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P5
Within minutes Lois and Linda were sitting on the floor of the hotel’s walk-in freezer, tied up back to back, hidden behind a tall stack of hamburgers in cases. Stark checked their bindings one last time as Carpenter watched.

“I can't tell you how truly sorry I am that things turned out this way,” Carpenter told them. He didn’t seem at all concerned about what was happening. “On the other hand, you two are going to be part of a fabulous forty-eight point headline. And don’t waste your time yelling for Superman. Freezers are almost soundproof and he’s not going to be around to hear you anyway.”

He walked out, followed by Stark. Lois heard the heavy door thump closed behind them. The two women struggled against the ropes but Stark had done a professional job in tying them. The more they struggled, the tighter the ropes cut.

“What did he mean by that?” Lois wondered aloud.

“By what?”

“That Superman wouldn’t be around to hear us.”

“Carpenter doesn’t like to take chances. He probably has something planned for Superman, too,” Linda said.

Lois didn’t remember how long it would take for hypothermia to set in but she knew the freezer’s temperature was well below zero Fahrenheit. The light-weight suit she was wearing didn’t afford much insulation. Richard and Jason would be devastated, not to mention Superman and Clark. And to die so stupidly – tied up in a freezer.

“Life is cruel,” Lois muttered.

“Don't get philosophical,” Linda groused. “It's never been your strength.”

“Well, doesn't it strike you as ironic?” Lois asked. “That the two of us should have to die together?”

“We were best friends,” Linda reminded her.

“Were.”

Linda snorted. “Let's clear this up once and for all, okay?”

“Let's not and if there's anybody on the other side who asks us, let's just say we did.”

“You think I stole Paul Bender from you. But I didn’t,” Linda said, obviously ignoring Lois’s wishes. But that was just like Linda, ignoring other people’s needs and wants. “He came on to me,” Linda added.

“And you had no will power, huh?”

“None,” Linda cheerfully admitted. “I would have done anything for Paul.”

“And I guess you had no will power when you stole my story?”

“Okay. I'm weak. It doesn't mean I wasn't a good friend,” Linda said. “It just means I wasn't as strong as you are.”

“Wait a minute. You're backing into an apology by arguing that you stole a story and a guy because you were under the influence of your hormones and because I was your best girlfriend at the time that I should have forgiven you then and not make a big deal about it now?”

“Right,” Linda agreed.

Lois couldn’t feel her feet and the cold was creeping into her bones. Her breath was beginning to freeze on her face. But even half frozen she knew Linda’s argument had major holes in it. Lois just wasn’t in the mood to work them out.

“You are some piece of work, you know that?”

“Hey, I thought we were being honest here.”

“Okay. I forgive you,” Lois said. “But what about Clark?”

“I never cared about him,” Linda said but there was something in her voice that told Lois she was lying. “Take him. He's yours.”

“He's not mine to have.”

“Well, you can have him if you want,” Linda offered.

“I already have a fiancé,” Lois reminded her. She was beginning to hope the cold would get to them fast. Otherwise, she was going to go quite mad with her unobtainable desire to choke the living daylights out of Linda King.

-o-o-o-

Clark had ordered Lois and Linda to stay put and out of trouble. He only hoped Linda had listened. He knew Lois wouldn’t. Clark had called Inspector Henderson at his private number at his office. The officer had taken Clark’s – Superman’s – warning seriously and the police were on their way. Wallace’s people had been notified, but Clark didn’t know exactly what Carpenter and Stark had planned.

Then he heard the emergency call, a controlled demolition of a condemned building had gone wrong in St. Albans, one of the small towns north of the city. He sped into the suit and headed north.

He was there in moments. The local fire and rescue were already there and it appeared the situation was well in hand. There was no fire to worry about, at least.

A quick look through the rubble confirmed there were no people trapped and no bodies except… He couldn’t see into the basement or the sub-basement.

“Superman,” one of the rescue people called, interrupting his survey. “We’ve been told there may be two kids trapped in the sub-basement.”

“The building wasn’t checked before it was brought down?” Superman asked.

“It was, but then we got a call that two kids were missing and may have been in the old fall out shelter in the sub-basement.”

X-ray vision would be useless but he already knew that. He held up his hand to indicate he wanted silence as he concentrated on listening for any hint of sound emanating from the rubble.

A faint cry, but there was something odd about it. He crouched down and checked the underground area surrounding the remains of the building, locating the utilities, the sewer access. He needed to avoid those when he chose his path through the ground to get to them.

