Halloween: 4/?
by Nan Smith
A few minutes later, Lois was hurrying back toward the library. It had occurred to her while she was talking to Mortie that if Lex knew she had escaped his observer, he would most likely saddle her with someone who was less easy for her to spot, which would definitely be a handicap. If she could get back inside and leave openly, it might leave her freer to operate the next time she needed to leave the penthouse. If only Speedy was still where he was supposed to be.
A few moments later, she breathed a long sigh of relief. There he was, sitting on the bench within sight of the library entrance, looking bored. Lois took a breath, and then a second one, and striving for a casual pace, hurried up the steps of the building and pushed through the wide, glass doors. Speedy didn't even turn his head.
The restroom was empty, she discovered a few moments later, and she made quick work of changing back into the green jogging suit. She was almost ready to leave when she remembered the watch. If it was where she had left it, she should probably retrieve it.
An older man, who was sitting with his back to the sofa, now occupied the reading room. On the table before him, several thick books were stacked, and his nose was buried in another one. Lois caught sight of one of the titles as she crossed to the sofa and found herself wondering how anyone could find that many books about collecting stamps.
But, with an opponent like Lex, covering all her bases seemed to be a good idea. If anything, in her world he had been shown to be a dangerous and extremely clever man. If he had his people check on her whereabouts, after her trip to the library -- and he very well might -- she wanted her story to hold up.
"Excuse me," she said politely. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I seem to have lost my watch. Have you seen a gold watch in here, anywhere?"
The man looked up. "I'm afraid not," he said.
"I was sitting on the sofa," Lois continued. "It was Black Hills gold, and --"
"I haven't seen it," he said, a little more sharply. "Why don't you check under the cushions? If the band broke, it might have slipped between them."
"Thank you," Lois said. Well, he wasn't very nice, but he was bound to remember her now, if any of Lex's people came around to check on her story. She crossed to the sofa and began to search between the cushions. After a moment, the watch came to light, exactly where she had left it. "Oh, here it is! Thank heavens!"
The reader didn't look up. Satisfied that she had made her point, Lois slipped the watch into a pocket of the green jogging suit and left the room.
**********
She could have called the penthouse for a car, but Lois chose to take a cab instead, and she left Speedy looking frantically around for one as she stepped into the vehicle.
"Where to?" the driver asked.
"Lex Tower," she said, and leaned back in the seat, breathing a sigh of relief as the taxi sped away. In her lap, she balanced three books, two of them torrid romances and one a spine-chilling suspense novel, all designed to reinforce the impression of her trip to the library in the minds of the servants and, of course, Lex. Lois Luthor might now be the wife of the world's second-richest man, but she doubted that she would give up her independence that easily. Lex might scorn a visit to the public library, but she would continue to use it.
The cab rolled through the streets of Metropolis, and Lois glanced at the retrieved watch, noting that it was twenty minutes to eleven. A lot had happened since she had left the penthouse, and it seemed as if a good deal more time had passed than actually had. She glanced at the books again, noting the picture on the front cover of the one on top. It showed a storm-tossed night sky, a full moon half-covered with clouds, a graveyard with some of the headstones fallen in the grass, and, of course, the heroine crouching behind one while a shadowy figure, gripping a knife, loomed in the background. It was just the sort of melodramatic nonsense that she had read in her late teens. The Lois Luthor who was Lex's real wife had probably read them, too.
Again, the question of the real Lois Luthor's whereabouts crossed her mind. She suspected strongly that her counterpart's disappearance had not been accidental -- that the other her had vanished deliberately. She had gone to the Halloween ball dressed in such a way as to blend with many others in similar outfits, and thereby make it easier for her to escape her tail. She wouldn't have done so unless she had known exactly where she was going, Lois thought -- at least, *she* wouldn't, and she believed that Lois Luthor would also have planned ahead. She must have left behind every means by which Lex could have tracked her, which meant that she probably had discovered the surveillance net with which she had been surrounded.
In her place, Lois wouldn't have gone to Clark or anyone else with whom she had any connection, because Lex would be looking for her as soon as he realized that she had deliberately vanished. She probably wouldn't have run, either, unless there was an urgent reason to do so. She would have stayed and investigated -- which meant that Lois Luthor might very well have the evidence that she needed to bring Lex down. She would certainly be hiding now, wondering why Lex wasn't searching for her. She couldn't know, of course, that another Lois had taken her place.
