Sue Riordan was irritated with herself. She’d made a rookie mistake and moved in on a suspect without backup before finding out if he had an accomplice. The only consolation – and it wasn’t much of one – was that the little PT Cruiser hummed south on highway 77 toward Wichita more smoothly than her new son-in-law had ever handled it.
She slowly leaned back and reviewed her situation. She was unarmed and in a car with two people who’d taken her hostage – at least, that’s what she called it. There was a definite lack of tension in the snatches of conversation they let her hear, and aside from being ordered into the car she hadn’t been threatened or forced in any way. They weren’t even paying close attention to her.
She gathered that the woman was running from someone or something and that the man was helping her, but they didn’t seem to be together in a romantic sense. It was more like he was her escort – no, that wasn’t right – he was her guardian, her protector.
Neither of them gave off any kind of violent or unpredictable vibe, which made Sue wonder what kind of weapon the woman had stuck in her back. “Hey,” she called softly.
The woman turned to look at her. “Yes?”
“What did you put in my back?”
The woman almost suppressed a grin. “Oh, that.” She leaned to one side, pulled something out of her pants pocket, and showed it to Sue. “It was this thing.”
Sue stared. “You took me with a four-inch long three-eights-inch truck bed bolt?”
The woman looked at the metal in her hand and shrugged. “If that’s what this is, then yes.”
“That’s what it is. Even says ‘Chevy’ on the bolt head.”
The woman chuckled. “I guess that’s a nice souvenir of this trip, then.”
“Where’d you get it?”
The woman chuckled again. It was a calm, sane, low-stress chuckle that didn’t fit their situation and which further confused Sue. “Off the asphalt beside the air pump at the gas station. I guess someone dropped it. Recently, too. It’s hardly rusted at all.”
Sue shook her head. “The things you find on the ground at Verne’s gas station.” She shrugged. “So now what? What happens to me?”
It was the big question. If these two were insane thrill-killers, she didn’t stand a chance. And it would account for the lack of tension in the air. Crazy murderers don’t exhibit the same stress markers normal people do.
Instead, the man asked, “You’re wearing sneakers, right?”
“Uh – yes.”
“How much tread is still on them?”
The question made no sense to Sue, but then again she wasn’t the one holding a hostage. “They’re only about two weeks old. Why?”
The man looked at the woman for a moment, then lifted his eyebrows. She held his gaze for a breath, then shrugged. “I don’t see how it can hurt things now.”
He nodded. “My name is Clark Kent. I’m a detective with the Metropolis Police Department.”
Sue blinked. “Little out of your jurisdiction, aren’t you?”
“I guess so, from a certain point of view. I’m escorting Lois Lane-Luthor to a federal courthouse so she can testify against her soon-to-be ex-husband Lex Luthor.”
“All by yourself?”
Kent’s voice hardened and he glared at her in the rear-view mirror. “That wasn’t the original plan. But yes, it’s just the two of us now.”
“I see. Tell me, why did you want to know about my shoes?”
The Luthor woman answered, “Because we’re not going to hurt you, but we also can’t let you report our position right away when we let you go. We’re going to let you out on the side of the road in a little while.”
“And you two just happened to have that plan in reserve?”
The woman grinned. “No. But I knew Clark wouldn’t hurt you, and I don’t want to either. We can’t very well take you all the way to Los Angeles with us, so the only thing we could do is drop you off some place where you could walk to get help. By the time you report in, we’ll be long gone.”
Sue sighed. “That’s a relief.”
Both Kent and the Luthor woman smiled, then she reached down into Sue’s purse. “The only thing we’re going to take is your cell phone battery. I don’t want you to have to rebuild your contact list, but we can’t let you call in as soon as we’re out of sight, either. If we’re caught, it might mean that we’d die.”
Sue frowned back. “That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”
The woman’s eyebrows drew down and her voice came out clipped. “Would you rather have some more drama with it? Because if it will convince you, I can do that.”
Sue lifted her hands in mock surrender. “No, that’s okay. It’s actually more convincing without the histrionics.”
