Sorry. I goofed up on the numbering, but it is fixed now.
Games People Play: 8/11
by Nan Smith
Previously:
That was what had been nagging at him, he thought. Lois's heartbeat was nowhere in the building.
He stood for a split second with the thoughts racing through his mind, along with a sinking sense of certainty. Henderson would have refused to take Lois with him to capture Lex Luthor, and Lois would have refused to accept Henderson's decree.
Clark had a pretty good idea where his partner was.
**********
And now, Part 8:
Scrunched tightly in the confined space of the dumbwaiter, Lois gritted her teeth and tried to concentrate on counting backward from ten thousand. The thing moved with snail-like speed, and in the darkness she could feel her pulse beating hard in her throat and the blood singing in her ears. She hoped that no one would be nearby at this hour to hear the faint rumble the thing made as it moved slowly upward toward Lex Luthor's penthouse.
With a faint groan the device ceased to move and Lois held her breath. She could hear nothing except the sound of her heartbeat. Had the dumbwaiter stalled under her weight? At a little over a hundred pounds, she was undoubtedly heavier than any of its normal contents. Cautiously, she reached out and felt the wall beside her.
It was the door that opened on the little room next to Lex's study. Or, at least it was a door, and it should be the right one. Cautiously, she pushed at it, and it opened outward on an unlit room with a faint squeak of hinges. A doorless arch opened onto Lex's study, now also unlit.
Lois held perfectly still, listening. From somewhere she could hear the murmur of voices, although she couldn't make out the words. One sounded like Lex's cultured voice, and the other, somewhat deeper, might be his butler's. Nigel St. John was a big man, and Lois had never particularly liked him, although she wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was the expressionless voice and face of the man, matched oddly with the far from expressionless dark eyes that seemed to watch everything around him with faint amusement -- except her. He always seemed to be watching her warily, as if he were trying to make up his mind about her, somehow. As if, she thought with sudden comprehension, he regarded her as a threat. Nigel didn't like her -- had never liked her, any more than she liked him, although why she was sure of that she couldn't have explained.
The voices were slowly approaching, she realized suddenly. If they found the dumbwaiter open, they might become suspicious.
Trying to be as silent as possible, Lois crawled out of the dumbwaiter and closed the door. Then, on tiptoe, she crossed the room to where thick draperies were drawn across the windows and slipped behind them, pressing herself flat to the wall. In the dimness, they probably wouldn't notice her, as long as they didn't enter the room, and turn on the lights.
"... Be here shortly," Lex's voice was saying. "They're stalled in the elevator for the moment, but once they get out I expect to have them knocking on my door. I trust I can depend on you. Nigel."
"Of course, sir. I shall be the perfect butler -- offended that someone would dream of arriving at such an hour, but prim and correct. You have been here since twelve o'clock last night and are at present sleeping soundly."
"I knew I could rely on you," Lex's voice said. "I trust you called the lawyers?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good night, Nigel."
"Good night, sir," Nigel said. "Sir --"
"Yes, Nigel?"
"Perhaps it would be best to conceal that item elsewhere."
"Oh yes," Lex said. A pause. "Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Very, sir."
"I find it ironic that the weapon that will bring Superman's destruction should have been named by his chief admirer. Kryptonite. A mineral that very likely hails from Superman's own planet. How appropriate."
"Indeed, sir."
Lex's voice sounded insufferably self-satisfied. "Amusing, isn't it? His own world will be the source of Superman's destruction. It's fitting, somehow. But I must find some way to detach Lois from her infatuation with him."
"I'm sure you will succeed, sir."
"And, of course, to soothe her distress when he meets his end. It's too bad we didn't learn of it until too late."
"Sir?" Nigel asked.
"If I had been able to incorporate a piece in each of the satellites, we wouldn't have needed to worry about the unforeseen spanner in the works earlier tonight," Lex said. "I underestimated his abilities once. I won't do so again."
"Of course, at the time you placed the satellites in orbit, you had no idea that such a super man existed, sir."
"That's true. But I know now, and I have this, and I intend to use it to good effect in the near future. According to our people, it should affect him just the way Jason Trask believed."
"Perhaps an actual test first, sir," Nigel said. "It might be best to confirm the laboratory's findings before you move ahead with another plan."
"You're right, of course," Lex said, after an infinitesimal pause. "One should never take the unsupported word of anyone else. In the morning will be soon enough. If I had followed your advice sooner I wouldn't have had to deal with this setback."
"Setback, sir?"
"Of course," Lex's voice said urbanely. "That's all it is. A setback. My backup plan will have to be launched to undo the damage that muscle-bound oaf caused, and that will take some months. It's sad that such a work of art could be destroyed by such methods, but the alternate plan will go forward. I am not so easily thwarted and the next time he won't be around to stop me. Perhaps you would like to be Viceroy of Australia?"
"A pleasing thought, sir. I always wanted my own desert island."
Lois gritted her teeth. She was learning a lot of things tonight.