“Help Superman…” the cry continued. He focused on listening for heartbeats. He didn’t find any heart sounds or body noises, just the repeated call for help. He concentrated on identifying the wrongness in the cry then realized what it was – the sound frequencies were limited. Although humans only heard a small portion of the audio spectrum, the natural human voice resonated in additional frequencies. Those were missing.

“There’s no one there,” Superman announced. “It’s a hoax.”

“How can you be sure?” one of the firemen asked.

“There’s a cry for help but it’s coming from a speaker. A small one by the sound of it. There are no heartbeats, no breathing.”

He paused a moment, listening for Lois’s heartbeat back in Metropolis. It was faint and slow and he almost hadn’t caught it. Lois was in trouble. He didn’t bother to say good-by as he shot into the air and back to Metropolis.

Superman scanned the area around the hotel for any sign of Lois. He saw Wallace and his entourage walking through the lobby, apparently heading for the limo at the front of the building. Then he spotted Lois and Linda in the freezer. The door had been padlocked but he broke it and pulled open the door. Lois and Linda were tied back to back and both women had slipped into near unconsciousness but they were both breathing and had strong though slow heartbeats.

He snapped the bindings and carried them both out of the freezer. A quick shot of mild heat vision was enough to warm them.

“You'll feel better in a few minutes,” he assured both women.

Lois nodded, still only half aware. “You've got to... stop them. They're... Wallace…”

“I know,” Superman said then took off. He didn’t know why his warning to the police hadn’t been heeded but he sped through the corridors and up the stairs to the hotel entrance.

Stark was on the roof of a building across the street from the hotel. From where he was Stark had a clear shot at anyone crossing the covered walkway. Superman saw Stark’s finger on the trigger of a high powered rifle.

Secretary Wallace started toward his limo surrounded by his entourage of aides and bodyguards. Time had slowed to a crawl as it always did when he put on super speed. He saw a man dressed as a gardener slide a small gun from his jacket. On the other side of the limo another man, this one dressed as a hotel employee, also casually pulled out a small gun.

Stark pulled the trigger. So did the other two. In his time-slowed state, Superman could clearly see the trajectory of the bullets. He stepped in front of Wallace and snatched the projectiles out of the air.

The ‘gardener’ and ‘hotel man’ emptied their guns then dropped them and ran – straight into the arms of the police. Superman crushed the lead into a ball and tossed it away. He knew he was damaging evidence, but after the slugs hit his palms there wasn’t much in the way of evidence in any case.

“Where'd he come from?” Superman heard Carpenter say from inside a limo parked nearby. The limo’s engine turned over and he grabbed the rear of the car to keep it from moving. He saw Carpenter turn around to look out the back window and he smiled. The driver had the good sense to turn off the engine as police officers ran up to take custody of them.

“Thank you Superman,” Wallace said, coming up to shake his hand. “My people thought the police warning was another hoax.” He peered at Carpenter being handcuffed. “I can’t believe you’d do something like this. Why?”

“Because mealy-mouth fools like you are destroying this country,” Carpenter spat. “You would have made a great martyr…”

“That’s enough,” one of the officers ordered as he walked Carpenter away from Wallace.

“Superman!” Linda King called from the main hotel entrance doors. Lois was standing with her, glowering at her. Both women looked relatively unscathed by their ordeal.

Linda ran over to him and threw her arms around him. “Superman, how can I… we… ever thank you?”

“That’s quite all right, ma’am,” he said. Now Lois was glowering at him. Linda reached up and pulled him down, kissing him fully on the mouth.

“Thank you,” she breathed, letting him go.

He nodded to Linda and Lois and sped into the air. He needed to make his exit and get back as Clark before someone realized he’d gone missing.

-o-o-o-

The police scanner had burst into a flurry of activity, multiple patrol cars being dispatched to the Grand Hotel. Richard looked out into the newsroom. Lois wasn’t at her desk and she didn’t recall seeing her coming back into the newsroom after leaving for her breakfast meeting with Clark and Linda King.

Richard grabbed his jacket and wallet and ran out of his office, ignoring the curious looks he was getting from the reporters at their desks. The Grand Hotel was where Secretary Wallace was staying. He grabbed Jimmy’s attention and both men ran to the elevators. On the way down Richard tried to call Lois’s cell phone. It went to voice mail.

Richard heart sank. There was no doubt in his mind that Lois was at the Grand Hotel chasing down Secretary Wallace and whatever connection he had with Preston Carpenter. And the police were headed there. Trust Lois to be in the thick of things.

The cab dropped Richard and Jimmy off a block away from the hotel. The streets were blocked by police cars. The two men wove their way closer to the building, flashing their press passes.

