Thank you all for your ongoing support and feedback. It's so fun to read your comments and thoughts about the story.
TOC is
here .
~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~
From part 13:
I pull away from Clark and turn toward Henderson. “But we’re close, aren’t we? You can bring her in on Johnny’s word?”
“Yeah. Thanks to you we’re closer than we’ve ever been. I’ve been looking for the Boss for a long time.” He quirks an eyebrow at me and grimaces. “It almost makes up for the pain you’re putting us through to perpetuate your ‘kidnapping’ story.”
Clark earns an ineffective jab to the ribs when he snorts, trying not to laugh at the byplay between Henderson and I. I roll my eyes and turn back to Henderson, who’s now staring at the microphone in his hand, lost in thought.
“What is it, Bill?” I ask.
“I’m just wondering,” he smirks. “How in the world did you hide this in that scrap of material you call a shirt.”
~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~
Master of Disguise - Part 14
~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~
“No, Clark.”
“Why not, Lois?”
I cross my arms to steel myself against his puppy-dog look and pleading stance. Who knew Superman could be so underhanded as to use such a pathetically adorable expression to get his way? I use the only means available to me to fortify against it and give him a little Mad-Dog Lane in response.
“We've gone over this ad nauseum, Clark. I don't want to talk about it anymore.”
“There's more than enough evidence. Let's give everything to Inspector Henderson tonight and Luthor will be behind bars by morning.”
“I said no.”
I turn to walk away, eager to put some distance between the officers lingering after Johnny’s bust and our disagreement. Not three steps later, I falter at the feel Clark's hand on my arm. He doesn't restrain me, but without even having to wrap his fingers around my arm, his light touch affects me deeply. It’s the same feeling I get every time he touches me, like an electric charge flowing along my arm and into my heart.
Unable to help myself, I hesitate and look back at Clark to see genuine concern in his face. I realize that he isn't trying to run my life or take over the investigation; he's just trying to understand. How can I explain it to him?
My need to expose Lex’s true nature isn’t about winning an award or proving myself in a man’s world or even justice. It’s more personal than that. Failing to see Lex’s true nature had hurt my confidence in myself. Under the guise of romance and gallantry, Lex had swept me off my feet by literally destroying the ground I walked upon.
I sigh and let go of my anger. “Please, Clark? I need a direct link between him and the Daily Planet – for Perry and for me. He took everything most precious to me and used it against me. I need it to be the Planet that brings him down.”
“Lois, Henderson said that they can get Mrs. Cox based on Black's involvement.”
“I know, but Black won't testify and even with the evidence that Mrs. Cox hired him and gave him the explosives, it's not a direct link.”
I stare into his eyes willing him to understand. It feels like an eternity before he sighs in acquiescence and I release the breath I'm holding. On impulse, I throw my arms around him in thanks. He wraps his arms tightly around me in return and we hold each other for a long moment. We both pull back and I find myself falling into his eyes.
The harsh shrill of my phone ringing breaks the spell this time. Blushing, Clark releases me and steps back against the brick wall of the alleyway while I dig my phone out of its hiding place. I fumble a little as I try to get it open, the feelings from holding Clark making my hands tremble. When I finally do, my words come out sounding gruffer than intended.
“What have you got?” I demand.
“Lois! Is that any way to greet a friend?”
“Bobby? How did you get this number?”
“It’s one of my trade secrets.”
I smile. Jockeying with Bobby is familiar territory and his wry answer settles the remaining flutters in my stomach. “Oh? You mean like the secret that you give all that food I pay you with to your homeless informants – that kind of trade secret?”
“I'm wounded that you would expose me like that, Lois. Maybe I don't have anything for you after all.”
His pouting answer makes me smile. It feels so good to be investigating again. “Don't tease me, Bobby. My skirt's too tight for teasing.”
“You look great in the red halter-top, by the way.”
My mouth drops open in shock and I take a quick look around. I can’t see him anywhere. “How did you...?”
“So you want this information on the Boss, or what? When we spoke earlier, you made it sound important…”
“You've got something on the Boss?” Clark stands up from the wall, now paying close attention to my phone call. I grab his arm and squeeze tightly. This could be the break we’ve been waiting for.