Even though Lois had not had any real doubts about him since Clark had told her what he knew or suspected, even after her own kidnapping the previous night, actually hearing Lex speaking of his intention of killing Superman this way, in a matter-of-fact voice, as if it were no more than an everyday business decision, was somehow shocking. Somewhere underneath she had entertained the faint hope that Lex might have some sort of mitigating reason for his behavior, even though she couldn't think what it might be, but the conversation with his butler killed that last half-formed notion dead in its tracks. Now, it seemed, he was even worse than she had imagined. She stood completely still, breathing as softly as she could, listening to the conversation as it began to grow fainter.
"But the meteorite, sir?"
"I intend to put it in the safe."
"The safe?" Nigel sounded doubtful.
"Not the main one. The hidden one in my office. No one who didn't know it was there would be able to find it."
"Quite true, sir. Perhaps you should hurry. The police will be here shortly."
"You're right of course, and we mustn't upset any of Metropolis's Finest in any way. Take your place for the first act. I'll take care of this business and do the same."
Lois had to strain her ears to hear the last of the conversation. Nigel said something else, which she didn't catch, and the voices faded out. She slipped out from behind the curtains and stood for a bare second, trying to decide what to do.
Apparently there was a hidden safe in Lex's office. It was a good thing she had friends in high -- or low -- places. She would have to remember to send Big Louie a box of premium cigars if this panned out. But she needed to get moving. Henderson's people would be here shortly. She didn't want them to know anything about Kryptonite, any more than she wanted Lex to have it in his possession. The fewer people who knew, the better.
She had to get to Lex's office.
Wishing that she hadn't been forced to leave the rifle behind in order to fit into the dumbwaiter, Lois glided silently forward. Thanking Providence that she had taken the opportunity to explore Lex's place when she had attended the White Orchid Ball, and later, during several visits for dinner since, she checked the wide, dim hallway and then, on cat feet, tiptoed toward the huge, luxurious office from which Lex Luthor managed his financial empire.
**********
The silence of the place wasn't complete. She could hear the faint background hum that was normally not noticed in occupied dwellings, and from somewhere she could hear the faintest shuffle of bedroom slippers on the rich carpet, but there was no other sign of life. Tiny nightlights glowed in wall sockets, giving her just enough illumination to avoid bumping into obstacles as she progressed.
There was the faint click of a closing door and the shuffling sound was gone. Had Lex gone into his office? She turned into the small room that was the domain of Lex's secretary. There was now, of course, no sign of life. She passed through it on tiptoe and moved to the door of the office.
Silence. Lois put her ear against the door.
Now she could hear motion. There was a soft scraping noise and then, incongruously, the faintest of chimes. Another sound that she couldn't identify, and then the grating noise again.
And suddenly, the sound of footsteps was coming down the hallway.
In three steps, Lois was at the secretary's desk and had ducked under it. She held perfectly still, listening.
Someone knocked gently on the office door. After several very long seconds, it opened. Lex's voice said clearly. "What is it?"
"Progress report, sir," Nigel's voice said. "A repairman has been called to assist the police officers in the elevator. They estimate another ten minutes before they are freed."
"Excellent. Just enough time for me to take my position in this little drama. You, of course, will be completely bewildered when they arrive, Nigel."
"Of course, sir."
"This will be one more point to be chalked up against my Nemesis," Lex said calmly. "I only wonder how he induced Henderson to conduct this expedition into my home."
"Ms. Lane may have told him about your bunker, sir."
"Probably. But Superman doesn't break and enter, and the entire place is behind lead shielding. If someone had wanted to investigate below stairs, Henderson would have arrived last evening; not in the middle of the night. And there isn't any reason to connect my shelter to the orbiting weapons, in any case."
"True," Nigel said. Lois had to smile at the unquestioning belief that Superman didn't break and enter. Superman might not, but Clark Kent did, especially when he was with her. It was an interesting distinction between her partner's two identities. It seemed that her partnership with Superman's other self had caused him to change some of his approach to certain situations. Well, that was all to the good.
"It is possible," Nigel said slowly, "that he is able to sense electromagnetic forces and tracked the signal to its origin. We know only a little about his amazing powers."
"Hm -- now that's a disquieting thought," Lex said. "Fortunately, he won't be around for the next wave. If that's so, however, he hasn't any physical proof. I trust that part of the complex has been completely sealed off?"
"Completely, sir. There is no trace that the control room ever existed."
"Excellent. We'll discuss this later. Go back to your room, Nigel, and be appropriately drowsy when the minions of the law arrive."
"Very well, sir." Nigel's voice was as expressionless as usual, and Lois could tell by the receding sound of footsteps that the two men were retreating down the hallway. "Sleep well."
"Oh, I shall," Lex's voice had a smile in it. "And I shall make sure that Inspector Henderson spends the remainder of his days thinking of the vast mistake he made and the career he threw away when he intruded on my home in the middle of the night." From somewhere a door opened and closed. Nigel's footsteps continued on alone until they finally vanished. Taking a deep breath, Lois eased her way out from under the desk, trying to make no sound in the sudden quiet of the room. Henderson's people would be here within a very few minutes. She had better move.