Which, again, brought to mind the question of how she had gotten here. Was there any chance that she could get back where she belonged? It might be, she thought, that if she went to Clark, if he was even still speaking to her, that he and Superman could help her. A lot of this situation was going to have to be played by ear, she knew. She hadn't seen any sign of the bearded man since yesterday, so maybe his involvement was a false lead.
The cab pulled up in front of Lex Tower and the driver turned in the seat. His face was vaguely familiar, and Lois blinked at him in confusion for several seconds.
"That'll be twenty-three ninety-five," the man said. Lois turned away from him and fished briefly in her bra for the roll of twenties that she had stuffed there, and after an instant withdrew two of them. She turned back to hand him the bills.
"Keep the change," she said.
"Thanks, ma'am," the man said, accepting the bills. Lois was aware that the taxi remained at the curb for several minutes as she made her way through the main doors of the building. Once inside, she turned in time to see the vehicle pull away. Where had she seen that driver before? Could he have been a cab driver in her own Metropolis, who had driven her somewhere, at some time? She didn't think so.
And then it hit her. The face was more familiar than that. It had been the bearded man, only this time he was without his beard. This was the second time that she had seen him here -- and with that realization, her first encounter with him was suddenly clear in her mind.
It had been at the Metro Halloween Ball. He had been the man with the sword who had spoken to her for a few minutes not long after she had first arrived. *That* was where she had seen him before, and now he had turned up driving a cab and minus the beard. This was definitely more than a coincidence. She was going to watch for him more closely from now on, she thought. He could very well be the reason she was here, and if he was, he might be her only way to get home.
**********
When Lois stepped off the elevator in the penthouse, Mrs. Cox was just passing by and gave her a disapproving look. "You're back late, Mrs. Luthor. L...Mr. Luthor was concerned. And you know; it's not necessary to take a taxi. One of the chauffeurs is always available for your convenience."
Lois glanced at her with one eyebrow up. "How did you know I took a cab?" she inquired sweetly. "And whether I use one of our cars or a taxi is no business of the hired help."
Mrs. Cox's mouth fell open, and Lois walked away without a backward glance.
Once out of sight of Lex's personal assistant -- more personal than she had realized in her own world, she reflected cynically -- she stepped into the room that had been intended to be her office in her world.
The up-to-date computer was almost certainly monitored, she thought, which made it unsuitable for any research that she might want to do concerning Lois Luthor's current whereabouts, but maybe, if she used it to throw Lex completely off the scent, it could be useful in another way. She set her books down on a corner of the wide desk and took a seat before the device.
It was too bad, she was thinking a moment later, as the computer ran through its start sequence, that she didn't have Jimmy's skill with a computer. Where was Jimmy in this world, she wondered, not to mention Jack. As irritating as the teenager had been, the knowledge that Lex had intended to have him killed had been one more point of horror in the huge campaign of fraud, deceit and violence that Lex had waged. Had Lex killed him here, or had he managed to escape as he had in her world? Had Lex left Jimmy and Perry alone? He still intended to remove Clark and Superman, as she had learned last night, so how many of her other friends had he also targeted for death? What had Lois Luthor discovered that had caused her to run?
"Hello, darling," Lex's voice said. "I understand you and Mrs. Cox had a small contretemps a few minutes ago."
Lois had heard the door open, so his voice hadn't come as a surprise. She swiveled the chair around to face her "husband." "Mrs. Cox has no business prying into what I do or don't do, Lex. And if I choose to take a taxi instead of one of our cars, she has no right to question me. I won't put up with it."
Lex's face relaxed into an indulgent smile. "She was only concerned for your welfare, Lois."
"Uh huh. Well, I grew up a long time ago, and I don't need Mrs. Cox to nursemaid me," she said firmly. "I'd appreciate it if you'd tell her to butt out of my business."
Lex chuckled. "You've always had a streak of independence that I suspect Mrs. Cox doesn't understand, my dear. If it will make you happy, I'll tell her not to offer you help unless you ask for it. Will that do?"
Lois made herself smile. "That will do very well," she said. "Thank you."
"I came by actually in order to have a chance to see you before I leave for Zurich this afternoon," he said. "I probably won't be back until after midnight our time."
"Business?" Lois asked.
"I'm afraid so," Lex said. "I'll be leaving in a few minutes."
