Chapter Eight
When the staff meeting started and Perry asked me where Lois was, I was more than surprised. She hadn’t let me know where she might be or where she was going, although given our last conversation I shouldn’t have been at all surprised that she wasn’t there. But Jimmy wasn’t there either, and that was very odd. Ever since I’d met him he’d been trying to get some real news assignments from Perry. Missing a meeting was not the way to the editor’s heart.
Then I had a thought. If Lois and Jimmy are both missing the same meeting, what are the chances that they’re together? And what are the odds that they’re in trouble, especially since Lois wasn’t going to let go of the EPRAD investigation for love or money?
The odds were more than good. I excused myself, saying that I’d try to contact Lois. When Perry followed me to the storage closet and asked me when I was ‘coming out of the closet,’ it was all I could do to keep a straight face.
He had no way of knowing that I’d already had a very long talk with my mom about ‘coming out’ and using my powers openly. All I needed now was a suitable disguise, and she’d promised me several to choose from. I just hoped whatever I ended up with wouldn’t make me look completely ridiculous.
But that was in the future. I needed to make sure Lois and Jimmy still had a present.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out where they’d gone. But the EPRAD facility was a pretty big place, and it took me a few minutes to locate them. I would have found them faster had I not wasted so much time scanning the hangar where the work on the fake shuttle hull was going on full blast. When I finally figured out that I was looking in the wrong building, I felt a little stupid.
I finally spotted them in another hangar, one away from the center of the action. Of course. Dr. Baines was holding a pistol on Lois and Jimmy, both of whom were bound to support girders. Looked like Lois was right about the pretty blonde doctor. I wondered idly if she felt that way about all blondes, or was it just intelligent women who put her off?
Didn’t matter. I had to help them.
“You’ll never get away with it,” bluffed Lois. “Everyone at the Planet knows where I am.”
Baines smiled. It was a cold, reptilian smile, one that reminded me of a certain billionaire who I didn’t much like either. “Doesn’t matter,” said the blonde serpent. “In a few moments, no one will be able to tell your remains from your friend’s here.” She kicked Jimmy in the leg and he moaned slightly, but didn’t lift his head or open his eyes. He was hurt and needed help right away.
So I followed my first instinct and burst through the door. “Let them go,” I called out.
The blond muscle guy lifted an Uzi and pulled back the bolt. I hadn’t seen that before, and I didn’t want him spraying bullets all over the place. One might ricochet and hit either Lois or Jimmy, and I couldn’t risk that. Baines’ pistol was also aimed at me.
My only thought was to free Lois and Jimmy. “Put down those guns or I’ll – “
Do what? What was I going to do?
I suddenly realized how stupid I’d been. I couldn’t risk blowing my cover. It didn’t matter whether or not Baines was working alone or with someone else, I couldn’t let her know what I was capable of. And despite knowing Lois, I didn’t know if she could refrain from printing the mother of all Pulitzer nominees. “Clark Kent – Super-Powered Menace Or Savior?” I could see the headline dancing in front of my eyes.
Baines pulled me back to reality when she asked, “Or what?”
Out of the corner of my vision I saw Lois roll her eyes. There was nothing else for me to do, so I shrugged and said, “Nothing.”
Great job, Clark. Way to be a hero. You just made Rachel out to be an absolute genius for dumping you.
*****
“I told Perry I needed a task force,” Lois griped – again. “A task force! And what do I get? Well-meaning amateurs.” She turned to look at Clark over her shoulder. “I still cannot believe you came barreling in here like some five-hundred-pound gorilla! If you really thought we were in trouble, why didn’t you call the police?”
“Look, I – “
“Don’t tell me! I already know! You’re like every other man in Metropolis! You’ve got a testosterone surplus that would supply the entire United States Air Force! ‘I can do it myself!’ That’s your motto!” She paused “Baines has to kill us now. I don’t know why she hasn’t done it already.”
