Straker looked at the woman seated opposite his desk in the small office near Suicide Slum he used when his daytime office was too risky.
"Five years deep cover, wasted, for what?" Straker grated. "Now everyone knows there's someone out to get Kent and possibly Lane and White. You promised me results. You promised me Kent would be out of the way."
"We moved too soon," the woman, Virginia Lake, responded. "I hadn't had enough time to get Lane, or White primed properly. Obviously, Lane and Kent care more deeply about each other than anyone had indicated to me. There certainly wasn't anything in their files that would have indicated that Lane wasn't the reason Kent took off so suddenly, or that she would fail to react with rage when he did finally return. There was also nothing to indicate that White had any knowledge that he wasn't the father of her child."
"Mister Luthor is convinced Lane's child was fathered by the alien," Straker reminded her.
"Luthor is a mad man," Lake said. "A brilliant mad man, but a mad man nonetheless. His repeated defeats at the hands of Superman has him jumping at phantasms. There is little doubt in anyone's mind that Kent is the child's biological father."
"He claims the boy threw a grand piano," Straker reminded her.
"I've been keeping tabs on that child ever since I joined the Planet," Lake said. "I even had access to his medical records. The child has never shown any sign of extraordinary abilities. If anything, he's small for his age and has medical issues. Hardly what I would expect of Superman's offspring considering the supposed superiority of Kryptonian genetics."
"And Lane's claim that the boy was Superman's offspring?"
"Superman denied it to her face," Lake reminded him. "He claimed to have doubts as to whether or not humans and Kryptonians were genetically compatible at all. As I said, Luthor is a madman and Lois Lane… well a child by a superhero is certainly more romantic than a one night stand with an unreliable co-worker."
"Well, if it's any consolation, Ellis and Bradley came up blank as well," Straker said. "As it turns out, Mrs. Kent, despite her questionable background, is a well respected member of her community. Instead of calling her son, as you and Murch both predicted, she called her hometown sheriff, who called the FBI. Ellis and Bradley have been forced to ground. I'm arranging for them to be relocated to Germany for the time being."
"Has Peter come up with anything?"
"He'll be in the suspect area sometime late tomorrow."
"You're hoping he'll find something," she observed.
She knew him too well. She'd been with him, supporting him, for better than thirty years. Once upon a time, she'd had hopes of a more romantic, more personal relationship with him. But he'd given up everything, his marriage, his son, his life, in keeping SHADO's objectives alive, to keep the planet safe from invading aliens. Now the best she could hope for was just to stand by him and not get in his way.
"I'm hoping he'll find the spaceship the alien used," Straker grated. "I'm hoping we'll find technology we can use."
"You're hoping we'll be able to understand it when and if we do find it," Lake said. "You know Luthor nearly destroyed the entire planet by misusing that technology."
"You said it yourself, Luthor is a mad man, too full of himself to admit he doesn't know everything. His hatred of the alien blinds him to the obvious. He'll be useful, for a while."
"Are you sure you're not blinded by hatred as well?" Lake asked. Besides Alec Freeman, she was probably to only person on Earth who could ask that question.
"No one being should have that much power," Straker said. "His existence is a clear and present danger to the planet. He has to be destroyed. And if I can take out a particularly annoying journalist with delusions of righteousness at the same time, so much the better."
-O-O-O-
Clark put the finishing touches on his first follow-up article on the Clinton Bridge shooter incident. The medical examiner had not yet identified the shooter but Perry had promised to run both Superman's sketch and Jimmy's photograph on the front page in hopes that someone, a relative, a friend, might identify the young man.
Clark had Lupe's permission to go ahead and link the explosives used on the bridge to the Camp Pennington explosives' theft. Clark noted the 'coincidence' of the shooter demanding that Superman be on the bridge while the Mazik Exchange was being robbed.
Lois was spending the morning looking into the on-going repairs to the city. Power was finally up in all but the hardest hit areas of the city. The National Guard presence was being reduced. Metropolis was quickly returning to normal. FEMA was still dragging its proverbial feet in releasing government funds to the people who needed it most.
Clark proofed his work one more time before sending it off to Richard.
After a few minutes Richard came out of his office and walked over to Clark's desk. "I promised to return that guest book to Ms. Smits this morning. Want to grab a cup of coffee on the way? My car's back from the shop and in the parking garage."