“Good. Clark, you know the state better than I do. What’s a good place to drop her off?”
“Hmm. Just before the town with the traffic circle.”
The brunette woman looked at him wide-eyed. “There’s a town around here big enough to need a traffic circle?”
The man chuckled. “Not really. It’s an intersection just north of one of these little towns where several state roads, highways, and farm roads come together, and I guess it made sense to someone to put in a circle instead of a bunch of confusing stop signs.”
“Right. And here I was thinking that it would ease the heavy traffic flow on this road.”
Sue relaxed even more. She wasn’t sure how much she believed about what she’d been told, but she was fairly certain that they wouldn’t hurt her as long as she didn’t do anything stupid. She only hoped her supervisor would believe her when she turned in her report explaining how she’d lost her backup weapon.
*****
True to Clark’s word, he pulled off the road at a wide spot about six miles north of Florence and let Sue Riordan out of the car. No other vehicles were in sight, so she decided to take a slight risk.
She tapped on the driver’s window and said, “Hey, can I have my gun back?”
Kent frowned as he rolled down the window, then he shook his head. “Sorry, no. I don’t know you, and I’d really rather not risk getting into a shootout with you, so we’ll keep it until we get where we’re going. You are a police officer, after all.”
She noticed that he didn’t mention their final destination, which tended to suggest that the apparent slip about California was exactly that – a slip – and not misdirection. “I don’t have another weapon in my purse. Can I at least have that?”
“Sure.” Kent handed it out the lowered window and gave her a jaunty salute. “Sorry for the way this sounds, but I hope you don’t get a ride too soon.”
“Yeah. I don’t like that, but I understand it.” She stood and stepped back from her son-in-law’s car. She did not, however, return the salute.
He pulled away smoothly and headed south toward the traffic circle which had amused the brunette. Sue blew a breath out of her nose and started walking, hoping that a sympathetic driver would show up soon. At least she was alive and uninjured.
As soon as she called her boss and reported in, she’d have to call her daughter and tell her that their car had been stolen and was headed south toward Wichita the last time she’d seen it. As much as she dreaded that call and the fallout from Mary Ellen’s inevitable temper tantrum, she dreaded the next call – the one to that guy from India – even more. Despite the reward she’d been promised, she’d also have to tell him that a woman – one who apparently wasn’t a hardened criminal after all – had gotten the drop on her. With a bolt for a pickup truck bed, no less.
She decided not to volunteer the part about the bolt being jammed into her back.
*****
Lois looked at Sue Riordan through the back window as long as she could see her. “She’s going to report us, isn’t she?”
Clark nodded. “She’s a cop, so she pretty much has to.”
“And I just realized that if we really were going to LA, we’d probably take I-40 West all the way.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’re going to pick up some alternate transportation pretty soon.”
“Oh? There’s a car rental place up ahead in that town that’s so big it needs a traffic circle?”
He chuckled. “You need to let go of that, Lois. And yes, I know where to get another car, assuming Kenny Webster is still in business.”
She crossed her arms and gave him an eyebrow dip. “Is he one of your buddies like Billy? Or is he at all legit?”
“Oh, Kenny is as legal as he needs to be. And since I’m going to tell him that I’m on assignment and I need a clean car and that I’m giving him a sizeable cash deposit, I can trust him for a day or so. We won’t need to fly below the radar any longer than that.”
“Will we have to tie him up too?”
He grinned wide and shook his head. “He won’t see you at all. You’re going to be hiding in the trees outside his property. Your husband’s – sorry – the snake’s top advisors wouldn’t be too trusting, but any bad guy who questions Kenny is going to be somewhere near Billy’s level of intellect. Assuming anyone finds Kenny, he’ll ask if Kenny’s seen a couple in a PT Cruiser. The only person he’ll see is me, so the truthful answer will be no.”
She nodded. “Pretty crafty, copper.”
“Detective, if you please.”
“Okay. ‘Pretty crafty, detective.’ Better?”
“Much. Okay, hang on. Here’s the traffic circle.”
