CHAPTER 14: Confrontations
LEX'S PRIVATE OFFICE-LUTHORCORP
Lex arrived at the acid-etched glass doors of his office on the top floor of LuthorCorp Plaza and, taking a deep breath, grabbed the doorknob to take a step inside.
"It's been a long time. I was starting to miss these impromptu visits of yours. You'll have to excuse me, Clark, but I'm very busy now to be lectured with sanctimonious platitudes."
"Where is she?" Clark asked menacingly.
"So I was right. As usual you're at my doorstep to issue accusations. I thought you were no longer interested in Lana. She did come to see me after you turned her down. I sent her packing. I'm no one`s second best," he replied, shuffling through his post.
"I'm not here because of Lana," barked Clark. "How do you explain this?" he asked, throwing a bunch of photographs on Lex's mahogany desk.
"Where did you get them?"
"That isn't relevant. "
"Someone's playing you, Clark."
"Stop the charade, Lex! You've known all along she was alive and you deliberately lied to all of us."
"I never lied to you, Clark. And this is very flimsy evidence. They could have been Photoshopped for all we know. Why drag up painful memories? You were at her funeral, Clark."
"A funeral that you clearly staged for everyone's benefit. Only a Luthor could have thought of something so sick," glared Clark.
"You don't know what you're saying, Clark. I buried her too."
"She wasn't your friend. You barely knew her."
"You were so wrapped up in your own obsession with Lana that you didn't realise what was going on with the young woman you called your best friend."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You used her as a spare wheel every time Lana was in between boyfriends or when you didn't have the guts to go for what you wanted. You didn't care about her feelings. Maybe at first you were clueless, but then you had to know you were more to her than her best friend. She was always your safe net, your back-up plan, but as soon as your Princess gave you the light of day you forgot all about Chloe but expected her to be at your beck and call. And you call me sick? You blame me for what happened later and I accept my share of guilt, but you weren't an innocent bystander, Clark. You pushed her into my father's clutches and set the wheels in motion."
"You said I used her... and what about you? You only thought about yourself and what you could get from her. You knew what could happen if your father ever found out she was working for you behind his back."
"You don't know a thing. Go ahead and call me selfish, cold and insensitive. You're the biggest hypocrite of them all. I was your best friend too, Clark, and you let my own father lobotomise me and you did nothing," exploded Lex.
"That isn't true. I tried to stop it. I..."
"You are the one who lied, Clark. You have done it straight to my face ever since the day I met you. And you lied to my face after I was released from Belle Rêve. I thought we were like brothers and you betrayed me. Why? To protect your secret? You betrayed both her and me and you have the gall to storm into my house and my office whenever it suits your fancy to lecture me from your pulpit as if you were clean."
"I didn`t come for this."
"It isn't nice, is it- to look at yourself in the mirror? There are many mornings in which I don't like what I see in mine but I know who I am. What about you?"
"I know what I'm not."
"Oh, spare me the litany! I haven't got time for this," gritted Lex, slamming his briefcase shut.
"Where do you have her, Lex? Nobody's heard of her since a few hours after her husband's funeral."
"I'm not into kidnapping, Clark. After all the media circus surrounding the case, don't you think that maybe- if she is alive - she doesn't want to be found? I suggest you think carefully about the person that delivered these photos to you. Why is he interested in finding her whereabouts? He's just using you. And what kind of friend would serve Chloe to him on a silver platter? "
"I would never let any harm come to her."
"I can't believe you're still so naïve, Clark. Do you think you can outsmart them?"
"What is it that you're covering up, Lex? Where you afraid LuthorCorp stock would suffer if your father was found guilty of murder? Is that the reason you had the investigation closed?"
"Lionel Luthor hadn't been part of this corporation for over three years. Nothing he did could affect LuthorCorp. After all he put me through, do you actually think I care about his reputation or that I would move a finger to save his ass after his death?"
"If not for you, for whom? "
"You're still blind, Clark. You'd never understand."
"Then explain it to me."
