Title: New Game.

Author: Lucy Mars

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: See Prologue.

Summary: It was a new game now. New rules. New players and new losers.



Chapter #8:



"Anything new?" Lex asked, feeling Louis's eyes bore a hole into his back.

"No," Louis replied stepping into the house of horrors, as he referred to it now. Coming to stand beside Lex, Louis tried to ignore the hundreds of pictures of Chloe scattered throughout the room. He had tried to get Lex to leave the disturbing room that was like a run down shrine of Chloe but Lex had refused.

Fingering the photo that had stood out against the hundreds that lay strewn across the floor, Lex smiled sadly at the image of Chloe as she should be, smiling, carefree and most importantly, safe. He loved this photo of her. It had shown up in one of the early articles about them and their relationship. The photographer had caught Chloe by surprise as she did some last minute shopping for their trip to Jamaica. When Lex found her, he was taking her away to some deserted island and immersing himself in some serious Chloe time. "Do you think she knows that we're doing everything we can to find her?"

"Yes," Louis answered honestly. "Our little bird knows that we would move heaven and earth for her."

"We both know that our chances of finding Chloe get smaller and smaller with more time that passes," Lex murmured as he lost himself in the glossy image

"Our men are scouring that sick bastard's apartment as we speak. Everyone he knows, everywhere he has ever gone and everything he has ever done in his life is being analyzed with a fine tooth comb. We are going to find her, Lex."

Closing his eyes, Lex turned away from Louis as he tried to pull himself together. Moving slowly through the chaotic room, Lex paced the minimal space with grave steps.
"Do you remember the Christmas that Chloe was attacked and she had to get stitches?"

"Yes," Louis answered, recalling the frightening moment that he had gotten the phone call to come to the hospital with intense clarity. The fear that had coursed through him with a vigor and haste closely mirrored the same state he found himself in when he'd gotten the phone call this afternoon informing him of the breach in security. In the end, the Christmas incident hadn't been someone targeting someone close to the Luthor men but a desperate thief with very bad tastes in targets. Not only had Chloe fought back when he had tried to steal her shopping bags and her purse with a switchblade but her guards had quickly beat the man to a bloody pulp before he could have done any serious harm.

"I was so angry with her for fighting the man," Lex chuckled wryly as his eyes glazed over with a memory so close, yet so far away, "I remember looking at the stitches on her hand and asking her if the contents of her shopping bags and her purse were really worth it."

"What did she say?"

"That she wasn't weak," Lex whispered like a prayer.

Following Lex with his eyes, Louis nodded briefly in agreement. "She's not."

"She told me could take care of herself and that if I didn't like that, too bad."

"What did you say?"

Meeting Louis's eyes, Lex tipped his lips upwards momentarily. "That I loved that about her."

"Good answer."

Sighing, Lex crouched down and sorted through the photos he'd thrown around the room earlier. "I know she's strong, Louis, but how long can she stay strong for?"

"For as long as she needs too," Louis answered confidently, "For as long as it takes for us to get her home safe."

"What happens after we get her back?"

"Then we are strong for her."

Swallowing hard, Lex titled his head up to meet Louis's self assured expression. Before either men could ponder the different scenarios that Chloe's strength could currently be tested in, two of Lex's men burst into the room with enthusiasm etched across their usually stolid faces.

"What is it?" Lex demanded as he rose to his feet.

"We've found something. There's activity at the suspect's old family home thirty-five minutes out of the city."

"What kind of activity?" Louis inquired with nervous excitement.

"The kind that suggests that we are close to getting Ms. Sullivan back home safe,"


***


"Where do you think we are?" Chloe asked as she watched Claudia search the room for anything they could possibly use to their advantage.

"A cold basement," Claudia quipped as eyed the only exit thoughtfully. It felt like hours since Adam had disappeared up the flight of steps and through the door. As time crawled past at a snails pace and the room got progressively colder, Claudia was silently losing faith in magically being rescued by a billion dollar prince and his high tech cavalry. If her life so far had been any indication, Claudia had a feeling that she wouldn't be swept off her feet and saved like some damsel in distress. She needed to step up and save herself and the mother-to-be shivering in the corner. She was a modern woman and she could save herself if need be and others if the occasion called for it. She didn't need a cool alias and a cape to get the job done. "Do you think he's still up there?"