"Sure," Clark responded. "I'm pretty much caught up. I was just going to check in with Lupe later this afternoon and then run over to MPD headquarters, see if I can get hold of Bill Henderson. He still hasn't returned any of my calls. I don't know if he's still out of town or what," He looked at Richard curiously. "Didn't you promise Ms. Smits an autographed picture of Superman?"
Richard shrugged. "I haven't seen him to ask him..."
"I'm sure we can come up with something," Clark said, shutting down his computer and getting up from his chair. "Jimmy," he called across the room to Olsen. "You've got a couple of glossies of Superman in your files, don't you?"
"Sure, CK. Why?"
"Never mind," Clark instructed. "Just pick out one for Richard to take, okay?"
Jimmy shrugged and opened a file cabinet near the bullpen entrance. He opened a file and pulled out an 8x10 glossy of Metropolis's superhero. Clark took the photo to the nearest unoccupied desk, and grabbed a pen.
"What's her first name?" Clark asked.
"Mollie," Richard answered. He watched as Clark wrote across the bottom of the photo: Thanks for your help, Molly. Best regards, Superman.
"So, forgery is one of your hidden talents too, CK?" Jimmy asked with a laugh.
"Well, I can just about guarantee Superman won't complain," Clark said with another of his crooked grins. "Besides, I know how he hates to disappoint his fans. You wouldn't want that now, would you?" There was a mischievous glint in Clark's blue eyes as he grabbed a manila envelop from the desk, put the photo inside, and handed it to Richard.
-O-O-O-
It only took twenty minutes to drive out to the Oak Crest Convalescent Center. Ten minutes of that was spent in the drive-thru at Starbucks.
Again Richard parked the car in one of the visitor's slots and entered the low brick building, this time with Clark following on his heels.
The woman seated behind the sliding window near the main door wasn't Molly Smits. Instead, it was a young black woman. She looked up at the two men.
"Is Ms. Smits around?" Richard asked. "I wanted to return something to her."
The young woman's eyes filled with tears. "She was killed last night on her way home. A hit and run."
"I'm so sorry," Clark said. He did sound genuinely sorry to hear of the woman's death.
"Is Doctor Wilson in today?" Richard asked.
"No, I'm sorry," the woman said. "We got a call this morning he was going to be out for the rest of the week."
Richard sighed and looked over at Clark. "Would it be possible to get his number?" Clark asked quietly.
The woman shook her head. "It's against policy, I could lose my job."
"We really need to talk to Doctor Wilson," Clark insisted. "I believe he was treating my Uncle Emil before he died." Clark handed her his business card.
"I can try to get a message to him," she promised.
-O-O-O-
"Why do I have the feeling we brought this on?" Richard asked when they got back to the car.
"It's possible it was really an accident," Clark said.
"Do you really believe that?"
"Possible, but not likely," Clark admitted. "I'll get in touch with Lupe when I get back to the office. I doubt she'll think it's a coincidence."
"By the way, how often do you forge Superman's signature?" Richard asked.
Clark chuckled. "There's a first time for everything. I was actually yanking Jimmy's chain, a little. Before Superman disappeared, Jimmy had a scam going using Superman autographs, and I can just about guarantee Superman didn't have anything to do with the ones Jimmy was handing out."
Clark's phone chimed and he pulled it out: Lupe. "Hello Lupe, what's up?"
"I got curious about this Emil Duvall you asked me to check on," Lupe said. "There's now a funeral home under investigation. Lothian Mortuary, where they took Duvall's body. About ten minutes after I sent word to the ME I'd like an autopsy, they come back and tell me the body's just been cremated."
"Isn't there supposed to be a forty-eight hour waiting period on that sort of thing?" Clark asked. He knew the answer.
"You go it in one, Kent. I've notified the DA. They are not well pleased over there," Lupe said.
"There was another death related to the nursing home," Clark told her. "The receptionist Richard White talked to yesterday. Hit and run."
"Smits. We're already on it. The car was stolen, found abandoned near the warehouse district about midnight. It looks like the car was wiped clean, at least on the inside. Unless there were witnesses, I doubt we'll find the perps."
