"How are you feeling, Mrs. Kent?" Lex asked as he opened the door to her room slowly.
Martha turned towards him and smiled softly. She looked so weak that Lex felt terrible about dumping such a plan on her, but he knew he would need her strength to help pull it off. "Better." She paused. "It's good to see you. I'm told that you were the one who called the ambulance. Thank you."
"It was the least I could do for all that you've done for me."
She nodded and looked away.
"Mrs. Kent, I know you're worried about Clark."
"How can I not be, Lex?" she asked with a sigh. "He's my baby-my only child."
"And we're going to get him back."
"I thought you might have a plan," she replied with a soft grin. "Clark's lucky to have you as a friend."
Lex smiled at that comment, greatly appreciating it after his previous conversation with the patriarch of the Kent household. "You're certainly more receptive to my ideas than your husband." He couldn't quite keep the bitterness out of his voice.
She laughed a little. "Don't mind Jonathan. When someone he loves is in danger he gets defensive. He only wants what's best for Clark and to him you're the one person in Clark's group of friends that could really have a strong influence over his son. It scares him, especially given your family history. And what happened last year with that room...I have to say even I thought for a while that maybe you really were..."
"Out to exploit Clark? Mrs. Kent, you've got to believe me when I say that it was just the need to know, not the need to use what I'd find out. Besides, I knew something was different about Clark and I wanted to stop this from happening. I guess it backfired magnificently."
"So you know then?"
"Everything? No. I'll leave that to Clark to tell me once he's safe."
"And how do you intend to bring him home safely?"
"I'm sure that you're aware that it's more than likely Jason Teague took him?"
"More than likey? I'd say certain."
Lex smiled. He had long ago begun to see how her shrewd common sense had attracted his father to her. She really did have a brilliant mind. "I believe that Mr. Teague would be willing to...collaborate with me, if I were to put forth funds."
"Are you saying you'd pretend to work against Clark? To be one of the ones who was trying to use him?"
"It would only be a guise, of course."
She nodded knowingly. "Because if he were to tell the world what he knows Clark would be in trouble. It most certainly is a delicate situation."
Lex inwardly grinned again. She really was a smart lady and so much easier to deal with than her husband. "The only downfall is that, well, Clark can't know that I'm not really against him."
A spark of doubt crept into her face. "Why?"
"Because your son's a terrible actor. He'd look at me with relief whenever I entered the room. He'd expose the secret through his facial expressions. He has to remain ignorant. You've got to understand that Jason is almost as good at ready people as I am."
She looked paler than she had a minute ago. "How long?"
"How long will it take to get him out?" he asked.
"Yes," she confirmed, staring at the ceiling, obviously imagining the pain her son was about to endure in thinking that his best friend had betrayed him.
"It's impossible to tell. Jason has to become a non-threat. I've no idea how long it will take for me to set him up-I think to make him appear crazy will be the best route."
"Yes, yes, that's our only chance, save for murder and I won't let you do that. Clark wouldn't want that."
Lex nodded. "I know and that's the only thing that's stopping a bullet from going into Jason Teague's brain."
Martha sighed and then nodded towards the door. "Go. But promise me you'll try to make whatever he's going through at least a little more bearable, even if he doesn't know that you're doing it for him."
Lex nodded and headed for the door. "I promise."
"Good," she whispered before she closed her eyes.
Lex turned the light off as he left the room and shut the door. As he was walking down the hallway his stomach clenched at the thought of what he was about to do.
------------------------------
Getting a hold of Jason Teague wasn't going to be easy. Lex was still trying to track down where he could possibly be when the door to his office swung open. Lex sighed when he saw who it was.
"What do you want, Chloe?"
"I want to know where Clark is." Her eyes were cold as steel and her posture clearly told that she was a force to be reckoned with right then.
"What makes you think I know where he is?" Lex asked, quite put out.
"I don't think you know where he is, but I know that you're trying to find him. I want to help."
Lex pinched the bridge of his nose. "Chloe, of course I'm looking for him. He's my best friend."
"But you've got a plan," she said knowingly.
"What makes you say that?"
"Oh please, Lex. I went over to the Kent farm to do a little snooping myself. There were men over there and they wouldn't let me near it."
"Probably just the police."
"The police wouldn't send out a team of forensic scientists this soon. They'd probably assume he was vaporized by the meteor or something. Besides, the police always wait forty-eight hours before they really start to investigate."
Lex nodded. "So you think those were my men?"
"I'm sure those were your men." She approached his desk and leaned over it, placing her hands on its surface. "I want to help Clark."
"Chloe, I sense you're not telling me something here."
"Yeah? Well maybe I'll open up when you do." Lex had to hand it to her; she was going to be a good reporter. "Besides, why do you think I'm hiding anything at all?" she asked, mocking Lex's earlier denial even though she knew it was blatantly obvious that she wasn't telling Lex everything.
"Because you've automatically assumed Clark was kidnapped. Yet-if what you say about my security people is true-you haven't been to the farm to check the evidence."
She smirked. "Then you're aware that your men are there twenty-four hours a day, keeping people away?"
He only smiled suavely. "You say that I do."
"I know that you do. Don't play games with me."
