Finding the White Summit Health Spa proved more difficult than I had imagined. With the locals being such a tight-knit community, I would have expected them all to have heard of the place, and yet no one acknowledged that they had.

I asked first at a small fishing and hunting store situated just north of our lodge, but the owner scowled at me as if I had asked for the yellow brick road. Next, I tried calling the local rangers station, but they too were evasive. I was told in no uncertain terms that there was no such place, and never had been. I asked for similar facilities, but the ranger just laughed. Was I imagining it, or could some of these people be in Luthor's back pocket?

In the end, with time sorely running against us, Lois took a gamble. Pulling out detailed maps of the area we'd bought, she parked up the Blazer and began to scour them for any areas or buildings that might fit the part. I was dubious her plan had any chance, but it was all we had.

"It has to be something accessible by those adapted vans and not just by air," she spoke to me as she read. "But it also has to be so secluded that no one will wander near it. Especially tourists…"

I sighed and let my cousin work. Uncle Sam had taught her to read maps much better than I could, and I was thankful of her army up bringing more than ever. "See anything?" I couldn't help but ask as I looked at my watch impatiently.

Lois tapped three places that pretty much looked right out in the boonies to me. "There's some kind of structure marked here, but its not identified. The other two areas would be where I'd pick for some clandestine lab location. There are private dirt tracks leading to all three locations that don't look like they've been used in years. They're not even on some of the maps we bought…"

"So, which do we try first?" I was virtually shaking now. We could be so close to our goal, but also so close to death. We may have the access card to get in, but the driver's words rang out in my ears. They must have people watching the place all the time, hidden security…

Lois tapped the map again while restarting the Chevy. "We should try the first one. It's the most remote, and also the nearest to our location right now." She turned the 4x4 around in a one eighty and hit the gas. "We'll have to ditch the car when we get close. They'll have guards."

I swallowed hard. "Can we do this, Lois?" I asked, my voice shaking. "Can we break in and get evidence on what Luthor is up to?"

Lois shrugged. "We can try, but I have to admit I'd feel a whole lot more confident if I knew we were going to have help from our farmboy spook again…"

Finally, my cousin believed me. The question was, now that the chips were down, did I still believe my own theory? Was Clark really a ghost, guiding and helping us? If so, he hadn't made an appearance since the tree felling and it was beginning to creep me out…

The dirt track Lois had described was a pretty daunting site. It seemed to disappear into the countryside for miles, and had been quite clearly marked as a no go private area. We stopped the Chevy just in front of the metal gate and I peered over, checking for tire marks or evidence of recent activity.

The ground was hard, and there were no visible signs that vehicles had passed along the route in months, maybe longer. Of course, proof of traffic passing through would be easy to cover up. "Now what?" I asked, wondering if Lois would try and shoot out the gate lock again.

She didn't. "We need to hide the car and start walking. And I don't mean along the dirt track. They'll be expecting that. We need to move parallel to it in the trees and hope they're guys aren't trained better than my dad's."

"How far before we should expect company?" I reaffirmed my grip on my Mace can.

"Anytime," Lois answered honestly. "And I think they'll have orders to kill…" She didn't say more, but drove the Chevy into the tree line and began covering it with loose branches and shrubbery she'd torn up.

I helped, and the task took us all of twenty minutes. Then, the long walk began. I'd been in Smallville's woods before, but trust me, there really aren't that many areas in Kansas that have what you would call real woodland- not compared to Colorado.

The area we were hiking through was immense, and I was praying Lois really could navigate as well as she always boasted. Getting lost amongst the vast pines and wildlife was not a pleasant thought.

I trudged onward, matching Lois' every move like some rookie soldier shadowing his sergeant in a Vietnam movie. After an hour, my feet began to get sore due to my shoes, but I didn't complain. Blisters were the least of my worries.

We'd made about another half a mile when Lois pulled out the 45 and tugged me to the ground. She put a finger to her lips, warning for me not to talk, and then gestured ahead at a slight angle.