Her eyes widening with understanding, Chloe stood quickly. "Claudia, we don't know if he's still up there. We don't know what he would do if he caught us trying to escape."

"Better caught trying then die not."

Faltering at Claudia's blunt words, Chloe looked down at her stomach uncertainly. She had too much to consider, too much at risk to act rashly.

"We don't know what he's going to do with you, Chloe. We don't know how much of his mind he's lost and how far he's going to go to fulfill the sick fantasy he has about you and him." Claudia mused as she watched the color drain from Chloe's face, "I'm sure your fiancé is working as hard as he can to find you but I think we need to save ourselves this time, Chloe. I don't want to scare you but we don't know where we are and how far away from Metropolis we are. We could be anywhere right now."

"You don't think we're in the city anymore?" Chloe whispered hating the weakness and fear she could hear lining her voice.

Looking around their dark and damp surroundings, Claudia frowned uncertainly. "I don't know. We don't know if its night or day and I don't know about you but my internal clock is thrown for a loop."

Her eyes scrutinizing the gray walls that bled into one another and encased her in their cold embrace, Chloe felt desperation fill her once more. "Mine too. It feels like a lifetime ago that I stood on the sidewalk and found myself entranced by the rainbow of pastel colors that graced your display case."

"This creep has taken enough time from us," Claudia declared heatedly as she stepped on the first wooden step tentatively.

"Claudia," Chloe hissed as the board moaned against the sudden weight and the sound echoed through the hollow room, "We don't have a plan, we don't know if he's still up there and how do you intend on getting that door open? It's locked on the other side and as pissed as we are with Adam, I don't think we'll be able to bust it down."

Grinning brilliantly at Chloe, Claudia jumped off the step and kneeled low on the ground and reached beneath the ancient wooden staircase and pulled fervently.

"What are you doing?" Chloe demanded as she cast nervous glances between the door and Claudia's hunched body.

Finally prying a narrow board loose, Claudia rose to face Chloe triumphantly. "I'm going to get us out of here. You and baby are going to home safe and sound, munching on caviar and sipping orange juice out of Waterford crystal before you know it."

Giving Claudia a wry smile, Chloe raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "As grateful as I am for your enthusiasm and company, I hate to burst your bubble but I doubt that piece of wood is going to break the door down."

"Oh, I'm not gonna use this to break down the door."

"Than how do you intend on getting that door open?"

Her smile widening, Claudia tucked the board neatly behind her back and informed Chloe seriously. "Adam is going to open it for us."


***


Dusting off the old record player, Adam blissfully hummed the wedding march under his breath as he scanned the record collection piled precariously on the coffee table. Throwing on an old jazz record Adam let himself sink into the memories that resurfaced with the scratchy notes, memories of a simpler and happier time that he would recreate with Chloe. She would be just as happy as his mother was. They would dance and sing the night away as their children watched from their hidden places on the stairs.

Stepping back to survey his hard work, Adam had to pat himself on the back for a job well done. The candles were lit, the music was perfect and the table was set. Grabbing the appetizers that he had so dutifully prepared, Adam was positive nothing could shatter the romance that lingered in the air.

Jumping at the shrill sound of such a blood curling scream seeping through the creaking floorboards, Adam hastily dropped the plate he was holding. Mindless of the shards of glass and fallen hors d'oeuvres he ran to the source of the shriek.

Fumbling briefly with the locks, Adam threw the door open and ran down the stairs two steps at a time. Nearly falling in his haste, Adam brusquely pushed Claudia's kneeling form away from Chloe and came down to his knees beside her. "What happened?" he demanded.

"You killed her!" Claudia accused fervidly, "The sedative you gave her killed her. She's not breathing!"

"No," Adam whimpered lowering his head to Chloe's chest to try and disprove Claudia's claims.

Seeing her chance, Claudia grabbed the board she'd hidden beneath the one blanket Adam had left for them and clutched it tightly with both her hands. Swinging her arms up, Claudia brought it back down on Adam's head as fast and hard as she could.