He really did laugh this time. Her spunk never ceased to amuse him. "If you haven't seen the evidence you've got no reason to think Clark didn't just run away."
"Clark wouldn't do that."
"No? Explain his summer in Metropolis then."
Chloe bit her bottom lip, obviously cornered. "We both know Clark didn't disappear, Lex."
"You're right, of course. But I think we've got the same reason for thinking that way, even though I've seen the solid evidence."
"What are you playing at?"
"I don't think you believe that Clark could be kidnapped."
Her brow furrowed and though her acting skills were good, they weren't good enough for the man whom had been taught since the age of two to ferret out people who were being less than truthful. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that you really don't think that anyone could physically overpower Clark enough to abduct him."
"That's crazy," she said with a laugh. Lex had to admit, she was convincing. "I know Clark is our star quarter back and a pretty strong guy, but he can be sucker punched just as easily as the next guy."
"Chloe, if you want Clark to come home safe you've got to tell me what you know."
"This is always about his secrets for you, isn't it?" she accused angrily. "Are you just trying to find out what he's hiding? Did you kidnap him?"
She obviously knew, Lex decided. "I most certainly didn't kidnap Clark, but I know who did."
"And how could you know that?" she asked suspiciously.
"Because I've talked with the Kents and I had a run in with him right before the meteor shower. I don't know how he did it yet, because we both know that Clark is ten times stronger than the average man. That's how he ripped the roof off my Porsche."
"Clark's just a normal guy, Lex," she said, but her facade was slipping away.
"Yes, in the fact that he wants to be normal and to fit in. But Chloe, we both know that no matter how much he wants it, he's not normal."
She let the act fall. "Did he tell you?"
"No, his parents confirmed that I was right in my deductions."
"I can't believe that," she replied skeptically.
"Believe it, because, as I do, they believe that Clark is in trouble."
"Who abducted him and why?" she asked seriously.
Lex appreciated that she'd stopped beating around the bush. "Jason Teague, because he believes that Clark has the stones."
Her mouth dropped open and she brought her hand to cover it. "Oh my-but he's dead!"
He sighed and ran a hand over his head. "He's not. I thought so too. But the Kents said that he showed up at their farm and held them at gun point. Apparently Clark walked in and then a meteor hit. When they woke up Clark was gone and there was a trail of blood. It led out of the farm and then just stopped. The Kents truck and keys were missing. You do the math."
"Do you know where he is?"
"No yet."
"But you're working on it," she said knowingly with a small smirk.
"Would you expect anything less?"
"No," she said with a small laugh. "When it comes to stratagem I know no one better than you."
"I'm not sure if that's a compliment or an insult," he said honestly.
"Take it as a compliment," she advised. "Now what do you have in mind?"
"I'll offer to fund the project."
Her chin dropped. "What?"
"I'll offer to fund the project and then I'll masquerade as the traitorous friend who wants Clark's secrets."
"But the key word there is 'masquerade', right?"
"Yes," he confirmed. "You can't think I'd really do that, can you?"
"I'll admit that you had me going there for a moment."
He ignored her previous comment, not wanting to think about what that said of her inner thoughts on him. "After I infiltrate the area where Clark is I'll use my father's methods and make Jason out to be crazy."
Chloe smiled. "And then when he's apprehended no one will believe a word he says about Clark."
Lex nodded. "Exactly. Clark will just be the poor kid who took the brunt of a crazy man's madness."
"And what about Clark?"
"What do you mean?"
"How are you going to communicate to him what you're doing?"
"I'm not."
She looked at him with an eyebrow raised and deadpanned, "You're not."
"I'm not," he confirmed. "You're one of Clark's best friends; you know what his acting skills are like."
She nodded. "I do, but can you do that to him? I mean he's going to think you've betrayed him. How long do you anticipate it taking to make Jason appear mad, Lex? Because if it's too long..."
He sighed and ran his hand over his head again. "I don't know, Chloe, I don't. But it's really Clark's only chance."
"You're right," she said after a pause. "And I want to help."
"Chloe-"
"No, Clark is my best friend and he needs my help. I owe that much to him after what I did to him our junior year."
Lex quirked an eyebrow. "What?"
"He didn't tell you?" she asked, her surprise evident.
"Apparently not."
"I struck a deal with your father. He got me a column at the Daily Planet and I gave him information on Clark."
Lex stood up, suppressed anger making his jaw clench tight. "What could have possessed you to do that?"
"I-I saw him and Lana kissing."
"So you betrayed him? And you think you deserve information now?"
Her eyes narrowed and Lex suddenly realized that he wasn't dealing with an immature high-school girl anymore. "I'm not that person anymore," she said heatedly. "Clark's forgiven me. Besides, I keep his secrets."
Lex nodded. "You'd better. How did you find out about him?"
Her lips went thin and she crossed her arms. "Alicia Baker set him up so that I'd see some of his 'talents'. Let's just say I saw him do the impossible."
Lex didn't say anything in reply to that. "You're sure that you want to help?" he asked finally.
"I'm willing to put my life on the line for it."
"Alright." They looked at each other seriously for a moment before Lex drew up a chair for her. "Then let's start by discovering where I can find Jason."