[CHAPTER 6]
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It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly & try another. But above all, try something. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Wednesday
“Hey, Bean, I saw the article. I just want to warn you that the fallout looks like it’s going to hit over here too.”
“Bean?” Clark mouthed.
Lois shook her head curtly. “Mom, I’ve got you on speaker.”
Ellen groaned. “Oh, you know I hate those things. Half of our meetings are done sitting around a conference table yelling at, or being yelled at by, something that looks like a bloated spider.”
Lois smiled. “I’m sorry that you’re getting caught in the crossfire on this,” she said while looking down at a copy of the paper.
The second article in the series had been printed that morning: ‘Cyphren Scheme Linked to Health Symptoms: Defective Births May Follow.’
“No, don’t apologize. You’re doing us a favor. If one of our administrators is part of a conspiracy, then it’s better we know and do something about it than leave them in control of a hospital.”
“You’re not getting any flack are you?” Lois asked anxiously.
“No – a lot more paperwork and bureaucracy, yes, but flack no. Everyone knows who my kid is.”
“Damn straight,” Lois said, laughing.
“Damn straight,” Ellen repeated. “Listen, I have to go. I just wanted to give you the eye in the sky from over here. Tell that adorable partner of yours that I said congratulations.”
“Mom, you’re on speaker. He can hear you.”
“I know, but I wanted *you* to say it.”
Lois’s jaw hardened. “Goodbye, Mom.”
“Bye, honey. Goodbye, Mr. Kent!”
Fighting a laugh, Clark barely got out his salutation before Lois pressed the button to end the call, “Goodbye, Mrs. Lane.”
He turned to look at Lois, who was massaging the bridge of her nose. “Bean?”
Lois opened one eye to look at him. “Lo-lo,” she said. “Rhymes with cocoa. Not one of my favorites.” She pushed her hair behind her ears. “What about you? You got any nicknames? Maybe *Clarkie*?”
Clark frowned. “No.”
“Well, that’s no fun.”
Clark tilted his head. “And yet *Bean* is enjoyable for you?”
Lois met his gaze with a smirk. “Well played, Mr. Kent.”
Clark smiled smugly in spite of his intentions to remain unaffected. Over the past week, the tendency to slip into mildly playful banter had become almost second nature. He found that the more he worked with Lois Lane, the more he began to relax in his own skin. It resulted in a sense of trust he never experienced outside of his parent’s yellow farmhouse.
It wasn’t the same level, by any means, but it was something. In truth, he wasn’t too sure he liked it.
He could tell that Lois had noticed the way he schooled his features back into his distancing mask when she sighed under her breath. Anyone besides Clark would not have heard it.
“Jimmy, just the man I wanted to see,” she commented brightly when the young man appeared from behind her cubicle wall. “Tell me you have good news.”
Jimmy lifted a flash drive into the air with a gleam in his eye.
Seeing that, Lois rushed to stand up. “Sit down, sit down,” she commanded, waving for Jimmy to take her seat. “Show us the magic.”
“Well, it’s not magic yet,” Jimmy warned as he plugged the portable drive into a USB port and called the contents up on the screen. “This is the file I was able to intercept. Its packet contains all of the files Richardson sent between his work machine and his home computer last night. I thought this one would be of interest to you because it seemed to be the largest batch; almost as if he’s cleaning something out.”
“Yes!” Lois exclaimed.
Clark looked from her to Jimmy. “How did you get this?”
Jimmy swiveled in the chair to look at Lois. “You didn’t tell him?”
“I will,” she said, turning the chair back around. “What else?”
“Well, nothing else really, I need to work on deciphering the encryption on the files… I thought that it would be best if I do that at your desk rather than mine, which is out in the open. You know?”
Lois patted his shoulder before moving to sit in her visitor’s chair. “Good thinking.”
Clark’s eyes narrowed. “You’re able to track the CEO’s computer transmissions even from an outside computer?”