I squinted, trying to discern what my cousin was staring at, and then it hit me. I had thought I was looking at yet more wilderness, but in fact it was some cleverly disguised building that had been melted into the surrounding area like a cunning optical illusion. Unless you were searching for the place, there was no way a casual passer-by would spot it.

I stifled the urge to whistle at the ingenuity of the facility, and instead whispered to Lois, "So, I don't see any guards?"

Lois shook her head and pointed to what again I thought was a simple tree. The more I scrutinized it, the more I realized there was a camouflaged armed guard hiding in its branches. He looked like some Special Forces freak that wouldn't hesitate to shoot us. I gulped.

"We wait now and hope the place gets a visitor, or that Clark can somehow help. There could be more lookouts I haven't spotted so we can't risk anything." Lois remained poised with her stolen automatic, but we didn't move. I don't know how long we waited there, but I do know that day was fast becoming night.

The sun was setting through the massive pines, and a light and unwelcome mist was beginning to form over the ground. I was getting cold, too, but I persevered and wrapped my arms around my body. Where are you Clark?

Eventually, we heard a vehicle approaching on the dirt track to our left. I somehow imagined it would be the van driver from earlier come to hand out his revenge, but it was not. The vehicle was some kind of delivery truck, and amazingly it had Kansas plates. I wondered briefly if it had come from the Luthorcorp plant in Smallville, but I had no chance to get a closer look.

As the truck trundled to a stop at the end of the rough roadway, the hidden guard dropped from his position in the tree and approached the driver. Lois simultaneously tugged at my arm, virtually dragging me up to the rear of the truck in the driver's blind spot.

I sensed my blood pressure shoot up as we listened to the driver and guard go through some kind of security procedure. Passwords were given, and then the pair began a friendly exchange that suggested this was a regular occurrence.

I imagined the guard would walk around the truck before letting it pass, and then our presence would be detected, but he didn't. Either we were lucky, or he was getting lax in his duties. There is a third option…they're letting us in and then they'll kill us after they find out what we know…

I ignored the third option, and when the truck started moving Lois and I shadowed it up to a concealed gate. The driver slipped an arm from his window and pressed a swipe card up to what looked like a branch. The gate before us began to open and I thought we were in, but then Lois tugged me away from the truck and the gate.

"What the…" I gasped as she pulled me tight to the nearest tree and then pointed to an array of security cameras. The place had more defences than Fort Knox. "How do we get passed those," I mouthed.

Lois winked but didn't elaborate straight away. Instead, she ran from our position as the nearest automated camera changed its angle and moved through a predetermined cycle.

I watched as my cousin vanished into the darkness, and waited with baited breath, hoping that she wouldn't be caught. We were just two girls, after all.

Ten minutes passed, and I was starting to panic in the gloom of my hiding place when Lois finally reappeared. She was out of breath but no longer seemed concerned with the cameras.

Lois stood hand on hips in front of me, beckoning me out. "I did a little hotwiring," she winked. At my curious expression she elaborated further. "I used to date one of the tech guys in dad's unit. It came in pretty handy for him to knock out the bases security cameras some times, if you catch my drift…"

I rolled my eyes. "And you watched him rig the cameras before your lip-locking ceremony," I quipped.

Lois nodded, and headed for the swipe card reader. Once we got close she readied the 45, and I offered the card we'd stolen to the electronic lock. The gate clicked and then gave us entry, and yet I couldn't help feel apprehensive. This was all too easy.

Still, we'd come this far and there was little else to do but venture inside. We were lucky to have found the supplies entrance, though, and at this time of night there didn't appear to be anyone around save for an overall clad individual dealing with the van driver.

