Chapter Three
NEW A/N (DEC8)- Thanks for the reviews guys, I knew you wouldn't abandon me. Some of you may not have noticed, but I had to go back through this chapter and change the name of the Governor. I called him Haberman at least ten times, but Mayor Haberman was the cute old mayor of Metropolis (that Lex liked), and Governor Averman was the pervert ass who groped Chloe and was friends with Lionel. Totally my fault, and if you find another Haberman/Averman mistake please just pretend that it says Averman. Thanks! :0)
A/N: Well, I got no reviews for the last chapter (that I recieved anyways), so I'm REALLY hoping that it was just a mixup on 's part. No worries though, I still wrote the next chapter. It's long but I just wanted to get it done. The teaser will be up by the end of the weekend. I'm going to visit family in Calgary on Sunday, now that school's pretty much done for me until January, so won't get to update next week. I'll bring a note book with me though, so at least I can get the Halloween episode done (isn't it ridiculous that I'm writing the Halloween episode two weeks before Christmas?) and posted when I get back. Please review. :0)
"Pete?" Clark was the first one to get over the shock and finally say something, though Lex imagined that the wounded puppy sound in his voice didn't make Pete feel any better.
"I didn't—" Pete looked desperate to explain, but the balding man, who was apparently the brains of the operation, shut him up quickly.
"Shut up…all of you," the man snapped. Lex noted smugly that he looked much better without hair than the older man did. "James put them into one of the bedrooms…leave the Ross kid with me. I've got a few questions for him."
"I'm not leaving him alone with you," Clark insisted, shooting his meanest look at the guns pointed in his direction.
"Clark, man…" Pete shook his head. "Just go. I'll tell you everything later okay?" He looked directly at Chloe and Clark as he spoke, though Lex knew that the comment was really addressed to all of them. "Please."
Clark nodded finally and they allowed the gunmen to lead them into the first bedroom in the hallway, Lex's bedroom. Lex was the last one inside, and as he tried to see back into the kitchen he could just get a glimpse of Danny pushing Pete back down onto a stool, and then the door closed. Lex didn't try to open it again; he knew that there would be a guard outside of the door anyways.
It wasn't until he turned back to the others that he noticed that both Chloe and Lucas were beginning to shake rather rapidly. Their clothes were still soaking wet, and the villa was air conditioned and quite cool inside. He crossed quickly to the dresser where he'd put his clothes and pulled out a set of sweats for Lucas and a long-sleeved t-shirt and some shorts for Chloe.
"Here," he handed them the clothes. "Go change before you get sick." Chloe nodded eagerly and grabbed the offered clothes, heading for the bathroom. She shot one look at Lucas before closing the door behind her…and locked the door. Lucas rolled his eyes at her but accepted the clothes from Lex with a nod. He quickly stripped off his wet t-shirt and bathing suit (Clark turned away in a hurry) and pulled the sweats on.
Lex sighed and sat down on the edge of his bed, Clark taking a spot on the other side. Lucas roamed around the room at random, finally coming to a stop at the dresser where the picture frames sat. "Tell me you don't travel with pictures," he scoffed, picking up the picture of himself curiously.
"They're not mine," Lex assured him.
"Ah, dear old dad," Lucas sighed with false feeling. Lex struggled not to roll his eyes and was saved when the bathroom door opened again and Chloe reappeared.
"Anything from Pete yet?" she asked them anxiously. When they all shook their heads she walked over to the door and pressed her ear against the wood. "I can't hear anything," she told them.
"Oh really?" Lucas asked sarcastically, abandoning the pictures and moving to sit in the middle of the bed, reclining against Lex's plush white pillows.
"There's a skylight in the bathroom," Chloe continued, ignoring him completely and turning to look at Clark and Lex. "It's pretty high but I think if I can stand on Clark's shoulders I'll be able to reach…what?"
They'd all begun to frown at her rambling. "We can't leave without Pete, Chloe," Clark pointed out.
"I know that Clark," she looked offended. "I hadn't planned on it. But we don't know what they're doing to him in there! They could be hurting him and us sitting in here isn't helping him! At least if we try to get out we might have a chance of saving him!"
"Or they'll see us coming and just shoot him on the spot," Lucas interjected dryly. "Which is what…a better option?"
"As much as I hate to admit this," Clark ground his teeth together audibly. "Lucas is right. If we try anything they're likely to shoot him. We can't risk that."
"Well I can't just sit here and let them—"
The door opened suddenly and Chloe jumped, backing up quickly towards the bed. Lex jumped to his feet but relaxed slightly when he saw Pete being pushed violently into the room, the door slamming shut behind him again. Chloe hurried forward and threw her arms around him tightly. Clark jumped to his feet too and hurried over.
"Pete!" he cried, joining Chloe quickly. "Are you okay? What happened? What did they say? Did they—"
"I'm fine," Pete muttered, pulling away from Chloe's hug and giving them a quick, weak, smile. His left eye had obviously been hit, and he had an open gash on his left cheek, but other than that he looked okay. Chloe led him over to the bed and made him sit down beside Lex.
"Stay there," she ordered, hurrying back to the bathroom and emerging a few seconds later with a wet facecloth. She climbed up onto the bed in front of him, beside Lucas, and began to carefully dab at the blood on his cheeks, wiping it away.
"Pete," Lex began seriously once Clark had sat down again. "You have to tell us what's going on."
"I know," Pete winced when Chloe patted the cloth across the cut.
"You didn't seem too surprised," Lucas pointed out. When the other's looked at him he shrugged. Lex noticed that Pete didn't protest that right away…like he should have." You knew that they were here for you didn't you?"
"You did say that you'd explain everything," Chloe remembered. "Pete what's going on?"
Pete sighed and removed the facecloth from his eye, toying with it in his hands. "This summer, when I wasn't with you in Smallville that is, I was working in the Governor's office in Wichita. Running errands, making coffee, you know…bitch work," he didn't quite meet anyone's eyes. "So one day, I get this note from the Governor's assistant to meet Averman in his office."