“For ten passes to the all-you-can-eat on Broad Street, I do.”
“Bobby, for something solid on Lex, I’ll make it twenty,” I eagerly reply.
“Deal. The Boss has a meeting set up at eleven tonight at a dockside warehouse, the old wooden one on Trudell Street.”
“What's it for?”
“Couldn't get that, but I do know Luthor will be there in person.”
“Thanks Bobby. I owe you.”
“Don't mention it. And Lois …”
“Yeah?”
“Watch it, will ya? He won't hesitate to kill you.”
I pause. It surprises me that Bobby breaks from character long enough to voice his concerns. I'm always careful, but I appreciate the reminder as to how dangerous Lex is. It won’t do to let *him* know that, though.
“Why, Bobby. I didn't know you cared.”
He sniffs and replies to my playful tone with indifference. “I don't. I just don't want you to renege on those meals.”
I laugh and hear him cut the connection. I close the phone and shove it back into my bag. A quick glance at Clark informs me that he heard Bobby’s comments, so I grab Clark's hand and twist his wrist to look at his watch. We have just enough time.
“Come on,” I say, pulling Clark down the street. “Trudell is only a few blocks from here. If we hurry, we can stake it out before Lex gets there.”
~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~
Ten minutes later, we quietly round a concrete storage facility to face the dockside warehouse Bobby had mentioned. We slip into a dark corner along the wall of a building down the street and stand flush against the wall.
“Let’s get inside, quick.”
Clark grabs my arm and pulls me back. “Has it ever occurred to you to look before you leap, Lois?”
I pat his cheek. “Of course not, you’re here. Now, fly me inside.”
I lean around him to look at the warehouse again and then hold out my arms, waiting for him to pick me up, but he stands his ground. He crosses his arms over his chest and gives me that patented Superman glare, but the tacky gold chains wrapped around his neck ruin the image. I smile innocently and he sighs in defeat.
Before we can move, however, a taxi pulls up to the warehouse and disgorges a man dressed in a dark navy p-coat. I squint into the darkness, but can’t see any details from this distance. I’m reaching into my bag for my binoculars when I feel Clark tense up beside me. I turn to him and his apprehensive look turns my stomach.
“It’s one of Trask’s men,” he explains.
Oh, no. My mind races at the implications of a member of Bureau 39 meeting with Lex. If this meeting is about my kidnapping, the soldier could confirm that I left my hotel room by way of the window. And if it’s about Superman? Given Lex’s enmity toward Superman, telling him about Trask has put Clark in danger. I had wanted to divert Lex’s suspicions and instead had given him a link to the only people with the means to hurt Clark.
“Clark, I’m sorry. I didn’t know … I didn’t mean to put you in danger.”
As the soldier enters the warehouse, Clark’s eyes shift to me and a tender grin pulls at one corner of his mouth. “I know, Lois. It’s okay.”
“But what if he tells Lex about the meteorite?”
“Let’s not borrow trouble,” he cautions softly. “The meeting is probably about your kidnapping; there’s no reason to assume he will tell him about the Kryptonite.”
“Kryptonite?”
Clark shrugs. “Well, they think it’s a meteorite from my home planet, so… Come on; let’s see what he’s up to.”
He takes my hand and we start walking briskly toward the warehouse. Before we make it very far, the headlights of an approaching car round the corner to pull to a stop in front of the warehouse. Without thinking, I grab Clark’s hand and tug him back into the darkness. I pull him up against me and tuck one fishnet clad leg next to his, trapping him in an intimate embrace. Clark stumbles, catching himself against the wall with one outstretched arm. When I grab his shirt and pull myself flush against him so that I can peek over his shoulder, he grunts softly in surprise.
The car is Lex’s black limousine. My throat constricts and I shrink down a little, hiding behind Clark as the driver opens the rear door. A man in a black trench coat and fedora steps out. He takes his time to pull on a pair of gloves, turning to scan the area as he does. I see him nod his head in our direction and I recognize the chauffer when he turns around. My heart starts pounding as my mind races through escape plans.
“Lois?”
Clark’s soft voice in my ear calms me down enough that I can whisper to him what I’m seeing. As Nigel makes his way toward us I start to panic, but my mind quiets as I realize we have the perfect cover in place, as long as we play it out. I take a deep breath.