Clark must have been fiddling with his chains. Just like a complete optimist. He wasn’t tied up with ropes, he was chained to a steel girder! And Baines’ silent friend – the guy was probably too muscle-bound to talk and glare at the same time – had secured Lois with a tie-down strap, not unlike the ones her father had used long ago to secure his luggage to the top of the car as he drove out of their lives.
She’d never see her family again. The thought made her mad, and Clark was a convenient target, so –
“Lois, I’ve somehow managed to – “
“Mess everything up? No kidding!”
“Now hold on a second! I’m not the one who snuck in here and – “
Now he was blaming her for him being an idiot! “What are you saying? Are you saying that this is my fault? At least I had the guts to come in here and – and – “
She paused and thought. “What am I saying?” Despair padded in on kitten’ paws and jumped up into her lap. “This probably is my fault.”
She waited for him to comment, but he said nothing. “I – I sometimes do things, like jump in the pool without checking the water level first. But – Clark, it’s the only way I know how to do it – how to get the respect that I want, that – that I deserve.”
She stopped to let him comment, but he remained silent. There was a need inside her to be totally honest with him, to let him know exactly why she did what she did. “You remember how I told you about my three rules?”
“Yes,” he replied quietly.
“Well – I’ve broken every one of them. I – I somehow manage to always get involved in my stories.”
“You slept with someone at work?”
Oh, great, he would focus on that one. “Yeah.”
He paused for a moment, then asked, “It – it wasn’t – Jimmy – was it?”
In another setting she would have burst out laughing. Or punched him in the mouth. “Don’t be ridiculous.” She paused to gather her thoughts, then continued. “It was just after I started at the Planet.” She could hear the pain in her own voice. “Claude.”
“Wasn’t – didn’t you marry a guy named Claude?”
She cleared her throat. “Claude Rochambeau. We spent the night together and he – he got up and was going to steal my story but he didn’t and it made me fall in love with him right then and there and three months later we got married.”
She stopped and sniffed once. After a moment, he said, “From what I’ve been told, you two had a very happy marriage.”
That was nice of him, she thought. He could have said any number of insulting or cutting things at that point, but he didn’t. “Yes. We did. Until – until we chased a story about gun-runners from their drop-off point in Metropolis back to the source in Africa. I wanted to go but Claude – he talked me out of it and he went in my place and he – he didn’t – “
She still couldn’t say the words. She was about to die herself and she still couldn’t say that Claude was dead. At least Clark wasn’t rubbing it in her face or making excuses for her or lying that everything was going to be all right.
“Claude died over there?”
There it was. Gently but baldly stated. “Yes,” she muttered. “We think – Perry thinks that either they recognized him or someone over there sold him out. The Congolese government – “ she almost couldn’t continue. “ – the government sent him back – his body – with their profound regrets for the tragedy.” She tried to wipe her nose on her shoulder. “The ambassador came to see me and he was very polite and quite proper and I wanted to rip his lungs out.”
“I’m sorry, Lois. You didn’t deserve that much grief.”
“But I – “
She stopped herself from saying that she did deserve it, that it had been her fault. Clark asked, “What were you going to say?”
She hesitated, then decided that she had nothing more to hide. “I’m responsible. For – for Claude dying. I should have gone to the Congo, not him. Yes, he knew the country better than I did, but that was because he’d worked there before and there were bad people there who recognized him, who knew him and the caught him and they – “ she finished in a whisper “ – they killed him.”
“It wasn’t your fault that he died.”
“Really? You think so? If we hadn’t been married he wouldn’t have felt it necessary to protect me by going to Africa in my place. And I let him go!” She heard him take a breath to argue and she forestalled him. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter now anyway.”
She felt drained. It was the first time she’d told the story to someone who hadn’t known Claude, and she waited for Clark’s reaction. “I guess when you’re in love with someone,” he finally said, “it doesn’t matter how many rules you set for yourself or how smart you are. You’re still vulnerable.”
“We’re only human,” she lamented. Then she added, “Oh, what difference does it make now? We’re all just going to die.”