We edged into the corridor while the two men dealt with paperwork. Then, we used our swipe card to dodge into a nearby office to hide. As we dived inside, I noted the brass nameplate on the door. It read 'Dr Ernst Schenkel.' The name meant nothing, but the fact that he was some kind of doctor or scientist rang alarm bells in my head. And why no more spooky happenings?

I looked around in the shadows as Lois kept watch on the door. Schenkel's computer was still booted and that probably meant he hadn't gone far. But it's also a great opportunity to read his notes…

I dared to sit in the doctor's huge leather chair and risk looking through his files. Some were clearly encrypted at a level I couldn't hack, but there was one set that appeared to be more of a journal of Schenkel's thoughts and feelings. I decided to start with those in the tiny hope the man had a conscience enough to record his inner thoughts.

Lois glowered at me from the doorway, clearly startled by my sudden nerve, but she didn't complain.

My eyes darted from entry to entry on the screen, and I realized from the dates that the facility had been operational many months before the explosions that caused Clark's death. I skipped forward to the date of the infamous day at Luthorcorp, and my heart missed a beat at the scientist's haunting few words.

My research has changed beyond belief today, powered forward a thousand fold by one man's lust for knowledge. But at what cost? Can I justify the experiments I will now perform with the knowledge I may one day help mankind? Is any of this really about mankind? I pray God will forgive me for what I am about to do to further project 'Smallville.'

None of the other entries mentioned Schenkel's work, and I guessed he'd either grown to live with his transgressions, or gotten wise that it wasn't too sensible to write them down in an openly accessible journal.

Right now, I didn't care what the doctor was up to. I wanted proof of 'Project Smallville' and maybe access to its findings. I returned the computer to the screen I'd found it on and then scooted back over to Lois to explain what I'd read.

"So, somewhere in this place is a section for Schenkel's project, and we need to find it?" She didn't look too confident. "Chloe, I hate to tell you this, but my camera hotwiring is bound to get found out sooner rather than later."

"Two minutes, Lois. Just give me two minutes to try and find evidence Luthor is doing something illegal." I gently pushed the door as a spoke, checking out the corridor to see if we had a clear run into the next section.

Lois nodded and she took point. I watched as she held the 45 close to her body like a professional, and I only hoped she didn't need to use it.

We had no real clue how big the facility was, or indeed how much of it was taken up by Schenkel's work. Perhaps even all of the labs were devoted to his project. I licked my lips as we walked, warily eyeing cameras as we walked under them. Was some security guard watching us even now? I imagined some guy in a uniform laughing at us as he watched us on his screens. Forget it, Chloe. You have to focus.

We turned into another corridor and came face to face with a huge metal doorway. It appeared to be some kind of secured room with no windows. There was, however, another swipe card reader. Did our stolen pass go up to this level?

Lois readied her weapon and gestured for me to try the electronic lock.

My hands shook as I put the card in place, and I only exhaled when the red L.E.D.'s turned to green. Seconds later, the door slid back like something off a Sci Fi show to reveal a darkened room with an ominous emerald glow.

Lois saw my reaction and mouthed, "Meteor rocks?"

I nodded. It made sense. Luthor seemed to be obsessed with them, and hadn't his agricultural project even involved them? Yeah, right up until it exploded killing my best friend! "I have to go inside, Lois…"

My cousin acknowledged me with a reassuring nod and we both entered the secret room. I was amazed at how dark the area was, and was tempted to search out for some kind of light switch. That would surely alert someone to our presence, however, and I found myself wishing I'd had the forethought to bring a flashlight.

"Chloe…" Lois words trailed and I found myself spinning around at the tone of her voice. It was shaky; as if she'd seen something she'd rather not.

As my eyes hit what her had only moments earlier I felt my mouth gape open. We had at last found the secret of White Summit, and the object of Lex's experiments.

Lying before me on a bed was a figure covered with a white sheet. The room was so ill lit I had to squint to even see it was a body- a very dead body. Every nerve and sinew in my frame tensed. There had been no remains in Clark's casket, had I found them?

TBC...