"Oh, dear," Lois said. "I probably shouldn't have stayed at the library for so long, but I didn't realize...."
"No, you should do exactly as you choose," Lex said with a smile. "I thought that this Sunday we should go to the ballet. Will that suit you, or would you prefer something else?"
"That would be perfect," Lois said, smiling brightly at him. "I'll be looking forward to it. You know how I always enjoy the ballet with you."
He leaned down to kiss her on the lips, and she forced herself to respond appropriately. "Then until tomorrow, my dear."
"Goodbye, darling," she said. "I'll miss you."
But a few moments later, she had turned back to her computer and pulled up a list of stories that she had researched before the destruction of the Planet. Judging by everything she had seen, Lois Luthor's mind worked like hers, so maybe she could use that similarity to figure out where the other Lois might have gone. Her counterpart's stories were very similar to the ones she recalled working on and she ran down the list quickly, careful not to open any of the files. One of them caught her eye, and a light bulb seemed to flash in her brain. Quickly she finished scanning down the list, closed it and opened another folder. She scanned several more folders and closed them, well aware that someone would probably be checking over her computer activity later. Finally, in the fourth folder, she opened a file as divorced in subject matter as she could think of from the one that had given her that sudden flash of insight. The story about Preston Carpenter certainly had nothing to do with the research about the Hobbs Women's Shelter and hopefully would throw Lex's hounds off the scent, especially since she had never actually written the story in question.
After a time, she closed the article and switched to a folder where she -- or her counterpart -- had archived information about the current stories being run by LNN. Some of them were similar to the ones presently being followed in her own Metropolis, but there were differences as well. With her knowledge of Lex's influence on the news reported by his network, she could see where he had subtly altered the kind of reporting done by LNN in the same way that he had done to the Daily Planet in her own reality. Looking at it now, she found it amazing that she hadn't noticed it back during the whole wedding fiasco. Talk about having been willfully blind. Lex was like a spider, spinning his web everywhere to enhance his own power and hide his nature from those around him. Only he hadn't fooled Clark, and with the 20/20 vision of hindsight, she wasn't going to be fooled by this Lex, either, this time.
And Lois Luthor might also have caught on, if a little late, just as she probably would have, eventually. Whether that would have been in time to save Clark and Superman was an open question, but she thankfully hadn't had to face that possibility. Maybe she could help Lois Luthor head it off, too.
**********
She spent another hour browsing through Lois Luthor's files, largely as a way of discovering what was the same and what was different in the two similar worlds, but also as a way of leaving as convoluted a trail as possible to whoever it was that was monitoring her computer. That it was being monitored she had no doubt at all. She made a point of opening a number of files that were related to LNN's current stories, as well as several older ones, browsed to a number of websites in the name of research, and that above all, had nothing to do with the file, the presence of which she had almost forgotten, containing her research on the Hobbs Women's Shelter.
She had researched the subject three years ago, but then decided against writing the story after speaking to a young mother who pleaded with her not to bring the place to the attention of Metropolis's residents. The woman's husband had made threats against her life and the lives of their two children if she dared to leave him. She had left anyway, because staying would have been as much a danger to all three as fleeing. The man was subsequently arrested when he held the woman's mother hostage in order to force her return, but Lois had decided to kill the story anyway, at least for the present.
But Lois Luthor would have had to go somewhere. If Lex were to search for her, one of the first places he would be bound to try would be Clark and his family, as she had thought before, followed by Lois's other friends. Lois Luthor would know that, and very probably wouldn't go to any of them -- but she might take refuge in the obscure women's shelter, at least in the beginning. Until she could contact someone that she trusted. She had to have acquired some kind of evidence, Lois thought. In her place, once she realized that Lex was a criminal of staggering proportions, Lois would have stayed, no matter what the danger, until she had the proof she needed. She had to think that her counterpart would do the same.
But what kind of evidence would it be?
Something pretty damning, she thought. Nothing of a minor nature would be sufficient to bring down Lex Luthor. Half the judges and a good percentage of the Metropolitan cops were on his payroll, as she had found out after her disastrous wedding.
The computer chimed musically, informing her that she had an incoming email, and after an instant of hesitation, she opened it.
She wasn't sure what she had expected, but this wasn't it.
