Title: Kidnapped
Series/Sequel: *Shrug*
Author: Lydia aka Vinca
Pairing(s): Clark/Lex
Category: AU Angst Established Relationship
Disclaimers: Smallville characters not mine. *pout*
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Lex's and Clark's kids are kidnapped.
Author's Notes: Kids? All will be explained. But this is my first
posted story, so please don't throw things if it sucks. And thanks
for the feedback so far guys! It's encouraging. :)
Part 4
'Franky' Krass walked to the tool shed in the back as usual to get
the gardening supplies out. The security seemed to have tightened a
whole lot, but besides being checked out thoroughly, he hadn't had
any trouble. 'Heh. So much for 'Lex' security!' They didn't seem to
have a clue about what was going on. Their plan was going perfect,
and he would continue to play the part of gardener until everything
was taken care of.
It had been easy to get Bernie to except the job. He'd just been
fired for blowing up at some big employer, and he was in the dumps. A
chance to get back at Luthor and some serious cash was the perfect
motivating force to kidnap the rich kids.
But he had his misgivings about bossman (who had told them to just
use the name bossman, though Franky knew who he was). Dominick AKA
bossman was a little too fanatical about freak Luthor. Like he'd do
anything to get to him...Including going right through Bernie and
him. They had discussed everything to make sure they got out of this
all right, instead of leaving it to bossman. They wouldn't be
sticking their necks out to be chopped off without back-up plans.
He and Bernie had also talked about what they were going to do with
their share of the money. He couldn't wait to get on some tropical
island, grab some chicks, and get seriously drunk. Heeheehee. Yep,
this was going to be just fine with him.
*Tune of mission impossible plays* He scrambled for the special cell
used by bossman to connect to them, and clicked it on.
"Hello bossman."
"Look there's been a change of plans. Instead of having the kids
taken to a different location, I want you to take them with you. Then
once you get the goods, bring them out and shoot them in front of
Lex, and Clark."
There was silence, then, "Bossman, I don't think that'll be a good
idea. We still have to get out of the warehouse with the cash and
codes. Killin' the brats won't help us get out of there alive."
"Just do as I say! I have your escape planned out already. Lex and
Clark will be restrained so don't worry about them. Remember it won't
be good for you to get caught for me either." Came the falsely
reassuring voice.
"Whatever you say bossman. Just don't try any funny stuff, alright?
I've got stuff on ya, and I won't hesitate to use it if anything
happens." There was another pause then a deadly calm voice said over
the phone, "Are you threatening me? You don't want to threaten me
Franky."
"Just watch our backs and we'll watch your tracks, Dominic." When the
silence stretched Franky was afraid that he had tipped his hand too
soon. Then a chuckle broke out.
"You've got me Franky. How'd you know it was me?"
"Well, I've got my sources bossman."
"Hmm...Well it doesn't matter. As I said I have everything under
control. Don't worry so much. Now remember what I said, get the
payoff and kill the brats."
"I heard ya loud and clear bossman. As much as I enjoy talkin' to ya,
I do have work to do on Luthor's pretty lawn. Later." A beep and the
connection was broken. 'That man is a chilly bastard. Can't wait to
get this done and over with. Bermuda here I come!' Dismissing the
chill in his spine with thoughts of sunny beaches, Franky went over
to the brush and began to manicure them.
*
"Is the tracer on his truck? Good. Keep an eye on him without him
seeing and I want a detailed report on every move that he makes.
Out." Lex hung up the phone and fell against the padded chair back.
He had told Cline exactly what he wanted done, from the tracing, down
to the interrogation once they had picked Krass up. Hopefully when
Krass stopped he'd be at the location where they're keeping his
children. He wanted this to be over with, his children safe with him,
and to just take a long vacation away from everything with his
family. When the telephone jerked him out of his thoughts, he sat up
and picked up the phone.
"Luthor."
"Lex? This is the President. I've finally got everything you
requested. The supplies are on the way to you now. May I ask what you
need with old armament codes?"
"The kidnappers asked for them. Since there's no way they could have
the real ones, I needed something that would hold them off, and be
realistic enough for the drop off. Thanks for coming through for me
Tom. I'll be in touch."
"Of course Lex. I hope everything works out."
Just as Lex was hanging up Clark walked in with juice and
sandwiches. "Eat. Now."
Lex laughed and grabbed a sandwich half off the tray. No way to fight
with Clark about food. Last time he tried he had been held down and
force-fed. It hadn't been pleasant to say the least, with a heavy
Clark on him and the need to breathe rivaling with the food being
forced to him it was a challenge. Though the Clark part wasn't too
bad. He smirked at his thoughts, and looked up to see his mate
staring at him intently.