“Nigel is coming,” I inform him. “Quick, kiss me.”
Clark’s eyebrows climb up his forehead. “What?” he whispers.
“Come on, Charlie,” I cajole in my bimbo voice. I run a hand into his hair, dislodging his bandana, and do my best to ignore the tingling sensation it gives my fingertips. I look quickly over Clark’s shoulder to see Nigel still walking toward us. I look back at Clark and disregard the look of abject terror on his face to glare at him.
“Clark Kent,” I hiss, “You blow my cover and I swear to God, I’ll find a piece of the green stuff myself and take you apart, piece by invulnerable piece. Now, kiss …”
I stop mid-threat when he lunges forward to grab my lips with his. It’s not a gentle peck or a fake kiss on the side of my mouth as I had expected, but a passionate assault on my mouth. His sudden movement shocks me until it sinks into my brain that Clark is kissing me and I’m swept away by the feelings it creates in me. I dive in, reciprocating with equal fervor. All other thoughts fly out of my head when his tongue slips into my mouth. Oh my god, he tastes even better than he smells.
For a few glorious minutes, I focus on pure sensation; the feel of his hand splayed across the small of my back, the taste of his mouth, and the sound of our ragged breathing. I can’t form any thoughts except how good it feels to kiss him and how much I don’t ever want it to end. Eventually, though, the need for air penetrates the euphoria I feel and we finally break the kiss.
When he starts to pull away, I tighten my grip on him, my hands fisting in his hair as my leg wraps tighter around his thigh. I hear him whimper, a sexy little sound in the back of his throat, and I pull him closer to chase it back into his mouth. I’m not sure how long we continue to kiss, but when I finally release him, we’re both breathing hard.
“Are they gone?” he asks.
I’m so distracted by my desire to kiss him again, that his softly whispered question can’t even pull my hungry gaze from his mouth.
“Who?” I ask distractedly.
The meaning of his question doesn’t sink in until he avoids my attempt to kiss him again. I see his eyebrows draw down into a reasonably good mimic of my glare from a moment ago and it snaps me back to reality. I blush and look over his shoulder to see Nigel and Lex disappearing through the front door of the dilapidated warehouse.
I release Clark immediately and step away from him, nonchalantly pushing my hair back into place. From the corner of my eye, I see him move away quickly, too, stumbling a little to put some distance between us. After taking a deep breath, he turns to look at the warehouse.
“The coast is clear,” he says. “They’re inside.”
I do my best to ignore the heat rising to my cheeks by grabbing my bag from the ground and walking quickly toward the building. “Let’s go,” I command.
By the time he catches up to me, I’ve stowed the thoughts about my wanton actions and the resulting embarrassment away. There’ll be plenty of time for figuring out my feelings for Clark after we’re done with the investigation. Instead, I focus on how to get inside the warehouse without being seen. On this side of the building, there is a row of large, dirty windows about twenty feet up. The only visible entrance is the front door.
“Can you see another entrance,” I whisper.
“No. I can’t see through the lead paint,” he whispers back. “But I can go look.”
Before I can say a word, he disappears, only to reappear a second later. He smirks at my expression and puts a finger to my chin to close my gaping mouth.
“There’s only one door,” he confirms. “The only other way in is through a window.”
Someday, I’m going to be used to the superpowers, but for now, I shake off my awe to focus on finding something to stack so I can climb inside. I gasp when Clark puts his hand on my waist to stop me.
“Shh,” he cautions.
I feel gravity slip away as he floats us up to a broken window. We pause for a moment to look through the grimy panes into the dim interior. I can’t see a thing, but I know Clark can. Through Herculean effort, I remain silent as he looks around.
“They’re in the main workshop area,” he murmurs. “If we’re careful, I can probably get us close enough for you to hear.”
He lifts me through the window and sets me down on a suspended catwalk while he comes inside. Once through, he picks me up again and floats us both down through the shadows to the main level and sets me down behind a stack of broken pallets. I take one step and freeze as the click of my heel resonates into the dark space. I reach down and slip my shoes off, picking them up to tiptoe toward a dim shaft of light and the murmur of voices.
