Superman: Dawnbreaker (DC Icons #4)(46)

Finally Bryan led them up to the structure he’d been looking for. It was a full four blocks away from where Lex had parked. Bryan pulled a key card out of his pocket as they reached a large industrial door around back. He lifted the cover of the small touch pad underneath a filthy window protected by rusted security bars.

“You have a key?” Lex asked in a quiet voice.

“My brother has a key. And I know where he keeps it.”

“Wait,” Clark said, grabbing Bryan’s wrist before he could extend the card toward the pad. “Are you sure this is a good idea? I know I’m the reason we’re here, but I didn’t realize we’d have to sneak around like this.”

“He’s sure,” Lex answered, pushing Clark’s hand away.

“Bryan?” Clark said. “I don’t want you to get into trouble.”

“I’m not gonna lie,” Bryan said to Clark. “I could get in deep shit if my brother finds out I borrowed his card. But I also know he’s out drinking with his buddies tonight. And that usually means he comes home late and passes out. I’ll be able to sneak into his room easily to replace the card.”

“And Dr. Wesley?” Clark asked.

“He’s at a conference in Metropolis today and tomorrow.” Bryan looked at Lex, then at Clark. “Last chance. You guys in?”

“Hell yeah, we’re in.” Lex motioned toward the touch pad. “Let’s go.”

“Clark?” Bryan said, staring back at him.

Clark didn’t hesitate for long. It was time to be decisive. And he was almost positive that Corey and Dr. Wesley and Wesco were somehow connected to the men who’d tried to rob his farm as well as the men who had shot at him and Lana. He just needed proof.

“I’m in,” he told Bryan.

“Cool. And check this out.” Bryan pulled a gold badge out of his pocket and hung it around his neck. “With Corey’s access badge, we can go almost anywhere in this place. Follow my lead.”

“Just act like you belong,” Lex added, clapping both Bryan and Clark on their backs.

A quiet beep was followed by the click of the heavy metal door opening.

“I’ll do the talking,” Bryan told them. He pushed the door open the rest of the way, and the three of them walked inside.

The place might have looked like a dump on the outside, but the inside told a completely different story. They walked down a short white hallway that led to a large lobby area. There was absolutely nothing on the white walls. The place was pristine and smelled like disinfectant. The few people Clark saw milling around in the distance were dressed in lab coats and wearing hospital masks. An armed security guard sat at a small desk that bordered a large X-ray machine. The man nodded at Bryan as they entered, then cocked his head toward Clark and Lex.

“Potential investors,” Bryan explained.

“This late?” the man asked.

“My brother, Corey Mankins, wanted me to show them around.”

The guard eyed them until Lex made a show of checking his Rolex with a huff. Seeing the expensive timepiece, the guard nodded and hit a switch under the desk so that two glass security partitions slid open. The three of them dropped their phones and keys into a plastic bin and passed through a metal detector.

Clark collected his stuff on the other side, making a mental note about how tight security was. It seemed odd they would need metal detectors in a medical and agricultural research facility, especially since it was located on the outskirts of town.

Bryan held up his badge to a second wave of security guards, who made them stop and sign in on a small computer tablet.

Bryan typed in: Corey Mankins.

Lex typed: Kevin Sanderson.

When the tablet finally got to Clark, he paused. He stared at the blinking cursor, trying to figure out what to write. Lex and Bryan shot him dirty looks. Finally, Clark typed: Kenny Braverman.

One of the security guards waved them through.

The hallways of the facility smelled new and clean. And it was quiet aside from the low hum of the bright fluorescent lights.

“This way,” Bryan said in a soft voice.

Halfway down a second long hall, Clark asked, “So, what kind of research do they do here?”

“All kinds, I think.” Bryan led them through a labyrinth of much narrower hallways. “At least that’s what Corey told me. Wesley’s got projects going on in here that are far ahead of anyone else in the world.”

They finally stopped at a two-way glass partition that looked into a lab. There were several dozen tables and chairs inside, but only one woman was working this late on a weeknight. She wore thick goggles and industrial rubber gloves, and she was carefully measuring chemicals into vials. Large, expensive-looking electronic equipment lined the wall in front of her. Microscopes and various machines sat atop a long stainless-steel table to her left.

“What’s she doing in there?” Lex asked.

“Chemical development and testing,” Bryan answered.

“Chemicals for what, though?” Clark asked.

Bryan shrugged. “Lots of stuff. This is where we picked up the supplement I’m taking.”

Clark didn’t know what he was looking for, exactly. The place seemed like an ordinary science lab, and the woman inside looked like a scientist. He wondered if he’d even know it if he stumbled across something out of the ordinary.