"What?" Clark smiled and came around the desk, moved papers to the
side and sat on it in front of Lex.
"Nothing. I'm just thinking how beautiful you are." Lex couldn't help
the blush that graced his cheeks. No matter how much he tried not to
let them, Clark's endearments always turned him into a pile of mush.
Clark chuckled as if sensing his thoughts, and leaned forward to kiss
him. At first it was slow, then as Clark's hand cupped the back of
his head and the kiss deepened as they drew strength from each
other's presence.
A clearing throat broke them apart breathing hard. Clark let go of
Lex reluctantly and jumped off the desk moving to the side so they
could see who it was. They found a blushing Lana and a smiling Martha
at the door.
"Sorry to interrupt boys, but Cline said that Franklin finished
early, so they're going to turn the tracer on now. He thought you
might be interested in seeing it." Lex nodded and took Clark's
outstretched hand in his as they made their way down to the security
room, where the equipment had been set up.
Jonathan, Whitney holding Maria, Pete, Chloe, who had returned early
that morning, and Cline with some of his men, were already in the
room when they arrived. Cline looked up and nodded in
acknowledgement. "Okay, here we go people."
The monitors came to life, flickered and steadied as they broadcasted
the information being fed to the computer. One showed a road map of
Smallville, and the car traveling towards Metropolis. Another showed
a small camera in the truck dashboard pointing inward. The last was
also on the dashboard, but pointed outward, on the road. Clark looked
up from the screen to Cline. "How did you get the cameras on the
dashboard without him noticing?"
Cline pointed to a case on the side of the desk, and it was handed to
him. He opened it and took out a tiny dot that fit in the center of
his thumb. "These babies are state of the art. Undetectable,
unreflective, and very easy to conceal. He wouldn't know what it was
if he saw one and it's highly unlikely that he could see one."
Everyone nodded at the explanation and focused on the screen again.
The man was almost in Metropolis and they could see him talking on a
cell.
Lex suddenly had an idea. "This is being recorded, right?" At Cline's
nod he turned to his ever present assistant and told him to get a
phone. At everyone's curious looks, he smiled softly. "If we get a
lip reader in here maybe we can find out a little bit more about what
they're next moves are."
Clark wrapped an arm around him and kissed his temple as they all
refocused on the screens. "I hope this works Lex." Was a whisper in
his ear He nodded and stroked the hand on his hip. "I do too Clark. I
do too."
*
Bernie hung up the phone as Franky finished explaining the situation
to him. Kill the brats? That wasn't in the job description when it
had been presented to him. At least Franky said he would handle it.
Bernie may be bitter, and he even hated the brats, but he wasn't a
kid killer. The bossman was getting unpredictable, and that worried
Bernie.
He put the cell down, and walked to the hole in the wall to the room
the kids were in. Kel had made them get up and exercise by racing
each other from one side of the room to the other. The little girl's
giggles could be heard as the Sage tripped and fell on the rug. It
seemed to be done purposely so that she could win. She jumped up and
down, giving both boys hugs in her excitement of victory. The boys
grinned at each other over her head and they settled down on the
floor again to play some silly game they had made up.
Bernie turned from the scene and got the breakfast food
together. 'Even though they were going to be let go then killed
tomorrow, they still should eat,' he thought.
As he opened the door the talking stopped and they all looked
up at him. "Here's some food." With that he left closing the door
behind him.
*
Kel watched the door clang shut as Sage and Trish pounced on
the tray left on the floor. The exercise had made them famished and
they had gotten used to the schedule of when food was provided, and
the bathroom times as well. But something bothered Kel about the way
capman acted. He had almost seemed...Well regretful? Pitying maybe?
Why would that be if he was getting whatever he had asked for, which
he had delighted to tell them that their parents would be giving them
whatever they wanted.
Trish was in front of him holding out the sandwich she had gotten for
him. He smiled at her and with a quick 'thanks' he dug in. 'Maybe its
nothing. I hope it is. I wish mom were here. He'd know exactly what
to do.' But that thought had too many other depressing ones behind it
so he ignored it. No need to get depressed when he would be going
home to see his family soon.
*
The older woman was speaking into the recorder behind the glass as
she read Krass's lips. Soon she stood and knocked on the partition
separating her and the others.
Lex stood pacing as they awaited his assistant's return. He
had gone to retrieve the recorder from the best lip reader they could
find. Just then he walked in and set it on the table in the den.