I peek around the corner and see Lex and Nigel talking with the soldier. We’re close enough now to hear the conversation and I set down my shoes to fish around in my bag for my tape recorder. I hand Clark the camera and he takes several pictures as we listen.
“I’m telling you,” the soldier says, “There’s nothing else I could do. The ship was gone when we got back from San Francisco.”
“What about the files,” Nigel asks.
“Locked up tighter’n the Metropolis Gold Repository on a Sunday. Because of that damn newspaper article, the State Department has confiscated all of the Bureau’s records. We’ve all been suspended pending the conclusion of a military inquest.”
“Trask is sloppy and careless,” Nigel proclaims. “He should have ordered a strategic retreat when he realized Mrs. Luthor knew who he was.”
“The storage facility was secure; we think Superman entered through the roof and took the ship.”
“And Mrs. Luthor?” Nigel presses.
“We didn’t have anything to do with her disappearance,” the soldier protests. “She was gone before we got into the hotel room.”
“You didn’t see anyone or anything else?” Nigel persists.
“There was no sign of an earlier forced entry – the door was chained from the inside – and the shower was running when we broke in. I personally had the exits covered, so the only way out was the window. Given the circumstances of her disappearance and the fact that Superman’s vessel vanished after Mrs. Luthor’s article, Trask thinks the alien was involved, but …”
“Why are we here, Lieutenant Carter?” Lex speaks for the first time. “You said you had something for me, but all I’ve heard about … are your failures.” The fedora shadows his face, but Lex’s tone runs a shiver up my spine. The soldier must hear it too, because he stammers a little as he pulls his pack open.
“Colonel Trask has gone rogue in order to continue with his neutralization plan of the alien. I went AWOL tonight to bring you this.”
I stifle a gasp when he produces a familiar metal box. I glance at Clark and see the same apprehension that’s knotting my stomach. It’s bad that the soldier confirmed the Bureau had nothing to do with my kidnapping, but giving the Kryptonite to Lex? The thought of Trask with the meteorite is scary, but in Lex’s hands, I shudder to think of the damage he could do. We have to get it back.
Lex opens the box and his face is illuminated by the sickly green glow. Even from this distance, I can see the manic gleam in his eye. “Is this the only piece?”
“Yes, sir. It was before my time with the Bureau, but I understand that Trask collected it when they first unearthed the ship. The radiation is supposed to be benign to humans, but we speculate it could kill the alien.”
Lex’s eyes linger on the glowing crystals as his lips purse in thought. “Are there any links, Nigel?”
“Nothing can be traced back to you, sir.”
“Good. Lieutenant Carter, it appears that we no longer require your services.” Lex finally closes the box, holding it in one hand at his side. He turns to leave and Carter grabs his sleeve.
“What about my money? I can’t go back now and I have no intention of going to jail for this.”
Lex roughly shakes off his hand and steps back a pace. “Don’t worry,” he says with disdain. “You aren’t going to jail. Nigel, do you have his payment?”
“Yes, sir.”
Lex holds out his hand. “If I may? You know how I like to keep my hand in the game.”
“Of course, sir.”
Nigel hands Lex a dark object, which he takes in his free hand. Before either Clark or I can react, Lex raises the gun and fires once, hitting Carter in the head. Knowing that my husband is a criminal and a killer is one thing, but seeing him actually murder someone in cold blood is another. I can’t hold back the horrified yelp that escapes my lips.
As the soldier falls to the floor, I cover my mouth with my hand, but the damage is done. I briefly hope that the sound of the gunshot will cover my startled yell, but it’s dashed when Lex and Nigel both turn toward our shadowed hiding place. A second later, several shots splinter the wooden crates around us as Lex and Nigel both fire in our direction. Clark shoves his body in front of me, shielding me with his own and I press into the safety of his body.
The firing stops and my ears ring in tandem with the lingering echo of gunfire. “Clark,” I whisper, softly pleading for him to get us out of there.
He tightens his hold around me. “Tuck your head,” he whispers back. “We’re going to move fast.”
I nod my head against his chest and clench my eyes shut, but my stomach still drops when he whisks us away. We’re back in the relative safety of our hotel room before Lex can reach our former hiding place and realize that we’ve gone.
~ - ~ - ~ - ~ - ~
tbc...
