Mother's Day: 8/?
by Nan Smith
Previously:
"Yes," Rene said. "I had hoped not to have to alarm you, but I should have realized that it was a vain wish." He gestured to the empty armchair. "Sit down and I'll explain. John Maxwell is one of my best men. He will be most chagrined to discover that a reporter has penetrated his disguise. I did explain to him that you were no common reporter, and warned him not to underestimate you, but I don't think he was convinced."
Clark glanced at Lois, who nodded at him. Martha Kent entered the room, a tray bearing four cups of coffee and a glass of juice in her hands. She distributed the coffee to Clark and the two guests, set the juice in front of Lois and sank onto the foot of the sofa, setting the last cup and saucer on the end table.
Lois sipped the juice and set the glass on the coffee table. "You have no idea how glad I'm going to be when I can have a real cup of coffee again," she remarked. "Go ahead. I want to hear this explanation, myself. I don't particularly like the thought that my son is being watched by his PE coach."
Rene St. Cloud nodded. "I don't blame you, Ms. Lane, but it was a choice of his being watched by one of my men or by someone else who had no reason at all to try to protect him. Quite the opposite." He sipped the coffee. "You recall, I am sure, Arianna Carlin."
"What's *she* got to do with this?" Lois asked, sharply.
"Everything, I'm afraid," Rene said. "She vanished during the raid on Crescent Island and seemed to completely disappear. But we believe she has surfaced again, at last." He met Clark's eyes. "I understand, my friend, that you are angry that your son has become the target of surveillance, but when you hear the circumstances, I think you will be willing to forgive me."
"All right," Clark said. "Let's hear it."
Part 8:
"Very well." Rene shifted his position in the chair so that he was partially facing both Lois and Clark. "Six months ago, the founder and head of a major U.S. corporation apparently cleaned out his fairly substantial personal bank accounts and disappeared."
"What does this have to do with CJ?" Lois asked.
"Everything," Rene said. "It has to do with Arianna Carlin, Lex Luthor, and the project in which they were engaged while Luthor was, in effect, a prisoner on his own island -- which, in this case, leads directly to Arianna Carlin's interest in your son." He smiled faintly. "John Maxwell was very impressed with the boy's pitching skill, by the way. He thinks CJ should become a major league pitcher when he grows up. I told him that I suspected that the son of Lois Lane and Clark Kent was more likely to become an investigative reporter, or perhaps a world leader."
"Just so long as he doesn't become a lawyer," Lois muttered. She shifted position uncomfortably and rubbed a spot on her abdomen. "CJ's too honest for that."
Henderson snorted. "Believe it or not, I've actually known some ethical lawyers," he remarked. "It does happen, as unlikely as that may seem."
"Whatever," Lois said, clearly unconvinced. "When a DA tries to frame me for murder to get himself elected governor, it makes me wonder if *any* of them are trustworthy. Go on, Rene."
The Interpol agent nodded. "Very well. During the investigations following the CEO's disappearance, it became evident that the man in question had been siphoning money from his company for months. The funds had been transferred to numbered bank accounts in the Cayman Islands, and were not recovered. A week after his disappearance, the man's body was found behind the wheel of his car, just south of the Mexican border. He was apparently dead of a heart attack. His money was gone."
"You don't think it was a heart attack?" Clark asked.
"To all appearances it was," Rene said. "However, you have to agree that the circumstances were somewhat odd. What's more, exactly the same thing happened ten months before that, only the head of the company involved was Canadian, and the car turned up in North Dakota."
Clark glanced at Lois. His wife was frowning thoughtfully. He knew a quick flash of admiration that even in these circumstances, his Lois was still the investigative reporter that she had always been.
"Were these the only examples?" she asked.
Rene shook his head. "No. The same thing happened two years ago to another company head in California. His body was found in a Tijuana hotel, and the money was also gone. By the time of the latest incident, as you might guess, the authorities had begun to believe that more than chance was involved."
"Big surprise there," Lois said.
"The U.S. and Canadian authorities had begun to put the pattern together, and it was your friend Jack Olsen who spotted a possible connection," Rene continued. "He was involved in the investigation of Caribbean Imports, and the raid on Crescent Island ten years ago, and he noticed that at one time or another all three of the men had been the guests of Alejandro de Los Rios."