Everyone crowded around the table as Lex pressed the play button. The
woman's voice filled the room as the volume was turned up.
"...Yeah, yeah I know this wasn't part of the deal, but I
plan on getting more money out of it for this extra favor. No, no you
won't have to do it man. I'll take care of the kids. You just make
sure to get the money and codes. Then we'll split. Yeah, bossman said
he had our escape covered, so don't worry about it. I know I don't
trust the guy either, but without his help this probably wouldn't
have happened, so chill. I'll see ya in a little bit, but first I'm
going to do some shopping. I'll see you in a little while man.
Later." As the recording ended it was very quiet in the room.
Then Whitney grinned and whooped. "We've got them man! He just
basically said that they had the kids. Let's take him out!"
Lex stood and went to a window. "No. Let him take us to them,
instead of forcing it from him by mouth. It would waste time we don't
have, and it might make his partner panic and take unnecessary
action."
"I agree." Clark unfolded himself from the chair he'd been
sitting in. "We don't want to do anything rash. We should be patient."
"What I want to know is who's 'bossman'," Lex said softly. He
turned and faced the room, as eyes fixed on him. "There seems to be
someone behind all of this that helped them. This 'bossman' I
presume, and I think he's just changed plans that Franky and whoever
weren't expecting. If this bossman orchestrated all of this and is
changing plans then something must have tipped him off to do so. And
what exactly did he mean by 'I'll take care of the kids'?" At that
last one a chill pervaded the room, as everyone thought of the worst
case scenario.
Clark shook it off and started pacing the room. "If they're
just the lackey's then we also need to find out who this 'bossman'
is. If they're busted by us he may just hire someone new, to try
again. We have to get to the root of this problem." Heads nodded in
agreement. He thought hard and then started a theory. "If this guy
could find out the schedule, of our security, and find out the
schedule or our kids activities then he must be close enough to us.
We checked everyone out, and got Franky, but what about higher-ups?"
He looked to Lex who was shaking his head.
"All of the higher-ups are screened to a third degree. I know
none of them have the time, or motive to do something like this."
Chloe's face scrunched up as she came across another thought that had
moved her to action earlier. "Lex. What if it wasn't someone close,
but someone far enough from you to take care of business and take the
time to plan this out. Someone who still had enough contact in order
to meet Krass, and had access to the information he'd need?" Lex
frowned and thought for a minute, and shook his head again.
"All those people were screened as well. No one that has authority
away from here as well as access to the grounds, would do this." As
he said this, his frown disappeared and he looked up sharply. "But
there are people who have access to those people. Assistants, and the
like, have been known to come and do business for their bosses. If
this is the case we need to get on it right away." Chloe was nodding
and smiling at his coming to that conclusion.
"I'm glad you said that, because I had some contacts check out some
things for me." She was cut off herself off when she turned and
picked up her cell to the 'I'm Supergirl' tune. "Hello? ...Really?
Thanks a bunch. No this is just in the nick of time. Owe you for
this. Yeah. Be careful. Bye." Hanging up she looked around the
room. "I think we might be in luck. I've got to go, but I'll
definitely get back to you guys. Bye!" was called over her shoulder
as she dashed out the room.
*
Dominick sat at a table in a small out of the way restaurant
simmering underneath the calm layer he had plastered on the outside.
That little insignificant slob had found out who he was. He would
definitely have to be taken care of now. Everything would have to be
moved up in his schedule. But no matter. It would still work out in
the end for him. Once the kids were out of the way he'd have his
hitman take out Krass and Clower, and retrieve the goods. 'Yes
indeed. Everything will work out fine.'
His thoughts were broken as the partners for his new business deal
walked in. After all, when you have something like armament codes
coming your way why not make a profit, as well as become a hero?
"Gentlemen. Please have a seat. We have much to discuss."
*
Across and down from them, Patrick Craig, an up and coming reporter
was recording the meeting between Dominic and the suspicious looking
men as they dined. Chloe Sullivan, an old friend that had done much
for him had said she needed some favors. He had gotten right to it
and it led him here to Dominic. Dominic was a classic case of a guy
with a grudge against Lex Luthor, and while there were plenty of
people that fit that description, his reporter's sense was nudging
him in this direction. Between this meeting and some other
information he'd gathered Dominic was looking like a guilty bastard
more and more.
He was known for his research capabilities, and this one was going
to be a whopper story. Well that was what his instincts told him. And
Chloe had promised to share the credit with him if he found anything
out. 'Its well worth it.' He thought then shifted the camera when a
waitress walked by. 'Time to make a phone call,' he thought as a
rather large suitcase was handed to Dominic.