Jimmy nodded without looking up from the computer. “It wasn’t easy. Luckily Lois had a contact with the cable company who was able to look up the assigned IP address of his home computer. It would have been a whole lot easier if I had access to the system from the inside.”
“So you could potentially trace the steps of anyone whose system you had access to?” Clark asked.
Jimmy lifted his head. “Well, we could…”
“No,” Lois interrupted. The look she sent Jimmy made him turn back to his work. “From what I understand, it’s a little more complicated than that. Right, Jim?”
“Yeah,” he replied. “For one thing the legal ramifications are extensive, and you have to really know what you are doing to even be able to get inside a system as complex as network connections. It’s really… complicated.” He laughed a bit nervously and focused on typing instructions in a command prompt window.
Lois stood and pulled a notebook from the corner of her desk. “Kent, why don’t we set up in a conference room and get started on the part three of our series?”
“Yeah, okay,” Clark replied, turning away from Lois’s desk. Gathering his own notepad and pen, he followed her away from where Jimmy was diligently working.
~.~
Friday
Clark reached forward to pull open the outer door of Lois’s apartment building as she unlocked it.
“You have to admit that we make a pretty good team,” she remarked, shuffling the bag of Chinese takeout she was holding in one arm.
“Pretty good,” he replied without conviction. He adjusted his own share of the food load and followed her up the stairs.
“Come on, things are looking up for us. We have the DA on board, Jimmy is this close to cracking those files, *and*,” she said as she smiled at him over her shoulder, “we have crab wontons.”
“So it’s about the little things?”
“Damn straight it is.”
As they arrived at the second level, the sounds of muffled music could be heard. Lois let out a sigh when the music grew louder as they neared her door. She turned and deposited the bag she was holding into Clark’s arms, making him move quickly so as not to drop the two bags he was already holding.
Lois made quick work of the numerous deadbolts and strode purposely into the apartment. Heading straight for the stereo, she turned the music down to a more tolerable decibel.
“Time to upgrade ya,” Lucy sang as along with the CD as she strolled down the hall. Seeing that her sister hadn’t arrived alone, Lucy slowly lowered the hairbrush that was serving as her makeshift microphone and smiled widely. “Hey you two! Sorry about the music, Lo. I was really feeling it.”
“The *neighbors* were feeling, Luce,” Lois corrected, shaking her head. She turned to see that Clark was still standing beside the open door. “Come on in, Clark. You can set those bags in the kitchen.”
They passed each other as Lois went to go lock the door.
“Did you get spring rolls?” Lucy asked, following Clark into the kitchen.
Lois dropped her work bag onto the love seat and a few seconds later, both Clark and Lucy returned to the main living area.
“Mmm,” Lucy mumbled while holding what remained of a roll, “I love these.” She moved to perch on the arm of the couch, still bopping to the music. “So what are you guys up to tonight?”
“We’re celebrating,” Lois answered, reaching for the suit jacket Clark had shrugged out of.
“Celebrating what?” Lucy asked and popped the rest of the spring roll into her mouth.
Beaming, Lois reached into her bag and pulled out a newspaper. She handed it to her younger sister and pointed out an article. “Above the fold.”
As the women talked, Clark walked over to Lois’s bookcase and began inspect her collection.
Lucy swallowed her bite and gazed at the headline. “Company Ethics Demand New Legislation: Self-regulation of chemical plants is dangerous for citizens.” She looked up at the two reporters. “I take it this is big?”
“Bigger,” Lois answered. “What this means is that we uncovered an injustice and are forefront in the initiation of a major reform. This is the type of story that could lead to a Pulitzer: expose, conspiracy, re-infrastructure... Definitely big,” she surmised.
Clark stiffened slightly at her words. Lois’s tendency to hunt big stories was an underlying threat.
“You guys should come out with me and my friends tonight. I’m celebrating too.”