**********
The lock on Lex's office door was an ordinary one and succumbed quickly to her lock pick. Lois eased the door open and slipped inside.
The huge office was dim. Not even night lights glowed in the wall sockets, and Lois had to resort to her flashlight.
Lex had a secret safe in here. Where would he hide it? She flashed her light over the walls. Rare paintings, tapestries and various knick-knacks decorated the surfaces and for a moment she felt a sense of hopelessness. How was she supposed to find a hidden safe in all that stuff? All she knew was that it was hidden, which wasn't much of a clue.
But that wasn't true, she thought at once. There had been the sounds she heard just before she had been forced to hide. A scraping noise that might have been the closing of a safe door. And a chime.
Once more she flashed her light over the walls, inch by inch, looking for what might have made that sound. It had been a musical sound, like a mass of bells clashing softly together. Time was short but rushing and thereby missing something wasn't going to work, either.
It was on the wall that separated the office from the exercise room next door, where Lex took breaks to exercise and maintain his fitness, that she saw what might be her target.
It was a clock.
Not a modern, electronic clock but a lovely, antique Swiss-made clock, the kind that wound up with a key. Seeing it, she recalled the day that Lex had first shown her his office, when she had marveled at the magnificent view from the glass wall of the office, from which she could see the City of Metropolis spread out below her. The clock had begun to chime. She had noted it and asked if it, like many of the other items here, was an antique. Lex had smiled and admitted it. The clock was over a hundred years old, bought from a collector many years ago in Austria.
Lois crossed the thick, sound-deadening carpet to the clock.
If there was a safe here, it wasn't obvious. Of course, a hidden safe wasn't likely to be easily noticed, she told herself. If a thief were looking for a safe, wasn't he more likely to look behind some of the paintings that graced the walls? She examined it carefully, trying to see how the thing might conceal a safe.
Something tapped on the glass wall behind her. Lois turned her head.
Superman was floating just beyond the glass. Lois stared at him for an instant. If there was Kryptonite in the room, he had to stay away, but he might be able to tell her where the stuff was hidden. Quickly, she pointed to the exercise room. In there, she knew, a door opened onto a small balcony, and a few feet away was the door that allowed Lex to exit conveniently into the other room. Quickly, she hurried into the exercise room and unlatched the balcony door.
**********
Naturally, Clark thought, Lois couldn't be quietly watching the action. No, instead she was here in Lex Luthor's inner sanctum, dressed as a SWAT officer, and apparently engaged in some sort of search.
He floated over to the balcony that Lois indicated and waited for her. Still, Lois was no fool, he knew, even if she was a bit reckless, and if she was here under the current circumstances, then there was a good reason for it. Lois wouldn't be skulking around in Lex Luthor's penthouse, considering what they had seen earlier this morning, unless there was a very good reason.
The balcony door opened and Lois grabbed his wrist. Clark barely refrained from letting his eyebrows fly up in surprise. "What are you doing here?" he demanded in a whisper.
"Lex has a piece of Kryptonite," she said.
How had she figured that out? He'd intended to tell her about it later, but it seemed, as usual, that Lois was a couple of jumps ahead of him. "I know."
"Yeah, well what you *don't* know is that he's stuffed it in some hidden safe in his office! We need to get hold of it before the police arrive."
He stared at her, his mouth half open for several seconds. "How --"
"Never mind," Lois said sharply. "I'll explain it all later, but I need to get hold of it, and Henderson and his people are on their way up. They'll be here soon. Can you tell where the safe is?"
"I can try," Clark said.
"Good. *Is* it dangerous to you?"
He nodded. "It produces some kind of radiation that doesn't hurt regular people, but is dangerous to me."
"Is there any way to protect yourself from the radiation?" Lois demanded.
"Distance. And Dad had the piece in a lead tool box at the farm. It wasn't until he opened it that I felt the radiation."
"Okay." Lois bit her lip. "Find it for me and then go and get me something lead to put it in so you can get me out of here."
Instinctively, he followed her into Luthor's office. He had often seen it from the outside when he watched Luthor from a distance, and now he glanced swiftly around with his X-ray vision.
And of course, there it was. "There's a safe behind the clock." He reached out and touched a hidden switch. The clock moved smoothly upward with the faintest of chiming noises to reveal behind it the door of a safe.
"Can you open it?"
"I can work the combination." He turned his head. "Henderson and his men just arrived. He's showing a warrant to that butler of Luthor's."
"Nigel St. John. Hurry up. Just don't open the safe door, okay?"
One had to admit that Lois was single-minded, he thought, but he nodded and began to turn the dial.
It took less than thirty seconds. "It's open."
"Go get me something to put the stuff in," she commanded. "Hurry!"
Clark found himself obeying in a somewhat bemused way. Once Lois had found out the truth about him, it hadn't taken long for her to start giving orders to Superman, he thought. Oddly enough, he liked it. But where was he supposed to get hold of a lead box at this time of night?
Well, didn't hospitals that had X-ray machines have those protective lead aprons? One of them should do, and he could return it later.
On the thought, he was on his way toward Metropolis General.
**********
tbc