They were both silent for a long moment, then Clark said, “Lois, you know what you said about respect? I just want you to know that everyone at the Planet – and I mean everyone – thinks you’re just about the best reporter they’ve ever met. Perry told me that the day I interviewed.”
“He did?” she sobbed.
“Yes. Not that it really means anything, coming from a hack from Nowheresville – but I think you’re pretty terrific too.”
The tears were flowing freely now. Tears of regret, tears of loss, tears of anger for letting the bad guys win one from her, and tears of loss because she’d never get the chance to learn just what a good guy Clark Kent really was. “Oh, Clark – I’m sorry! About everything. I know it’s too late for apologies, but I never meant – “
Antoinette Baines’ voice pierced the shadows and interrupted her. “What a fascinating conversation. I hope you’ll forgive my eavesdropping. I also hope you’ll forgive the accommodations, too, but I never was much of a hostess.”
Lois couldn’t let Baines know how scared she was, so she slipped into the best defensive mode she still had, the reporter. “Answer one question. Why?”
“Oh, I suppose that Emily Post never made much sense to me. I’m sure that’s my mother’s fault.”
Oh, good, thought Lois, she thought she was funny on top of being a murderer. “I meant, why sabotage the space program?”
“Oh, that.” As if lecturing a ten-year-old, Baines replied, “It’s simple, Lois. Profit. Outer space is no different than any other new frontier. It will belong to those who get there first and seize the high ground.”
She felt Clark come to attention at Baines’ words, but she couldn’t put her finger on the reason. Before she could ask for an explanation, Baines continued, “Sorry you won’t be around to enjoy the rest of the evening. But accidents do happen.”
That didn’t sound good. “Accidents?”
The blonde doctor’s voice sounded so sad. “Yes. You see, while dismantling the orbital maneuvering system, the monomethyl hydrazine leaked – “ she opened a valve on a barrel which began leaking a sickly yellow liquid “ – and mixed with the nitrogen tetroxide.” She opened another valve on another container and a dark green liquid sloshed out. “They’re two of the main ingredients for liquid rocket fuel, you know. The explosive reaction destroyed the remains of the shuttle before EPRAD could determine the exact cause of the launch pad explosion which originally wrecked it. Unfortunately, the blast also killed three nosy reporters who didn’t bother to read the signs.” She turned and gave them a sad face. “You know, the ones that say Danger, Toxic Chemicals, things like that?”
Baines stepped close to Clark’s feet and looked down at him. “It’s a shame, too, Mr. Kent. You and I could have had – well, let’s just say you presented me with some very interesting choices.”
Lois couldn’t see behind her very well, but she did see Baines bend down and give Clark a soft kiss. She hoped for an instant that he’d throw up in her mouth – or at least on her shoes.
But he didn’t. What a time for him to be stoic.
Baines and her pet Neandertal strode away to the accompaniment of splashing liquid. The smell alone would have told Lois that the chemicals were volatile, and while she didn’t quite know what would happen when they mixed, she was sure it wouldn’t be a good thing.
It was all over. Death was walking toward her, his skeletal index finger slowly beckoning, his bony hand reaching out to take hers. It was time. She closed her eyes and waited for the blast that would send her to be with her beloved Claude. At least Jimmy wouldn’t feel it. Still out cold, he’d be dead before he knew it.
But something else happened instead. She heard Clark’s chains rattle again. Then he spun around and tore her bindings loose. “Clark! How did you – “
He lifted her and pushed her toward the exit. “Missing link! Come on!”
She helped him lift the still unconscious Jimmy to his shoulder and together they ran for the door. It was a race against time, and the odds –
They didn’t make it. They’d only taken two steps outside when the mixed chemicals exploded like a firebomb. The flames chased them and Lois looked back and knew they were all about to be burned to cinders –
Then suddenly all three of them splashed down in a mud puddle. She sat up and looked around, then saw Jimmy’s face under the surface of the water. She grabbed his hair and pulled his head up and he coughed and took in a lungful of air.