"Hi, Lois, (the email said)
"Enjoying yourself? This is what you missed the first time around, courtesy of your do-gooder friend. Don't worry, though, because now you can catch it on the replay! <g>
This is so much better than television. No mistakes allowed, or it's curtains for you and your muscular pal -- and no commercial breaks, either.
Irony: I love it!
A Secret Admirer"
**********
Whoever her "Secret Admirer" was, she was thinking sometime later as she left her office, he had to be the one behind this mess; and ten to one he was the bearded guy from the Halloween ball, aka the guy in the park, aka the taxi driver. It looked to her as if this person had some kind of grudge against her, and was enjoying watching her struggle to figure out what had happened, and, as an added bonus, to deal with Lex.
She had to admit that he'd stuck her in a bad spot, but that didn't mean she couldn't get out of it. She had been in some pretty bad spots before and had somehow always managed.
For an instant she thought wistfully that if she would just wake up and find out that this mess had all been a bad dream it would sure be a lot easier, but wishes were fruitless things in the face of reality. She wasn't going to solve the problem by wishing; that was for sure. Somehow she had to get hold of Clark, or Superman, without Lex -- or her Secret Admirer -- finding out about it, and get some help.
At least, with Lex headed for Zurich, she wouldn't have to come up with any excuses tonight. She glanced at her watch. It was already past two. Well, there was no law that Mrs. Luthor couldn't drop by LNN's offices at two in the afternoon and look around, was there? She would only be doing what Lois Luthor probably did as often as she felt like it. Figuratively, she shook her head. The job she supposedly had was about as useless as it was possible for her to imagine.
In her own world, Lex had intended to undermine her independence in order to bring her that much more under his control. He had already been well on the way to his goal when, at the altar, she had suddenly and clearly realized that she couldn't marry him because she didn't love him, and because she would lose her best friend in the process. Evidently, Lois Luthor hadn't quite had the nerve to back out. But she knew the kind of man Clark was. If she went to him and asked for his help he would help her, even if it took him a while to get past his anger. Clark was completely incapable of refusing help to someone who really needed it. If he was the same man in this world as he was in her own, he would help. But it was getting to him that was going to be the real trick.
Well, if Mortie had passed along her warning, maybe Clark would realize that she had at last seen the light. But would he believe her wild story? Considering that she hardly believed it herself, how could she expect him to? The only way to prove it was going to be if she could find Lois Luthor and show him.
**********
LNN's offices were just as she remembered them from her world. They were located on the fourteenth floor of Lex Tower, and for several moments after her arrival no one even noticed that she had entered the premises. A security guard started toward her, apparently to be certain that she actually had clearance to be here, but one of the passing secretaries caught his arm and spoke to him quickly. The man glanced oddly at her, smirked faintly and turned away.
Lois continued on to her office. The guy was probably new, but his reaction had been interesting. She could guess what the staff thought of Lois Luthor: the boss's wife, who, under the orders of her husband, was to be humored and treated as if she were respected, but her job didn't really matter. She had started to feel that way back when she first worked for LNN. They might change their minds later, if Lois Luthor managed to bring Lex down, but that was certainly what they believed now.
Figuratively, she shrugged. She was simply here to convince those whose job it was to keep track of her that she suspected nothing and was going about her normal routine. She opened the door of her office, glancing at -- what was her name? -- Sonja Meehan, that was it. Her so-called executive assistant. Sonja was a minor player, if she remembered correctly. That information had come to her attention almost by accident during the weeks following the fall of the House of Luthor. Lois had been following the myriad ongoing investigations of LexCorps and the separation of its parts into individual companies. LNN was strong enough to stand on its own, and Lois had learned somewhere that Sonja had acquired her job of executive assistant as a sort of payoff from Lex; a pat on the head from the great man after he tired of her as a mistress. Sonja had possessed more common sense than most of Lex's women. She'd accepted the inevitable and asked sweetly for a position in his company where she could continue to serve him. What was it with women and Lex, Lois wondered abstractedly. He used them, discarded them and treated them like dirt and they groveled at his feet and declared undying love. Hopefully, he would expect her to follow the pattern as well, until it was too late.
"Sorry to leave you in the lurch yesterday," she told Sonja. "I don't know if Lex told you I was mugged at the Halloween ball and had to take a little while off to recover." She watched Sonja's eyebrows rise at the matter-of-fact recital. "I'd like to see a summary of the stories you're airing on the evening news."