Then Richard heard the sharp retorts of gunshots. Jimmy and the police officers closest to them ducked behind the cars, looking around for the gunmen. From where he was standing Richard spotted Superman standing in front of Secretary Wallace, apparently catching the bullets in his bare hands. Then the Man of Steel vanished only to reappear holding the rear end of a limousine to keep it from leaving. Uniformed officers came and arrested the occupants. One of them was Preston Carpenter.

Richard spotted Lois and a blonde woman he assumed to be Linda King coming out of the hotel’s main entrance. Clark was no where to be seen. Richard watched as the blonde grabbed Superman and gave him a kiss on the mouth. The superhero seemed surprised and a little taken aback by the gesture. But it was Lois’s expression that caught Richard’s attention. She was glowering at the woman.

Superman sped away and Richard had the impression he was in a hurry to get away from the scene. Away from the two women.

“Damn,” Jimmy muttered from beside him. “He didn’t stick around long enough for me to get a picture.”

“Lois!” Richard yelled to get his fiancée’s attention. She waved at him and he hurried over to her.  “Are you okay? Where’s Clark?” he asked.

“Right here,” Clark said from behind him.  “I, uh, called Inspector Henderson and let him know what was going down. Apparently Wallace’s people didn’t believe there was a threat.”

Lois snorted. “Good thing whatever Carpenter had planned for Superman didn’t work,” she said. “Carpenter really was willing to do anything to pull this off.”

“It helped that Superman knew Carpenter had something planned,” Clark said. “It made it easier to spot the hoax.”

“Hoax?” Linda asked too brightly. Again Lois was glowering and Richard wondered what it was between the two women that could evoke such a strong reaction from his fiancée.

“Planet exclusive,” Clark told them. “You can read about it in the next edition.”

Linda pouted prettily.

“But I thought we were partners,” she said, walking her fingers up Clark’s tie. He took her hand and moved it away from his chest. “We made a great team,” she added.

“I have a partner,” Clark said.

Linda’s eyes narrowed as she gave Clark a dark look. Richard suspected she was a woman who didn’t get turned down very often. Getting turned down by an allegedly unsophisticated farm boy had to hurt.

Linda pulled her hand back and hitched her purse higher on her shoulder. “Well, if you ever change your mind…”

“We know where to find you,” Lois announced. Linda shrugged and walked off. One of the detectives intercepted her to take her statement.

Richard spotted Inspector Henderson coming toward them, no doubt to take Lois and Clark’s statements as well.

“Lois, do you want me to stay while you and Clark make your statements?” he asked.

Lois shook her head. “We’ll meet you back at the office.” She turned to grab Clark’s arm as though to keep him from vanishing on her. Then she frowned. “Clark, are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine,” the tall man said. She put the back of her free hand to his forehead. He brushed it away.

“I’m just a little tired, that’s all,” Clark told her. “Not enough sleep the past couple days, I guess.”

She studied his face for a long moment before nodding worriedly. But Richard agreed with Lois: Clark wasn’t looking well. He was pale, his skin was splotchy, and there was a tenseness around his mouth that Richard didn’t recall ever seeing before.

“Maybe Perry will let you take a little time off when the story’s turned in,” Richard suggested.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine in the morning,” Clark protested mildly. But Richard saw the look Lois was giving her partner. She didn’t believe Clark any more than Richard did.

-o-o-o-

Giving Henderson their statements didn’t take long. Since Clark had called to let him know what they’d uncovered about the plot against Wallace, Lois didn’t even have to sit through the normal lecture of ‘the police are responsible for investigating criminal matters’.

Lois managed to chivvy Clark into a cab back to the Planet. Her partner wasn’t looking any better even though he kept denying he wasn’t feeling well. Lois just hoped they could get through writing up the story. Then she promptly felt guilty for putting the story first.

Clark was looking like death warmed over but he gamely smiled at her as they entered the elevator that would take them to the newsroom floor.

Richard was waiting for them. “We’ve beaten everybody to the punch on this one,” he announced. “We’re just waiting for your story for the next edition and AP.”

Lois nodded and settled in at her desk. Then she felt hands on her shoulders and a kiss on her cheek.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Richard asked softly.

“I’m fine,” Lois assured him. But she knew she wasn’t being quite truthful with him. Physically she was fine, thanks to Superman’s timely rescue, but emotionally… Emotionally she wasn’t sure what was going on. She’d been insanely jealous of Linda’s attention to Clark. Even Linda grabbing Superman and trying for a lip-lock hadn’t evoked as strong a reaction.