"Assuming her death is related to our investigation, I doubt the people we're looking at will be so accommodating," Clark said.
"Look, Clark. I know I've told you before but please, watch your back and when you get in over your head, that's what us guys with the badges are for. Pass that along to White, will you?"
Clark chuckled. "I will, not that it'll do any good."
"I know," Lupe said with a good-natured sigh. "Keeping an eye on you and Lane used to be a full time job for Superman. He must be going out of his mind about now. Say hi to the big guy for me, will you?"
"I will, next time I see him," Clark promised and folded up his phone.
"What's up?" Richard asked, weaving the car through the now midday traffic.
"MPD is already on the hit and run, but Lupe doesn't think they'll find the perps. And to add insult to injury, Duvall's body was cremated before the ME could get hold of it for autopsy. The DA's office is not happy."
"Looks like you and Captain Leocadio are pretty tight," Richard commented.
"We've helped each other out. She knows I've always been fair to the department. I'm one the few reporters even tolerated over at Dulin's. We used to go out to drinks there every once in a while." Clark explained. "Plus, I saved her ass from a corruption charge way back when."
"Oh?"
"Let's say it was a very good thing that Klimas didn't bother to check my early Planet assignments before barging into Perry's office. Not long after Nightfall, I spent six weeks undercover at the MPD Academy at Bill Henderson's specific request. I actually have a certificate for completing the accelerated course. I also helped crack open an internal affairs case. One of the instructors was crooked, owned by Intergang. He was trying to discredit Lupe, the S.C.U. I was able to get the evidence to discredit him, clear them, prevented a major scandal for them. Got my second Kerth while I was at it. Perry would have rather I broke the scandal, but he was cool about it. Lois was absolutely furious."
"Why?"
"Uh, because, truth be told, she was better qualified to do the job but Perry went along with Henderson. I was afraid to ask why he wanted me, instead of her," Clark said.
"Maybe they felt you made a more convincing cop," Richard suggested. "Isn't the accelerated course for officers from other jurisdictions who've moved to Metropolis?"
"Yeah, and they put together a real convincing background for me," Clark told him. "Even got Sheriff Harris to vouch for me." He chuckled and Richard gave him a curious look. "Back in high school I had a bad habit of sticking my nose into police business. Drove Sheriff Adams absolutely crazy. Half the time she couldn't decide if she wanted to haul me in for questioning, or recruit me."
"And what sort of police business could there possibly be in Smallville? Late library books?"
"We had our share of bad stuff. Nothing like Metropolis, though."
"Nothing's like Metropolis," Richard said with a grin as he steered the car into the Planet parking garage, pulling into his assigned space.
-O-O-O-
Just after lunch, Lois came back to the bullpen with Jason in tow. Jason pulled himself free of his mother's grasp to run over to Clark's desk.
"We have early dismissal all week!" Jason announced.
"He'll be spending a lot of time here this week," Lois told Clark, following her son. "Remember, Clark has work to do," she said to Jason, crouching down beside the five-year-old. "So, don't bother him too much, okay?"
"I won't, Mommy," Jason promised. Lois ruffled his hair, then kissed him on the cheek.
"Be good." She straightened up and turned back to Clark. "I've got to get out to that FEMA conference. Not that they're going to say anything new." She paused and looked at him more closely. "Maybe we'll have time to talk over dinner."
"You know I'll abide by any decision you and Richard make," Clark reminded her.
She patted him on the shoulder. "You know, Clark, sometimes you're just too honorable to be from this planet. We'll work something out. Soon."
She turned and waved to Richard in his office, missing the startled look in Clark's eyes. Richard waved back and she was gone.
-O-O-O-
Clark stuck his head into the assistant editor's office. Richard had just finished trimming a story to fit the next edition and sent it down to layout. "Richard, have a couple minutes?" Clark asked. He was holding two rolled up maps and a manila folder full of 8x11 print outs.
"Sure, what do you need?"
"An extra set of trained eyes. I have an idea on where those munitions are coming from. Remember that list of SHADO bases that were turned over to the DOD back in '96?"
Richard nodded.
"I checked into who the current owners of those properties are. Turns out the DOD disposed of most of that land in 2001. Some of it was auctioned off for industrial land, but most of it was turned over to the various states. New Troy got three of those bases. Two of them are now industrial parks and the third is now part of the Manahasset Park expansion. That one was a Sky-diver base. It was an underground sub base."
