovingly on his wife who was enthusiastically cheering the Tigers on. He smiled and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear, being careful not to disturb the bump on the back of her head.
On one side of them were two empty seats, and on the other side sat Grant Gendell and his new girlfriend, Candy. Gendell, uninterested in the game, was engrossed in reading and rereading one of the Daily Planet’s front-page articles. The headline was “Millionaire Recluse Reemerges.” The byline was Lois Lane.
Earl settled his arm onto the back of Juliana’s seat and then gave her shoulder a quick squeeze and placed a small kiss on her cheek.
“What was that for?” she asked.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“Nothing,” Clark replied. “I’m just glad to have you next to me.”
He and Lois were standing in line at the concession stand, having waited out the half-time rush before descending from their seats in search of food.
“Well, good.” She smiled back at him. “Because I’m glad to be next to you.” She tilted her head up and placed a soft kiss on his lips.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“You know,” Earl began after their lips had parted. “As horrible that all of the stuff that we’ve been through is, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”
She cocked her head and gave him a skeptical look. “Why is that?”
“Because we’re together,” he said simply. “And no matter what has happened in the past, it’s brought us to this point, and right here—“
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“—right now, I’m happy. I’ve got a great job, wonderful friends, and the most beautiful wife that any man has ever known. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”
“Me neither.” Lois smiled at the man of her dreams, and then leaned in for another kiss.
The End
