Lori and Clark – The New, New Adventures of Superman – MMC V 6 07/32
By Ken Janney
Warning: This story is rated PG-13.
Disclaimers: The characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros. No Copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.
Previously:
Clark pulled out his Daily Planet ID and showed it to the shop owner. As he was perusing this Clark said, “My partner and I work for the Daily Planet and we would like to ask if you would be willing to participate in a sting so that we can put the people behind this protection racket where they belong.”
The shop owner was stunned and still somewhat wary as he asked, “Sting? Put them in jail? You really think you can do that?”
Lori replied, “We sure intend to try.”
The shop owner asked, “Okay, how do you plan to do it?”
Clark could see that they had their foot in the door at least. He said, “We plan to take some of their customers away so that they come to us to try to make us stop.”
The shop owner said, “Hmmmm that might just work. By the way, my name’s Dan, Dan O’Brien.”
“Pleased to meet you Dan, how often do they collect?”
“Once a week.”
“Wow, we really caught a break on that one. Was the guy in the polo shirt doing the pickup?”
“Yeah, that was one of the pickup men.”
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Next week, when he comes in you refuse to pay. When he threatens you, you say that you have subscribed with another agency for your protection. If he asks who you tell him Charlie King and Wanda Detroit are the representatives. Got that? Charlie and Wanda.”
“Charlie and Wanda, got it.”
“Okay, we’re going to go visit a few more of his clients. Do you have any names for us?”
“Sure there’s five on this block alone. Jim’s Re-upholstery, Frank’s Corner Market, Mary’s Crafts, Jake’s Cakes and my shop.”
“Okay, we’re going to visit each of them. Thanks. If things go the way we plan, we should have them within a couple of weeks.”
“I hope so, because of them I’m barely making a profit.”
“We’ll do what we can. Just be patient. Do you want your sign turned back over?”
“No, don’t bother. I’m closed for the night. I’ve had enough for one day. Thanks.”
They went down the line and the same scene was repeated, with some minor variations, at each shop in the block.
By the time they’d finished they felt that they were ready to muscle in on the protection racket.
And now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 6 – Drug Interdiction
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Back in Metropolis the next morning they talked over how to go about taking on the drug trade. They also talked about how to get a sample of Zombie.
Clark said, “Okay, from what we overheard they put the drug in someone’s drink. I’d speculate that they do it right there in their club. They can cause the victim to forget everything so they would feel safe in doing so.”
Lori said, “All of the victims so far have been men.”
“I think I’m due for a night on the town. I’ll pretend that I’ve been to several clubs already which should make me a good candidate.”
“How are you going to get the sample?”
“As soon as they spike my drink, I’ll down it but hold it in my mouth. I’ll go to the men’s room and spit it into a jar. Star Labs should be able to isolate the drug from the alcohol.”
“What about the zombie thing?”
“I’ll pretend that I threw up and they’ll think that it wasn’t in my system long enough to take effect.”
“Okay, so much for Zombie, what about the influx of drugs into the area?”
“We know how they are doing it so we can intercept the shipments.”
Lori thought about it for a few seconds and then said, “Why don’t we cause them some trouble with the cartel? If we could remove the shipment without the driver knowing …”
“Yeah, that could work. They would contact the cartel and claim that the cartel never sent the goods and the cartel could accuse them of trying to get the goods without paying for them. We could substitute powered sugar for the cocaine and a mixture of parsley and sage for the marijuana.”
Lori speculated, “You know, if they are using this ploy to get drugs into Metropolis they could be doing the same thing to other cities. Maybe we should call for some help.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Let’s get all of the family in on it. If we can interdict eight to ten shipments a night, we could put a real dent in the drug trade.”
“The problem is that this isn’t the only way they are bringing in drugs. The real solution to the drug problem is not to remove the supply; it’s to remove the demand. If nobody wanted drugs the supply would dry up of its own accord. We would have a harder time of that, but, it may come in time.”
“It’s still fairly early. Do you want to call a meeting for this evening?”
“Let’s do that.”