"And?" Lex prompted, trying not to look too eager…he really disliked that man.
"And he asked me if I would be able to do him a favor…a personal favor," Pete admitted. "Of course I said yes…I mean, the guy's the governor, you know? Anyways, he wanted me to deliver a package to a factory just out of the city."
"Who was it for?" Chloe asked.
"I don't know," Pete shrugged. "It was just a blank envelope. He gave me the address and I went after my shift at the office. But when I got there I couldn't find anyone downstairs, so I went up to the second floor and could hear voices down the hall. There was some sort of office up there, and they had the door closed. I had planned on just knocking and then getting the hell out of there…but I could hear yelling through the door."
"They were fighting?" Clark asked.
"They were having a business meeting," Lucas corrected with a smirk.
"Do you know who was at the meeting?" Lex asked.
Pete nodded. "One of them was Katz; someone yelled his name at one point. Oh, and some guy named Benny. I heard something about a Tuesday morning shipment, and a meeting on Thursday, but thought that it was just a business thing. Anyway, I didn't want them to think that I was listening in, so I went back down the hall to the stairs and made as much noise as I could going up them. By the time I got back to the office you couldn't hear them anymore."
"Did you deliver the package?" Clark asked.
"Yeah, that's the thing," Pete nodded again. "I knocked on the door and Thomas Avery answered it."
"Who's Thomas Avery?" Clark frowned.
"The Governor's assistant," Lex supplied.
"I told him that I had a package from the Governor and he thanked me and tipped me twenty bucks for delivering it after hours," Pete shrugged. "Then I got out of there."
"So what's the problem then?" Lucas asked, now clearly interested.
"I didn't think that there was a problem," Pete admitted. "I delivered the package and then went home, not really thinking much of it. Nothing happened for a few days and then on Tuesday I was watching the news and saw the report that Dimitri Katz got arrested down at the train yards."
"For trying to ship fifty million dollars of cocaine to Metropolis," Lucas remembered.
"Yeah," Pete nodded. "And I found it really strange that the Governor's assistant was waiting there for a message on the same day that they were having a big fight about shipping problems."
"What did you do?"
"Nothing," Pete admitted sheepishly. "Look to be completely honest, I was too afraid to do anything. This was at the end of July you know…and all I could think about was what seems to happen to people who try to take on guys like Dimitri Katz. It's not very brave of me, but I really didn't want to get into a situation like you did," Pete said to Chloe. "I'm sorry…I know I should have done something, but I knew that if Katz didn't try something then Governor Averman would have."
"Why did they come here though, Pete?" Lex asked him. "If they didn't know that you'd heard anything."
"Apparently there was security cameras in the hallways," Pete laughed bitterly at his own stupidity, for getting caught. "I should have thought or that earlier but…anyways, they saw the tapes and knew that I'd been outside the doors."
"Why didn't they make a move sooner?" Clark asked. "If they knew that you were there why wait until you left the country before coming after you?"
"The case was assigned to my mom," Pete told them.
"And if the judge's son went missing it would be a little suspicious," Lex nodded.
"Plus," Pete shrugged. "I think maybe they thought I didn't know what was going on, because I hadn't said anything."
"So…why now?"
"Last week someone submitted an anonymous tip linking Katz to Averman," Lucas remembered, now leaning forward on his knees anxiously.
"They thought it was me," Pete nodded. "And since Katz is primarily located in Edge City, they'd had a guy on Lucas for a while. I guess they saw you meet with Chloe and Clark in Metropolis that day, and then they knew where I'd be this weekend."
"Wow," Clark let out a deep breath. Pete nodded again and Chloe groaned, tired of all of the kidnappings and hostage situations.
"Did they make any demands yet?" Lex asked Pete.
"Nope," Pete shook his head. "But their going to call my mom once they get the signal scrambler set up…I'm supposed to be the incentive for her to let Katz off. Like this is the first moron who tried that."
"I wonder who this other source is," Chloe said, more to herself than to the rest of them.
"I don't know," Pete admitted. "I told them that it wasn't me…but I don't think they believe me. Or else they just don't care." They were all silent for a few more minutes, not knowing what to say. "Look, guys…I'm really sorry. I should have said something in July, before it got this far. This is all my fault."
"Pete," Chloe shook her head. "No one in this room is in a position to judge you. We've all done things we're not proud of."
"Speak for yourself," Lucas jabbed.
"We've all done things that we shouldn't be proud of," Chloe corrected, turning to look Pete in the eyes seriously. "Okay?"
Pete looked quickly at Lex and Clark before meeting Chloe's gaze again. "Okay," he nodded reluctantly and then turned his attention back to Lex. "Sorry about your party man."
"Don't worry about it," Lex assured him. A part of him was hoping that Averman would get found out as well as Katz; the man was a creep and was a little too fond of Chloe.
"So," Lucas clapped his hands together. "Are we going to try that skylight?"
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"Would you hold still Clark?" Chloe yelped slightly as Clark once again swayed to the right and tightened his grip around Chloe's ankles. She was standing on his shoulders, trying to reach the skylight in Lex's bathroom…or at least, she was trying to stand on his shoulders.
"I'm trying to Chloe," he insisted. "But you keep moving around! Would you just hold still?"
"It's really high though," she protested weakly, wobbling again. "I don't want you to drop me!"
"I won't drop you Chloe," he rolled his eyes. "But I am beginning to think that you have less grace than—"
"Don't finish that sentence Clark Kent," she warned him, bending down and swatting him quickly on the top of his head before trying to steady herself again. In the doorway Lucas and Pete leaned against the frame watching them with mixed expressions of amusement and wariness.
"How's it going in there?" Lex poked his head into the room. He was currently keeping watch for the gunmen to re-enter the bedroom. There'd been no sign of them since they'd pulled Pete back into the kitchen to make the call to his mother and then sent him back into the bedroom with the others. "Clark try not to drop her."