Clark glanced at Lois again. She was biting her lip. "Go on."
"Very well. Jack Olsen contacted me. I had been tracking five similar happenings in Europe, and our suspicions were now thoroughly aroused. This triggered an autopsy on the body that was somewhat more thorough than usual, and as a result, the diagnosis of a heart attack was changed somewhat.
"What the analysis revealed was frog DNA. We exhumed the other bodies and analyses were performed on their DNA as well. The men were all clones, and our researchers believe that the heart attacks were somehow programmed in, possibly in response to some external signal. Apparently they had been executing a long-term plan, but were probably unaware of the ultimate fate intended for them."
"That makes sense," Lois murmured.
"These events were enough to convince us beyond a doubt that the situation was not a coincidence," Rene said.
"I'd say so," Lois interjected. "And I guess that's what led you to Arianna Carlin."
Rene nodded. "We went to New Troy's state law enforcement and obtained the record of visitors to Lex Luthor -- both Lex Luthors -- over the last ten years. There were quite a few by the media, of course, but none by any known friends or relatives --"
"-- As might be expected," Lois interjected.
"Until I noticed that a particular newswoman had visited him --both of him -- several times for exclusive interviews," Rene said grimly. "We obtained the photograph that is automatically taken of visitors, and a copy of the signature."
"It was Arianna," Lois said.
Rene nodded. "Recently, she also interviewed one Ambrose Cash, formerly a member of the United States Army and a covert operative for the discredited agency, Bureau 39."
"I begin to see the connection," Clark said.
"I thought you would," Rene said. "After that, using the list of visitors to Crescent Island, we pinpointed companies with compromised owners."
Lois glanced at Clark. "That was the plan we uncovered while we were on the island: to replace the owners or CEOs of companies with their copies -- copies that would do as they were told by Luthor and Arianna."
Again, Rene nodded. "Yes. I'm afraid the civil authorities were less willing to believe such a wild story, in spite of prior experience with Lex Luthor, than you were. It's my understanding that you two have had close-up contact with Mr. Luthor's clones."
"You could say that," Clark said.
His attempt to speak casually didn't fool Rene for an instant. The man smiled briefly, without humor. "In any case, my friend, *I* believed you, and after finding that the dead executives were clones, others did as well. In any case, we believed that Arianna Carlin is implementing a long-term plan of some sort -- whatever it may be. We know that the Luthor clone claimed that your son was the rumored Superman clone, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. We also know that Colonel Cash claimed that the rumored offspring of the New Kryptonian invasion intended to take over the world. How a man with such delusions could have become a colonel in the United States Army is a scenario that I find incredible as well as frightening."
"That's for sure," Lois said, with feeling. "Paranoid secret government agencies scare me. When we were on Crescent Island, we thought that Lex and Arianna were trying to essentially create another group of companies equivalent to the original LexCorp. It sounds like she's trying to amass capital to finance the project."
"It seems logical," Rene said. "In any case, we believe the two Luthors and Colonel Cash passed the so-called 'information' about the Superman clone and the hypothetical New Kryptonian hybrids to Arianna Carlin. That is where the connection between her and your family comes into play." He shrugged. "We didn't discover this at once," he continued. "When we found the connection of the cloned CEOs, we saw it as a possible lead to locating her. She is considered a criminal of the same stature as Lex Luthor, as you may know, and if she is behind this situation, as we believe, she has been elevated to the rank of international criminal mastermind. So, as I said, we used the list of visitors to Crescent Island to pinpoint the companies with compromised owners. John Maxwell worked his way into one of the companies and after some time discovered three persons who were working with the CEO. I won't go into all the details, but eventually he managed to bring himself to their notice in such a way that he was inducted into their organization two months ago. He reports that a Mrs. X gives the orders, and only via cell phone. He has never seen her, but he believes Mrs. X to be Arianna Carlin. Maxwell has managed to work his way into a position of trust with Mrs. X, and last week was given this assignment -- to discover the truth or falsity of suspicions about your son. He accepted the assignment not only in the hope that it would lead to Arianna Carlin, but because the other candidate was not a man of scruples." He stopped. "I ask your forgiveness for this intrusion into your lives, especially --" he looked toward Lois with a smile, "in the current circumstances. John Maxwell has two sons. He will not harm yours."
