Rachel ran to the door, unlocked it and opened it carefully. The couple saw John being pushed inside.
“The Black Team’s here.” Sharlynn said, putting her head through the door. “Take him, and… What are they doing here?”
“They’re OK, Sharlynn.”
“It’s dange…” She sighed. “Whatever, I have to leave now.”
“Come in!”
“Jane’s upstairs!” She turned her head back for a second. “Oh God.” she said. She got in and closed the door as silently as she could, and then locked it. She leaned on it.
“They’re coming!” she moved her lips.
“Down here?” Rachel asked, the same way.
“Yes!” Lois noticed that Sharlynn had also the habit to wave, when nervous.
She and Clark, wanting to know more, approached the door too – Lois carefully, not to drop the milk.
“What happened? The Black Team is here?” Clark whispered.
“Sssh! They’re…” A banging on the door interrupted Sharlynn.
“Are you sure they’re here?” a voice from outside asked. Clark recognized the voice, and x-rayed the door to be sure. There was no doubt: It was that man he had seen in the sewer, probably the Black Team’s leader.
“Positive.” another voice replied. “They ‘re all here: Jane Jackson, Sharlynn Thorn and John Thorn. I saw them getting in.”
More banging on the door. “Nobody’s answering. We’ll have to break in.” said the leader.
“This door is too strong, we won’t…”
“Sssh! I ‘m the one who’s talking now. Break the door!”
Several hands began to hit the door. Sharlynn moved away from it, and the others followed her. They all stood near the corner on the door’s wall, beside the broken stuff.
“Not like this, you idiots! Don’t you have guns?”
“Clark, go hold the door up!” Lois whispered, scared.
He ran to the door, and pushed it with both his hands, strongly enough to keep it in its position.
“What are you doing?” Sharlynn whispered to Lois, panicked. “He ‘ll be killed!”
Lois tried to find an excuse. “He ‘s strong enough to keep the door.”
“They have guns!” Rachel said.
“He’ll be OK.”
Rachel sighed. Then they heard a few gunshots on the door, and the Black Team’s leader saying angrily: “You stupid blockheads! The lock!”
When the Thorn sisters heard it, put their hands in their mouth, silently praying for the people in the room and especially for Clark, who – they thought – was risking his life. Lois was holding her breath and staring at the door’s lock, where Clark had put the palm of his head.
A couple of shots hit the lock. Rachel embraced tightly her brother, horrified. Sharlynn stuck her back on the wall. Lois was not moving at all, still staring at Clark.
Clark put his free hand on the door, preventing it from falling.
“It’s opened, chief!” one of the voices behind the door exclaimed.
“Hmm…” the chief doubted. He pushed the door, and then tried to open it by the knob. He pushed once or twice again, but nothing. “You are useless!” they heard him shout. “You can’t even open a door!” He banged it once again. “Let’s go. Quick! And I’ll see what I ‘m gonna do with you.”
They heard footsteps leaving. Clark leaned onto the door, relieved. Sharlynn and Lois let a big sigh go away, Rachel loosened her hold on her brother and laid her head onto his shoulders. John hadn’t exactly understood what had just happened, but, looking at the calm faces around him, he felt calm himself, too.
After a few moments, they were all feeling fine and safe.
“Lucky thing that they couldn’t open the door.” Rachel commented.
“Yes.” Lois agreed.
“But, how?” Sharlynn asked. “Clark,” she asked, walking towards him, “how come that none of the bullets hit you?”
“I was lucky.” he replied, and showed her the door. “They couldn’t go through the door.”
“Hmm…” she doubted, and examined carefully each one of the holes on the door. Inside every single one was stuck a bullet.
She bent to look at the lock.
“Here, too.” she commented. “Strong door.”
“Still, you’ll need a new one.” Clark told her.
“Sure.” She stood up.
“Now what?” Rachel asked her.
Sharlynn raised her eyebrows, instead of giving an answer. Apparently, she had no idea what they should do.
“How did you know they were coming?” Lois asked Sharlynn, moving towards her.
She raised her shoulders, in an “it’s obvious” way. “I saw them. I had taken John to the park, and we were coming back. I turned my head, and saw them coming. They were at the corner. I was afraid they were looking to kidnap John, as they did last time, and I brought him down here. I wasn’t sure if they knew the existence of this laboratory. But they realized I was here, so I got in, too.”
“Jane is lucky they don’t know Rachel’s still alive.” Clark said. “So, they saw Rachel and thought it was Jane. Otherwise, they would go upstairs.”
“Yes, and who knows what they’d do to her.” said Rachel, who was now standing beside Lois, with her brother beside her.
“Unless they were looking for John.” Sharlynn said. “Because, if they were, they wouldn’t care about Jane. They would just leave her alone.”
Right, Lois thought.
So who was really that team after?
Clark leaned his hand on the door, and then looked at it. “So, what are you going to do with this door?”
The two sisters looked at each other for the moment, thinking.
