Espionage / Special Agent Blonde
Author: HotCrossedBunny
Rating: R (I think)
Spoilers: Season 4
Category: Romance
Disclaimer: I don’t own Smallville – if I did series 4 would have been very different and would not have included Lex just basically ignoring Chloe and her father!
Summary: Chloe gets more than she bargained for when she goes undercover.
*Part One*
The music was pounding and the strobe lights flashed in her face, but Chloe Sullivan would not be deterred. Her fake ID had worked like a charm, the bouncers had just exchanged rather too knowing glances before letting her in, she had known that raiding Lois’ wardrobe would pay off. That would make a good story actually, the different treatment people received based purely on their looks …
Her slightly more provocative way of dressing was certainly making an impact, she had noticed several men giving her the eye as she had made her way through the gyrating masses which filling the club. Maybe if she wore a red halter top to school Clark would notice her. Fat chance, he was of the Lexian school of thought: a girl had to have long dark hair and be slightly exotic looking to get Clark’s attention.
She wished that the creature that she was now trying to flirt with thought the same way. It wasn’t the first time that she had used her feminine wiles to get a story, but it was the first time that any man had looked at her in quite this manner. He openly looked her up and down, licking his lips and openly leering at her.
“You want to get into the VIP section?” He asked with a laugh.
“Yes”, Chloe shouted over the music, wondering if going to a club was always this much effort.
“And why should I let you in?” The man asked, with a wink. He ran his fingers through his overly long, overly gelled hair.
The look that he was giving her, made Chloe’s skin crawl and she had to fight her instinct to kick him – an instinct that both Lois and her father had nurtured since she was a tot. She had to get this story, she had not spent weeks planning and researching this lead just to be turned back now.
“I am a friend of Laura’s, she asked me to come”, Chloe tried. She had been hoping to keep Laura’s name out of this, however by tomorrow morning the police would be all over the place and their little enterprise would be over forever.
“A friend of Laura’s you say”, he said looking doubtful, Laura was a common name after all.
Chloe sighed, she could see that this was getting her nowhere, she scanned her surroundings. Behind her was a sea of people, no business could be conducted out there, she had to get passed this repellent human being and the bouncers who flanked him to get up to the VIP section. If she strained her neck, Chloe could just see far enough over his shoulder to make out not only the staircase which would lead to the VIP section - which sat above the main dance floor and which was slightly protected from the noise - on his left, but also the long hallway behind it with corridors leading off it in all directions.
“You in the same line of business as Laura?” He asked.
“Yeah”, Chloe nodded and then smiled sexily up at him. Slowly she placed her hand on his upper arm and leant in close to him, “It is rather noisy out here, isn’t there somewhere a little more quiet that we could go to um … discuss the matter?”
She had won, she knew it even more he nodded and showed her through to the more exclusive area of the club. As they made their way down one of the passageways Chloe kept her eyes peeled for any signs of movement. On the dance floor she had not been worried, no one would have been able to recognise her in amongst the crowd but now here, alone and in the almost clinical light that characterised the backstage areas she would prefer to be seen by as few people as possible.
Still she was desperate for a glimpse of her informant Laura and any sign of the crimes that she knew took place there. Chloe could not help the prickle of apprehension that ran across her skin; something was wrong. The man she had had to talk around was not supposed to be there that night, it was supposed to be Laura’s friend. And where was Laura? She often went down to talk to the bouncers and had planned on trying to distract them whilst Chloe snuck in. Something must have gone wrong. Chloe knew that she should cut her loses and get out of there as fast as she possibly could, but her journalist’s curiosity was simply too strong. She had to find out what was going on.
As they rounded the corner, Chloe saw that they were now at the very end of the building, there was a fire door right next to the office door with which her companion was now struggling - that could come in very handy for an escape later. Chloe glanced down at her watch, 10pm - she only had a few hours to get her information and get back to Lois’ dorm before her cousin got home.
“Work by the hour?” The man leered, as he finally succeeded in opening the door.
“Something like that”, Chloe responded as she followed him into the room, letting the door close behind her.
The office was small and dingy, there were no filing cabinets or boxes just a mattress on the floor and a small wardrobe, it was clear that she wasn’t going to get any information from here.
He advanced on her.
“Ah ah ah”, she tisked playfully, stepping just out of his reach. In his drunken state he wobbled slightly. “First things first”, she rummaged around in her clutch for a few seconds before handing a small container to her would-be lover.