"What for? You've already judged and sentenced me. This conversation has gone on long enough. Take your pictures and leave. Do you know the way out or shall I call security?"
"You're mistaken if you think this is the last time you've heard from me. She isn't your property and you have no right to keep her away from her family and friends. I will find out where Chloe is and you won't be able to stop me," threatened Clark, storming out of the office.
"Sir, the chopper's ready,"said Lex's security man slash chauffeur, entering the office through a side door as soon as the unwelcome visitor had left.
"Thanks, Thomas. I want Clark Kent tailed," he told his minion, massaging his temples.
"Right away, sir. We'll plant a tracking device in his truck," nodded the man, grabbing the walkie-talkie.
"He must be taking the elevator now. I want a GPS on him personally. Use Subject 718 to have it done," he ordered, unwilling to leave anything to chance. Lex might not know what Clark's big secret was yet, but he was certain of his hidden talents and knowing the farm boy had been contacted and egged on by Morgan Edge did nothing to assuage the billionaire's fears. He couldn't have the boy disappear on him; Clark Kent on the loose could complicate things even more than they already were.
OLIVER QUEEN'S PENTHOUSE
Two hours after Clark's departure Lois came out of her induced sleep to find herself lying on the quilt of a king-size bed in a room that she was acquainted with but which she hadn't visited in months.
"What the hell?" she mumbled, propping herself up on her elbows.
"Good evening, sleepyhead," said Oliver with a smug smile on his face, leaning against the doorframe.
"What time is it?" she asked, massaging her neck.
"Nine o'clock," he told her after checking out the expensive waterproof Swiss watch on his wrist.
"Not that I don't appreciate waking up with a hunk in the same room but... Could you please tell me how the hell I ended up here... and wearing this? " she replied, looking at her body clad only in her underwear and a striped shirt she recognised as Oliver's style.
"Well... isn't it obvious?" he cocked an eyebrow.
"Obvious? Excuse me but the last time we talked we agreed we were better as friends..."
"Clearly, you changed your mind and I've never been one to resist an enticing brunette."
"Where's Clark?" she glared at him, swinging her legs to one side of the bed.
"Clark? I`m not into threesomes. Let's talk about you and me, shall we?"
"I want to know where he is and I want to know it now, Oliver!"
"I thought we were talking about us," he frowned. "Why bring Clark into it? Or is he the reason you decided to break up with me?"
"Clark? You gotta be kidding! We do nothing but fight all the time."
"You know what they say about the thin line between love and hate."
"I don't hate him; he just rubs me the wrong way at times."
"So you admit you love him."
"What? Oliver, what the hell are we talking about? "
"I don't know. You tell me."
"You're into this, aren't you? You men are all the same. You and your little exclusive club," she fumed, crossing the carpet-covered room barefoot."He's asked you to keep me here, hasn't he? Nothing happened between us. You changed me into this shirt to make me think I got drunk and jumped in the sack with you," she went on, punctuating each sentence with a push on his chest.
"Is the idea of us so repulsive that you'd have to be drunk in order to consider it viable?"
"Look. I don't have time to inflate your playboy ego, Oliver. There are more important things right now than my pathetic love life and my never-ending romantic screw-ups. Just show me which way Clark left and I'll remember you on my Christmas list."
"Lois..."
"Don't piss me off, Queen. While you make up your mind, would you please give me my clothes back?"
"OK. Open the closet. You'd better get dressed before the delivery boy gets here. I've just ordered your favourite pizza... with double cheese."
"Don't try to lure me using my stomach as bait, Queen. I'm not staying."
"I promised Clark I'd keep you safe and..."
"What are you going to do? Tie me up? "
"You never told me you were into bondage, Lois," chuckled the billionaire.
"OK. I had enough!" she shouted. "What would you say if I told you Clark's in deep trouble with Metropolis Organised Crime- think Morgan Edge- and.."
"Edge? Edge's dead."
"He's alive and kicking. I saw him with my very own eyes this evening. And... here's the cherry on the cake... Lex Luthor seems to be deeply involved."