"Funny," Clark muttered under his breath. Of course he wouldn't drop her, he could lift someone that weighed two hundred times what Chloe did, but except for Pete none of them knew that. He was more concerned about the fact that she just wouldn't hold still. "Chloe I swear if you don't stop moving I'm going to drop you!"
She reached her arms up as high as she could and hopped a little, not quite able to reach the glass panes. "I can't reach it," she told them. "Can you lift me higher?"
"Maybe she could stand on your head?" Lucas suggested obnoxiously and Pete snickered. Clark ignored them both and grabbed Chloe's ankles securely. He took a deep breath and lifted her several inches off of his shoulders…of course pretending that it was a difficult thing to do.
"Hurry up," he told her, making his voice as shaky as possible for good measure. She nodded and reached again, this time reaching the panels and fumbling at the latch that conveniently seemed to be located on skylights.
"Almost…got…" she muttered, still fumbling. An audible click echoed around the silent bathroom. "I got it!" she cried happily. "Can you lift me higher Clark? I need a few more inches if I'm going to climb—"
"What's wrong?" Lex asked, coming over to them now and looking up at her. Clark saw his eyes widen and followed his gaze up, to where Chloe was staring in shock at one of the gunmen, his mask firmly in place, and perched in a tall tree with his gun trained her way.
"Oh…"
Lucas and Pete hurried over too and looked up. "Uh, hi," Chloe greeted the gunman.
"Hi," he returned sarcastically. "What are you doing?"
"Just um, trying to get a little fresh air," she smiled plastically at him. "What are you doing?"
"Just making sure no one tries to get out of the skylight," he returned. "Nice try though."
"Yeah thanks," Chloe muttered. "I guess I'll just be…going back inside now."
"You do that," he nodded. Clark began to lower her back down until she was sitting on his shoulders. "Oh…and thanks for the skin show earlier. Really made my night."
Chloe's sounds of protest were drowned out by the glass panel snapping shut once again. Clark squatted down and let her slide down his back. "Good try guys," Lucas clapped his hands together. "What's next? We blow a hole in the wall and just walk out?"
"Maybe we should put a blanket up over that skylight," Pete suggested, looking up at the windows again, but not quite able to see the hidden gunman.
"Why?" Lucas asked.
"That guy is watching everything that we do," Pete pointed out. "Besides…I have to go to the bathroom."
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Danny hummed lightly to himself as he sifted through the refrigerator looking for something to give him a carb rush. There was a lot of fruit, but nothing that he really wanted. "Where's the pizza?" he muttered, taking an apple out of the fridge and biting into it.
"Danny!" Jace yelled from his position on the couch. He gestured for Danny to go over and join the others. Once they were all assembled Jace stood in front of them, trying to make himself look taller than he actually was. "Okay guys, here's what's going to happen: the trial is set for Monday morning. Now we're calling Ross again tomorrow at noon for confirmation. If she refuses to let Katz off—"
"She won't," Toby said with a cruel smirk. "Not if she wants to see her kid again, or any of those other brats."
"If she refuses to let Katz off," Jace repeated, shooting a pointed glare at Toby. "We've been ordered to kill the kid…and any other witnesses. If she agrees, we keep them all here until Monday after she gives the verdict."
"What do we do with them?" Mario asked, gesturing in the general direction of the bedroom where Pete Ross and the others were being kept.
"We're supposed to let them go home like they planned," Jace shrugged.
"They know what I look like," Danny protested. "And they might be able to identify the rest of you."
"The deal with Ross is that we're supposed to let them go," Jace repeated with a small smirk. "But Haberman's people have made it clear that they don't want anyone returning to the U.S. that can provide any incriminating evidence against him or his office. The Ross kid and his friends will encounter an unfortunate accident on their way to the airport…one that can't be blamed on us because we'd let them go a few hours earlier. Does everybody understand?"
Nods all around then. "Okay, we're going to work in shifts until daybreak," Jace continued. "Someone go outside and relieve Andy, he's been in that tree since we put them in the room. The only way out of that bedroom is the door and the skylight. I want someone watching both at all times, take turns doing two hours each. Danny bring the kids some food before they start bitching, would ya?"
"Sure boss," Danny sighed and wandered back to the fridge. He loaded his arms up with fruit, some bread, a six-pack of bottled water and a box of cookies that he found in one of the cupboards. He nodded to Jimmy, who was taking his turn at guarding, and pushed the door open with his free hand. "Cover me, would ya?" Jimmy nodded and trained his gun on the kids, who were all sprawled out on various pieces of furniture. "Brought you guys some food," he told them, dropping the armful onto the bed in front of the girl. "How ya doing Chloe?"
"Peachy keen," she snarked at him, grabbing a bottle of water immediately and popping it open. "So are you going to tell us what's going on? How long are we going to be in here?"
"Your mom's supposed to have her decision when we call back tomorrow at noon," Danny ignored Chloe and turned to Pete. "If she's got good news for us you'll all be in here until Monday after the trial."
"And if she has bad news?" the tall kid questioned.
"Well then you'll all be out of here a whole lot sooner," Danny smirked. "Goodnight." He left the room and closed the door on their worried faces.
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"While I am aware that everyone eventually dies," Lucas sighed dramatically and grabbed several of the cookies from the box Danny had left. "I honestly didn't think I would be spending my last days locked in a bedroom with three other guys and only one chick."
"And how exactly did you see yourself spending your last days Lucas?" Lex asked him, passing an apple to Chloe before taking one for himself. "Dying peacefully with a legion of devoted grandchildren by your bedside?"
"Or at least several young models in my bed," Lucas shrugged and then turned a lecherous gaze to Chloe. "Time's running out Sullivan. We could still go and take a shower or something."
"Oh wow," she rolled her eyes through bites of apple. "You sure know how to sweet talk a girl Lucas. I'm just so turned on now…let's go."
"Try to sound a little enthused," Lucas pouted, throwing himself back on the bed again, taking his place among the pillows.
