[Yes, I have shamelessly stolen a plot device from Nanfic - and probably somewhere else too because I remember it not being the first time I'd seen something like that when I read hers...]
Last time:
Clark
I zipped around the kitchen and by the time Lois made it downstairs with Nate, scrambled eggs and bacon were almost done and real pancakes were being flipped.
"You didn't have to do this," she told me. "And how'd you have time?"
"I, uh, zipped around," I told her.
"Well, Jessica's on her way down, so no more zipping."
"I wouldn't have if she'd been close and you know it."
My parents had left for Smallville the day before and Sam had some kind of meeting early so it was just the four of us – and Jessica – in the house. Vicki wouldn’t be up until later – I still wasn't sure exactly what she did all day, but the house was always clean so I guessed that was a big part of it.
Lois took her suit jacket off and situated the blanket and Nate so he could nurse while she ate. "I need to pack a lunch, too," she said.
I surprised myself when I said, "Nope. I'm taking you out to lunch today to celebrate graduation and your birthday and jobs and all that. The two of us."
"You are?" She looked surprised, too.
I nodded. "Yep."
She looked at me for a long minute. "Then I look forward to it."
*~*125*~*
~~~~~
Lois
~~~~~
"I want to stop and get something for Christopher," I told Clark as we ate lunch at Callard's – just the two of us. It was nice.
"What's that?"
"There's that toy store not too far from here. I just want to get him something – he had a pretty traumatic weekend and did great with it."
He'd woken up at one point Saturday night with a nightmare about being taken away. He hadn't had any Sunday night so we were hoping that it was just a one-time thing, but there was no way to know at this point.
"Sounds good." He glanced at his watch. "But we better get going if we're going to stop there. I have to go to that museum thing before long." He grimaced. "And I won't be able to leave once I'm there either. I mean, it's not like anything bad's going to happen or anything, but I hate the idea that I'm going to be more or less stuck, you know?"
I nodded sympathetically as he put his wallet back in his pocket. "Sorry. I'd say I wish that I got the assignment instead of you, but I don't."
We headed down the sidewalk towards Farmingdale's Toy Store.
"I think I'm going to have to leave from here," Clark said as he held the door for me.
"Okay."
We wandered around for a few minutes, looking for something that Christopher would like.
"Can I help you?"
We turned to find a sharply dressed man with dark hair and glasses. He looked slightly bookish and then he smiled.
I managed to control a gasp.
It was him.
The man who'd been watching us at graduation.
I glanced over at Clark who had started chatting with him. He didn't seem to notice anything. I reached over and grasped his hand, squeezing tightly.
He gave me an odd glance, but that was it.
I tried to give him some sort of subtle signal that we needed to leave, but he didn't take the hint – and they weren't very obvious hints, but it was the best I could do.
We were talking with the guy about a train table – which was way over the top for what I was looking for at the moment – when Clark glanced at his watch.
"I gotta go," he said, giving me a quick kiss in practically the same breath. "I'm going to be late."
I didn't even have time to say 'bye' before he was out the door.
"Actually," I said, willing myself to stay calm. "I need to be going myself – if I'm not back at work soon, my boss won't be happy. Thank you for your time though," I told him with a smile. "We'll be back."
We said our good-byes and I didn’t think he suspected anything.
I called the Planet – and told Jimmy to tell Perry I had a hot tip and I'd be in as soon as I could – I wasn't about to get into this over the phone and I didn't want to actually talk to Perry about it.
Not yet.
I headed straight towards the precinct where I knew Henderson worked. I talked to the desk sergeant, insisting that I needed to talk to him right away.
I was promptly ushered to a hard plastic chair and told he'd be with me as soon as he could.
I sighed and pulled the piece of paper Clark had written everything about the kidnappings down on.
There had to be some kind of pattern – maybe if I put pins on a map or something – that tied the toy store guy to these.
A thought occurred to me and I started scribbling on a piece of paper I pulled out of my briefcase.
He couldn't control where he took the kids from and at least some of them were targets of opportunity so I took those two variables out and listed the rest.
"Mrs. Kent? Can I help you?"
I looked up and saw Inspector Henderson walking towards me. "I saw him," I said excitedly. "And I can prove that he's connected to all this."
"My office," he said tersely. "Let's go."
I followed him to a room that wasn't much more than a hole in the wall.
