inalienable rights CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
"He isn't dead."
Lex's words came suddenly, almost silently. He was somehow both stoic and incredulous. "He isn't dead!" he repeated, his exclamation taking on an angry edge.
All eyes focused on Lex as he pressed his fingers together and his eyes became wild with speculation.
"Lex?" Clark prodded. "You okay?"
"Dr. Ripley!" Lex shouted and pointed a targeted finger at Jonathan. "You said Dr. Ripley. Dr. Ethan Ripley?" He turned to Dr. Crosby. "He was your colleague, wasn't he? The one who went to my father with all of your data on Clark?"
"Yes, that was him," Dr. Crosby affirmed calmly.
"Magnificent bastard!" Lex cried, the words pushed out by a sound something like laughter. "My father staged it! He staged all of it!"
"Lex, what are you talking about?" Chloe interposed.
"Dr. Ripley! When I spoke to the warden of the Penitentiary… one of my father's last recorded visitors was a Dr. Ethan Ripley, and then the medic who released him to the MedEvac team reported handing him off to a Dr. Ripley." Lex shook his head almost admiringly. "Unbelievable. The siege went south, so he orchestrated a jailbreak by faking his own death. Oh, it all fits together now." He ran a hand over his face and brought his focus up to Clark's stunned visage. "Clark?" Lex said, cocking his head to one side. "What does my father want with you?"
"What did you want with him?" Jonathan challenged. "You've tried to dig up Clark's secret every bit as hard as Lionel has. Like father like son, right?"
"Jonathan," Martha said softly with a steady hand on his shoulder. "Now's not the time. If Lex is right and Lionel's alive, then this is more dangerous than any of us thought. If he's gone so far as to fake his death then there's no telling what he has in store for Clark."
"She's absolutely right," Dr. Crosby agreed. "And since we have no reason to think otherwise, we have to believe that he knows about everything, which includes the clone embryos. His actions so far have been drastic, he'll stop at nothing to get the clones, I'm certain."
"Can we pause for a second while my brain catches up?" Lois mused aloud. "You're saying this guy, Ripley, has taken everything to Lionel, so Lionel knows all about the mini-Clarks and probably knows where they are, right? And they're supposedly everything Clark is, genetically speaking, right?"
"Right."
"But he knows Clark wouldn't allow them to fall into his hands if he could prevent it, right?"
"Of course."
"So…" Lois' jaw dropped in realization. "He's going to try to kill Clark, isn't he? I mean, that's the only way he could ever hope to be in control of the clones, isn't it?"
Martha gasped chokingly and fell weakly against Jonathan. "No!"
"That is not going to happen!" Jonathan shouted resolutely.
"Of course not," Lois agreed hopefully, "But they're too valuable to him not to try - especially the one that's already growing. Am I right?"
Clark was suddenly panic-stricken. "He'll be coming after Marin!"
The room was suddenly abuzz with feverish commentary until Chloe cried out over the din.
"Where is Marin?"
The Kent farm had a welcoming glow about it regardless of the hour of the day. It guarded many secrets, but it held no foreboding shadows. It was open to its friends and neighbors.
And likewise, its enemies.
Running a gloved hand over the outline of the revolver tucked into the back of his waistband, Lionel smiled glibly to himself, fully abandoned now to the thick of his madness. He saw the girl - she must be the Miss Blake of whom he'd heard so much - as she tumbled out of the house and sank tearfully to her knees in the yard.
Apparently there were some secrets too terrible for even the Kent farm to contain.
Lionel Luthor remained hidden from view, concealed by bushes only a few yards away. He was confident that he would not be discovered as long as nobody had reason to suspect his presence.
Marin Blake held her face to the sky and cried with her eyes closed.
It wouldn't be long now.