"And chances are, most of it's still there. It'd be perfect for smuggling," Richard said, following Clark into the conference room.
Clark unrolled the geologic survey map onto the conference table, and then taped satellite photos of the same area up on the inner window, along with an old survey map out of the Planet's archives.
"Okay, Clark, what are we looking for?" Richard asked.
"Anything that shouldn't be there, or should be there and isn't," Clark replied, scanning the photos.
"And what makes you think we're going to find anything if the FBI's hasn't?"
"We both know arms dealers survive because the governments who might be able to do something about it see an advantage to having criminals do their dirty work for them," Clark said, not taking his eyes off the photos. "And those same governments will turn a blind eye to other crimes committed by these people for the sake of expediency. Like the attack on the Spires."
Richard knew that. One of his first articles after being assigned to the London bureau was a report on the international arms trade. It had gotten him some attention, not all of it good. "I still don't know what sort of monsters would allow that to happen, or do it for that matter."
Clark shook his head and went back to the photos. "I don't know either. I've written about them, interviewed them. I understand Luthor, sort of. He's just crazy, sees himself as so superior to normal humans that people don't matter. They're not much above ants. But I have no idea what makes these other people tick. I don't understand people who can look at other human beings and only see numbers, statistics, acceptable losses. I don't understand them. I don't want to understand them. But I do want them stopped."
"Lois said you were a crusader," Richard said.
"I come by it honestly, I guess," Clark said with a faint smile. "By the way, Rachel got my Mom and Ben out of Colorado and back to Smallville this morning. And real FBI's looking into whoever it was who was impersonating federal agents. That's a pretty big no-no in their book."
"Glad to hear it."
Suddenly, Clark pulled one printout from the wall. "Got something." He placed the photo on the map and pointed to a section of the photo. "See it?"
Richard studied the photo. After a moment he spotted what Clark was referring to: a slight change of texture in the trees and a road that looked fairly well used, but suddenly ended. Richard checked the corresponding area on the newer GSA map. The road simply stopped. "This map shows this road ending right there, but that doesn't make any sense. There's no way to get out, no turn-around."
"The old map shows the road continuing another half-mile or so. It ends near an old mine." Clark took a marker and circled the area on the map. "I'm betting that's their transfer point."
"So now what?"
"So now I go out there and check it out," Clark said.
"It's about a three hour drive," Richard pointed out. "I guess I'm driving."
"I can move faster by myself."
"How, hitching a ride with Superman? I'll leave Lois a note and she and Jason can take a cab home tonight," Richard told him. Richard studied the older map. "That mine is in Manahasset State Park. I used to go camping there with my dad. Have you got any camping gear?"
"I haven't been camping since high school," Clark said. "Why?"
"A suit going out there would be suspicious," Richard said. "But two guys out on a camping trip..."
"Would be a lot less suspicious," Clark completed the thought. "I guess I'm getting some camping gear."
"Don't worry about it. I've probably got enough. I'll leave Lois that note and we'll get going."
Jimmy poked his head in. "The chief's looking for you guys," he said.
"Tell him we already left." Clark instructed, rolling up the two maps.
"Left for where?" Jimmy asked.
"We're going hunting," Richard said with a grin and followed Clark out. "Keep an eye on Jason, will you Jimmy? Lois should be back any time now."
-O-O-O-
Jason was not supposed to be in the parking garage, but he was bored with his Gameboy and had left his book in the back seat of his parents' car. He heard his father and Clark talking and climbed into the back of the sedan, hunkering down on the floor under the blanket his mom kept there so they wouldn't notice him.
The five-year-old was still sitting on the floor by the back seat when the car crossed the City Center Bridge and headed towards Richard and Lois's house.
-O-O-O-
William Henderson entered his office at Metropolis Police Headquarters after a half-hour flight from Washington D.C., and an hour in traffic. The week-long conference on arms smuggling had been little more than a joke, but he'd managed to get together with people he knew with the FBI and NIA, as well has his counterpart, Jerry Hodgekiss, of the New Troy State Patrol. They, in turn, had linked him up with General Sam Lane, the commander at Fort Pennington, New Troy, who was heading up a military task force to counter arms theft within the U.S. military.