The sound of wood splintering over bone was nothing compared to the animalistic groan that escaped Adam's mouth when he registered the pain. His eyes wide with horror, Adam stared down at Chloe's open eyes with hurt and betrayal before the pain swallowed him whole.

Shuddering at the feel of Adam sprawled over her, Chloe pushed at him desperately. Her hands slick with his blood, Chloe felt bile rise through her throat.

Pushing her own fear aside, Claudia moved quickly when she saw Chloe struggling to free herself from Adam. Rolling Adam off of Chloe and helping her to her feet, Claudia threw the blanket at Chloe so that she could wipe the blood off her hands and proceeded to take Adam's gun from his shoulder holster. "Never know when we might need it," Claudia explained when she caught Chloe's look.

"Is he dead?" Chloe murmured looking down at the man who had terrorized and kidnapped her.

"I don't know about you but I don't really feel like staying here and finding out," Claudia retorted as she pushed Chloe up the steps.

Moving with a speed and urgency that she attributed to her sudden adrenaline spike, Chloe clutched the blanket that Claudia had thrown at her distraughtly. Stepping out of the cement hellhole she'd been locked up in for god knows how long, Chloe found herself in another world. A place of scent candles, soft jazz and food.

"We've got to keep moving," Claudia urged, steering Chloe past broken glass and soft light.

"He's crazy," Chloe whispered sadly as Claudia dragged her through the romantic atmosphere of the house, "Did he think doing all of this would make everything all right? What would he have done if I hadn't satisfied the image he had of me in his mind?"

Glancing over her shoulder uneasily, Claudia caught sight of the night sky through an open window and searched the room for a clock. "Let's never ponder that over a coffee," she suggested as she grabbed a quilt off of the couch and wrapped it firmly around Chloe, "Right now, we have to concentrate on getting away."

Following Claudia obediently, Chloe felt all the fear and anxiety she'd pushed aside suddenly slam into her like an over zealous tidal wave. "I think I'm in shock,"

Throwing a random door open, Claudia felt success fill her as her eyes scanned the treasures hidden in the main closet. Snatching the quilt she caught sight off hidden in the back of the closet and happily emerging with flashlights too, Claudia pushed both flashlights into Chloe's hands as she threw the quilt over her own shoulders. Leading Chloe out of the house, Claudia tried to reassure her as she drank in their foreign surroundings. "Just stick with me for a little while longer, Chloe. I'm gonna get you back to Lex safe and sound, I promise."

The night air cool and thick around her, Chloe breathed in the distinctly sweet scent of clean and pure country air. "We're not in Metropolis anymore."

The gravel road crunching beneath them, Claudia quickly assessed their distinctly green and dense terrain. "No, we're not."

"You're so calm," Chloe marveled as she watched Claudia evenly evaluate their situation and options and pan a ray of light over the thick landscape around them. "How can you be so calm?"

Meeting Chloe's bright green eyes with her own somber brown ones, Claudia shrugged nonchalantly as she hurriedly looked away when she felt Chloe's gaze delve deeper than she felt comfortable with.

"Claudia," Chloe whispered catching the younger girl's arm, "What is it?"

"You've got too much to lose. I'm not gonna let a potential fairy tale get shattered by some random psychopath. Your story is going to have a happily ever after, I'm gonna make sure of that," Claudia replied as she led Chloe down the gravel driveway to a familiar black Lincoln. Pulling experimentally at the door, Claudia let out a frustrated breath when she found the doors locked and the keys nowhere in sight. "Step back," Claudia ordered gently pushing Chloe away from the car.

"What are you doing?"

"If we can't use the car," Claudia said raising the gun and unlatching the safety, "then he can't either."

Flinching at the deafening blast, Chloe reached for Claudia who stumbled back at the force of the gun.

"Come on," Claudia ordered pushing the safety back into place as she watched the front tire deflate, "we need to get out of here."

Nodding, Chloe moved alongside Claudia as silence reclaimed the night air. The consistent sound of leaves rustling and gravel crunching accompanied the two as they made their escape.


***

TBC