**********
When Rene St. Cloud finished speaking, Clark looked at Lois. His wife was a hard-headed and intelligent woman who tended to think more clearly than he did in circumstances such as this. His first instinct was to tell Rene that he appreciated his attempt to protect CJ but that he was going to move his son as far away from Arianna Carlin as it was possible to take him.
But, of course, that wouldn't solve anything. All it would do would be to delay the inevitable and convince Arianna and Lex Luthor that they were right to suspect CJ Kent of being the Superman clone, or just possibly a Kryptonian hybrid. And it could definitely raise such suspicions in others. What was more, such a move would derail Rene's attempt to capture the renegade wife of Lex Luthor, who was certainly as evil and as much of a threat to his family as Lex Luthor or Colonel Cash.
Lois was looking back at him, biting her lip. He glanced at Rene and back at his wife. "What do you think, honey?"
Lois turned to Rene St. Cloud. "Exactly how much of a threat is this to CJ?" she asked.
"I can't say that he is in no danger," Rene said. "He is. But that would be so whether my people are involved or not."
"Yeah." Lois said. "We can't hide CJ from her forever, Clark."
"I know." Clark resisted the urge to get to his feet and pace. "Bill, you're an ex-cop. What do you advise?"
Henderson shrugged, more as a nervous gesture than as a dismissal. "If it were Valerie, I'm sure I'd feel the same as you," he said, "but I also know the kind of people we're up against."
"If it *were* Valerie," Lois said, "what would you advise?"
Henderson met her eyes directly. "I'd say we need to carry through. If we can nail Arianna Luthor and put her in prison, she and Luthor won't be a threat any longer, and you can debunk their claims about CJ once and for all. Once she's discredited and in jail, I don't think there will be anyone wasting his time listening to the Luthors and their crazy theories."
"Dr. Klein tested CJ once," Clark said. "Isn't that enough?"
"It is for the world of normal people," Bill said, "but Arianna Luthor and her husband aren't normal. They're going to keep up their attack on you and CJ until they either succeed and prove that CJ isn't their clone -- and then probably kill him to hide what they've done -- or are stopped."
"He's right," Lois said. "I don't like CJ being at risk, but until Arianna is in custody, she's never going to leave him alone. No one is going to be able to convince her that her precious Superman clone isn't around anymore -- or, if he is, that he isn't CJ. At least we can bring Superman in on it." She glanced at Rene. "You probably know that he has an interest in Lex Luthor and Arianna. He's already volunteered to help keep an eye on CJ." She added with apparent irrelevance, "He's CJ's godfather, you know."
Rene nodded. "Yes, Superman's friendship for you and your husband is well-known," he said. "I certainly won't turn down his help, but it would be well if he would consult with me before he takes action."
"I'll tell him," Clark said. "How should he contact you?"
"Does Superman have access to a cellular phone?" Rene asked.
"He has one of his own," Clark said, wondering for the millionth time why it was so difficult for persons to visualize his alter ego possessing the modern accessories of the day. Why should Superman unnecessarily handicap himself by eschewing such conveniences as a cell phone?
"Excellent," Rene said. "If you will give me his number, I will call him after I am at some distance from your home. It would be best if anyone who observed me leaving believed me to be simply another of William's campaign staff."
"I'll call him for you," Henderson said, dryly. "I'm one of the few that has his number. What makes you think that we're going to get to Arianna this way? She seems to have carefully avoided showing up in person so far."
"But," Rene said, "from what I have gathered, the Luthors had planned to use the clone they created as a weapon against Superman. It seems to have been an integral part of their scheme to reacquire power. They will not give up that plan without a struggle. If anything will bring Arianna Carlin -- Arianna Luthor -- out of hiding, it would be the possibility of recovering their clone. As you say, they will not willingly believe that your son is not the object of their desires. Very will, we will use that weakness to trap her."
Clark looked at his wife. "We need to bring the kids down here and let them know what's going on."
Rene hesitated. "Is it necessary? Frightening your son isn't something that I want to do."