"Where did you see him and when?"
"He works at Farmingdale's Toy Store. Clark and I stopped to pick up something for Christopher and it was him – I know it was him."
"Okay, evidence."
I set the pieces of paper on the desk. "Clark wrote this out the other day and we started looking for a pattern. We couldn't find one – at least not written like this."
Clark had written the name of the child on one line, location taken on the next, drop point on a third, and recovery location on the fourth. Nothing had jumped out at either of us that way.
"I realized that he couldn't control where he took the kids *from* - graduations, skating rink, amusement park – so I tossed that information out when I was looking for a pattern. And some of the kids were targets of opportunity – like Christopher was on Saturday. He saw the grandkid of a rich guy and tried to take him so the *names* probably wouldn't be a pattern. I'd be willing to bet that the other two would continue this pattern if he had succeeded. Look." I pointed the second sheet of paper. "I listed them in order – drop off points for the money on this side and recovery locations of the kids on this one. Look at the first letter. It's not that he was at the carnival, he was at the *ferris* wheel. F. The second one is at the Metro Mall *arcade*. A. Then R, M, I... and so on. The money drop offs spell Farmingda... If he'd taken Christopher, it would have been somewhere with an L. The recovery locations spell toy store with an extra t at the end. I'd bet that the next place would be somewhere with an O."
He listened until I was done then stared at the sheet of paper for a long minute. "And you're sure it was the same guy?"
I nodded. "I'm *positive*."
"Okay then."
"Wait. One more thing. I can't believe I forgot this." I pulled my cell phone out. "I might have a picture of him."
"What?"
"We were looking for a toy," I explained. "I took a couple pictures so I wouldn't forget for Christopher's birthday next month." I scanned the pictures and found one with the guy in the background. "Here."
He looked at it and nodded. "Could be." He leaned back in his seat. "Completely off the record?"
I hesitated. "I want the exclusive when the time comes. I won't jeopardize the search for him, but I want the exclusive when it's over."
He looked at me for a long minute, then nodded. "Okay. As long as you cooperate, sure. For now, deep background at most. Hopefully, you'll be able to write soon."
"You got it."
"And you don't give the department a fair shake in whatever you end up writing... You'll never get an exclusive again."
"Understood."
"There was another kidnapping yesterday. The drop off point for the money is at the Metropolitan's game tonight – the ladies room. We've already got it staked out, but so far, he's managed to avoid us all together." He picked up his phone and spoke for a few minutes. "Okay – we're off to the toy store. You can come, but you stay back."
"Can I send Clark a text message at least? Just let him know? He's at the first half of that museum thing today – with the Orani Jewels and all that."
He hesitated then nodded. "Let me see it before you send it though."
I thought for a second while he grabbed a couple things, then typed furiously with my thumbs. "Here."
"Found guy from Saturday. Meet me where you last saw me ASAP," he read. "Okay – send it."
I did and trotted after him.
~~~~~
Clark
~~~~~
This was about the most boring thing I'd ever been a part of – and I'd taken Ethics with Dr. Johnson so that was saying something.
My phone buzzed slightly and I pulled it out of the holder, earning me a few glares from those around me.
My eyes widened.
Lois had found him? The toy store?
Was *that* why she'd been acting a bit odd? Grabbing my hand, squeezing it, making a comment about Lana. I should have known something was up but I was too busy imagining myself and Christopher – and Nate someday – playing with the train table.
As soon as possible.
I glanced at my watch. It was going to be another thirty minutes or more before I could get out of here. I tapped a message back – be careful, will be there as soon as I can.
A minute later, it buzzed again, earning me more glares. She was with Henderson. That made me feel better – she wasn't going it alone at least.
I was twitchy for the next nearly forty minutes and practically ran over a couple of others on my way out the door. It took me ten minutes to get to the toy store and I was more than frustrated that I couldn't just *fly* over.
There were police cars all over the place and yellow tape in front of the store, blocking that part of the sidewalk.
I saw Lois standing near the front door and I ducked under the tape only to be stopped by a guy named Zymak. At least that was what his name tag said.
"Sir, this is a crime scene. You can't go in there."
"That's my wife," I told him, pointing to Lois. "I'm Clark Kent, Daily Planet. She's my wife and our son was the attempted kidnapping over the weekend."
"Let him through, Zymak." Henderson waved me over.