Clark turned away from the bookcase. “You are?”
Lois rolled her eyes and waved for her sister to explain.
Lucy grinned at him. “This is my last Friday night in Metropolis so my friends are taking me dancing. Do you dance?”
“Not if I can help it,” he answered dryly.
For some reason this thought struck Lois as funny. She coughed and put a hand on her sister’s back. “Lucy heads back to USC next week. She’s majoring in psychology - be careful what you say around her, she tries to psychoanalyze my fish.”
Lucy shot Lois a dirty look. “I don’t have time to think about your fish with you around,” she teased. She glanced at the clock on the far wall and hopped up. “Gotta go!”
Lois laughed as Lucy darted down the hall toward her room. Facing Clark, she clasped her hands together. “Are you ready to eat?”
Clark nodded and followed her into the kitchen. Lois pulled some plates from the cabinet and handed him one. When they had filled their plates, they moved to the small semi-dining area that extended from the living room. When they had set their plates on the table, Lucy reappeared.
“That’s my leather jacket,” Lois observed.
“I know it’s yours, I’m just wearing it,” the younger woman said as she continued to the door.
Lois leaned over her chair so she could get a better look at her sister. “And are those my boots? Do have on *anything* that belongs to you?”
Lucy flashed a grin and turned the door handle. “Have a good dinner,” she said sweetly. “Don’t wait up – and don’t lock all these damn things!” she exclaimed, gesturing to the deadbolts on the door she held open. “It’s hard enough to get in when you’re sober…” Her gaze flashed to Clark and her eyebrows rose, “…which is exactly what I’ll be when I get back.”
Giggling, she winked at Lois and left, pulling the door shut behind her.
Lois shook her head and returned to the kitchen to get a bottle of wine and some glasses. “Do you have any siblings?”
“It was just me and my parents growing up,” Clark answered.
Lois returned to the table. “Well, from my experience, I can tell you that little sisters have their moments.” She smiled and set the glasses down on the table.
Clark rose from his seat and reached for the bottle and corkscrew Lois held. “Here, let me.”
Lois relinquished the items and sat down in her chair, watching silently as he uncorked the wine and poured the Sauvignon Blanc into their glasses. Considering the stiff way he had acted when they’d first met, she had to think that she was wearing Clark Kent down. He seemed much more comfortable in his skin.
Lois picked her glass up and held it out for a toast. “To good writing. Bonne écriré.”
“Bonne écriré,” Clark repeated, tapping her glass lightly with his own.
After each taking a sip, they began eating. “You must have had some pretty good food in the past,” Lois commented.
Clark looked up from his plate. “What makes you say that?”
Lois gave a slight shrug. “All the places you’ve been while freelancing, you had to have tasted authentic dishes. For me that would be worth the trip alone.”
Clark laughed. He didn’t know if he’d ever met a person who enjoyed food as much as Lois Lane did, and not have the body to show it.
She held up a piece of chicken between two chopsticks. “One day, I plan to order General Tso Chicken from the man himself.”
Through the rest of the meal, the conversation was light and easy. Clark was experiencing somewhat of a relived high. They were nearing the end of the series of stories, he was expecting a report back soon on his side research projects, and he would able to detract himself from the Daily Planet very soon. He had survived.
“I’m surprised you don’t have your awards out on display,” he commented. “You’ve won three Kerths, right?” He thought he saw her flush but she quickly recovered.
“They’re just awards,” Lois said dismissively.
Clark’s eyes narrowed but he didn’t say anything. When looking at her bookcase, he had noticed an area where the wood grain seemed flawed. Out of curiosity, he’d x-rayed the area, fully expecting to see a safe, but instead had seen an elaborate hidden display dedicated to her Kerth awards. He doubted that genuine modesty was behind a setup as extensive as that.
Lois settled back against her chair and looked at him thoughtfully. “I love it when a story comes together,” she said, steering the conversation back to their work.