After Happy Hour had started, at about 7 P.M. Clark went to the club and succeeded in acquiring the sample of Zombie. Later he gave it to Jon at the meeting.
That evening all of the super members of the family and their super spouses arrived for the meeting.
Clark and Lori laid out the plan and received overwhelming support. The entire family was anxious to deal with this scourge. Supplies of the replacements were obtained and they all set out.
They hoped that Zombie would be taken care of when the whole story broke and the gangs were rounded up.
* * * * * *
The next day Jon put a team on the analysis. The analysis took some time, but, once done the results were be turned over to the FDA. They said it would be classified as a dangerous drug and placed on the prohibited list as a controlled substance. Jon’s team also came up with a counter agent.
* * * * * *
Rather than their uniforms the supermen and superwomen wore their snooping clothes. While Lori and Clark concentrated on routes into Detroit, the rest concentrated on routes to major cities on the east coast the exception being Lara and Mike. They looked for trucks on the Pacific coast.
After examining over fifty trucks, most of them possessing Mexican plates, Lori and Clark found a Mexican truck at a rest stop on the highway to Detroit. Clark used his x-ray vision to check the contents. He saw some suspicious boxes in the mid-section of the truck. Since the back was unlocked they let themselves in and at superspeed swapped the contents of the packages for the fakes that they had with them. When they exited Clark picked up Lori and they zoomed up and out of sight. Clark landed them on a wooded area and built a campfire ring. They placed the drugs in the fire ring and Clark used his heat vision at its highest intensity to vaporize all of it. The heat was so intense that there wasn’t even any smoke, it just seemed to cease to exist. The ground below the pile actually fused into a form of glass. It would be a mystery for the fire service if they came across it.
Clark sent out a thought, /We just intercepted a shipment. Anyone else have any luck?/
Jon replied, /Jen and I found a truck headed for New York. We had just about given up. She and I must have checked seventy-five trucks. When we found one it was north of Metropolis.. How should we dispose of this stuff?/
/I used my heat vision to destroy it. Use enough heat so that no smoke is created./
/Got it, Pop./
Sam was next, /Alice and I must have checked close to a hundred trucks before we found one. The one we found wasn’t on an interstate. It was on US 40, the Baltimore Turnpike, between DC and Baltimore. We’ll get rid of it the same way./
Lara replied, /Mike and I found two. One headed for the bay area and the other headed further north, maybe Seattle. We must have checked two hundred between us. We’ll do the same thing./
/Is that everyone?/
Sean replied, /We found one headed for Metropolis./
Jessie replied, /We found one headed for DC. It’s taken care of./
Celeste, Jimmy and Lucy all replied in the negative.
Clark sent, /I’d say this was a good night’s work. Let’s do it again tomorrow night. In the mean time Mom and I will follow up and see what effect we’ve had. The nice thing is that this should be the last week we do it this way. From now on we can stake out the border crossings to ID the trucks. There are a limited number of border crossings and there are more than enough of us to cover them./
The super family followed this procedure every night for a week then they started staking out the border crossings. They all agreed that it was much more efficient. Some of the grand kids wanted to help so their parents took them out and trained them. Then they were able to share the burden of the searches.
While this was happening Clark and Lori monitored the club where they had gotten the initial lead and made occasional trips to Detroit.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In order to monitor conversations in the office a wireless mic had been attached to the window frame for recording the conversations. Most of the time there was nothing of any consequence.
Finally after a week they got results on the drug interdiction. When they listened to the recording, they heard.
[(Voice 1) “We finally heard back from the cartel.”
(Voice 2) “It’s about time. Whadda they say?”
(Voice 1) “They claim that they sent the full shipment, five mil worth and they expect their payment.”
(Voice 2) “They gotta be kiddin’. What we got was sugar and leaves and those sure don’t look like pot. Did you tell them that?”
(Voice 1) “Yeah, I toll them, but, they doan wanna hear it. They claim they sent tha goods and they want their moola.”]There was the sound of a door opening and closing and then a third voice was added.
[(Voice 3) “Jake, what is our status? Where do we stand on the shipment?”
