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 #9
"How you doing?"
"I'm fine," Chloe lied breathlessly as she navigated the
rocky terrain. Sweat beading down her forehead and freezing as it trailed down
her face, Chloe followed Claudia as she plowed through the thick folliage that strechted for what
felt like eternity.
"We can stop if you need a break," Claudia
offered as she pushed over grown branches out of the way and held her
flashlight low to the ground so that they could both see where they were going.
Doing her best to ignore the ache of her muscles
protesting, Chloe shook her head stubbornly and moved on. "No, we need to
keep moving."
Clenching her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering,
Claudia nodded and followed Chloe as she lead the way. "How far away do
you think we are?"
"Not far enough," Chloe answered solomenly as she pulled her quilt tighter around her
shivering frame. The night air was unforgivingly cold
and dark as the two women pushed their weary frames to walk farther away from
misery and closer to home. "Look, is that light up ahead?"
The dim glow of an old lamp post shinning like a
blinding beacon in the night, Claudia laughed excitedly as she pushed herself
to go faster. Grasping Chloe's hand tightly in her own as they stepped out from
beneath the thick canopy of trees, Claudia took in their exposed surroundings
with a mixture of excitment and apprehension. Leaving
the dark folliage of the forest meant exposure and a
possible sighting by their very deranged kidnapper.
"Come on," Chloe urged when Claudia began to
hold her back from moving forward faster, "That looks like a gas station
up ahead."
Keeping her eyes open and alert, Claudia let Chloe pull
her along to the closed gas station where a rusted payphone sign swung
precariously from a crocked ledge. "Who puts a payphone out in the middle
of nowhere?"
Holding the phone to her ear and nearly weaping tears of joy when she was met with the sounds of a
dial tone, Chloe gave Claudia a wry smile. "Let's discuss the stupidity of
its location later. I'm a little busy being grateful."
"Be grateful and call in the cavalry at the same
time," Claudia grinned as she felt her fear begin to dissipate and relief
take its place, "I don't know about you but I'm ready to go home and crawl
into bed."
"I agree," Chloe replied as she dialed for the
operator.
***
Gun poised, shoulders tense and eyes trained to the wide
open door, Lex cautiously made his way into the bright and homely house.
Expecting yells, screams and a fight, Lex and his men were surprised to be
greeted with candlelight and soft jazz. Lowering his gun as his men scoured
every inch of the house with a percison that spoke of
skill and experience, Lex stood frozen over torn sleeve that was sullied with
blood.
Following Lex's eyes, Louis felt his heart lurch at the
sight of the familiar sleeve laying discarded and painted crimson on the floor.
"Please, no." he whispered to himself as he watched Lex pick up the
scrap of material and study it with an intensity that made his blood run cold.
"They're not here," the leader upon the men
declared as he watched Lex clutch onto the bloody sleeve.
"What have you found?"
"The basement," the leader answered as he
watched Lex's eyes roam over the cozy room, "Ms. Sullivan was most likely
held in the basement. The room seems to have been equipt
to hold any person for a long period of time."
"What else?" Lex demanded.
"There are signs of a struggle."
"Bloody hell," Louis hissed as he began to
pace the small room.
"They can't be far," the leader haistly reassured them, "The car is still out front
and the food is still warm on the table. I've got men scouring the surrounding
area, Mr. Luthor. It won't be long until we find Ms. Sullivan."
***
"Mr. Luthor?"
"Yes?" Lionel replied not taking his eyes off
of the night sky.
"Your son has just arrived at the house. It's
empty, sir. There's no sign of Miss. Sullivan or her kidnapper."
The only sign that Lionel had heard a word the man
uttered was the sound of the paper he was holding crumpling in his hand as his
fingers tightened into deadly fists.
"However, there is proof that they were there. They
cannot be far, sir."
Looking at everything and nothing, Lionel inquired
calmly, "Where is my son?"
"Still at the house, sir."
Dismissing the man with a curt wave of his hand, Lionel contiuned to study the ebony blanket that had fallen over
the city and stretched for as far as the eye could see. The bustle of activity
around the great Lionel Luthor did nothing to ease the apprehension tucked
securely beneath hope he held onto. Hope was a dangerous emotion that could
either destroy or make a man and Lionel knew from experience the power that
false hope held in its seemingly harmless hand.