“This one isn’t going to last much longer.” Clark interrupted her thoughts, checking the door. “The lock is not broken yet, but it still isn’t strong enough.”
“We definitely need a new door, Sharlynn.” Rachel said, still looking at her sister.
Sharlynn had a “Did I say we don’t?” face. She didn’t say anything for a moment. “OK.” she said, finally.
“OK, so what?” Rachel asked, looking around vaguely.
“Just call someone to replace it!” Lois said loudly and nervously, wondering if the retarded persons in this room were three and not just one.
Rachel was afraid to let anyone see her. “Couldn’t we just do it alone?” she asked Sharlynn.
Lois was getting irritated. She handed the baby to Clark, feeling that she would drop it if she had to carry her for one more minute. “And you,” she said, to Rachel, “take your syringe.” She handed it to her and turned back to Clark, who was looking at her in a silent warning, but it was impossible or her to calm down. “Oh,” she exclaimed, turning back to Rachel, “for God’s sake! You don’t need to tell the blacksmith your name! Just pick up the phone and order it! Or just put Sharlynn do it!”
“Lois, honey, calm down.” Clark interfered.
“No, Clark, I won’t calm down! Just listen to what they ‘re saying!”
“Honey…” He didn’t know what to say to make her stop. “Let’s go, now, and we’ll come back later to see them, OK?”
“OK, whatever.” She agreed, though unwillingly.
Clark held the baby with his left hand, and he put his right one round Lois’ waist. “Well, I guess we ‘ll see you later.” he said to the Thorns, hesitatingly.
“Yes…” they just murmured, as Lois tried to open the door.
“Oh, sorry.” Rachel said. She took the key out of her pocket and unlocked the door. “Bye.” she said, not that cordially, as they left. She closed the door behind them, locking it again.
“Will you overhear?” Lois whispered, just when the door closed.
Clark considered denying as useless.
“…So, what are we gonna do now?” Rachel asked.
“Just pick up the phone and call the blacksmith.” Sharlynn answered.
“They don’t trust us.” Rachel said, ignoring Sharlynn’s answer to her previous question.
“So?”
“Sharlynn…”
“Yes?”
“Stop it.”
“What do you want?”
“Sharlynn, are you heartless? Look, we’re in trouble.”
“So? What do you want me to do?”
“Just… stop being like this. Stop acting as if you don’t care.”
“I care! Just because I can control it means that I don’t care? Look what I’ve done here! I ‘ve planned everything, so that you can be safe! So don’t blame me…”
“We need help. Call Jane.”
“You can’t accuse me of apathy, since…”
“Just call Jane, Sharlynn!”
“Wait.”
“OK,” Clark whispered. “I ‘ve heard enough. Let’s go before Jane comes.”
In the way to the car, he told her what he had listened.
“…The most interesting part here,” Clark continued after finishing his story, “is that Rachel is worried because we don’t trust them. Either they think they ‘re lost without our help, or they ‘re pretending and she ‘s afraid that if we keep searching for ourselves, we ‘ll find out something they don’t want us to know.”
Lois was listening, carefully.
“Why don’t you go to overhear what they ‘re going to tell Jane?” she asked, finally, as they were standing outside the car.
She saw his doubt. “It ‘s the only source we have,” she reminded him, “and even if it ‘s not so fair, we have to take advantage of it.”
He was still doubting.
“Clark, it ‘s for the sake of our baby.”
He looked at the baby, who was still holding. Although he wasn’t so convinced yet, he gave up. “OK,” he said, “take the baby and go home. I ‘ll stay here.”
“OK.” Lois kissed him on the lips and took the baby. “See ya.”
“Bye.”
He wondered whether Jane had already gone at the basement. If so, he could go outside the door to spy.
He tried to catch their voices from where he was standing.
“…Open up, it ‘s me.” he heard Jane’s voice.
He waited until he heard the door locking. Then, he looked around, and flew quickly to the door. He didn’t want to run or walk, because his footstep would betray him.
“…They came here,” Rachel was explaining, “to… well, I don’t know what exactly were they looking for, but Lois began to ask me about my mixtures, although it seemed more like curiosity than interest in a story… whatever, and then Clark found a bug…”
“…A bug?” Jane asked.
“Yes.”
“Oh… that can’t be good.” she commented.
“Where was the bug?” Sharlynn asked.
“Under the table.”
“Then… it couldn’t… How could anyone get here and bug the room?”
“Don’t know… As far as I know, I own the only key.”
“And, as far as I can guess, you lock the door every time you get out.” Jane said.
“Every time I get out, every time I get in, every time someone gets in… always. This door is always locked. I can’t imagine how could someone get here and bug it.”
“Maybe it was just a trick.” Sharlynn said. “Maybe the bug was theirs, and they were trying to cover themselves.”
“Sharlynn, it was the first time they came here.”
“Where is the bug now?”
“Clark left it on the table.”
Clark heard footsteps crossing the lab, and then Sharlynn saying: “It ‘s not here.”