He quickly sorted through the stack of messages on his desk, then swore softly to himself. "Jennie, why didn't you tell me Clark Kent was trying to get in touch with me?" he yelled.
Jennie Wilson, his secretary of less than a year, stuck her head through the door. "Sir?"
"Kent from the Planet has been trying to reach me for the past week," he said, trying to keep his temper. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"He's a reporter," she stated.
"He's a friend, a good friend," Henderson said. "Any calls or messages from Kent, Lois Lane or Perry White are to be sent straight to me. I thought you knew that."
"I knew about Lane and White, sir," Jennie explained. "I've never heard of Kent until this week. I'm sorry. He didn't indicate it was urgent."
"He never does," Henderson said with a sigh. He reread the messages in his hand. Shadow? What had Kent meant by that? He sat down at his desk and dialed the cell number on the message. Number out of service, leave a message.
"Clark, Bill Henderson, I just got your messages. Give me a call back at the office as soon as you get a chance."
Shadow? Dear God, not SHADO. Back two weeks from wherever he'd gone and he's already up to his neck in trouble.
Henderson looked up Perry White's direct line at the Planet and dialed that number.
-O-O-O-
It was late in the day before Lois came back to the office. The FEMA press conference was as frustrating as usual and she wanted nothing more than to grab Jason, Richard, and Clark, go home and have dinner. Not that she was looking forward to have the 'discussion' about Clark and Jason and visitation and such. Clark was just too sweet and reasonable for his own good.
She looked around the bullpen. The lights were off in Richard's office.
"Steve, when did Richard leave?" Lois asked Steve Lombard. He and Richard were friends, of sorts. They frequently went to ball games together.
"I don't know," Steve said. "I think I saw him with Clark over in the conference room a while ago."
"Was Jason with them?"
"Didn't see him."
"Jimmy," Lois called, catching sight of the younger man. "When did Richard leave?"
"About two hours ago," Jimmy answered. "With Clark."
"Did they take Jason with them?"
"No, Richard asked me to watch Jason, but I'm not sure where he is. But they'd better get back soon. The chief is ready to kill them both."
"Why?" Everyone knew Perry got angry at staffers, sometimes for no apparent reason, but Richard had never done anything to upset his uncle, until now.
"He wanted to talk to them both about that group Clark was researching. I found them together, working on something and when I told them the chief wanted to see them both, Clark told me to say they'd already gone and Richard said they were going hunting. Like I said, Perry would like both their heads on pikes right now."
At that moment, Perry came out of his office, glowering at everyone in the bullpen. His expression lightened a little when he caught sight of Lois. "Has my nephew and his current partner in crime checked in yet?"
"No sir," Jimmy responded.
"Have you tried calling them?" Perry asked, turning on him.
"I've left messages on both their cell phones to call us immediately. What more can I do?"
"Perry, what's wrong? And where's Jason?" Lois demanded.
Perry's expression shifted to worry. "I got a call from somebody who said they were with the NIA. They told me that if Clark Kent and Richard White did not cease their investigations into SHADO's operations, there would be serious consequences, for them and for the paper. I also got a call from Bill Henderson. He's worried, too."
"You weren't going to tell Clark to stop, were you?" Lois asked.
Perry shook his head. "No, not that it would do any good if I tried. Don't ever let that timid farm boy act fool you, he's as stubborn as you are, in his own way. But I do want the two of them to do it a little more quietly, for their own good."
"Perry, have you seen Jason?"
"I thought he was with you." Perry responded.
"I left him with Richard and Clark, only Richard's off with Clark," she said.
"He's around here somewhere, Lois," Perry assured her. "I don't think either of them is stupid enough to take him along on this little jaunt of theirs. I'll call security to keep an eye out for one small boy with a talent for trouble."
-O-O-O-
Most of the drive had been spent in a companionable silence. Clark seemed to be deep in thought most of the time, except for an occasional puzzled expression, as if he'd heard something and couldn't quite identify what it was.
"What do you expect to find when we get there?" Richard finally asked.
"I'll know when I see it," Clark responded. The puzzled look came back and this time Richard heard a scuffling sound from behind the driver's seat.
Clark turned and looked into the back. "Pull over," he ordered.
