Dream Girl: Chapter 6 - Search

After an hour in the police station, the two boys walked out. Both gave statements and heard the usual spiel of 'the person must be gone 48 hours before we can treat this as a missing person'; although Detective Johnson assured them that with the possible struggle Clark overheard could be reason enough to move it up the line a little. Clark and Pete were then told to go home and wait and someone would be in touch soon.

"This is Metropolis! You'd think they'd bump that time limit a bit," Pete said incredulously as he and Clark drove back to the dorm, their hearts heavy at the thought of losing 48 precious hours in which to find Chloe.

Another hour later, Clark sat in front of Chloe's computer, trying to get a sense of what she'd been doing when she went for a walk. Chloe was kidnapped once before when she was fifteen. It tore him apart back then as well. At least Lana was having visions of what the kidnapper was doing at the time, in the end, leading Clark to Chandler's Field where Chloe's coffin was buried beneath the windmill. Now, all she was doing was sitting on Chloe's bed, pouring over all of Chloe's school notes as both her and Pete tried to find something meaningful.

"I don't see anything suspicious. Who do you think could have done this?" Lana asked as she put one notebook aside and picked up another.

"Knowing Chloe, she was probably on the trail of some underground story and got too close to home for somebody," Pete stated astutely as he, too, picked up a textbook for a second look. "How are you coming on the computer?"

"Not so good, Pete," Clark answered, swiveling in the chair to face them. "I have no idea what she was working on. She keeps all her stuff on her desktop and I can't figure out which is past or present. Lana, did she ever mention anything to you?" Lana shook her absently. She was absorbed in combing through a beat up looking bag Chloe kept on the floor between her night table and bed. Clark did another file search and came up empty handed. He shoved back from the desk with a sigh of defeat.

"I think I found something," Lana spoke urgently. She scooted over as Clark and Pete rose from their spots and joined her on the bed, both boys looking over her shoulder. In her hand she held a worn piece of paper which looked like it had been folded repeatedly. A single line was in the middle of the page, a web address.

"Doesn't look like something Chloe would look up on a whim. Let's check it out." Clark resumed his place at the computer, Lana and Pete standing behind him. He quickly brought up the browser and typed in the web site.

"Whoa…" Pete remarked as the web site loaded onto the screen. "Looks like Chloe got in way over her head this time."

The web site was a green on black design and looked as if it were an advertisement for a bad horror movie. But beneath its campy disguise, lurked something very advanced and very dangerous. Clark scrolled down, reading testimonials and procedures, wondering what exactly he was looking at. He had gone two-thirds of the way down when Lana stopped him.

"Hey, go back up." Lana leaned over Clark's shoulder, getting close to the screen. "Stop. Right there. I know him." She pointed to the right of the screen. It was a picture, a candid shot, showing a couple of students gathered around a table. The guy in the picture looked at the camera in surprise, not expecting to find someone snapping a photo. He looked to be around their age and clean cut; someone they would have been friends with.

"I do, too," Clark said after closer inspection. "We were in Algebra for about a week until he dropped the class. I thought he was pretty nice-"

"But if he had anything to do with Chloe's disappearance…" Pete's voice trailed off as he smacked one fist into his other palm. Clark empathized completely.

"Do you know his name, Lana?" Clark asked eagerly, feeling as if they were headed in a good direction.

"I think its Carter Hogan. He sits next to me in Astronomy. He's Pre-Med or something."

"Carter Hogan," Clark parroted. Clark began shuffling through the mess of papers in his lap. This time, the name jumped out at from the page. A transcript. "I've got it! This is it guys! Chloe's research." Clark waved it around excitedly while Lana and Pete watched him with relief and a little wariness.

"Here," Clark separated the stack into two sections and shoved them into his friends' hands. "Start going through all this and see what you come up with." Pete and Lana immediately sank to the floor while Clark concentrated back on the computer, knowing what to look for this time.

Spotting a file at the bottom right hand corner labeled 'New Death', he clicked it, windows opening for him. Clark earlier dismissed it as being a new band or whatever. He never knew with Chloe, he really didn't. Half an hour later, the three amateur detectives had their story as if Chloe really did the expose.

"It seems Carter Hogan and some gal pal are at the head of this ring. His name is plastered all over her notes," Lana told them, making a pile of all the sheets of paper on which Carter's name was mentioned.

"You think he found out Chloe was on to him and he decided to shut her up?" Pete asked as he looked from Clark to Lana and back again.

Clark looked at his father's watch, the beat up hands reading just past two-thirty. He needed to talk to this Carter Hogan; if he was as entrenched as much as they all believed him to be, there was an excellent chance he knew where Chloe was. Clark slid his eyes over to Pete who read his mind and nodded. No time could be wasted.

"I'm going to talk to him," Clark announced, standing to his feet.

"Clark, we need to call that detective you talked to. The police can question Carter. You don't need to play the hero," Lana responded from her perch on the floor.

"The police will just put it in the report. They're not going to start investigating until the 48 hour mark, Lana," Clark argued. "Chloe's my best friend-"

"She's mine and Pete's best friend, too," Lana said angrily as she rose to feet clenching her fists at her sides. "But the police are trained in this type of thing."

"I've got to do what I can to find her. I can't just sit idly by and wait," Clark said forcefully.

"Why? Why do always feel it's your responsibility to save the world?" Lana asked furiously.

Pete cleared his throat, reminding the fighting couple of his presence. When Lana looked at him like an intruder, Pete took the hint. "I'm just going to step outside and…Tie my shoes." He opened the door and slipped out quietly. Clark looked back at Lana, still waiting for his answer.

"I don't feel like it's my responsibility to save the world," Clark lied.

"Fine, not the world," Lana conceded. "Just the greater Metropolis area and all of Smallville."

"It's Chloe!" Clark exclaimed in frustration. "Why are you questioning this?"

"Is it just Chloe or is it something more?" Lana asked as she crossed her arms looking at Clark defiantly.

"I don't have time for this," Clark replied through clenched teeth, fighting to keep his voice down.

Clark was almost at the door when Lana's soft question stopped him. "Do you have feelings for Chloe?" Clark stiffened. Did he?

"Chloe is missing and I will do anything and everything in my power to find her," Clark said before he turned, looking Lana in the eye. "Just like I would for you."

Lana could see they were dangerously close to a no-holds-barred fight. Ignoring the fact Clark hadn't answered her question Lana crossed to him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I'm sorry," she said half-heartily, noticing Clark's hesitant reciprocation of her embrace. "Sometimes I feel like I take a back seat to her; her and your Hardy Boy/Nancy Drew adventures."

"Lana," Clark began, taking her shoulders and putting her away from him. "You are the most important person in my life." Clark tried to muster his usual sincerity into his voice, but in the time since he heard Chloe scream he'd felt hollow inside. Cold even. And he never felt cold. "But what if 48 hours is too late? If there is any way to find Chloe sooner, I've got to do it."

"What if you get hurt in the process?" Lana asked, tears forming in her brown eyes.

"That is just the risk I run," Clark replied.

     
     "I forgot. The Kents' and their magical luck," Lana muttered sarcastically.
     
      To read Ch. 7, click here.