Lois rubbed the spot on her side again. "CJ and Wyatt were involved with that Bureau 39 mess last year," she said, "and so were the girls. In fact, the boys helped Bill and his people get it under control by getting rid of the piece of Kryptonite before Cash could use it on Superman. They've all been worried about all this since yesterday when we figured out that something was wrong. Besides, CJ's their target. This way, he can at least be on guard for anything unusual."
Henderson nodded. "You'll find that CJ is a very level-headed kid," he told Rene. "So are Wyatt and the girls, and they deserve to know what's going on, if only to help protect them."
Rene shrugged fatalistically. "Very well, William. You know them better than I."
**********
CJ didn't ordinarily eavesdrop on his parents and their friends -- at least not since he'd realized that his excellent hearing was a super power and that he could control it -- but this time it was a little different.
He had heard about Lex Luthor. It had been impossible to do any kind of computer search about his parents and all the things they had done without the man's name turning up. He'd read about how the great business magnate had turned out to be a criminal and how his mother and father -- mostly his father, actually, with help from Uncle Jimmy and Uncle Perry -- had brought the man down. The creep must have been awfully smart to fool CJ's mom the way he had apparently done. She'd nearly married him, for Pete's sake, and then the guy had managed to kidnap her from her first wedding to his dad and a horrible mess had happened as a result. The whole story had been there in the tabloid stuff online, and lots of newspaper articles. CJ had found it fascinating in a hair-raising sort of way. Then the clone of Luthor had turned up, after everyone thought Luthor was dead, and after that it turned out that the real Luthor was still alive, a prisoner of his own wife on a private island. The guy seemed to be like one of those comic book villains that kept coming back over and over, no matter how many times he was supposedly killed.
His dad had mentioned that an old enemy had cloned Superman to use as a weapon against him, and CJ had suspected for a while that Luthor was the enemy he'd been talking about, but what he had overheard now confirmed it. It was a scary thought that he might have wound up his parents' enemy if things had been just a little different. Still, that part didn't matter, just as he had told Linda that where she'd come from didn't matter. It was, as his dad had said, what he was now and what he made of himself that was important, and there was no way this Arianna babe and the creep she was married to were going to turn him into a weapon against his dad. Normally, CJ would never have thought of any grown woman as a "babe", but he'd heard his mom refer to female criminals and sometimes other women that she didn't like as "babe", so he didn't think she'd really mind, even if she pretended she did.
Linda and Marta were also listening, and he noticed that Marta was relaying the information to Wyatt as fast as she heard it, so none of them were surprised when they heard his dad call them from the foot of the stairs. They looked at each other and as one, got up from the battered sofa, from which they had been watching Jimmy and Jonny demolish the minions of the Beringi Overlord in the process of saving the galaxy, and headed down the stairs.
"I guess you overheard most of that," his dad said quietly to them as they arrived on the second floor.
"Yeah." CJ said.
"Don't worry," Clark said. "We're going to stop these people."
"Dad, why do they think CJ is a clone?" Marta asked. "That's dumb!"
"We'll go into it later," Clark said. "The point is, the people after him think he is, and that's what puts him in danger. The man with Mr. Henderson is a friend of ours that your mother and I met ten years ago when we were on an undercover assignment. His name is Rene St. Cloud and he's a cop from France."
"Okay," CJ said.
'He doesn't know about Superman,' his father added on their mental channel. It was interesting, CJ thought, how the new way of communicating had turned out to be so useful so quickly. It was a shame Mom couldn't do it -- but maybe she could if she practiced. Later, of course, when she didn't have quite so many things to worry about. After all, Wyatt had done it, once he figured out how to get on their wavelength.
'Okay,' he thought back. 'We'll be careful.'
'Oh,' his dad added. 'I almost forgot. I picked these up in Smallville just until we can get you a set of glasses with cool frames. They used to be mine.' He held out a pair of kid-sized glasses.
CJ took the glasses. The frames were heavy and probably would make him look like a dork, but at least if he was wearing them he didn't look like Superman, and that was the important thing. He put them on and resolutely ignored Marta's giggle.
Linda cocked her head sideways, obviously examining the effect. "Oh well," she said. "In a couple of days you can pick out some better ones."
Yep, they made him look like a dork, all right. "Never mind," he said. "Let's go talk to Mr. St. Cloud."
**********
tbc