"Certainly, Mrs. Luthor." Sonja smiled in the usual smarmy way that Lois had come to know in the short time she'd worked for LNN. "It's really too late to change any of them, though. Are you sure you want to bother?"
She fixed the woman with her most intimidating stare. "That would be immediately, Sonja. It's my responsibility if a story is inaccurate or opens us up to a lawsuit. I want to check the content before it airs."
Sonja's eyes widened slightly and after a second she dropped her gaze to the desk in front of her. "I'll see to it immediately."
"Good. I'll be in my office." Lois closed the door and leaned back against it, listening.
After a moment she heard Sonja's voice. "That bitch! She really thinks she's in charge around here!"
"What happened?" a second voice, this one male, asked.
"Mrs. *Luthor* wants to see the stuff we're airing tonight! She comes around here when she feels like it, tosses orders around and pretends like she's working! Lex said we have to follow her orders to keep her happy, but I wish she'd just fall down a manhole or something!"
"My, my," the second voice said, "we wouldn't be jealous now, would we?"
There was an indistinct mumble from Sonja. Then: "You don't have to put up with her!"
"Nope, but if you don't hurry and get the stuff, I'm betting the boss'll be on your case when he finds out. You know what he told you last time."
"Yeah, yeah." Sonja sounded thoroughly sullen. "Don't upset her. If she runs crying to him again, he'll be annoyed. I don't give a fig if she's upset."
"No, but you won't like it a bit if *he* is." There was a distinct laugh in the male voice. "Face it, baby, you're old news. Just do what he told you and you'll stay out of trouble."
Another mumble from Sonja. Lois pulled her ear away from the door and went to her desk. Lex wouldn't be a bit happy if he knew she'd heard Sonja's little dialogue with the other employee. Of course, Sonja probably wasn't aware of Lois Luthor's tendency to snoop, either. It could have been something as simple as that last exchange that had finally clued her in that something wasn't right. As a matter of fact, this might be just what she needed....
Some ten minutes later there was a knock on the door and Sonja entered with several folders in her hands. "Here's the information you asked for, Mrs. Luthor."
"Thank you," Lois said coolly. She said nothing as the woman laid the items on her desk. Sonja turned and started to leave, but Lois spoke up. "Ms. Meehan."
The woman turned.
"I may be only the boss's wife, but I'm still your superior. If I were to tell him about that last conversation, I'm sure he'd be very unhappy with you."
She watched as the color drained from Sonja's face. "Conversation?"
"Yes, the one you had after I closed the door." Lois watched the other woman's expression change to one of complete dismay. "Is there any reason I shouldn't report it to him?"
Sonja opened her mouth but no sound came out. Lois didn't smile. Finally the woman gave a little gasp. "Mrs. Luthor, I'm sorry! Don't tell L -- Mr. Luthor! I need this job!"
"Really?" Lois raised a supercilious eyebrow. "Explain to me why I should care?"
Sonja's expression collapsed and she began to cry. "I'll be fired!"
"Yes?" Lois said. "And?"
"Please, Mrs. Luthor --"
Lois got to her feet and rather deliberately crossed the room to push the door shut.
"You and I need to talk, Ms. Meehan."
Sonja gulped. Lois eyed her thoughtfully. "I might be persuaded to let this slide. Assuming you cooperate." She thrust a box of tissues into her assistant's hands.
Sonja's eyes widened and she looked faintly hopeful. "What do you want me to do? I can't do anything against the rules."
"I'm not asking you to do anything against the rules," Lois said. "You might recall that before I married, I was an investigative reporter for the Daily Planet. I've had some suspicion for a while that someone in my husband's employ may be spying for a rival company. That may have been the reason I was assaulted night before last. I don't want to falsely accuse anyone; you know that my husband can be a very tough businessman, so I don't want to say anything until I'm sure. It wouldn't be fair for someone to lose his job over a simple suspicion, but Lex is my husband, and I want to support him as much as I can. I want you to help me do that."
Sonja wiped her eyes and nose. "How can I help?"
"I want a LexCorp employee badge. I need to be able to move around in the building without everyone instantly knowing that I'm the boss's wife. If I ask for one, people will want to know why and I won't be able to find out what I need to know. Can you get me one?"
Sonja hesitated. "I guess so. But if I do --"
"If you do, I won't say anything about what I overheard. If you don't, you'll be job-hunting by tomorrow morning. Do you understand?"
