Chapter 5 [Three Hours Later]

[Talon]

Lex strolled into the café feeling relatively upbeat in spite of the weather. He'd achieved another step in reestablishing the Smallville plant in spite of his father's intentions and efforts. He had scored a date with one of Reynolds' List's top models, Tina Mollans. His mother's charities continued to perform well. Lana pushed toward emancipation from Nell. Rumor had it Clark had asked her to Christmas dinner and was finallyready to make his move. All in all, a reason to celebrate over a latte.

After all of that, even the prospect of spending Christmas by himself wasn't so bad this year.

He glanced around himself at the sparsely populated café. Most people were already home or at church in town. A look toward his watch revealed five o'clock. He saw Miranda Arighatto, Lana's second-in-command, cleaning the counter.

But Lana was nowhere to be seen.

He walked up. "Hey, Miranda, how are things?"

"Good afternoon, Mr. Luthor. We're slow but everything's manageable here." She leaned close. "You haven't heard from Lana, have you?"

He stared at her curiously. Now he was concerned. "Lana never came in? That's not like her."

"Tell me about it." She glanced at her watch. "She should've been back from Metro a couple of hours ago. With Polly calling in, I could've used the help. Sorry I'm worried."

"You and me both." He dialed his cell phone and waited.

"This number is out of service or beyond the range of your call. Please try back again later," the phone responded.

He snapped the phone shut and weighed their options. Given the storm outside, he knew Lana wouldn't be out of contact like this unless something really serious had happened. "She hasn't tried your cell, Miranda?"

"No, sir," Miranda replied frankly. Then she remembered. "Wait. The phone in the back rang several times but I couldn't get to it. I only just remembered."

He walked behind the counter and over to the phone. There he checked the display under "calls missed".

Sure enough, Lana's number was there.

"Damn it! She did try to call," he realized. He surveyed the café and found that the remaining customers had cleared out. At the cash register, the other waitress, a blonde by the name of Cathy, finished ringing up the last customers. "Cathy, can you start wiping the tables down please? We're closing early. Miranda, clean out the coffee press and count down the register please. He grabbed the keys from behind the counter and walked over to the door. After locking it, he headed back to their side.

Miranda had already run the z-report and was halfway through the drawer. "Give us ten minutes. Then can I follow you over to the Kents'? If anyone would know about Lana, it'd be Clark."

He almost smacked himself for not thinking of going there first. "We'll do that and drop the receipts off on the way." He glanced out the door into the storm. Ihopeshe'sokay.

[Kent Farm—twenty minutes later]

Meantime the air hung heavily over the Kent Farm. Jonathan and Martha took turns staring out the window from the kitchen table. They knew Clark should've had Lana back there or called to update them on the situation by that point.

"I hope they're all right. What if Clark ran into the meteor rocks?" Martha worried.

"Martha, it's going to be all right. Clark will call when he can." Jonathan sipped moodily on his coffee and glanced out into the intensifying storm. Even if he worried, he wasn't about to show it in front of her. He knew the chores would wait. He wasn't going to even think of the tree.

Right now two teens were out in those elements.

And for some reason, Clark wasn't responding well to it.

A knock came from the door.

"Lex?" Martha realized while opening the door. "What's going on?"

"Hi, Mrs. Kent. Is Clark around?" Lex wondered.

"Sorry, Lex. Would you and Miranda like to come in?" Martha invited.

"Thanks," he accepted while walking in. "We've got an emergency. Lana never came back from Metropolis. Maybe you can call Clark?"

"I can't believe he'd be out of touch right now," Miranda interjected.

Jonathan cleared his throat. "Actually he's out looking for her right now, Miranda. He said something about Rester's Ravine. Right, Martha?"

"That's what he said before he left. Where is that?" Martha queried.

"It's right outside of Metro," Lex recalled. "Why would he look there?"

"Lana must've called here," Miranda realized. "Mr. Luthor, even if we take it slow, we could be there in about three and a half hours."

"We've got enough issues out there right now," Martha noted still hoping that Clark would come back with Lana any minute. "We don't need another accident."

"Good point, Mrs. Kent," Lex concurred. "If it weren't for the conditions, I'd get one of my Dad's copters up there." He pulled out his cell and dialed it again. "It's too soon for a missing persons' report unfortunately."

"State police. This is Officer Reavis."

"Good afternoon, Officer. This is Lex Luthor in Smallville. I realize that it's a bad day for you folks. However have there been any accidents in Rester's Ravine this afternoon?"

"That place has been a magnet for them, Mr. Luthor. No way anyone's getting into that place today. Each side's plugged up with multiple car pile ups. In addition, some poor soul went over the side in a blazer. Quite the explosion too," the officer disclosed with surprising openness. "If anyone's down there, it'll be at least tomorrow before we can get down there. I'm sorry, sir. I have another call. Check back in tomorrow afternoon. Thank you." With that, she hung up.

Lex hung up and frowned. He glared out the window at the icy mess falling from the sky and forming on everything. "The canyon's bottled up on both sides. A blazer went into the ravine."

Miranda went white.

"We don't know if that was Lana or not. We can't presume," Jonathan assured the other folks in the room. He rubbed Martha's shoulder to support her.

"Can we check the weather online?" Miranda requested.

Lex replied, "It's going to rain until tomorrow. Meantime I'm heading back to the mansion to keep on top of these things. Miranda, you want to stay here or come with me?"

"I'll stay here and wait for word. We can let each other know if we hear anything," Miranda suggested.

"Good plan," Lex complimented. "I'll call Clark…" He saw the cell sitting on the counter. "Is that his phone?"

"How could he go out and forget his phone?" Miranda wondered.

"He panicked and took off," Jonathan declared. "Wish he hadn't."

Lex, as much as he respected Clark, sometimes wondered about his friend's common sense. "I'll keep checking with the police. Just keep your heads up." With that, he headed back out toward his Porsche.

"Sorry I mouthed off," Miranda apologized.

"It's okay," Martha indicated. "We have the chores done. I'll make some more cocoa."

"You're concerned about them. We all are," Jonathan added.

Miranda studied the darkening skies outside. Guys,hanginthere!