Clark sat up and looked back at the destroyed building. Somehow he’d kept his glasses on his face, something Lois would have bet real money wouldn’t happen.
“What happened?” she asked, as if Clark would know.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I guess the force from the explosion must have carried us here.”
The force from the explosion? That didn’t sound at all reasonable, nor did Clark sound very convincing, but the fact that they were all still alive and not burnt to death meant that something unusual had happened.
She’d puzzle it out later. Right now they all needed to stay alive. “Clark, we’ve got to get Jimmy to the emergency room. I think he has a concussion.”
“Right. I’ll go get – “
“Wait! Look up there!”
Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, a small helicopter soared above the burning building. It had to be Baines. The witch was making her getaway! She had to be stopped somehow, but short of finding a handy surface-to-air missile, there was nothing Lois could –
Then the helicopter burst into flames and fell to the earth in blazing fragments. No one could have survived that.
Lois glanced at Clark. His expression conveyed horror at the sight, as if he’d somehow failed. But how could that be? He’d gotten all three of them out of the building just before the blast, never mind how he’d done it. There was no way for him to have saved Baines and her cohort without flying up to intercept them, and he would have had to have done that before the helicopter exploded. Neither of them had anticipated that outcome.
First things first. “How did you get here, Clark?”
“Wh-what?”
She grabbed his arm and shook it. “Clark! Come back to earth! How did you get here?”
“Oh – uh – taxi?”
Was he asking her or telling her? It didn’t matter. “Bring Jimmy and follow me. I’ve got to hot-wire my Jeep. My purse was in that blast and my keys are slag by now.”
He hefted Jimmy with no discernible effort. “I’ll follow you.”
They took off across the grounds at a trot. “Lois?” he called. “If your purse was in there, doesn’t that mean you don’t have your driver’s license or – ?”
“What? Never mind! If we get stopped I’ll tell them to call Henderson.”
“Well, there is that, but I was also thinking that that you don’t have any house keys now and can’t go home to clean up.”
She hesitated, then forged on. “Remember that I told you to keep a change of clothes at the Planet? That’s what I do, and they’re going to come in handy after we drop Jimmy off at the hospital.”
How he had enough breath to laugh, she didn’t know.
*****
I wanted to pinch myself. “Messenger Sabotaged, Saboteur Dies In Fiery Explosion.” The front page blared out our success and validated all of our hard work.
The story I’d helped Lois write was on the front page. It was under her byline, of course, but I was listed on the next line as a contributor, along with Jimmy. The Planet was holding a party, complete with funny hats and champagne and streamers and noisemakers and Perry was actually smiling. I could tell that his blood pressure was down to just above normal, probably due to a combination of paava leaves and increased advertising revenues and a triple-sized print run for the morning edition.
Jimmy was sitting in a wheelchair with several pretty young things around him, wearing the bandage on his head like a medal of honor. One of them cooed, “Were you scared, Jimmy?”
“Scared? No, of course not.” He pointed to his bandage. “I was hurt, yeah. But I was more concerned with the larger issue. Unless we got out of there alive, the colonists’ launch could blow up as well.”
“Oh, you poor boy!” “Can I get you some more punch, Jimmy?” “Let me wheel you over to the window. You look like you could use some sunlight.”
He flashed me a quick smile and a wink, then allowed himself to be transported to juvenile male heaven. Perry lunged out of his office and waved for attention, then bellowed, “I just spoke to ground control over at EPRAD. They went back over the colonists’ launch vehicle with a fine-toothed comb. They found the same coolant problem in the protective bands and fixed it. The launch is all set for tomorrow morning!”
Cheers went up from all around. Then he leaned down and said, “It’s a no-go for you, Lois. No reporters allowed.”
She yanked off her sparkly blue Uncle Sam hat and growled, “Imagine the Daily Planet getting an exclusive personal account of being on the colonists’ transport!”
Perry shook his head. “No can do, Lois. I’m sorry, but this ain’t my party and I didn’t draw up the guest list.”
“All right,” she sighed. “Another time. Maybe.”
