"They log license plates at the entrance," Lex muttered, picking up the phone. "If he hasn't..." When he stood like that, his forehead corrugated with worry and tension, he reminded Lana of his father, no matter how hard she tried to dismiss the thought. His eyes closed briefly. "No answer." She wasn't sure that he was seeing anything when he stared ahead. "It looks like he's killed more of my staff. Of *my* staff!" He spat the words. "People I should have protected."

"Lex..." When he shook his head at her voice, it reminded her, uncomfortably, of a horse shaking off a fly.

"I'll go out there. See if there are any records."

"I'm coming with you." Lana was ready to protest at Jonathan's implicit assumption that she and Martha were to remain behind, but the older woman caught her eye with a shake of her head.

"Right." Lex's movements were as crisp as his voice as he moved about the office. First, he opened what looked like a fuse box but instead revealed a safe. Quickly dialing the combination, he pulled out two more handguns. "Mrs. Kent, Lana, you take these. Lock yourselves in after we've gone. When we come back, we'll knock three times, then twice. Got that?"

"Better plan. We'll go upstairs, somewhere where we can see you. If we see anything, we'll shoot." Martha scooped up one gun, handing the other to Lana. Lana eyed the other woman curiously. She'd never seen Martha's eyes other than amiable and warm, sometimes covertly amused. Now her expression was almost alien, as if stripped for action, all superfluities gone, readied for action.

"Good. The front gallery. Lana, you know the way? We'll wait two minutes before leaving, give you time to get into position." Lana nodded, then, with one last look at the room, led Martha up the stairs as Jonathan and Lex walked to the front door of the castle.

***
"It's so dense, I can't even see them clearly," Lana said, with a sigh.

Martha's face still held that readiness that had startled and alarmed Lana. "I doubt they'll run into trouble. He's probably long gone."

"Then what?"

"We get our son back." *The maternal instinct,* Lana thought to herself, then corrected the thought. It was more than instinct--there was a calculating intelligence there that made it all the more fearsome. "We had him for only a few days but saw how special he was. I'm not talking about his abilities. He was trusting and affectionate and laughing and happy and *good*. Turning him into *that* wasn't just wrong. It was blasphemy." It seemed as though only a small portion of her brain was given to the words, the rest still alert, scrutinizing as much as she could in the fog outside.

"I think they're coming back." In a few moments, they heard the agreed-upon knocking pattern at the door and opened it.

"We've got a license plate. It also had a rental sticker." Lex's eyes were bleak and Lana didn't have to ask what had happened to the security guard at the main gate. Her eyes started to fill as she wondered who it was. *God, I hope it's not the one who called me 'Lil Colt',* she thought, then angrily asked herself why that would be so much worse. Another person was dead, whether or not it was somebody who teased her because he'd known her since she was tiny. Lex seemed to notice and in a barely perceptible gesture, held his arm out, and she went to him, feeling his hand cold at her waist, even through the fabric of her shirt.

"What now?"

"We call the rental office. Find out who rented the car. If he took it to the airport, they might track which airline he used, if they took him from the lot to the terminal."

"He's had a start on us," Jonathan muttered.

The corner of Lex's mouth quirked. "Our first break. This fog, I doubt his flight will take off for a while." He went over the the phone and started dialing.