Ooo, a new chapter!

Can't help wondering what Luthor is up to, which member of the band he wants to get rid of, and why he is interested in Clark.

And Linda is showing her true colors . . .

geez - this is getting way complicated, and intriguing. linda muling - whoda thunk? lets play ball, eh, music!

Well, Linda is certainly a piece of work. I still think she's out of her league. She doesn't realize that her methods are guaranteed to lose her the very professional respect that she craves.

And, yes, what *does* Lex Luthor notice about Clark Kent? Does he know him by sight?

I think Toni's leap of logic from not seeing a strange car to Lex being there as 'the Boss' needs a little more explanation. The connection wasn't clear to me. If she already knows that Lex is the 'Boss' then couldn't he just always have that communications equipment around without it having to do specifically with his current business at the club? When I saw the line about communications equipment, I thought she was going to suspect him of bugging the club.

Clark, on the other hand, has plenty of reason to suspect Lex. I loved Clark using his powers to check out Lex and his ride. He's realized that Lex and Toni are probably competition rather than allies. Will he make a red herring connection between Lex and the Mountaintops and conclude that the band is in cahoots with Lex somehow?

Great part, Terry. Looking forward to the next.

I can't say much because I beta'd this and I know where it's going but...

Linda is a piece of work.

A lot of stuff is yet to happen.

Many questions will be posed and answered.

Everyone, keep on reading this fic!

Terry, you stand in your own category as far as grizzly plots are concerned.

So, what is Linda going to transport? I doubt it's drugs. The amount of drugs wouldn't make it profitable. At least, not for organized crime. So, diamonds?

Michael

So, diamonds?

One word: ouch.

Thanks for the comments, y'all!

C-mom: When any professional (playing for a living) band is booked for any kind of show, they're paid a fee according to the venue, their perceived drawing power, and the length of the engagement. It doesn't matter if there are two or twenty-two members, the booking fee doesn't change. Luthor is trying to reduce the chances of running out of money for living expenses and make them more video-friendly, which is largely what Townsend was trying to do with them way back in the prologue. And yes, Linda is showing her true colors, and they're not exactly pleasing to the eye.

Sarahg: I tried to make the story simple, really I did! But these characters kept coming out of the woodwork and insisting that they do certain things certain ways. Linda was one of them, and we'll learn even more about her in the next chapter.

Happygirl: I had originally intended for Lex to be a more prominent player in this story, but he got crowded out by the others. He hasn't complained, but I don't think he's very happy about it.

As far as Toni's deduction that Lex was there as 'The Boss' and not just a band promoter, recall that Toni mused that he could have asked those questions over the phone and saved time. The fact that he came over in person means something to her.

Glad you liked Clark's use of his powers here. His primary purpose, after all, is to ferret out information about the Metro Gang. Knowing about Luthor couldn't hurt his cause. And he'll have someone else to pass that information to soon.

Iolanthe: Thanks for the recommendation. You and your cohorts did yeoman's work betaing this story and made it better than it was before.

Michael: Do you mean "grisly" as in gritty and down-to-earth, or "grizzly" as in you can hardly bear it?

In the 80's and early 90's - maybe even earlier than that - it was fairly common for drug mules to pack a couple of kilos of pure heroin or cocaine into a condom and transport it in various bodily orifices (including the stomach) until law enforcement caught on. Four pounds of pure coke might have had a street value of over half a million dollars, depending on how much it was cut. And yeah, diamonds might have hurt a bit, along with the greater danger that they'd cut the side of the condom and spill out. As HappyGirl said:

Next chapter up soon! Thanks again for reading and commenting.

I knew grizzly looked strange. Now I know why

Michael

Terry, every part moves the story forward - if in a somewhat twisty way - but so often I find a gem of a line that just adds so much to the fic.

I had to smile when Luthor said this -

How true!