Lois stared at it as they approached. The only other vehicle she saw was an old pickup truck held together by rust and what looked like telephone wire, coughing blue smoke as it turned from heading north to head east. Clark turned the wheel and headed west.
She turned and watched the rattletrap pickup vibrate down the road for a moment, then straightened and said, “I hope Kenny has something better than that.”
Clark laughed. “Don’t worry. He’s got all kinds of cars. I promise to pick one you’ll like.”
*****
Clark shook hands with Kenny, who laughed softly. “Never set you up with a clean car before. It’s a new experience.”
“New for me, too.”
“Hey, Clark, how long you want me to hold on to that Plymouth?”
“Give it until late tomorrow afternoon. If anyone but the police ask you where you got it, it was abandoned and you towed it in from Highway 56 between Canada and Hillsboro. You didn’t get a chance to search it for papers until then, and the title was under the front passenger seat. That’s also when you found the broken steering column.”
“But you want the cops to have the whole truth?”
“As much as you can tell them without getting yourself jammed up.”
Kenny laughed again. “Got it. Man, you still think up the best stories.”
“Don’t forget this one. It might save your life.” Clark took a business card out of his wallet and wrote his address on the back. You send me the title paperwork on the new one as soon as you can.”
“You do know that until I get that paperwork back, even with the bill of sale I made up and the two grand you gave me, it kinda looks like you stole the car from my lot, right?”
“Yep. Keeps you in the clear.”
Kenny’s expression darkened. “You saved my life when we were in high school. You know I’ll cover for you as much as I can. It would help if I knew what was going on, though.”
“I know, Kenny. But you need to stay away from this one or I’ll have to come back and save your sorry butt again.”
“Fine. Don’t give me details. I like not knowing. It’s simpler that way.”
Clark grinned to soften his words. “In this case, you’re exactly right. Be safe, buddy.”
“You too. And don’t wreck my car before you pay for it!”
Clark waved and climbed into the front seat, then started the car and headed east again. He hoped Lois would approve of his choice.
*****
Apparently she did. “Clark, is this – I mean, good grief, it is! It’s beautiful!”
“You don’t mind the blue trim instead of the red?”
“Are you kidding? It’s fantastic! We all called this car the Farrah Special in high school! I test-drove a used one years ago and loved it! I begged my dad to buy me one but he never would! The only thing that could possibly make it better would be if it were a rag-top!”
He opened the trunk and motioned for her luggage. “Come on, we’ve got to get going. I want to make Amarillo before we stop for the night.”
“As long as I’m driving we’ll get there before dark! I love this Mustang!”
He grabbed her arm as she tried to run past him. “Hey, hold on now. How about I let you drive after we get to I-40? This car isn’t quite stock and you’ll need some open road to get used to it.”
“But—”
“Come on, get in the passenger seat. I promise to let you drive it today.”
“It’s a car! What’s all that different about it?”
“Well, first off, someone put a 351 V8 under the hood and matched it with a four-speed racing transmission. Second, it’s been upgraded with a racing suspension, so it’ll corner like a scared jackalope. Kenny said it’ll do over 130 in the quarter-mile, but I’d really prefer we didn’t try to go that fast in it.”
“But you are gonna let me drive it, right?”
“Yes, Lois, of course, Lois, you’ll get to drive it.”
“You’d better let me! Or I’ll push you out the door on the highway and take off without you!”
He gave her a half-grin. “You know, I think you just might do exactly that.”
*****
They slipped onto I-35 going south at Wichita. Lois frowned at Clark and said somewhat pointedly, “I thought we were going to stay off toll roads because they were easy to trap people on.”
“Normally I’d agree with you, but we’re kind of in a time crunch. Putting miles behind us is more important than being inconspicuous now. Besides, if anyone is looking for us, they’ll look for a burgundy 2001 PT Cruiser headed west on state highways instead of a blue-trimmed white 1977 Ford Mustang II Cobra II on the Interstate until tomorrow afternoon, by which time we’ll be closing in on Denver. That single mention of LA to Ms. Riordan was a good idea. At least it’ll give Asabi and Nigel more worries.”