"Guys!" Pete kicked violently at one of the chairs against the wall. "Would you cut it out? This is serious, we need to think of a plan!"
"Well what kind of plan do you want us to come up with exactly Pete?" Lucas demanded, his playful demeanor now completely gone. "We could go out the skylight and get shot, or we could go out the door and get shot. Pick one, which sounds better to you?"
"I didn't mean that," Pete cried back. "I'm just saying that instead of sitting there hitting on Chloe you should be trying to think of something!"
"Maybe your mom will agree and we'll just get to leave on Monday like Danny said," Clark suggested hopefully.
"Or maybe they'll just kill us on Monday because we all can help identify them?" Lucas said slowly, waiting for Clark to catch on.
"Oh…"
"There's gotta be another way out of here," Pete began to pace. "And why did we have to get such a small room? It's getting harder and harder to breath in here!"
"This is the master bedroom Pete," Clark pointed out. "That means it's the biggest."
"You'd think that Lionel would have thought of that," Chloe muttered, taking a large swig of water. Lucas paused his chewing, as did Lex and Clark, and Pete too turned to look at Chloe with realization on their faces. "What?" she asked, wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand.
"What do you mean?" Lex demanded.
Chloe furrowed her brow in confusion. "What? I mean that it's just not like your father to allow himself to get cornered like this, you know?" she shrugged. "He was no stranger to people trying to go after him and his family. So if he built this perfect little hideaway for himself it just seems stupid that he'd make the only escape a fifteen-foot skylight. Talk about dropping the ball."
Lucas caught Lex's gaze and they both came to the same realization at the same time. "Of course," Lex shook his head, jumping to his feet and hurrying to pull all of the pictures off of their hangings on the walls. Lucas followed suit.
"What are you doing?" Clark asked them, sharing his own (disbelieving) look with Pete and Chloe.
"You're right Chloe, that is unlike him. Because my father would never have gotten himself into a situation like this," Lex told her, still looking around the room for something that they may have missed. "He would have a back-up plan."
"What? You think he hid a window behind the paintings Lex?" Chloe laughed. Lucas shrugged.
"Think about it," he told them. "The doors are sound proof, and probably bullet proof too. The entire compound has a ridiculous amount of security for a tropical villa. Isn't that a little odd?"
"Lionel was just paranoid," Chloe shook her head at their antics. "And apparently it runs in the family."
"No…Chloe I think they might be right," Pete shook his head. "Lionel was planning something big with this place. You said it yourself that he was probably planning to retire here one day."
"Or escape here," Clark muttered.
"Exactly," Pete agreed. "Why would he build this place and not tell anyone about it? I mean it's one thing to not report it to the public, but Lex didn't even know. He kept this thing hidden for a reason."
"So you think that he…what? Build himself a bunker in the Cayman Islands?" Chloe asked them. She got four nods in return. "Oh god."
"Pray all you want later Chloe," Lex told her. "Right now we have to find a way out of here." Chloe groaned but abandoned her meal and assisted them in scouring the room for something. Clark and Pete joined in on the search too, and for a few minutes none of them talked.
Lucas looked up just in time to see Clark staring at the wall farthest from the door with an unusual amount of interest. "Guys there's something…" he hurried over to the wall and began to press his hands against it sporadically, looking for something.
"Clark?" Chloe looked up from the painting that she was re-hanging. "What are you—"
They all let out the same short gasping noise when Clark seemed to find the right spot on the wall. Lucas felt like he was watching a movie as he watched a panel in the wall slide open, revealing a doorway. They all hurried over and looked into what was clearly a tunnel leading underground, judging from the set of stairs leading down anyways.
"Good job man," Pete clapped Clark on the shoulder and Lex tried to see more of the tunnel, though the darkness inside probably made it difficult.
"How did you know it was there?" Lucas asked him suspiciously, remembering the strange way that Clark had stared at the wall and then hurried over to it, as if he knew exactly where the door was located.
"Oh…I, um…I just figured that it would be somewhere around there," Clark shrugged and stuttered rather lamely…and very familiarly. "Because it's the furthest point away from the door."
"Uh huh," Lucas nodded, not believing a single word but honestly not really caring at that point.
"Does anyone have a lighter?" Lex asked, squinting into the dark tunnel. "We're going to need a torch of some kind. It's pretty dark in there."
Lucas had a lighter and after a few more minutes of scrambling, they managed to put together a makeshift torch with Chloe's hairbrush and one of the pillowcases from the bed. "Why was your hairbrush in Lex's room?" Clark asked her just before they went in.
Chloe shrugged. "I ran out of space in my bag and put it in Lex's," she then gestured for Lex, who was holding the torch, to lead the way.
One by one they climbed into the tunnel, which was actually more of a hallway than a tunnel, and descended the stairs. Once Clark had gone through the doorway, last, the door slid shut behind them and they were plunged into almost total darkness. Just as quickly as it had come, the darkness lifted when several fluorescent lights, lining the hallway above them, flickered on. Lucas looked around at the rather impressive hallway; concrete floors, walls and ceiling, and a light every five or so feet. Lex shrugged and dropped the torch, stomping it out carefully with his sandals.
Lucas was about to tell them to keep moving, when he noticed a faint green glow emanating from the walls. The glow grew stronger the longer they stood there. "What's going on?" he asked, hoping he didn't sound as freaked out as he felt.
Chloe and Lex looked closely at the walls, where the green seemed to be coming from. Lucas looked too and could make out what appeared to be shards of green crystals embedded in the concrete walls. "It's meteor rocks," Chloe told them. "Why would he line the hallway with meteor rocks?"
"It's always been an obsession of his," Lex shook his head. "Apparently it was just a little worse than we originally—Clark? Are you okay?"
Lucas and Chloe spun around to see Clark bent double, and Pete trying to help him stand. "Clark?" Chloe hurried over to him, pressing the back of her had to his forehead. "Are you okay?"
