Superman: Dawnbreaker (DC Icons #4)(64)

Then Clark and Gloria together caught Lana.

And all three of them caught Lex.

As they scurried off into the night, Clark heard a great commotion behind him. One of the guards had climbed into a jeep, started the engine, and peeled out after them.

Clark led the group into a thick patch of trees near the other end of the cornfield. They hid there as the jeep sped back and forth a few times, shining a flashlight into the brush. But the man never got out, and eventually he headed back to the buildings.

“They were all chained in place,” Gloria said angrily. “Did you see it?”

“Disgusting,” Lana said.

Clark slapped the ground, saying, “I know how we can nail these guys.”

Lana turned to him. “How?”

Clark felt a surge of energy just imagining it. “Tomorrow at the festival. In front of everyone.”

Lex looked up from studying his glasses. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ll explain as soon as we get out of here.” Clark watched the jeep pull up to the smaller structure, where another guard climbed in. They started spinning around for another pass. “In the meantime, you’re up, Lex. Where to?”

“This way,” Lex said, and the three of them sprinted into the cornfield, crashing through stalks until they arrived at a small clearing, where four brand-new four-wheelers sat.

“Our escape,” Lex called to the others as he climbed onto one of the machines and started the engine. Clark, Gloria, and Lana followed his lead, and soon they were racing from the back of the Jones farm, Clark’s mind still stuck on the image of all those men strapped to chairs, their brown faces angled toward the screen, IVs pumping a light green liquid into their bodies.

Clark was horrified that something like this could be happening right here in Smallville.

And he vowed to stop it.

He turned toward Gloria as he rode. He wouldn’t give up until every one of those men was free.





They dropped off the four-wheelers near the rusted tractor and got back into Lex’s car. As Lex drove them home, Clark reviewed his plan. The following morning at the festival, they would take Lex’s footage and broadcast it for all of Smallville to see. Then the local police force would have no choice but to believe them.

“And how are we supposed to do that?” Lana asked.

“When I was walking over to meet you guys at the library,” Clark explained, “I saw the workers building the stage. They were putting up two big screens, which I’m assuming will broadcast whatever is taking place onstage. We’re going to hack the feed.”

Lana shot him a skeptical look. “And I suppose you have secret hacking skills I don’t know about.”

“Not me,” Clark said, turning to Gloria. “But I know someone who does.”

Her eyes grew big. “Me?”

Lana pounded the dash. “I love it. Can you really do this, Gloria?”

“If it’s a standard HDMI connection,” she answered, “then, yeah, I guess I could probably figure it out.”

“Interesting idea,” Lex said, touching his glasses. “I got over six minutes’ worth of footage. We’d just have to figure out where to start it from. Or…I guess I could edit it down tonight.”

“I’d leave it exactly the way it is,” Clark said. “I don’t want anyone thinking we tampered with evidence.” He turned to Lana. “But what if we splice in pieces of your interview with Corey? Then we could prove that he’s complicit, too.”

“If I can get him to say anything worthwhile,” Lana said.

Clark scoffed. “If Corey has anything to say, you’ll get it out of him.”

Lana nodded, staring out the front windshield. Then she met eyes with Clark in the rearview mirror. “I can’t believe we’re actually going to use the celebration to expose these assholes. It’s brilliant.”

They all agreed, and Clark turned to Gloria. “You okay?”

She shrugged. “What we just saw out there…it made me physically ill.”

The look in Gloria’s eyes devastated Clark. His plan had to work. There was too much at stake.

Gloria took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I take it back,” she said. “No matter what kind of AV they’re using tomorrow, I’ll find a way to hack the feed.”

Clark squeezed her hand. “I know you will.” Then he touched his suit under his regular clothes. We’re going to pull this off, he told himself. Because they had to. There was no other option.

“I still don’t completely understand what Wesco is doing with those men,” Lana said. “But they had them chained to their chairs.”

“They tore them away from their families and friends,” Gloria added.

“It’s obviously about race,” Lana said. “We know that much, right?”

Lex shook his head. “That’s naive,” he told Lana. “It’s about money. And power. It’s always about money and power. Remember that.”

“Maybe it’s both,” Clark said. “Think about it. They’re using people who are different from them. People they view as vulnerable, expendable.”

“They know some of us can’t just go to the police,” Gloria added. “Which makes us easier to prey upon.”