Summary: Lana's continuing investigation into the Smallville High cafeteria food.


Lana drove her Jeep into Grandville as they were rolling up the sidewalks apparently. There was absolutely no one around and all the stores were closing. She'd kinda' told Chloe where she was going, but she hadn't wanted to worry her. It was going to be a quick in and out operation. She had no intention of meeting anyone there. She looked at the street signs and the copy of the directions she'd printed out from MapQuest. she thought as she passed Grandville's city hall. She smiled. This town made Smallville look like Metropolis. It was so tiny! She was surprised that the town hadn't noticed the shady dealings of the Meals 'R Us, but figured it was either hometown boy protection or he was too far out of town to make real news.

The road leading to Meals 'R Us had about 2 miles of private road. She turned down it warily. If someone saw her, they would know that she was going there. As a precaution, she turned off her headlights and drove by the moon. She'd thought about leaving her parking lights on, but that would look even more suspicious. Thankfully, it was a very full moon, which bathed the world in its glow. When she was half a mile away from the warehouse, she pulled the Jeep into an enclosed area. She really didn't want someone driving by and noticing her truck… car… truck… Oh, whatever!

As she left the truck, she grabbed her bag and Chloe's camera. I really would love a digital camera like this. I guess I'll have to save up from the Talon. Thoughts of the Talon filled her with a sort of pang of guilt and longing. Ever since she'd helped Nell get it started and got her share of the ownership, she'd really felt like she was carving out her own place in town besides the "Tragic Fairy Princess". Of course, she had help, but this last week, she'd been away from it more than in it. Mrs. Kent was such a doll for helping out so much, but it wasn't really fair to put so much on her. She sighed. It was so hard juggling what amounted to two jobs. Maybe she could ask Chloe to put her possible contributions on the back burner… more of a guest reporter than a regular contributor. Clark and Pete would probably be pretty ticked offwith the extra work, but she wouldn't mind doing the articles on things she'd feel obligated to attend anyway.

Something to think about later, Lana, she admonished herself as the warehouse came into view. She was maybe 25 yards away and if she didn't pay attention, she'd give herself away. Deep in her heart, she wondered if this was a really good idea. Do you really want to get yourself killed going after a story? The answer was no, but she really didn't want to let down Chloe. She drew in a shuddering breath, willing her limbs to stop shaking. "Let's do it," she whispered. She crept slowly and as silently as possible to the waiting building.

To anyone looking from the outside, they would have seen a grey figure slowly ooze to the side of the building. Lana had recently read a book where an assassin dressed in grey because it encouraged people to ignore him since the shadows were different shades of grey... not really black. She hoped no one was looking, but if they were, she really hoped it worked. She had even tucked her hair under a grey hat. She stood up and tried to melt into the landscape. Her heart was pounding a mile a minute, but she had to admit that she had never felt quite so alive. As she made her way around the building, she tried every door and window. Finally, one gave her enough leeway that she was able to squeeze through. Even at that, it was rough going. She rubbed her shoulder, sure she'd taken some skin off. She listened for the sounds of any guards. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard nothing.

She pulled out a small flashlight. The moon wouldn't help her in here very far. As she scanned the light around, she felt very ill. There were bugs crawling over food boxes with perishable food. She shined the light down and saw one pair of beady eyes and, moving the light to the side, saw at least one dead rat. Her stomach clenched and she tightened her jaws. If they knew she'd been here, they would disappear and justice wouldn't be served. Suddenly she wished someone was there with her. She felt very alone. She took a couple of pictures of the horrendous conditions… praying that the flash would go unnoticed.

Deciding that doing something was better than standing there, trying not to be sick, Lana moved further into the warehouse. She'd noticed upstairs windows and assumed that was where the offices would be. As quietly as she could, she moved to the central aisle so she could find the stairs. She ignored the crunching beneath her boots and tried to reach her destination quickly. She couldn't imagine that this place wouldn't actually have a guard, so she needed to find what she needed and get out.

With trembling steps, she started mounting the stairs. The creak that emanated from her position made her jump. She stopped, motionless, straining for any possible sound that meant someone might have heard her. OK, the stairs make a lot of noise. How do I get up them? She looked at them, examining them for any possible solution. Finally she decided that the least amount of noise would probably come from the edges and the handrails. Supporting most of her weight with her hands, she gingerly made her way up the stairs. Anyone watching would have laughed at the posture she maintained. Slowly, she crept, one stair at a time, breath coming in short gasps as she tried to be quiet and listen for any sounds of pursuit.

As she reached the second floor, she felt she could breathe easier. Where should I start? She looked around. She had just realized that she didn't have a lot of time, so she really didn't want to go into each of the three rooms. She shined her light on them. One pronounced itself as Mr. Knightley's office so she decided that was probably the best bet… Especially if he thought he had leverage against Mr. Peterson… The door swung open on blessedly silent hinges and she quickly shut it behind her. There were no windows to the inside of the warehouse, but she restrained herself from turning on the room light. If someone was outside the building, it would just announce her position.

Turning to the filing cabinet, she opened the first drawer. Quickly, she ran her fingers across the tabs, looking for any labels that jumped out to her. Anything that drew her attention made her stop and look inside briefly. The filing cabinet came up empty. She looked around the room, searching for a place where documents could be hidden from all the world. He wouldn't be that stupid, would he? She shrugged and moved to the desk. Opening the top drawers one by one and looking underneath, she found a folder with Mr. Peterson's name on it. Inside were all the facts, numbers and history that would nail them both to the wall. She pulled all the documentation out of the folder, replaced it under the drawer and stuffed the papers in her bag.

Moving to the door, she listened briefly. Crap! Who's that? Voices were coming nearer her position. She kneeled next to the door opening, keeping her head low and trying to be as quiet as possible. The door was opened and a light swung around. Because of her position near the floor, the light passed straight over her head. The door closed and the voices moved on. Lana was almost faint with relief. She listened with all her might to see when she could make her escape. With their talking, they sounded like they weren't even going to go down to the floor to look around the boxes. Lana worried that they might stay there for a couple of hours, which would increase her risk of detection… let alone that pressure on her bladder. Darn double-tall iced mocha! Slowly the footsteps came back her way and headed back down the hallway. The door opened to music playing and closed.

Slowly, she eased the door open, ready for any excuse to slam it shut and lock it. If things really go south, I guess I could go through the window. But then Mr. Peterson would know someone had been here and the operation would be moved. Crap!Outside the door was silent but for the scrabbling sounds of bugs and rats. She eased out ofthe doorway and carefully shut it. Then she made her way down the stairs as quickly as she could. It was easier this time because she knew the most soundlessway. Darting and ducking through stacks of boxes that were really starting to emanate the smellof rotting food, she made it to her opening. With feet made lighter with fear, she flew the rest of the way to her car. Chloe is going to be so proud of me! she thought exultantly. If she even believes what I've been through tonight!


A/N: Thank you, Terry Pratchett, for the awesome information about grey being fabu camouflage. For those of you who haven't read any of Terry's books, I sincerely recommend them. He writes different things, but my favorite is the Discworld books.

Markmark261, I would like to take this moment to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your reviews. They help me to keep going and try to be a better writer. As for it being a slow news day… Well, duh:D Why else would Chloe go to a men's fashion show? (And I have no idea what the heck happened to that first paragraph... I've fixed it and it hopefully stays that way. And I couldn't really find a way to make this chapter funny. There's only so much garbage you can throw on poor Lana...)