In a slightly more relaxed tone, she replied, “Okay, that makes sense. Are we going to stop in OKC for lunch?”
“That’s my plan. We won’t get there until early afternoon, and we’ll need to hit one of the drive-through windows west of downtown to save time.” He gave her a quick sympathetic glance. “Sorry about that.”
“So there’s nowhere to stop in Kansas? I’m getting pretty hungry.”
“I think there’s a Mickey D’s not too far ahead, but I’d rather not stop in Kansas. Kenny’s a good guy and a friend, and I don’t want him to get too jammed up if someone finds the car we gave him.” He turned for a moment, then shook his head. “Rats.”
Her head snapped around. “There’s rats in here?”
“No, no! I meant it like ‘drat’ because I’ve got some trail mix in my suitcase, but we can’t get to it without stopping.”
She peered ahead of the Mustang’s hood. “I’ll make a deal with you. You stop at that Mickey D’s so I can find a ladies’ room and you grab the trail mix from the trunk.”
He glanced at her again. “Is that because you’re hungry?”
“Yes. And because I don’t want to flood the front seat.”
Clark laughed and nodded. “You really do drive a hard bargain, Lois. But you’ve got a deal. We can top off the gas tank, too.”
She grinned slightly. “For a Kansas boy, you don’t seem to want to spend much time in the state.”
“Just be glad we have some place to be and a mandate to get there quickly. Otherwise I’d take you to my mom’s farm near Smallville. She’d hide us and feed us and do her best to protect us. All we’d have to do is farm chores to cover our room and board, assuming she didn’t recruit us to help her weld a sculpture.”
Instead of continuing the banter, she turned to face the dashboard and almost whispered, “But you won’t put her in danger, will you?”
“Not if I can help it, no.”
She whipped her head toward him and frowned as if thinking. Uh-oh, he thought, I shouldn’t have heard that.
But she surprised him. “I’m not sure I’d give my parents the same consideration. We’re not exactly on the best of terms. Especially since—” she stopped and swallowed hard “—since Lucy died. I don’t know if they blame me or just think I’m wasting my life and my talents, but it’s like – like Lucy’s death put a wall between us that they don’t want to pull down. Nothing I say or do will make them change their attitude toward me.”
“What you’re doing now will.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Maybe if – but I can’t control their feelings. All I can do is the right thing right now.”
“That’s all anyone can do, Lois. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”
“I’m not.” She hugged herself as if she were cold. “I just hope I – that we get to Denver alive and healthy.”
“You will. We both will.”
His flat, determined declaration seemed to surprise her. “You can’t promise that, Clark. No one can make the future happen just by saying you’ll make it so.”
He gave her a raised eyebrow. “I can come closer to keeping that promise than anyone else you know. Including your old Hissy-fit soon-to-be ex-hubby.”
*****
Asabi hesitated at Nigel’s office door. He’d never done that before – but then the stakes had never been this high before.
When he finally knocked, Nigel called “One moment, please,” from inside. Asabi heard some indistinct conversation between a man he assumed was Nigel and a woman. He stepped back from the door and clasped his hands behind his back to wait.
After nearly a full minute, Nigel opened the door. Asabi assumed that his lack of an administrative assistant was due to Mr. Luthor’s expressed dislike of the additional security exposure, just as Asabi’s habit of opening his own office door was.
A short, dowdy, middle-aged woman stepped out and turned down the hall without acknowledging Asabi in any way. Nigel stepped out of the doorway and gestured for Asabi to enter.
“Thank you, Mr. St. John. I have some news which you should hear.”
Nigel sighed. “I have been hearing variations on the ancient chestnut ‘good news and bad news’ for several hours. I hope you do not bring more ambiguity to me.”
Asabi shook his head. “Sadly, I do.”
“Then let us get it over with.”
Asabi waited for Nigel to close the door, then said, “We have them located. They are most likely driving west from somewhere near Wichita, in Kansas, toward Denver. They were last seen in a late model burgundy Plymouth PT Cruiser whose license plate number we have in our possession.”