"Are you okay?" I asked Lois as soon as I was close enough.
She nodded. "I left right after you did and went straight to the department to tell Henderson."
I breathed a sigh of relief and put an arm around her. She rested her head on my shoulder.
"All of this is completely off the record for now, Kent. We believe Lois is right and this is the guy. He was on our suspect list, but pretty far down – just because a couple of kids were taken at events he was known to have attended. Four events if I remember right. We'll have to see how the evidence matches up. *But*..." He sighed.
"There's another kid missing, Clark," Lois said, looking up at me earnestly. "He could be anywhere."
"We're looking for some sort of hidden room here or at his house or any evidence as to where he is, but we haven't come up with anything yet."
I turned on my hearing and trained one ear towards the store.
There.
I could hear it.
A child's heartbeat.
I squeezed Lois' shoulders as I spoke again. "You think he's here?"
She looked up at me, understanding on her face. "It would make sense," she said. "He could keep them happy with toys or whatever and keep an eye on them."
I lowered my glasses and quickly found a young boy sitting in some kind of basement, staring at a television with a spinning medallion or something on it. There was a blonde woman sitting near him, but facing the other way, watching a closed circuit television.
I looked carefully until I was sure I could find the trap door from above.
"I think I saw something when we were here earlier. Near the train table."
"That's right!" Lois played along; I doubted she actually saw any more than I did earlier.
"Do you mind?" I asked. "We won't touch anything without your say so."
Henderson hesitated then nodded. "Get gloves."
Zymak gave us each a pair of gloves to put on. We went inside and I surreptitiously shot lasers at the four cameras. I was able to do it quickly enough that the blonde would think it was short in the system and not individual problems.
We headed to the train table and there was something – something legitimate. The table was skewed slightly and there was a bit of a copper colored plate.
In it was a loop. If they moved the table and pulled on the loop, the trap door would come up.
I looked through the floor again and saw her staring at the ceiling. I didn't think there was another way out and I didn't see any weapons – no guns or knives or anything of that nature, though there's always something that could be used as a weapon.
"Move back," Henderson said quietly as a number of officers gathered around and carefully moved the table.
We did move back but stayed in the building, watching as they lifted the door, guns drawn. I maneuvered us so I could see – obliquely – into the room. The TV was in my line of vision and I managed to zap it, the popping sound distracting the lady long enough for the police to get in there.
I held Lois close to me and did little more than breathe in her ear. "There was a subliminal message on the TV he was watching. That's why they didn't remember anything."
She nodded. "How do we find out?"
I glanced into the purse in the room and found a business card holder. "Her name is Constance Jones and she's a hypnotist. I can play off like I recognize her. Go with it."
Just then she came out of the opening in the floor.
"Henderson," Lois said. "That's Constance Jones. She's a hypnotist that works with..." She snapped her fingers. "Oh... Where did we see her, Clark?"
"With Darren Ronick. Wasn't he murdered last year?" I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach about that.
She glared at us. "I'm better than Ronick *ever* was. Those kids didn't remember a thing after watching my DVDs."
Henderson glared at us as she was led off. "She's already been read her rights, but I thought I told you two to get of here."
Lois shook her head. "You told us to stand back. We did."
He sighed. "Fine. Now, we're going to talk about what you can write. Got it?"
Lois glanced at her watch. "Can we hurry? We don't have much time if we're going to make the next edition."
Ten minutes later we were on our way to the Planet. I called Jimmy and refused to hold while he connected me to Perry – telling him instead to tell Perry we had a huge story and would be there momentarily.
I was sure Perry wasn't happy that we'd been ignoring phone calls and pages and text messages for the last hour.
"Stairwell," I told her as we practically ran into the lobby. "Hold on," I said as I checked to make sure that no one else was around before zooming us up to the newsroom floor. She was right – we didn't have much time.
"*Kents*! My office. *Now*!" Perry hollered at us the second we walked through the stairwell door. I'd bet that he'd been waiting for us.
"Can't, Perry! Hot story!" Lois yelled back.
"*I* decide what's hot and what's not. Now."
"We have the exclusive on the capture of the Toyman," Lois said more calmly. "Would you mind if we wrote it up first?"
The bustle of the newsroom stilled and Perry's jaw dropped.
"Would you mind repeating that?"
*****
TBC