“I just wish we knew where Dr. Kwolek was being held.”
Lois nodded sedately. “It has to be a good sign that they let him go home and pack a bag - if they meant him harm that would have been an unnecessary allowance.” She gazed into her glass for a moment. “My guess is that they need him to be the scapegoat. He was over the project. The company can claim that he signed off on it.”
“But he didn’t sign off on it.”
Lois shrugged. “The public wants someone to blame. The court of law says that it’s innocence until proven guilty, but the public court jumps at the sign of accusation. As journalists, it’s our job to know that and to not exploit it.”
“Truth and justice,” Clark said, quoting the words she had claimed to be her guiding principles.
Lois raised her glass and took another sip. “It’s a good thing that we already told the DA about Dr. Kwolek’s whistleblowing. Normally I don’t give up my sources, but I think this is the best way to protect him.”
“When he’s returned safely, that is,” Clark replied.
Ben Cooper, the district attorney, had promised not to reveal the information about Dr. Kwolek until the man had been located. If the state tipped its hand before then, the company would no longer have a reason to keep Kwolek safe. Clark hated having to roll the dice in that manner, but without knowing where the doctor was, there was nothing he could do.
Lois’s expression was sympathetic. “He’ll turn up. You’ll see.”
A buzzing sound alerted Lois’s attention that someone was at the outside door. Getting up, she walked over to the intercom system located on the wall near the door.
“Hello?”
“Lois, it’s Jimmy.”
Lois glanced at Clark with a hopeful look in her eye. “Hey, Jimmy.”
“I’ve got it.” His voice was tinged with excitement.
“You’ve got it?”
“I think I just cracked your case.”
Lois hit the button to buzz Jimmy in and opened the door to her apartment. She was waiting impatiently when he bounded up the stairs.
She pushed him through the door and toward the dining table. “Spill.”
Jimmy dropped a small stack of paper in the middle of the table and sat down in one of the empty chairs. He picked up the top piece of paper and handed it to Lois, who was standing next to him with her hands on her hips. “The IP address I highlighted on there is dedicated to a bank in Switzerland. Richardson has recently found need of their services.”
Lois smiled widely. “Switzerland?”
Jimmy nodded with a bright grin.
“Perfect.” Lois set the paper back down on the table. “Are you hungry, Jimmy?”
Pleasantly surprised to be asked, Jimmy said, “Yeah, sure.”
Lois went into the kitchen to fix him a plate.
Meanwhile, Clark had been looking through the other papers. “What is this one, Jim?”
Jimmy glanced at the paper Clark was indicating. “Oh, those are some of the other files that came through the transmission. That one is a car service the chemical company contracts.” He shrugged it off, apparently not seeing any significance.
“What about these numbers listed here?” Clark asked, pointing to an area of the same paper.
“My guess it that it’s some kind of invoice. Those are probably the mileage reports so they can file for reimbursement by the mile.”
Clark pulled the paper back so he could study it, trailing a finger down the list of numbers and dates. Just as he expected, there was an entry for the date and time that Dr. Kwolek went missing. If he went by the listed mileage, he just may be able to triangulate a location for wherever the car had taken him. He just had to hope that it was his final destination.
Lois returned to the dining table and set a plate down in front of Jimmy.
“Uh, Lois, I’m sorry, but I have to leave.”
She looked at Clark in surprise. “What? Why… but we just got a break in the story,” she stuttered.
Clark folded the paper up and put it in his pant’s pocket. “I know, I know. I just remembered something I forgot to do… and it has to be done tonight.” He smiled sheepishly and strode into the living room.
Lois followed, watching in confusion as he slipped on his suit coat. “When will you be done?”
“I’m not sure. I’m really sorry.”
Without waiting for a response, he waved and left the apartment.
Lois looked back at Jimmy, who was happily devouring a pile of shrimp fried rice, and shrugged.
~.~
tbc