"F-fine," Clark wheezed out, not sounding at all fine. "J-just claustrophobic."
"I didn't know you were claustrophobic," Chloe frowned, helping Pete to support him.
"Yeah," Clark nodded, wincing slightly. "I get really sick around…small spaces."
"Then we'd better keep moving," Lex told them, clearly not believing him either. Clark nodded gratefully and they continued on again, following Lex's lead. Lucas pushed all thoughts of Clark Kent's weirdness aside and tried to concentrate on seeing the end of the tunnel.
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The farther that they walked down that long hallway, the louder it seemed to become. Pretty soon the walls were almost shaking with the sound. "Is that water?" Pete asked loudly over the noise.
Chloe caught Lucas's gaze, which was tinted green from the meteor rocks, and they both appeared to be wondering the same thing: was it the waterfall that they had discovered earlier? Lex led the way around the last corner in the tunnel, up an ascending staircase and came to an abrupt halt in front of another door.
He looked back at them quickly, to make sure that they were all still there…Clark looked almost as green as the rocks in the wall…and then set about finding a way to open the door. Chloe hurried over to help and left Pete to support Clark on his own.
She frowned at a strange rectangle embedded on the concrete wall. "What's that?" she asked, reaching her palm out to press the entire length of her hand. Chloe couldn't help the startled gasp that she made when the rectangle emitted a tiny red beam that seemed to scan her hand. They all watched eagerly, waiting for something to happen.
The words "UNKNOWN USER" flashed in harsh red block letters just above her fingertips and she pulled her hand away quickly. "He installed a security system in his escape tunnel," Chloe rolled her eyes, actually a little impressed at the old bastards thoroughness.
"Let's see how much he loved his children then," Lucas smirked and nudged Chloe out of the way. He took a turn at pressing his own palm against the rectangle, and the same red beam moved across his hand. This time green block letters popped up, reading: "LUCAS LUTHOR"…and then: "ENTER CODE". Lucas blinked at that and peered down at the suddenly illuminated keypad. "What the—I have no idea what the code is."
"Try your birthday," Pete suggested, still trying to hold Clark up. He shot a sideways look at Clark. "And hurry."
Lucas nodded and punched in a series of numbers and the word "DENIED" flashed in large red letters. "Try 666," Chloe suggested snarkily. When Lucas glared at her she turned to Lex. "You try."
Lex did and this time the panel announced "ALEXANDER LUTHOR" and then "ENTER CODE". Lex paused for a second and then he too typed in a series of numbers. They watched eagerly as the scanner blinked red twice before turning reading "ACCESS GRANTED". The door slid sideways into the wall.
"What code did you use?" Lucas asked him.
"LuthorCorp security code," Lex told him. Lucas shrugged and they hurried through the door and into what looked like a small cave or alcove.
They were standing on a platform that extended about twenty feet in front of them, the backside of the waterfall making the fourth wall and shielding them from view from the outside. Clark, who was obviously feeling better, walked over to inspect some large emergency supply boxes that sat against one of the walls.
"This is really strange guys," he shook his head, lifting up a sleeping bag to show them. "It's like he had planned on hiding out here for a while. The others hurried over to join him in the rummaging, finding some bottled water that Chloe opened eagerly. She took a large swig and passed the bottle on.
"So," she turned to Lex with wide eyes and bit her lip. "What do we do now?"
"How far is it to the nearest town?" Lex asked Chloe, hating the way that her pleading looks made him feel: like he had to do something.
"At least twenty miles," she shook her head. "And the nearest villa is almost fifteen miles."
"So when you said that this was a secluded villa, you really meant that it was a secluded villa?" Pete grinned weakly at her, allowing himself to drop onto the ground, crossing his legs underneath him. Chloe nodded and turned back to Lex.
"We're pretty far out here," she continued. "But we could start walking now, and by the time they realize that we're gone—"
"If they don't already know," Lucas muttered.
"What?"
"Well, it's not like we put pillows under the covers to make it look like people," he rolled his eyes. "As soon as they check in the bedroom they're going to know that we're gone."
"But they might not know how we got out," Clark interjected. "And even if they do know how, it's not like they can get out of the tunnel to grab us here anyways."
"Hey yeah," Pete perked up a bit. "We don't even know if they know about this waterfall."
"They know," Lucas snorted. "This is where they found Chloe and me."
"What were you and Chloe doing here?" Lex asked him, more sharply than he meant to. Lucas smirked and Chloe punched him roughly in the shoulder.
"Stop it!" she warned him and then turned back to Lex. "We were just—"
"We were just going for a little swim big brother," Lucas rolled his eyes and rubbed at his shoulder where she'd hit him. "No harm done. But they know it's here anyways."
"Then I, for one, suggest that we get the hell out of here," Pete raised his hand. "Before they come this way searching for us. All in favor?" Four other hands rose in the air. "Oh good."
"But where are we going to go once we're back on the beach?" Chloe asked. "We need a plan."
"We'll get out of here first," Lex looked around at the alcove with distaste. "And Lucas and I will go back and get the Jet Ski's."
"What if they see you?" Chloe shook her head, not liking the plan.
"That's a good point," Lucas nodded quickly. "How about you and Clark go back and get them?"
Lex looked over at Clark, who shrugged. "Fine," he ground his teeth slightly at his brother. "Then we'll ride to the nearest town and call for help. Okay?"
"That is a superbly though out plan," Lucas nodded mockingly. "Nothing could go wrong with that." He rolled his eyes and went back to the boxes, rummaging again and removing several items.
"Do you have a better plan Lucas?" Lex asked him shortly.
"How about we walk straight back up to the house," Lucas stood back up and turned around, holding a sleek black gun in his hand. "And shoot them before they see us."
"Where did you get that?" Clark demanded, stepping a few paces away from him.
"It was in the box," Lucas shrugged, skillfully popping the ammo cartridge out and then replacing it. He looked up to see them all staring back with mixed expressions of fear. "What?"
