A day early.
Clark and Lois The Lost Years Matchmaker Chronicles Vol 3 38/46
By Ken Janney
This version is rated PG-13
* denotes emphasis *
< denotes thoughts >
[ playback of a recording or TV Commentary] / telepathic communications /
(#) footnotes
As always comments are welcome. (ken.janney@kjanney.com)
Reminder:
Universal Locator Designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 - Canon Lois and Clark universe also called – Prime
Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036 – Canon Alt Clark universe also called – Alt 1
Previously:
He let out a relieved sigh. “Okay, now, what can we do about the prostitution?”
“I don’t know. Could we get the girls better paying jobs? Nah, I don’t think so. How about this – we get them to organize! Form a union, other than the one they do so much of. Maybe we could have them go on strike! Better wages and fewer johns. How does it sound?”
By this time Clark was laughing so hard his sides were starting to hurt. She looked at him. “I’m serious!”
Seeing her mood he tried to settle down. He finally succeeded. “How are we going to convince them to organize?”
“I don’t know just yet. Let me give it some thought and I still think I could go undercover.”
They drove by Jake’s that afternoon to get the lay of the land and noted that it was on the ground floor of a high rise building so it was going to be difficult to protect from fire. They’d have to think of something though and do it quickly.
And now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 38 – Enter the Karate Kid
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That night they dressed in black again. Lois was on the roof of the building across from Jake’s and Clark was on the roof of Jake’s building.
At 10:30 PM a car drove past and from the back window a Molotov cocktail was thrown through Jake’s window. Lois used her telescopic vision to get the license plate while Clark handled the fire.
Clark opened the roof access door to the stairwell. He then used his heat vision to weaken the structure of a municipal water tank that was housed on the roof. When the seam ruptured water started to pour from the tank. The access it found to flow downhill was the roof door. Hundreds of gallons of water rushed down the stairs. Since the florist shop was in the lobby the stairs led straight there. The water flooding the lobby extinguished the walls where the flames had caught. The street doors were closed and bolted but could not long stand against the pressure of the water and burst open allowing the water and gasoline residue to flow into the street and down the storm drain.
As soon as the water had started to flow he had flown across the street and joined Lois. “That worked out well! Jake might have a little water damage but that’s nothing compared to what a fire would have done. Good job!”
“Did you get the license plate?”
“Sure did. That’s another piece of information to give to Henderson.”
“Let’s go home.”
Getting that wicked little grin again she said in a very sultry tone of voice “Ummmmmm, that sounds good! Then I can expose myself to my husband in privacy!”
“Any time my love. Any time.”
They flew off hand in hand.
The next day they did some interviews and wrote up the incident for the Planet.
“FIRE BOMB FIZZLED”
By Lois Lane and Clark Kent
“An apparent attempt to firebomb a business last night failed because of a leaky water tank. … “
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Two days after the police had picked up Crawford and placed him in protective custody Clark had a call. “Daily Planet, Clark Kent.”
“Hello, Kent. Henderson here. Just thought I’d call and let you know we towed Crawford’s car in to the garage. You’re hunch was correct. The brake lines had been cut. He never would have made it home in one piece. As soon as I told Crawford he started singing like a canary. He ID’d the tech that was co-opted. He’s already dead. Funny thing is it was the same MO. We were able to find the car he was driving at the time he was killed. Since we had found the sabotage that was done to Crawford’s car we knew exactly where to look and sure enough. I think we can tie the two together. Thanks for the heads up.”
Lois had seen Clark’s expression as he had been listening and had moved over to his desk. She perched on the corner and listened in on the conversation. As he had been speaking she had gotten a very satisfied smile on her face. She put her index finger to her mouth to moisten the tip and made a stroke in the air indicating a point for our side.
“Don’t mention it Lieutenant. Looks like the case against Luthor is slowly building. By the way, we would like you to check on a license plate for us. It’s to a car used in the firebombing of Jake’s Flowers on Woodbine. New Troy HSU-168. We found a witness that got the plate and gave it to us.”
“Thanks, Kent. I’ll run it through DMV. Anything else you can tell me?”
“Yeah, look for an increase in prostitution. We don’t know exactly how it will manifest. Could be that johns will be paying more for less but you may be seeing more aggressive solicitations. Could you possibly do a sting to get a lot of them off the streets?”
“I’ll look into it. Thanks again. I’ll be in touch.”
With a pout Lois said “I still think that we could unionize the girls.”
Clark laughed, “How do you unionize people in an illegal activity? Honey, I know that if anyone could do it I’m sure you could, but, I think it’s best to let the police handle it and I don’t want you down there getting picked up along with the hookers. The police wouldn’t care if you claimed to be a union organizer. As far as they would be concerned you’d be just one of the girls.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That night when Clark picked up the tape they listened to it.