Perry looked up at me. “Clark, you’ll be pleased to know that Platt’s widow and daughter are back on board.”
It was good news. “Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate – we appreciate your telling us.”
Perry smiled and walked off. Lois turned to me with a half-smile on her face. “Clark, I – I just want – I want to thank you for – for all your help getting us out of there.”
I couldn’t tell if she was totally sincere or if she was fishing for something. “I’m glad it all worked out.”
Her smile morphed into something more personal but also somehow menacing. “And – one other thing.” She stepped closer and lifted my tie, much like Cat had done not long ago. “If you ever breath a word about anything I told you in there – “ the smile was gone and fire danced along her eyebrows “ – I will deny every word of it and I’ll find a way to make you pay.”
I tried my most sincere face on her. “You can trust me, Lois.”
She flipped my tie away with her hand. “Right.” Then the blue hat flopped back onto her head, almost down over her eyes. “I’ve heard that one before.”
She turned and made her way through the crowd, accepting congratulations and handshakes as she went. Cat stopped her and they laughed about something I couldn’t pick up over the crowd noise, then Cat looked my way and smiled.
They separated. Lois headed toward the far side of the news floor and Cat floated in my direction. I braced myself for another assault on both my senses and my libido, but she fooled me when she gently embraced me and whispered, “Thank you for saving her.”
I returned the embrace for just a brief moment. “You’re welcome.”
Cat slipped back and looked me straight in the eye. “You’re a fine man, Clark Kent. And I’m glad you came here. You’ll be good for her.”
What? “Whoa, wait a minute! I think you’ve got the wrong – “
She giggled and slipped back into her normal character. “No, silly, that’s not what I meant! You’re honest as the day is long, and you won’t try to take advantage of her. And she’s not used to that. It’s going to be a new experience for her.”
“Huh? I mean, didn’t she and Claude – her husband – didn’t they work together?”
Her eyes darkened. “They did. And she loved him unreservedly. But he took advantage of her a lot, even if she couldn’t see it. He never used her and threw her away, but if it hadn’t been for Lois Lane, we’d be remembering Claude Rochambeau in a far less positive way.”
I hesitated, then plowed ahead. “What, exactly, are you trying to tell me?”
She glanced around to make sure no one else was close enough to hear. I did too, and I noticed that even in a crowded room like this, people gave Cat Grant room to operate on a man. “I dated Claude before Lois did,” she said quietly. “And he wasn’t above using other people’s work in his own. He never quite plagiarized anything that I know about, but more than once I saw other people’s ideas pop up under his byline. And he dated a lot of women besides me.”
I almost didn’t ask the next question, but I thought I needed to know the answer. “Did he ever cheat on Lois?”
Now she hesitated. “If he did, he hid it so well I can’t find any evidence of it. And I think I would have by now. So no, I don’t believe he cheated on her.”
I gave her the raised-eyebrow sign of respect. “Well, if you can’t find any evidence, there probably isn’t any to find.”
Suddenly she was all woodland sprite and hoyden again. “That’s what I thought, too.” Her index finger tapped my nose. “Thanks. Anyway, I’m glad you’re here. You saved my best friend’s life. I’m – very grateful.”
I don’t know how she did it. I hadn’t seen her move, but she might as well have been posing there in front of me wearing nothing but high heels and a smile. “Ah. Yes, I’m glad of that. Of both of those things. Glad that Lois is alive and that you’re – grateful.”
I disengaged from her as gracefully as I could. As she all but shimmied across the floor, her catwalk drew stunned stares from every male who saw her and poisoned icicles from every female. The crowd parted like the Red Sea and closed behind her in a panting hush.
I suddenly realized that I’d lost sight of Lois. Then I realized that it was probably one of the things Cat was after. Even as she’d given me some fairly important personal information on Lois, Cat had distracted me very completely. I’d have to watch out for that in the future.
But that wasn’t the most important thing on my mind. Lois was up to something. And she hadn’t wanted me to know what it was, so it was sure to be dangerous.