"Put it away Lucas," Lex told him quietly, glancing quickly at Chloe. She was paler than she was just a few minutes ago, and she couldn't seem to stop looking at the gun.
"What?" Lucas laughed and shook his head. "No way. We're going to need this…or did you not notice the six armed men that wereholding us hostage?"
"I noticed," Lex assured him. "Just…"
"No," Pete shook his head. "Lucas is right. I'm sorry Chloe, I know that you don't want that thing around right now, but if that gun is the thing that's going to keep us from getting nabbed again then I'm all for it."
"What's the big deal?" Lucas looked at her. "It's not like any of us are going to shoot you."
"That's not what I'm worried about," she ground out. "Just give the gun to Lex and let's get moving."
"Why?" Lucas frowned.
"If you're not willing to go back to the villa and get the Jet Ski's then give it to someone who is," she snapped. Lucas glared back at her briefly before flipping the gun in his hand and holding it out to Lex, handle first.
Lex tucked the gun in the waistband of his trunks and nodded. "Let's go then," he gestured to the waterfall.
"I'll go first," Clark volunteered.
"Take a running jump Clark," Chloe grabbed his forearm and looked up at him seriously. "There are rocks all around the lagoon. Please be careful."
Clark beamed down at her. "No problem," he assured her. Chloe nodded and let go of his arm and they all stood back as Clark backed up to the wall and then ran, jumping straight through the sheet of water. The roar of the waterfall blocked out any sound from the outside so they didn't know if he'd landed safely or not.
"I'll go next," Pete told them. He too backed up to the wall and took running jump through the waterfall. Chloe went next, not feeling any of the fear that she had the first time.
This time though, when she resurfaced on the other side, Pete and Clark were there to wave her over and help her climb out of the lagoon. Lex came through a few seconds later, and finally Lucas.
Once they had all assembled on the ground, soaking wet, Lucas smirked. "That was fun," he told them. "Let's do it again."
"Let's not," Chloe laughed and they all began to track back down the path in the direction of the beach.
Clark followed behind the others, trying as inconspicuously as possible to x-ray the area, to make sure that no one else was out there. So far nothing, apparently they hadn't checked the bedroom yet. He kept his ears peeled for any noise from the villa though.
Lucas led the way out of the bush and down the beach, back the villa. Once they'd come to the last bend in the shore he stopped. "It's just around there," he gestured to where a few beams of light could be spotted coming through the closed patio doors.
Lex nodded. "Okay, you three stay out of sight while Clark and I go get the Jet Ski's," he turned to Chloe. "Keep them in line."
"Use force if you want," Lucas leered at her with a smirk.
Chloe rolled her eyes and then turned to Clark with eyes wide enough to put Lana to shame. He felt his chest clench uncomfortably when she blinked up at him and threw her arms around him. "Be careful," she mumbled into his chest. Clark nodded and rested his chin against the top of her head quickly before pulling away. He ignored the exaggerated smirk on Lucas's face.
"Aren't I always careful?" Clark asked her.
"No," she shook her head. "Usually you charge head first into the most ridiculous situations and somehow miraculously manage to come out of them without a scratch."
"Oh," Clark paused. "Then you really don't need to worry do you?"
"I guess not," she nodded. "But still…try not to get caught." Clark promised her that he would try. He tried not to feel too uncomfortable when Chloe gave Lex a hug as well—much quicker than the one she'd given him—and said something quietly to him. Lex nodded at her and squeezed her shoulder in a way that seemed to reassure her more than anything Clark could have said. He hated the jealous feeling that suddenly bubbled up.
"Not to put a damper on this little love fest," Lucas drawled from where he was leaning against a tree. "But what about the gun up in the tree? As soon as you get onto the beach he's going to be able to see you."
Clark and Lex shared a look. "Don't worry about it," Lex assured them. "Just get out of sight." Lucas shrugged. Chloe and Pete joined him and they slipped behind a couple of trees.
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Lex and Clark snuck quietly around the bend in the beach and stopped to glance around, making sure that none of the gunmen were seated near the doors. "Looks clear," Lex told him, shifting his gaze up to the trees and trying to find the man up there.
Clark looked too, and used his x-ray vision to pick out the skeleton amongst the black sky. "How are we going to get around him?" Clark asked quietly. Lex pulled the gun out of his waistband and pointed it up at the gunman. "Lex! No!"
"What else do you suggest Clark?" Lex dropped the gun and turned to him with a hiss. "If we go out there he'll see us and shoot us, and if we don't get those Jet Ski's the rest of them will eventually find us and kill all of us."
"But…could you just try to hurt him? You don't have to kill him," Clark insisted.
"Clark and injured man can still shoot a gun," Lex told him coldly. "I'm not about to let him kill either of us. And I'm certainly not about to let the rest of them kill Chloe and the others. Are you?"
Clark didn't answer him, not because he disagreed, but because he didn't want to admit that he felt the same. He would not sacrifice Chloe and Pete if they could take out one gunman and get away. They meant too much to him. Lex nodded once and took his aim again. Clark could hear the muffled noise of the silencer and then he saw the gunman slump back against the tree trunk. Unmoving.
Lex lowered the gun slowly and didn't say anything. Clark really hoped that Chloe and Pete weren't watching. "Let's go," he told Lex shortly, leading the way out onto the beach. They made a beeline for the parked Jet Ski's and began pushing them out into the water, keeping one eye on the patio doors. Clark had a lot of trouble looking him in the eye.
"I had to do it Clark," Lex said quietly, pushing his Jet Ski roughly towards the water and not meeting his eyes either.
"I know," Clark nodded. "I just—"
"Well that's why I did it Clark," Lex smiled slightly and then turned away. Clark wanted to say something…anything…to him, but just couldn't find the words. Whether or not something had to be done, Clark just couldn't feel better over the way Lex had been so quick to shoot that man.