"Lex?"
"Yes, your old Excelsior classmate."
"I'm listening."
A FEW KILOMETRES AWAY FROM METROPOLIS
Fifteen minutes after leaving LuthorCorp in his chopper Lex met General Lane and his men on an abandoned farm near Fort Adelson, where they planned their strategy to raid the warehouse. The military man had used his old contacts in the Russian intelligence to get a thermal scan of the area and have a clearer idea of what to expect when they got there.
"What's this grey area here?" asked Lex, pointing at the footage.
"We don't know. The technician who did the reading told me it had some kind of shield. Our guess is it must be made of some dense metal," explained Lane.
"Lead?"
"Could be. I wish I had been able to get a state-of-the-art satellite to penetrate it. Unfortunately, this old Russian baby was the only one in that orbit at the time. We have one but the controls at the Pentagon are tougher these days and my American contact wouldn't risk being discovered. In any case, I thought neither of us would have appreciated having Uncle Sam on our tail," responded the General, lighting his cigar. "I hope they aren't housing explosives there or worse."
"Whatever it is, it must be pretty important to them. I don't think they're so interested in containing it as in preventing someone in particular from getting to it," mused Lex."What can you tell me about your sister-in-law?" he added, looking back at Lois' father.
"Moira? She was a very private person. I never got to know her really well. My wife and her had a very close relationship and when... Ellen passed away... Lois grew very attached to her. It was hard for my eldest daughter to lose both women so close together."
"Were the Sullivans having trouble with their marriage when she left?"
"As I said before, I saw very little of Moira. My career absorbed me in those days...I've never been one for socials anyway... I got together with Gabe now and then. Had a couple of beers, watched a game. He seemed to be a happy man then. He had a beautiful baby girl he boasted about all the time... he loved Moira deeply- he didn't have eyes for anyone else. Losing her was very hard for him; it almost destroyed him... and Chloe- she didn't speak for three months. Getting that job at the Fertilizer Plant in Smallville was their salvation. Has my niece ever mentioned her to you?"
"Twice. The second time was today. If you had to take a guess at the reason for Moira's desertion, what would it be?"
"What does this have to do with the mysterious room in the scan?"
"I don't know. I just want to explore all the possibilities of what we might find there," replied the billionaire."This is putting a lot of stress on Chloe and is dragging out a lot of painful memories. There is something about her mother that is disturbing her deeply and I don't want to pressure her to tell me what it is. But if you know something that could shed some light on the matter, I'd really appreciate it. I want to help her cope with this ... "
"I remember an incident a few weeks after Moira left. Chloe was sleeping over at home. I was working on some reports and I heard her scream. I went to the girls' room and saw her tossing and turning, crying she didn't want those men in white to take Moira away. At the time I thought she was just having a nightmare, creating scenarios to explain why her mom had deserted... I couldn't get a word out of her when she woke up."
"You believe those men were real? That they were there to commit her mother? The Moira I heard on the phone sounded articulate to me, but a lot of years have gone by since the day she vanished."
"There were rumours, yes."
Lex stored the information for later use and resolved to ask his PI to dig into Moira's past and her first years of marriage. He had a hunch there was something more to her decision than a secret affair or marital problems.
"Thanks for sharing this with me, Lane."
"I just want for Chloe to find the peace she deserves. I hope you'll be able to give her that, Luthor."
"So do I. Let's take a first step, shall we? "
METROPOLIS PORT- WAREHOUSE# GH2398
"You're trying my patience, Mrs Sullivan. What did you think you were doing trying to run away this morning? What did you tell your daughter before we got you back?" snapped Edge at the woman now tied to a chair as he pulled her hair from behind to look into her green eyes.
"Nothing," she gasped.
"You'd better not be lying to me. I was planning to give you a reward for getting us what we wanted, but now I don't think so."
"Why don't you let her go? Why bring more innocent people into this?" she added, shooting a glance at the young woman sitting in a corner of the shielded room.