Richard pulled the car onto the shoulder and stopped.
"I'm sorry," a small familiar voice said.
"Jason!" Richard nearly shouted. "What do you think you're doing?"
"I got bored, and I wanted to go with you, and then I fell asleep."
"Get your seat belt on right this minute, young man," Richard ordered. "You are so grounded."
Jason climbed onto the backseat and did as he was ordered.
"We'd better call Lois," Clark said, pulling out his cell phone. "That's odd, no service. We passed a cell tower less than a mile back."
"This is not good," Richard said. "I'm thinking we should turn around and try this later."
"It's nearly dark now, and it'll be past eleven before we get back," Clark observed. "We've come all this way. We may as well spend the night and head back in the morning. We can always blame the cell phone outage for not telling her where Jason is."
"Assuming she lets us live long enough to tell her," Richard said. "You think Superman could give us a lift off planet?"
"As far as the Moon, maybe," Clark responded with a grin. "But there's no air and the scenery gets a little boring after a while."
-O-O-O-
Lois turned on her computer and checked her Inbox. There was a note from Richard:
I'm going with Clark to check out something upstate. I figure somebody needs to watch the boy scout's back. Should be back late tomorrow. Love you, Richard
"Perry, Richard left a note. They were heading upstate," Lois called out.
"Where upstate?" Perry demanded.
"Richard didn't say. Has security found Jason, yet?"
"They just called. One of the clerks downstairs saw him heading for the parking garage just before Clark and Richard checked out of the building."
"Jason knows he's not supposed to go to the parking garage. Perry, I have a very bad feeling about this. We have to find them," Lois said.
"Doesn't your car have GPS?" Perry asked.
Lois nodded, and picked up the phone on her desk. After about ten minutes, she turned back to Perry. "They can't get a read-out from the car. But, there's some sort of hole in their coverage around Manahasset State Park. They have their techs looking into it."
A few minutes later, Jimmy hung up the phone at his desk. "Two men and a small boy drove through the gates at Manahasset about half an hour ago. The camping permit they filled out said Richard White, and the descriptions match Richard, Clark, and Jason. I asked the park ranger to get a message to them to call the office immediately. He said he'd do what he could."
"Manahasset's only about three hundred square miles of near wilderness," Perry told him. "We're not going to hear from them till morning. Go home, Lois. Jason's safe with them and they'll be back tomorrow, I'm sure of it."
He's lying. "Perry, wasn't it Manahasset where those campers were found murdered last year?" Lois asked. "They still haven't found the killers."
"If we haven't heard from them by eight or so, we'll fly out there in the company chopper, okay?" Perry promised. "Now, go home and get some sleep."
-O-O-O-
They had parked the car in one of the designated overnight zones and hiked further into the forest. Richard was surprised at how well Jason was doing. Not a single complaint. And his allergies weren't acting up either.
Clark led the way, periodically checking both compass and map, but Richard wasn't sure how much he needed the compass. He seemed to know exactly where he was heading.
They reached a clearing near nightfall. "We're about a mile from where that mine should be. But this looks like a good place to set up camp." Clark shrugged his backpack off.
It didn't take long to set up the tents. The ranger at the gate had warned them not to set up a campfire. The underbrush was too dry and the wild fire risk high. Richard cooked a quick supper on the camp stove, instead.
"I haven't been camping since my dad died," Clark commented after the supper dishes were cleaned up. "Of course, there's not a lot of woods in Kansas." He paused, as if listening for something. "I think I'll go for a walk."
"It's dark out there," Richard reminded him.
Clark gave him a crooked grin and adjusted his glasses. "I've got pretty good night vision. I'll be back in a little bit."
"Can I come with you?" Jason asked.
Clark shook his head. "I suspect it's past your bedtime, sport."
Jason stuck his lower lip out in a pout.
"Clark's right, monster," Richard said. "It's bedtime."
"I didn't bring my jammies," Jason complained.
"One of the joys of camping," Richard said with a grin. "You get to sleep in your clothes if you want to. Now, get into that sleeping bag."
"Richard, you can use the other bag, if you want," Clark offered.
"And where are you going to sleep?"
"Don't worry about me. I can sleep almost anywhere." Clark said, and disappeared into the trees.