"Let's hurry," he said instead, helping Lex push his Jet Ski over a small sandbar. It bobbed along with the waves once it hit the water. They did the same with the other Jet Ski. "Should we start them?"
Lex looked back at the doors again and shook his head. "The door may be soundproof but I don't really want to risk it," he finally decided. "Let's just push them around the corner before we start them."
Clark nodded and they began to move the Jet Ski's through the water, the waves parting for them. Clark snuck one look back at the doors before they disappeared from view.
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"What's taking so long?" Lucas hissed at Clark, looking around quickly to make sure that no one was coming. Clark was trying repeatedly to turn the key and start his Jet Ski, but nothing was happening. He jumped off and went to check the fuel tank. "Don't tell me that it's out of gas."
It was, he could tell just by looking. "There's a gas can on the porch," Pete told them. "We could go and get it."
"I don't even know if it's out of gas," Clark lied. "I can't see. Lucas go and find something to make a torch." Lucas shot him a nasty look but turned around and marched into the bush to find something. Clark gave Pete a pointed look and then made sure that Lex and Chloe had their backs turned.
Once he was sure that none of them were looking, he used his super speed to run around the bushes, and onto the deck where he grabbed the gas can and then ran back. Lucas still wasn't back and Lex and Chloe were doing something with the second Jet Ski. Pete nodded at him and Clark filled the tank quickly and then screwed the cap back on. He tossed the gas can as hard as he could into the air, over the bushes, most likely sending it all the way back to the road behind the villa.
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Danny sighed and looked around the room in boredom. Mario and Toby were playing cards outside of the bedroom door, and the Jimmy was still outside. Jace and Andy had fallen asleep on the couch, the Ross kid's video game running in the background.
"I'm going out for a smoke," he told Toby, who nodded and turned immediately back to his game. Danny slung his rifle around his torso with the shoulder strap and pulled his cigarettes out of his pocket, closing the patio doors behind him. He lit one and took a deep puff, sighing contentedly when the familiar nicotine rush hit him.
It was a nice night, he noted, and made his way down onto the beach to the water. The soft breeze blew over him, and with the cool wind it carried…was that voices? He dropped his cigarette into the sand and quickly slipped the rifle off of his shoulder, training it on the bushes on his right where the voices seemed to be coming from. He pulled a walky-talky out of his pocket and pressed the call button. "It's Danny," he whispered into the speaker. "I need some help on the beach."
He turned the volume off so no one could hear the response, and then slowly made his way in the direction of the voices, gun poised in front of him.
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Lucas came back with a makeshift torch and lit it before handing it to him. "Nope," Clark peered down into the tank. "It's almost full. Try the key again." Lucas turned the key and this time the Jet Ski roared to life. "Hmm…that's strange."
"Whatever," Lucas looked at him suspiciously, but then shrugged and wandered over to help Chloe and Lex. "Are you almost done?"
"Yeah, we're ready," Lex nodded, turning the key on his machine and smirking as it too roared to life. Chloe climbed up on behind him and Lucas behind her. The Jet Ski sank pretty low into the water once they were all on.
"I think there's too much weight with the three of you together," Clark shook his head.
"I think you two are the heaviest," Chloe said to Lucas and Clark. "You'd better ride together and Pete can come with us."
"You're kidding right?" Lucas whined and Clark shared his expression. "I'd rather swim."
"Then swim," Lex shrugged. "But hurry up, before they realize that we're gone." Lucas huffed and waded his way through the water back to Clark's Jet Ski, climbing on behind him.
"Okay," Chloe turned around. "Pete let's— oh god."
The others spun around quickly, seeing Danny standing with his rifle pointed at Pete's back and his hand clamped over his mouth. "Hi there," Danny greeted. Behind him four other gunmen stood with their rifles pointed at the Jet Ski's. "Going somewhere?"
"Let him go," Clark demanded. Pete couldn't speak but his eyes flicked around the scene, looking terrified. Danny shook his head and they could see Pete wince as the gun barrel dug even more deeply into his back.
"If you kill Pete how are you going to be able to convince Judge Ross to let your employer off?" Lex tried to reason.
"We're not going to kill Pete," Danny laughed at them. "Not yet anyway. But the rest of you…"
Clark noticed that each of the other gunmen had a barrel trained on one of them. Chloe turned her head back and pressed her forehead against Lex's shoulder. "Get off the Jet Ski's," the short man ordered. Clark sighed and turned his Jet Ski off, and Lex did the same. "Slowly." They climbed off slowly and stood in the water, waiting. Out of the corner of his eye Clark watched as Chloe stood behind Lex; it was unlike her to cower in fear. By the time he realized what she was doing it was too late to stop her.
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Chloe made sure that they couldn't see her hand and then reached forward as inconspicuously as she could. Lex's back straightened when he felt her hand grasp the gun tucked in the waistband but he couldn't say or do anything to stop her while they were all watching. She managed to conceal the gun just as they began herding them single file back towards the villa. Chloe and her gunman went last, because she purposely waited for the others to go before them, despite the pointed look from Clark.
He knew what she was doing, she could see it when he looked at her, but she refused to let her friends be hurt by those men. She wasn't stupid either, they had seen the man in the tree get shot, and they all knew damn well that Clark would never do it. Chloe was not about to let Lex shoot another man that night; he would already have enough to deal with as it is. It's not like she was anxious to kill another person, she hadn't developed a taste for it or anything, but she knew that she had a longer distance to travel down that road than Lex did. She would not stand by and let him sink deeper and deeper into the black future that his father had laid out for him; even if she couldn't stop his descent there she would damn well make sure that he stayed away from it for as long as he could. Even if that meant taking care of murderous gunmen before he had the chance to. Clark just didn't understand.
When the others had made a bit of progress down the beach she knew it was time to make her move. She let out a sharp cry and grabbed her foot, leaning on the Jet Ski for support, and forcing tears to her eyes. "What is it?" her guard asked gruffly from his place on the sand. Clark looked back at her in concern but his guard nudged him along with the barrel of his rifle and soon Chloe was alone with her guard.