“I assume that is the good news.”
“It is. The bad news is that we have no active assets available for either capture or even close observation. Mr. Kent’s ingenious deed with his phone led to our area’s entire operational team being apprehended on illegal weapons charges. Other charges are surely pending.”
Nigel sighed. “This young man is more resourceful than I first believed. And he has begun to try my patience severely.”
“A perfectly understandable reaction, Mr. St. John. I have alerted our assets in Colorado to attempt a capture, but I am not sanguine about their chances of success.”
“They are following your instructions, are they not?”
“They are. But they do not know Mr. Kent by sight, only by his photograph and description, and we must assume that Mrs. Luthor will have altered her appearance by this time. They shall, of course, do their utmost, but I suspect that our assets in Colorado will have a better opportunity to capture them the closer to Denver they travel, as our associates are rather few in number.”
Nigel frowned as if in deep thought for a long moment, then nodded. “I tend to agree. Please keep a tight rein on that part of the search operation. I will continue to focus on this end—” he stopped and coughed as if covering a chuckle.
Asabi didn’t ask about the almost-laugh, but he was curious about Nigel’s current project. “Have you met with any success in your current endeavors?”
“I have made significant progress, yes. I do not believe that Mrs. Luthor simply awoke one morning last week and decided to betray her husband. Rather, she has been planning her actions for some time. I strongly suspect that she has hidden a record of her investigations on a computer somewhere, and I believe that I am about to discover its physical whereabouts.”
“The latter is excellent news, although if you are correct about her long-term plans, it does not bode well for either of us.”
Asabi had seen Nigel stare down underlings who had spoken out of turn and business “associates” who had initially declined to perform the actions requested by Mr. Luthor. But he’d never felt that stare directed at his own face. Only his life-long self-discipline and control enables him to return it without flinching.
It was, possibly, the most difficult thing Asabi had ever done.
Just before Asabi would have taken a step back and broken the contest, Nigel growled and crossed his arms. “You are, unfortunately, quite correct. I imagine that you have one or more contingency plans in place should the unthinkable happen to Mr. Luthor.”
“If either of us has such a plan in place, then that to which you refer as ‘unthinkable’ therefore becomes the ‘thinkable.’ Merely having such a plan in place is tantamount to doubting our eventual success.”
Nigel’s mouth twitched. “I would rather classify such a plan as ‘being ready for anything.’ Having a contingency plan in place does not mean admitting doubt.”
Asabi bowed his head slightly to show his agreement. “Your point is well taken. I must now depart to watch over the progress of our western operatives. I will leave you to your tasks, which you appear to have well in hand.”
Nigel nodded back, then tilted his head to one side and said, “I am curious to know your precise instructions to your operatives. I assume that they were instructed to retrieve Mrs. Luthor and return her to us in good health?”
Here it was, the thing Asabi had hoped to avoid. Being pinned down by his cohort in Luthor’s empire was not on his to-do list for his life, much less for this conversation. He preferred to operate off the record as much as possible so as not to be accused of going off the reservation, a phrase he still wasn’t sure he grasped completely.
But he couldn’t duck away from a direct question.
“I instructed them to stop Mrs. Luthor by any means. If it is possible, they will capture her alive and unharmed so that she may be returned to us in that same condition.”
Nigel smiled without humor. “Let us hope that she makes that portion of their task impossible.”
Asabi bowed and turned away. He closed the door gently and made his way down the hall to his own office, thinking that while he’d known that Nigel didn’t like Lois Lane Luthor, he’d never quite grasped the depths of Nigel’s hatred for the woman. Neither had Asabi known that Nigel had so little regard for their common employer’s wishes. It was a recipe for an epic disaster, one which would not be contained to Nigel and Mr. Luthor.
He would deliberately avoid standing between Nigel and Mr. Luthor in the future, whether physically or figuratively. And, if possible, he’d avoid making Nigel angry for any reason.
He wouldn’t put it past Nigel to murder Mrs. Luthor in public in broad daylight if the opportunity presented itself.