"You should be more worried about you than the girl. You're no longer useful to us while she..." grinned Lionel's old partner, crouching in front of the other woman and lifting the girl's face by the chin only to be spit at.
"You have spunk. I`ve got to give you that," said Edge, wiping off the saliva with a monogrammed handkerchief.
"He'll never give you what you want!" shouted the young woman, trying to untie the rope around her wrists.
"Love makes people weak," chuckled the middle-aged man."Tell me, has he ever ... ? "
"Sir!" exclaimed one of Edge's minions, stepping into the room. "Luthor and his men are here. We should leave!"
"You! " shouted the Crime Lord, glaring at Moira. "Give me your gun," he ordered his bodyguard.
"Sir, we've already got the codes. We're close. Take the girl and forget about the lady," he tried to make his boss see reason."They'll be bursting through those doors any minute now. "
A hyperventilated Edge shook his minion off and, clenching his jaws, slammed Moira Sullivan unconscious against the wall before grabbing the young woman to make her stand up.
"Put your claws away and lift up that trapdoor," he ordered the girl, pushing her to the floor."Seal the door!" he barked at his two men just as Lex and Lane's men barged into the building.
"Do you have anything?" shouted the General at his men on the radio."They can't have vanished into thin air."
"We have men on the roof and all the exits are sealed," responded Lex, removing his night vision goggles."There`s only one way out- down," he added, cocking the hammer of his gun and walking purposefully towards the mysterious room.
"Luthor," Lane warned him," we don't know what's behind that door."
"We can`t afford to waste more time, Lane. We`ll blow it up or rip it apart. Tell your demolition man to use C4 or a welding torch," the young billionaire told him sternly.
Lex observed Lane and his team work against the clock hoping it wasn't too late. By his reckoning, Graves must have already contacted Edge with the codes Ilianovich had given him in exchange for protection. Lionel's heir knew the stakes were high but he`d taken the decision before knowing they had Moira and by the time he got in touch with the Russian the codes had already been delivered.
"We're in!"exclaimed the demolition man. "There appears to be someone down, sir."
"It's Moira," said the General gravely as Lex rushed into the room and knelt down in front of the woman to check her pulse.
"She's still breathing," replied the young CEO, sliding his hand behind her skull and feeling the warmth of oozing blood wet his fingers. "Bring a stretcher," he ordered a member of the team, taking his mobile out of his pocket and asking his pilot to fly in the helicopter."She's got an ugly concussion," he murmured, exchanging looks with Lois' father."I hope she`ll make it."
"She's a fighter like all the women in Chloe's family. She will recover. She has to," stated the General.
"I'll fly her to the Davis Clinic. A neurologist and my personal physician will be waiting for us," he explained to Chloe's uncle.
"General, there's no one either on the premises or in the perimeter," the second-in.-command informed them. "But you might want to check this out," he added, standing at the threshold of a lateral door.
"We have gophers," said the seasoned officer, looking at the trapdoor."Stevens and Shepperton, go down and see where it leads. The damn thing must be new," he grumbled, looking at Lex before scanning the room and noticing the gleaming green rocks that were scattered all over the place. "What the hell is this?"
"Meteor rocks," stated Lex, leaning down to retrieve a shining object that had attracted his attention.
"What do you have there?"
"A necklace," responded the billionaire grimly, recognising the trinket."Damn it," he said through clenched teeth.
"Sir, the chopper's here," the youngest of the group butted in.
"Tell your men there's another woman with Edge. I don't care how eager you're to get the bastard, Lane; remember that we need him to lead us to where he's assembling Argus and that enough innocent blood 's been shed."
"Yes, Sheppard. Any trace?" snapped the General on the radio."OK, we'll pick you up at the pier," he answered, turning off the walkie-talkie."Escort Moira, Luthor. The bastard's disappeared again. Back to square one."
"We've lost a battle but not the war, General," stated Lex.
Let's hope the eternal knight in shining armour makes a move to save his damsel in distress and we'll get our checkmate.