"Something stung me," she whimpered.
"It was probably a jelly fish," the guy told her impatiently. "These islands are full of them. Get moving."
"I-I don't think I can walk," she let her lower lip quiver, in her mind striving for a picture that looked remarkably like Lana discussing her dead parents. 'Every body leaves me.' "Could you help me?" she licked her lips slowly, hoping to convince him.
He hesitated for a moment before sighing audibly and wading out to the Jet Ski. He slipped his gun strap around his torso and let the rifle rest against his back. Chloe reached one arm around his neck gratefully and reached into the waistband of her shorts with the other, her fist closing around the handle of the gun. He helped her to her feet and she looked up at him. "I'm sorry," she said seriously…and then hit him hard over the head with the barrel of the gun. He went down like a rock and she pulled his body quickly onto the shore, not really wanting him to drown if he didn't have to. She pulled his facemask off, trying to memorize his features—just in case.
She took his rifle and slung it over her shoulder, trying to quell down the feeling of nausea as she did so. She knew that they wouldn't get as lucky with the others.
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Lex stopped walking abruptly when the gunman in front of him came to a halt at the patio doors. "Where are Andy and the girl?" he demanded, looking around the beach for them. Lex looked too and noted immediately that everyone else was present and accounted for.
"They were right behind us," Clark's guy said with a shrug. The short man, the boss, nudged Lex towards the doors.
"Go back and check," he told Clark's guy, who nodded and disappeared behind the hedge of bushes again. They waited for a few minutes more, none of them coming back. "Oh, for…" the boss gestured for Lucas, Pete and Clark to join Lex on the deck. "Get up there would ya? I'll go and see what's wrong."
He slung his rifle over his shoulder and disappeared behind the bushes too, except he reappeared a few seconds later, walking backwards with his hands in the air, his rifle still hanging uselessly across his back. Chloe stepped into view next, a rifle in each hand, and Lex suddenly knew what happened to the other two guards.
"Everyone put your guns down," she ordered the remaining three gunmen, not moving her gaze off of their boss. "Or you won't be getting a paycheck anytime soon."
"We'll get paid either way," Danny smirked. "Besides, I never really liked him anyway," he moved the barrel away from Pete and pointed his gun at Chloe. "Who do you think has the faster trigger finger?"
Suddenly, Pete elbowed Danny in the stomach just hard enough for him to double over. Pete snatched the gun and pointed it at his head. "I do," Pete insisted. "Want to find out just how good I am?" Danny swallowed painfully and shook his head.
Lex wasn't even surprised when his gunman wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him back into his chest and holding the rifle barrel right to his temple. "Now we're done playing around little girl," he hissed at Chloe, his temper flaring. Lex had a sneaking suspicion that this was the guy who'd knocked her out earlier. "Let him go and maybe I won't blow a hole right through your boyfriend's head. How about that?"
Lex could feel his air supply growing short as the man's arm tightened around his neck, squeezing hard against his windpipe. He blinked several times, trying to focus his blurring vision, still gasping for air. "He can't breathe," Lex could hear Clark saying, though it sounded far away.
A familiar feeling washed over Lex, the one you get right before you black out, where the edges of your vision turn a black that starts to bleed inwards until you're unconscious. He caught Clark's gaze quickly and then his vision blurred completely. Just as he was about to succumb to it, he felt a scorching hot sensation against his temple for a fraction of a second. Just as quickly, the gunman dropped both him and the gun with a cry clutching at his hand, and Lex collapsed to the ground gasping and pressing a hand against his temple.
Before he had even had the chance to catch his breath Pete had moved the gun off of Danny and sent a bullet straight through the other man's head. Clark's captor stared in shock at his fallen coworker, and when Clark wrestled his gun away from him he put up no real fight.
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"Make sure you tie those ropes tight," Lex told Lucas and Clark, who were busy tying up the surviving gunmen on the couch. The man that they'd found unconscious on the beach was being tied up too, but the guy in the tree, the one on the porch, and the one they'd found dead on the beach beside the bushes were not there. "I'm going to call the police."
Chloe and Pete were sitting at the island, staring morosely at the gun that sat on the counter in front of them. Lex grabbed the cordless phone and sat down beside Chloe, not sure what to say. The three of them had each taken a life that night; what did you say in that situation. He made the call to the police, and then one to the driver service at the airport, figuring that they'd all like to go home now.
"How's your head?" Chloe asked him, reaching up and turning his cheek so she could see the red mark at his temple.
"It's okay," he assured her and she pulled her hand away. "Just a small burn."
"I wonder how you got burnt from the barrel of a gun that wasn't fired?" she muttered. Pete looked up now, discomfort marring the previous blank look on his face.
"Maybe it's a gun powder burn," Pete suggested weakly.
"Maybe," Chloe muttered, looking back down at the ceramic tiles on the countertop. Lex didn't say anything, it wasn't really the time, but he knew that the burn was not caused by gunpowder. He kept remembering the way that Clark had looked over at him, just before he'd fallen to the ground. Something didn't add up, but he didn't really feel like delving into that right now. Pete and Chloe were a mess and someone needed to stay calm.
"Are you two okay?" he asked instead. Pete shrugged and Chloe looked up at him blankly.
"I killed a man tonight Lex," she said. "Another man. It isn't any easier this time."
"I know," Lex nodded solemnly and ran a hand over his head distractedly. Chloe sighed and reached across the table, taking Pete's hand in hers and laying her head down against her arm. Lex looked away quickly, noting the pained look on Pete's face, and seriously contemplating leaving them alone. But when Chloe's hand squeezed his underneath the counter top, he squeezed back tightly.
Lucas and Clark finished tying the men up and then came to join them at the island, sitting silently onto stools. "The police?" Lucas finally asked.
"On their way," Lex replied, setting the phone down beside the handgun that they'd found. Lucas nodded and seemed to have nothing else to say. They waited for the police to arrive.
TBC…