CHAPTER 8: Retreat (PART 2)

At around nine o´clock Lex´s mobile rang and Chloe stirred in his arms. Hoping she wasn´t roused from her sleep, he picked her up gently, carried her into the cottage and, laying her on the sofa, he checked the number of the call he had missed.

¨This is Luthor, ¨said Lex gravely on the phone, stepping out onto the veranda again. ¨How much does he know? ¨he asked on hearing the interlocutor. ¨It´s all right. Thanks for contacting me, doctor, ¨he added, massaging the tense muscles of his neck. ¨Have you followed my instructions concerning the admission papers? Good. You have nothing to worry about. Goodbye, Dr Phillips, ¨he finished, flipping the mobile shut.

Two months was a long time, enough time for the enemy to collect information and connect the dots. Lex looked at Chloe lying asleep on the sofa and decided to make another call.

¨Hello, Dr Ellison. I need you to make everything disappear. There must be no paper trail left. You´ll also have to talk with your personnel. They´ll be generously paid, of course. Thanks for everything you´ve done. I truly appreciate it... I´ll need her files. Could you arrange for them to be brought here asap? OK... Goodbye, doctor. ¨

¨Is everything all right? ¨asked Chloe drowsily as Lex slid the French door shut.

¨You´re leaving with me, Chloe. It´s no longer safe here, ¨he explained, opening the briefcase he had left on the armchair across from the sofa.

¨Who were you talking to? ¨

¨Pack up your things, Chloe. Make sure you´ve left nothing behind.¨

¨Lex, what´s wrong? Where are you taking me? ¨

¨It seems my father´s on his way here. ¨

¨Your father? And what does he want with me? ¨

¨He went to see me at the mansion the day you were admitted to the hospital and... found me... slightly intoxicated. I´m afraid he suspects something about us or, at least, about my interest in you. If he ever finds out that you´re more than a prospective study subject for 33.1, he might want to hurt you to get at me. He may also want to find out if you´ve still got the power to send him to the chair.¨

¨But why now? Why didn´t he do anything sooner? ¨

¨I´ve managed to keep him away from you for four years, Chloe. My indifference to you in public and your open enmity towards me ... your hunger to expose me and my dealings on the front page of The Planet- helped support my plan to protect you. But I guess I wasn´t careful around him while you were in hospital. ¨

¨I know there´s no love lost between you too, Lex. But why would he try to get to you through me? Has this got anything to do with what you didn´t want The Planet to print? ¨

¨Chloe, I thought we´d agreed... ¨

¨It wasn´t an agreement, Lex. You threatened me either with jail or God knows what. ¨

¨You´re now aware that was an empty threat, Chloe. I´d never hurt you. ¨

¨I´m not the only one who´s onto you and your dubious activities at 33.1. ¨

¨You mean Lois, right? ¨

¨She´s obsessed with what happened to Wes Keenan and... then... there´s Reeves Dam. She won´t give up, Lex. ¨

¨I don´t know what she thinks she saw at Reeves Dam before the flooding. ¨

¨Lex, don´t play cynical. It´s me you´re talking to. I committed myself to you four years ago, gave myself to you and carried your child. I refuse to think I didn´t know who you were then. I must have embraced both your light and your darkness, accepted you for whom you are. Project Ares isn´t a delusion of Lois´ , and we both know it, Lex. I didn´t see anything at Reeves Dam because- as you already know- I wasn´t among the living, but I trust my cousin. She´s obnoxious- granted- but she isn´t a liar. ¨

¨Project Ares is something I still feel proud of, Chloe. The advances we´ve made will help decrease the number of casualties amongst our military forces and maximise their power at the front. There will be thousands of military wives and children who will be reunited with their husbands and fathers thanks to it, ¨ he said passionately.

¨I´m not arguing there might me a positive side to it, but you had no right to do what you did to Keenan. ¨

¨I gave him a life. He was virtually dead when they brought him from Afghanistan. He´d have been a vegetable.¨

¨And what kind of life was he given? A life where he had no free will? No memories? Think of that, Lex... never being able to remember... falling in love, getting married, having children? You met his wife. She loved him and, not only was he taken away from her, he couldn´t remember her. They could have been us, Lex, ¨ she answered with glassy eyes.

¨But they weren´t. They had both made an oath to protect this country. I just gave Keenan the opportunity to live up to his promises. ¨

¨You don´t believe what you´re saying, Lex. You´re just trying to justify manipulating human life, ¨she reproached him.

¨Everything I´ve been doing at 33.1 is to give people a second chance, provide them with a clean slate to start afresh. I´ve saved thousands from... ¨ he explained, and then suddenly stopped.

¨Saved them from what? ¨she asked, looking at him straight in the eye.

¨We´re wasting precious time, Chloe. Pack up your things, please. ¨

¨Lex, ¨started Chloe.

¨Chloe, I beg you, listen to me this time. I promise I´ll tell you everything when it´s safe. I know it´s asking too much, but just trust me, ¨he beseeched her, tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear.

¨Can I at least know where we´re going? ¨she asked resignedly.

¨Montana, ¨he responded with the ghost of a smile.