She was engaged to Richard, for heaven’s sake. He was a good man, kind and intelligent, trustworthy. He was a good father to Jason. Richard was a great catch. Everyone said so.  So why did she have the feeling she wouldn’t have been nearly as bothered if it had been Richard Linda had set her sights on?

Clark grabbed his chair and brought it over to sit beside her so they could work on the story together. It went together quickly. Clark corrected the misspellings without additional comment. Others in the newsroom were rarely as charitable when Lois’s train of thought outpaced her internal thesaurus. But Clark seemed to understand.

Finally, Lois hit the ‘print’ button and sat back to peer at Clark. He wasn’t looking any better. Jimmy had brought them both coffee, but Clark hadn’t touched his.

“Why don’t I have Richard drive you home,” Lois offered. “He’s got to go get Jason from after-care anyway. It’s not too far out of the way to drop you off.”

Clark shook his head. “I’ve got to write up the story on the hoax Carpenter and Stark put together to get Superman out of the way.”

“You’re sure?”

“Um, Lois, do you think Perry would even let me out of the building if he knew I had another Superman exclusive to hand in?”

Lois’s reply was interrupted by Perry’s crow of delight as he skimmed the freshly printed pages. “Beautiful! We’ll bury them.”

She knew Perry would be even more pleased when he found out about Clark’s exclusive. Clark had scooted his chair back to his own desk and was skimming his notes as he waited for his own computer to boot up.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Lois asked.

Clark gave her a surprised look before shaking his head again and picking up his phone. Then he stopped a moment. “I’ll be fine. Go pick up Jason, have a nice dinner with Richard. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“You’re sure?”

“Go.”
-o-o-o-

Clark already had the story composed in his head before he even opened the blank document in his word processor. A call to the demolition company in St. Albans confirmed Superman’s observation that the calls for help came from a small recorder and speaker set up. Another call to confirm the initial 9-1-1 call about two missing children was also a hoax.

One additional fact from the demolition company: when they finally got a camera into the void the children had allegedly trapped in, they saw glowing green crystals next to the CD player and speakers. The 9-1-1 call had not only been a hoax, it was part of a potentially fatal trap for Superman.

If I hadn’t already suspected something, I would have opened up the lead-lined vault and been exposed to the kryptonite. I wouldn’t have made it back in time to save Lois or Wallace.

Clark debated a moment on whether or not he should include the part about the kryptonite. He didn’t want to give the petty crooks any more ideas than they already had. But the public needed to know that Superman was being targeted. The public’s need won out. It really hadn’t been much a debate. The public needed to know, and understand, why Superman was being more cautious than he had been before he left for Krypton.

But then, there were parts of Metropolis that the Metropolis Fire Department didn’t respond to automatically. The old fire alarms in Suicide Slum had been deactivated and the MFD didn’t drive in to that area at all unless human being was on the other end of the 9-1-1 call and stayed on the line. Too many fire fighters had been killed or injured driving into ambushes.

Clark quickly typed up the story and sent it to the printer for Perry.

The older man skimmed the pages then looked over at him. “Does Superman have any idea where the kryptonite came from?”

“As far as I know, he didn’t even know it was there,” Clark responded. His head was aching and he was sweating. “The local police are looking into a 9-1-1 call but I doubt they’ll come up with a link to Carpenter or Stark. Personally, I think that someone involved in the building demolition was part of it, too. But that’s just an educated hunch. I’ve got nothing to back it with.”

Perry watched him through narrowed eyes as if weighing Clark’s statement. “You think it was more than just getting him out of the way for Wallace’s murder?”

Clark nodded, fighting back the dizziness the motion caused. “Have Superman open the vault, get exposed to the kryptonite and then a ‘defective’ charge goes off? Makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“Too much sense,” Perry agreed. “I want you and Lois to stay on the Carpenter story and this hoax. The hoax may not lead to anything else, but I’d sure love to nail that bastard’s hide to the wall with an attempted murder charge on top of everything else.”

Perry stopped and Clark tried to look less miserable than he felt. And he felt awful, almost like there was kryptonite somewhere near. But he was certain there was none in the building.

“Son, I’d tell you to go see a doctor if I honestly thought you’d do it,” Perry said after a long moment. “Go home, get some rest. Remember to call in if you’re still under the weather in the morning.  And for God’s sake, get your butt to a hospital if you get any worse.”

“Yes, sir,” Clark managed to say. He grabbed his briefcase and coat and headed for the stairwell around the corner from the elevator. That’s when he realized the horrible truth. Not only was he sick, but his powers were gone. And he had no real idea how or why. All he could hope for was that he would find the kryptonite and dispose of it. But he had no idea where it might be.