The first section started with Luthor calling for Mrs. Cox
[(Voice 1 - Luthor). “Mrs. Cox, attend me please.”
(Voice 2 – Mrs. Cox) “Right away Lex.”They heard the door open and close.
[(Voice 2) “What is it Lex?”
(Voice 1) “Have you identified the girls that we are going to ‘send’ to Mitzie for employment yet?”
(Voice 2) “Yes, I’ve identified four girls that would be good candidates. None of them have family, at least not locally that they could fall back on financially. I don’t think any of them have steady boyfriends either. At least a couple of them have high car loan payments. If we take over the car loans we can have our agent suggest a new job for them when they can no longer afford the payments.”
(Voice 1) “You said a couple of them what about the other two?”
(Voice 2) “One of them is sending money home to help an ailing parent pay medical bills. If her source of income were to dry up she would feel the pressure to get some other source of income. There is no immediate pressure that could be brought to bear on the fourth.”
(Voice 1) “Well we have three just about definite and one possible. Not ideal, but let’s proceed with the action anyway. Thank you for the report. You wouldn’t mind staying late tonight to take some ‘dictation’ would you?”
(Voice 2) “Any time, Lex.”
(Voice 1) “Good, have the chef prepare a dinner for two.”]Lois was absolutely livid and as a result she hit the pause button so hard she almost smashed the recorder. “Clark, I *have* to go undercover! We *have* to save those girls. I can pretend to be one of the girls Luthor sent over. You heard Mitzi, she wouldn’t expect me to start turning tricks for a week to a week and a half and in that time I should be able to get the girls stirred up and get the new girls out of there. If she expects me to start any earlier we can arrange for you to be the john and I’ll just act very picky when it comes to partners. We can talk to Perry and arrange for the Planet to put the girls we get out in hiding and we can talk to Bill and they can be protected as witnesses. They could be very important to the case.”
Clark knew by how fired up she was that there was no way he would be able to prevent her from following through on her plan. Just like that night on the wharf in Pointe Noir he knew when he had to simply give in. “Okay, but I’m going to keep a constant check on you.”
Clark restarted the tape. When they heard what the next section consisted of they couldn’t help but laugh.
[(Voice 1 – Luthor) “Explain yourself. What happened?
(Voice 2 – Izzie Banks) “I don’t know. It was some kind of freak accident! Just as the fire started taking hold the water tank on the roof sprung a leak. The water flowed down the stairs and put the fire out.”
(Voice 1) “You know that failure is *not* an option. Once is an accident. Twice is failure. What are you going to do to make up for this?”
(Voice 2) “Traub’s over on Shuster. I think a small bomb might teach them that they need insurance.”
(Voice 1) “Okay, but don’t fail me again. You may go now.”
(Voice 2) “Don’t worry Mr. Luthor. We won’t fail this time. Just you wait and see.”
(Voice 1) Losing patience assuming a threatening tone
“See to it that you don’t. Now leave!”]“Traub’s over on Shuster. We’ll need to keep a check on it. I wonder if it’ll be a drive by like Jake’s or if it’ll be planted.”
“We’ll have to watch out for both possibilities.”
The next night they ‘staked out’ Traub’s the same way they had Jake’s. This time however as they watched a car passed and as it did a bomb was tossed through the window. Clark, moving faster than the eye could follow, entered the store through the back door and finding the bomb on the floor severed the wires leading to the detonator. He then exited the same way he had entered. He joined Lois on the opposite roof. “Did you get the license?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know how much good it’s going to do. It looked like the same car but the license was different. They must be stolen plates.”
“Oh well, we’ll report it to Henderson anyway.”
The next day they interviewed the police and people at Traub’s.
“BOMB PLOT A FLOP WINDOW TO THE RESCUE”
By Lois Lane and Clark Kent
“An attempt to bomb Traub’s last night was foiled when the glass window the bomb was thrown through severed the wires to the detonator. … “
Luthor read these headlines and was livid. The incompetents within his organization had to go. They couldn’t even make a bomb that would work the way it was supposed to. He depressed a key on the intercom “Mrs. Cox, call Izzie and tell him to be in my office at 10:00 PM.”
“Yes, Lex”
“Then I want you to call Frank Baxter. Tell him to be here at 10:15. I’ve got a job for him.”
“Yes, Lex.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
That night Clark and Lois were in surveillance mode. They were recording as Izzie arrived. They caught it all on tape as Luthor told him that he was ‘disappointed in his performance’. His voice was full of menace as he said this.
[(Voice 2 – Izzie) “Mr. Luthor, it was a freak accident. It couldn’t happen again. Trust me.”
(Voice 1 – Luthor) “There have been too many freak accidents where you’re concerned.” Luthor pulled a gun and held it on Izzie. With his other hand he reached over and hit a key on his intercom.