False hope had a way of worming itself into the minds
and hearts of even strongest men and make what was going to happen into what
was meant to happen. Even Lionel Luthor harbored moments of belief that he
would never have to let go of those he loved. First there had been Lillian.
Then there had been Jullian. Was Chloe destined to be
the next person the Luthor men would lose to the sick hands of fate and
destiny?
Shaking the morbid thoughts from his already over worked
mind, the Luthor patriarch rose to his feet and stood before the glass walls
that suspended the world beneath him. He had lived through the loss of a wife
and child and Lionel didn't want that for his own son. He didn't want Lex to
have to bury mother and child before their time.
"Mr. Luthor?"
"What?" Lionel sighed as he struggled with the
onslaught of memories from a time that still stung places he'd forgetten could feel.
"Would you like to accept a colllect
call, sir?"
Aggravated that his assistant would bother him at a time
like this with such trivial matters, Lionel narrowed his eyes dangerously.
"Not now."
Holding the phone out, the slight man smiled sincerely
at his terrifying boss. "It's Miss. Sullivan, sir."
The hope he'd been harboring all night swelling and
filling the space that he'd forgotten was so empty, Lionel grabbed the phone.
"Chloe?"
"Oh Lionel, you have no idea how good it is to hear your voice."
The activity and chaos that had filled the entire
penthouse came to a sudden stand still at the sight of a real smile filling
Lionel Luthor's face and relieved laughter spilling from
his lips. "I think, my dear, I do know."
***
Listening to Lex's men as they rambled on about
variables and risks ratios over the pile of maps that they'd strewn over the
coffee table in the living room, Louis watched Lex out of the corner of his eye
as the weary man paced the small space before the open door that led down to
the basement. Neither men had ventured down, both fearing what they would find
and how quickly it would shatter their already strained hearts. Turning his
attention back to Lex's men as they made contact with the men they had out
scouring the woods for signs of Chloe, Louis never saw Lex disappear down into
the basement. When he turned back around, all Louis was greeted with was the
sight of the basement door swinging against the breeze that had envaded the small house.
Cursing under his breath, Louis quickly gathered his
courage and went down after Lex. Shivering at the chill that passed through him
as his eyes strained to adjust to the shadows that played over the room, Louis
easily spotted Lex's lone figure standing immobile in the middle of the room.
"So much blood," Lex murmured as he studied
the trail of red that had led him to the basement. "There's so much blood,
Louis."
His own eyes glued to the small crimson puddle on the
cold cement floor and the bloody rope discarded not too far away, Louis willed
his stomach to stop turning the way it did. "They can't be far, Lex. You
heard your men, the car is still out front and the food is still warm on the
table."
Kicking the broken plank of wood with the toe of his
shoe as he made his way over to the Wall of Chloe, Lex added over his shoulder,
"And the blood is still fresh."
"We don't know that it's Chloe's,"
"We don't know that it isn't."
Whatever retort Louis had on the tip of his tounge to either chastise or comfort Lex fell forgotten
when the two men were interrupted by one of Lex's men running down to announce
excitedly, "We have coordinates, Mr. Luthor. We know where she is. Our men
are five minutes away from securing Miss. Sullivan."
At a loss for words, Louis watched on silently as Lex
demanded the answers that he himself craved.
"How?" Lex asked as he sprinted up the stairs
and out towards his car.
"It seems Miss. Sullivan somehow managed to escape,
found a payphone and called the penthouse," the man grinned as he grabbed
Louis and pulled the stunned brit along with him,
"Your father is keeping her on the line until we get to her."
Tearing through the house, with his men close on his
heels, Lex threw his car door open. "How far away from her are we?"
"Our men are fives minutes away, by foot. The
helicopter will reach her in less than ten minutes and if we speed, we can get
to her in three."
Finally noticing Louis's lack of involvement in the
conversation, Lex grinned madly as he barked, "Get in the damn car, Louis,
or you can walk."
Haistly running around to the passenger side, Louis jumped in as Lex
revved his motor to life and shouted at his men, "Let's go!"
***
TBC.