(Voice 1 Jake) “Hi Naomi. It doan look too good. We got nuthin. We checked the stuff and what we got was sugar and cooking herbs.”
(Voice 3 Naomi) “Did you inform the cartel?”
(Voice 2 Rich) “Yeah, we let them know. They claim they sent the real McCoy. According to them we’re runnin’ a scam, tryin’ to get twice the product for the same money.”
(Voice 1 Jake) “I think they’re the ones runnin’ the scam. They’re tryin’ to get twice the money for the same amount of product.”
(Voice 3 Naomi) “Jake, I’ll be the one to do the thinking. You just do what I tell you to do.”
(Voice 1 Jake) “Okay, whatever you say, Naomi. You’re the boss.”
(Voice 3 Naomi) “Just keep that in mind and we’ll continue to get along. Personally, I think there is a third alternative. What if the shipment was intercepted in route?”
(Voice 1 Jake) “Who would know about it?”
(Voice 3 Naomi) “One of the other distributers.”
(Voice 1 Jake) “Yeah, why didn’t I think of that?”
(Voice 3 Naomi) “Because you’re not the brains of this outfit, that’s why. Just be quiet for a couple of minutes and let me think.”
(Voice 3 Naomi) “Okay, I figure it this way. If it isn’t the cartel stiffing us then one of the other distributers could be trying to get twice the product for the same amount of cash. Jake, you and Rich wait here. I’m going to call some of the other distributers. I may be able to pick up something from the conversation.”]There was the sound of the door opening and closing again. There was some small talk between the two, mostly grumbling about dealing with the cartel.
They stopped the tape playback. Lori said, “Okay, so far we have,” she read off of a list she had made, “Naomi, who is obviously the boss, Jake, who isn’t too bright and Rich the quiet one.”
Clark hit play again. There was a bit of silence then suddenly Naomi was back. Since the recorder was voice activated they couldn’t tell just how much time had elapsed.
[(Voice 3 Naomi) “Okay, here’s the story. We aren’t the only ones that got stiffed. I called ten other distributers. All together there were five or six shipments that were bogus. We won’t know until tomorrow about number six. It is still in transit. It seems like it only happened on the east and west coasts. Shipments into Santa Fe, Boise, KC and Chicago made it through. This begins to look like an orchestrated effort by someone or some group to cause problems between us and the cartel.”
(Voice 1 Jake) “How could it have been done?”
(Voice 3 Naomi) “It would be ridiculously easy. Those idiot truckers don’t take any precautions with their trucks. They aren’t even sealed or locked. Anybody could let themselves in at a fuel stop or rest area while they are asleep.”
(Voice 2 Rich) “What are we gonna do ‘bout it?”
(Voice 3 Naomi) “First I’m going to notify the cartel exactly what has happened. Then I’m going to make arrangements for a new shipment. I am going to specify that each truck, if it isn’t going to be sealed and locked, have at least two drivers so that when they are stopped there is a guard on the trailer. I think the cartel will understand since we aren’t the only ones this happened to.”
(Voice 1 Jake) “How many shipments will they front us?”
(Voice 3 Naomi) “That’s going to depend on how many make it through. They don’t expect every shipment to make it through, but, if this continues they will have to find another means.”]This was the first indication of just how effective they were being. As soon as they had listened to the recording Clark called a meeting. As soon as everyone was gathered he started, “Okay, we’ve hit them and we’ve hit them hard. According to our group each shipment was worth about five million dollars. The first night we prevented about thirty million dollars in drugs from hitting the streets and that figure has been growing ever since. The problem is that now they are wise to us. They’ve figured out how we are doing it so we need to change our tactics. They are going to be guarding the trucks at stops now, so, we will have to hit them while they move. There should be another shipment within the next couple of days. Let’s be on the lookout.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The family followed this procedure every few days for several weeks. They intercepted almost a half billion dollars in drugs preventing them from hitting the streets. The problem was that this was requiring a lot of time and effort. They didn’t know just how long they would be able to keep up this level of effort. In addition to this, in between the drug interdiction flights, Lori and Clark worked on the protection racket in Detroit.
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