Sonja nodded vigorously.
"And if you tell Lex before I'm ready to let him know what I've found, I guarantee you'll be out of a job just as fast. Is that clear?"
"Yes," Sonja said. "I'm very sorry, ma'am."
"That's irrelevant. Help me to help my husband and we'll say no more about it."
**********
The employee badge looked like all the others, Lois thought, examining it carefully some time later. There was the employee's name, the date of employment, a serial number and a bar code. The only thing that didn't match was the picture of the blond female.
Back in the suite that Lois Luthor shared with her husband, Lois carefully slit the plastic covering in the back where it didn't show and removed the photograph. A picture from the wedding scrapbook, taken after the other Lois had apparently changed out of her wedding gown, supplied the replacement photo. Lois removed it, rearranged the pictures to cover the empty spot and replaced the album neatly on the shelf. After a short hunt, she located a pair of nail scissors and carefully trimmed the photo of Lois Luthor to fit the badge. Disposing of the mutilated photo and the one of the blond woman was a matter of snipping them both to shreds and flushing them down the toilet. Lois slipped the photo of her counterpart into the little plastic envelope and closed the slit in the back with a drop of clear nail polish. There. She had a badge: her ticket to freedom.
A glance at her watch told her that it was nearly six. Time to get moving. She picked up the in-house phone and called the kitchen.
After a moment, someone answered and Lois ordered dinner in her room, and then waited an endless time for the dinner to arrive. When it did so, she took the tray from Annette. "I'll leave the tray in the hall when I've finished," she said. "I don't wish to be disturbed tonight. I'm going to bed early."
"Yes, madam," the maid said.
Satisfied, Lois closed the door and locked it.
Quickly, she gulped down the dinner and utilized the rest of the time that she might be expected to take eating her meal by removing all pieces of jewelry that might possibly contain a homing device. She dressed simply in a business suit and a light jacket against the chill of the November night and tucked the badge into its pocket. She tucked the roll of bills into the other pocket and put a handful of small change in with the badge. The outfit that she had bought that morning at Broadhurst's was still folded up neatly in the bag, which she rolled up and stuffed under her coat. Ready, she surveyed herself critically in the mirror.
Her hairstyle was a giveaway. Quickly, she found a couple of hair clips and an elastic band and shoved them in a pocket. Once away from the penthouse, she would find a place to change her hairstyle.
Carefully, she listened. There was no sound beyond the door. Hastily, she shoved the tray out, stepped over it and, closing the door behind her, hurried to the stairwell a short distance down the hall from Lex's private elevator. Once safely inside, she removed the stylish heels and nearly ran down the steps in her bare feet, careful not to make any sounds that might alert the staff that someone was in the stairwell.
The Luthor residence had two floors, and the steps ended at the first floor of the penthouse. To get to the business offices on the floors below them, it was necessary to leave the stairwell and take one of three choices down at least one floor: the fire escape, which sounded an alarm when any access door below the penthouse was opened, the Luthors' private elevator, or the servants' elevator. She would have taken the private elevator directly, but she didn't wish a passing servant to notice that the elevator was occupied and in use, because, besides Nigel St. John, the only person that would be using it tonight would be Mrs. Luthor. Taking the stairs to the bottom floor and then using the private elevator, although more indirect, cut that risk somewhat. Now the trick was to get into it. Lois opened the door to the stairs a tiny crack and peeked out, straining her ears to hear.
A murmur sounded from the direction of the servants' wing, but she could hear no one closer. Deciding that boldness was probably the best course, Lois slipped her shoes on, opened the door and stepped into the hall.
No one was visible. In a few strides, she was at the elevator and pressing the call button. The doors opened almost instantly with a muted chime that made her hair stand on end. Lois stepped within and pressed the button for the next floor down and then held her breath as the doors closed and the car went into motion.
In seconds, the elevator slid to a halt and the doors opened. She had chosen this hour because a large number of employees had left, but enough remained not to make her departure at all unusual.
Crossing her fingers that no one on the floor above had noticed anything, Lois stepped out into an empty hallway. With a glance around, she reached back inside and pushed the button for the top floor of the penthouse. That would at least help confuse things a bit. Quickly, she slipped a hand into her pocket, bringing out the forged badge, pinned it to her lapel and strode hurriedly down the hallway toward the main elevators.
**********
tbc