“Mrs. Cox, send in Frank Baxter.”](Voice over intercom)
[“Right away Lex.”]Baxter entered through door.
[(Voice 1) “Frank, I want you to deal with a little problem for me. Please dispose of Izzie. He has failed me for the last time.”
(Voice 3 – Frank Baxter) “What ever you say Mr. Luthor.”] Frank pulled a gun.
[(Voice 2) “Mr. Luthor please, give me another chance. Things like that couldn’t happen again!”
(Voice 1) “You have had two chances already. Do I need to sit by and watch you fail again, I think not. Frank?”
(Voice 3) Frank gestured with his gun as he said
“Let’s go Izzie. I’ll make it quick and painless.” Frank let Izzie out the door.]
Lois flew over to Clark. “What do we do now? He could be a valuable witness. We can’t let Frank kill him.”
“Let’s stash the camera on the roof and then we’ll follow them. Maybe we can think of something on the way.”
Lois and Clark picked up the two men as they exited through a back entrance to Luthor Tower and got into a car. By this time Izzie’s hands were handcuffed behind his back and his jacket pulled down around his elbows. They followed the car until it entered an auto reclamation yard. Frank drove the car, an old sedan into a crusher and got out. Just as he was about to lean in and deliver the coup de gras, a single bullet to the head he was tapped on the shoulder.
He spun around and was confronted by a guy all dressed in black with a black ski mask. He brought his gun to bear. “Who are you?”
“I’m a friend to those in need.” Nodding his head in Izzie’s direction. “I think he needs a friend right now.”
“Oh yeah, well maybe he needs company more than he needs a friend. Care to join him?” Moving his gun indicating that he should get into the car.
“I’d rather stay right here if you don’t mind.” Clark assumed what was obviously a karate relaxed ready stance.
Frank observed this and laughed. “You think that karate will keep me from shooting you? Try *this*” He pulled the trigger.
Clark made a pretense of dodging the bullet and made it look believable. Before Frank had a chance to fire another round Clark was on him and had taken his gun from him. “I think that my Karate is adequate to the task. I don’t have to depend on a gun while you derive your power from your firearm. Without it what can you do? On the other hand I can do plenty, like this!” Clark reached out and like making a light rap on a door knocked Frank on the forehead, knocking him out. This was all done for the benefit of Izzie who was watching the entire scene.
Clark pulled out a cell phone (He and Lois each had prepaid untraceable cell phones to use when out on their side job) and called the police. He knew that Henderson wasn’t on duty so using his Superman voice he asked that the desk forward the call to his private number which they did. Still using the Superman voice he said “Detective Henderson I have a present for you. Come to Metropolis Auto Recovery. You’ll find Frank Baxter and Izzie Banks. I think that Izzie may be willing to testify against Lex Luthor. Frank Baxter was about to kill him on Lex Luthor’s order.”
Henderson asked “Who is this?”
“A friend.” He closed the connection. Then he removed Frank’s belt and pulled his trousers down around his ankles and refastened the belt. He removed his shoe laces and tied his hands behind his back. Izzie was still handcuffed in the back of the car. Clark walked over to him and said “The police’ll be here shortly. You know what Luthor was doing to you. It may be in your best interest to talk to the police. If you make a deal you may wind up with jail time, but that’s better than being dead. Think about it. You almost had a bullet in the brain and then you would have been melted down for scrap and become part of a new Toyota.” Clark walked away. Lois joined him when he was out of sight of Izzie and they flew to the top of a pile of junk cars to watch the activity when the police arrived.
The first one on scene was Bill Henderson in his personal car. He drove up and exited his sedan and just took in the scene. Frank was still unconscious and Izzie was yelling to be let out of the car in the crusher. Henderson just stood there shaking his head trying to figure out what had happened. He pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number. On a desk at the Daily Planet a phone started to ring. After the fourth ring the voice mail picked up. “This is Clark Kent, I’m away from my desk right now. Please leave a message after the beep.” ‘BEEP “Kent, Bill Henderson here. We just made the darndest collar. Got a couple of Luthor’s henchmen. Looks like a falling out. I had a call telling me where to pick them up. Someone else did all the work. All I’ve got to do is the clean-up. Call me in the morning when you get this message.” He closed his phone.
Just as he finished his call the black-n-whites started to arrive.
“All right, load ‘em up and take ‘em in. Put them in holding. I’ll process and interview them in the morning. No paperwork, no papers! No one is to know we have these characters. Got it?”
“Got it, Lieutenant.”
“Okay, get ‘em outta here.” He turned and entered his car and drove off.
After seeing Frank and Izzie safely bundled off to the hoosegow they flew hand in hand back to the roof of Luthor Tower and retrieved the camera and then returned home.
comments go here To be continued in Chapter 39 – Lois Goes Undercover(s)
