When he got impatient, Clark reminded himself, he could do things wrong. He was trusted with so many important assignments that he couldn't allow that. But something inside him was not just impatient but worried. It reminded him of the time when he was assigned to bring a little boy who had been abused to his superiors, so they could protect him. He hadn't seen any bruises or marks of abuse on the boy, which meant that the people who hurt him were very clever. When Clark brought the child back, he was shaking and whimpering, even though Clark had assured him that he was safe now. Clark felt as though something inside him was shaking and whimpering like that.

He was forbidden to go alone to any part of the building other than his own rooms. There might be secrets of state that he wasn't supposed to hear or see or he might interrupt something. This wasn't an emergency.

He'd been determined not to watch the clock but couldn't help the occasional quick look or feeling disappointed at seeing that only five or ten minutes had passed since the last time. He was just taking another look when the door opened. He sprang to attention with such a profound sense of relief that it felt like his body had been filled with lead before and it was all dumped out now.

"Ma'am."

"Clark. There won't be any assignments for you today."

"Y-yes, ma'am." It must be because he'd made so many mistakes on the last one. Or maybe they knew that part of him wanted to find the Kents. Find them and be with them. Wanted it like a dried plant wants water. He wondered how he'd be punished.

"You're to stay here and read about World War Two."

"Yes, ma'am." He stood until she left and then went to the bookshelf and got his book. But his mind started wandering immediately and he turned the pages mechanically, without even being aware that he was doing it.

***

If she were ever to be as rich as Lex, Lana decided, she'd have somebody make an exact replica of the Baltimore airport just so that she could burn it down. She wouldn't exactly be able to explain why but it seemed like definitely a reasonable idea to her.

She also very fervently hoped that at the very least, the man they were chasing was on a plane, on the runway, surrounded by crying babies. And in the middle seat, too. They'd arrived well ahead of his plane, despite having to fly around the storm and fog, and now all there was to do was wait. And wait. And wait.

Lex was off getting rental cars. She did laugh to herself a bit at the thought of Lex in some Buick or Honda. Or a Volkswagen. Definitely a Volkswagen. Jonathan was waiting at the public transportation, though they guessed that he'd either drive or be picked up.

Well, at least the ticket she was holding was to Trenton, New Jersey. Since they needed to get tickets in order to enter the actual terminals, Lex had bought four, all different destinations, and she was half expecting them to be places like Bangkok, Paris, Venice, or Shanghai, just because he could. Instead, he'd picked local destinations.

She and Martha had carefully picked seats far apart and facing away from each other, so they wouldn't give any impression of being together. She kept telling herself to relax, it's not as though he could arrive any sooner than his flight, and it was still another hour.

She'd switched from coffee to juice but not soon enough, it seemed, judging from what her body was ordering her to do. When she went into the restroom, Martha Kent was just coming out. Martha gave her the polite smile one does when making eye contact with a stranger, but the contact was enough to make Lana chide herself. If she was bored out of her skull and kind of worried and scared, Martha must be going through absolute misery. Finding out that the child she would have raised as her own son, whom she'd mourned as dead, had been turned into a murder machine. Brainwashed and exploited. She couldn't have known this would happen when she and Jonathan gave the boy up, thinking it was for his safety and happiness, but she must be blaming herself. She had a tendency to do that anyway, from Lana's experience with her, and this was huge. She wouldn't just blame herself for whatever Clark himself had gone through, but everything that he'd done in his ignorance. She couldn't have known, but the habit of blaming oneself isn't stopped by logic. Especially when one wants a situation to be somebody's fault, even one's own, rather than be governed just by chance or fate.

Her cell phone purred in her pocket. "Hello?"

"Lana." It was Lex. "I've got two cars. One of them is a grey Honda. There's a valet waiting with it just outside the gate. I'm in the other one, at the parking lot exit, in case he brought his own car. If you don't pick him up on the way out, I might. Can you go to the rental office? Hang around, if anybody asks, say that you're waiting for someone. When you see what he's got, call."

"Got it." She had to ask. "Are you enjoying this? Because it sounds like you are."

He laughed softly. "Parts of it. Catch you soon, sweeting." Trust Lex to mix contemporary expressions and Shakespearian endearments and somehow make it sound sophisticated. That, and a few other related thoughts, kept her in a better humor until the plane landed and passengers started disembarking.

At least he was easy to spot. Lana had had vague thoughts that he might somehow manage to change his entire appearance during the flight. As they'd planned, Martha looked at her watch, said, "Damn," and swung after him. Lana waited a few moments, then looked at the nearby juice bar, at her watch, back at the bar, and followed as well.

When it was clear that he was heading to the parking lot, Lana called Jonathan to come with them. He was out of breath when he caught up to her, but nobody seemed to pay any attention, and Clark's handler was in sight but far enough ahead of them that she could at least make quick eye contact. He still looked angry and worried and like a man who intended to do something about it.

She hoped that determination, planning, and obscene amounts of money would be enough. It would have to be.