The grin he gave her revealed to her what few teeth he had left and what a terrible state they were in. He opened the pot and took a pinch of the powder contained therein. It did not cool his ardour, he once again attempted to move closer to her but once again Chloe neatly stepped out of his way leading him back around in a circle until she was standing with her back to the wardrobe.
She gave him a flirtatious smile, “Come and get me”.
He needed no further encouragement, he launched himself at her. Chloe - with a nimbleness that would have shocked her former, constantly critical ballet teacher - hopped to the side, opened the door, yanked the keys off his belt and slammed the door on him then using his own keys to lock it.
“Men are so easy”, she mused as she made her way back out of the office locking the door after herself. It was fortunate for her that all of the doors were thick metal ones through which sound could not travel. She had no doubt that the troll would still be locked up tomorrow morning when the police arrived, even if he did regain consciousness before then.
Chloe slipped her container, along with her new found keys, into the pocket of her dress. The bulge that it made was not a particularly fetching one, but as it was her get out of jail free card she couldn’t afford to lose it.
She said a quick thank-you to her Uncle Sam as retraced her steps and then slipped up the staircase to the VIP section without the bouncers noticing, she was certain that the three star general had had no clue what that powder would really be used for when he had given a bit to his daughter and niece.
Down below she had not been able to see the attraction of clubs, but upstairs it was a different story. The music which had been deafening below was just right up here, and instead of having countless people smushed together there was actually room to dance on the exclusive dance floor with enclaves leading off it in every direction. From what she could make out, every enclave had a table and several chairs where the patrons could fraternise, that is where the majority of the people were – the rest were scattered across the dance floor, with a few at the bar and some stationed at the balcony surveying the writhing hoard below.
Chloe searched the area for Laura but find her, or any of the other people she had been told to keep a look out for. Some of the enclaves had the curtains drawn over them so it was possible that they were in there, although unlikely considering how many people were missing and it wasn’t as if she could go and poke her head around the curtains, she was inquisitive but not stupid.
One balance she decided that the best thing to do would be to go to the bar and see what she could try to get out of the bartender, she had always had a way with the people at the bottom, they generally worked for tips after all.
There were quite a few stools empty, she fought against her first urge to sit at the end of the bar nearest the exit, although it would make for a better escape plan should anything go wrong, it would also make her the first point of focus for anyone coming up the stairs. She opted for the middle, hoping that that would make her less visible, and called the bartender over.
She gave him a winning smile to his question about what she would like to drink, “Vodka” she replied. She clutched her bag for a second as she said this, wondering whether she should offer him her ID straight away to show that she had nothing to hide or whether people who had managed to get into the VIP area even needed IDs. Maybe it was just assumed that they would be served without question, whether they were obviously under aged or not. Maybe offering ID would make her stand out.
Apparently she had made the right decision to delay handing over her ID as, with a snort, he handed her the beverage and warned, “Go easy on it, it is stronger than you might think”.
Chloe smiled, having no intention of actually drinking it. She remembered – or rather, she didn’t remember but had been told all about – the lovely dance she had done last year at her cousin’s 18th when someone had got hold of a couple of bottles of wine for the celebration. She couldn’t afford to lose focus tonight.
It was a good job that she had her betting money with her, as the drink – that she wasn’t even going to drink! - cost almost as much as they pair of jeans she had coveted the week before but hadn’t brought, even though they were on sale, due to her father’s difficult financial situation.
She hated Lionel Luthor! He had done so many terrible things and even now that he was in jail the blacklist did not appear to have been lifted from them. Her father was still out of work and the Daily Planet was ignoring her … well that would soon change when she got the dirt on this operation. The Daily Planet would beg her to come back, Luthor Corp would do anything to keep it quiet, including giving her Dad his job back, thousands of women would be set free and the truth would be known.
It was with these altruistic goals in mind that Chloe pretended to take a sip of her drink and surveyed the scene once more. After she had done this for a few minutes she turned back to the bar and sighed, she knew that the bartender was watching her. He was young, probably just trying to pay his way through college and it couldn’t be easy to do this job every day. It wouldn’t surprise her if he were a little lonely.
“Looking for your friends?” He asked, moving closer to her.
“Yeah, but it looks like they have stood me up”, her lips tried to form a weak smile she had perfected for Pete’s benefit every time that Clark had let her down.
“A lot of people won’t be coming in tonight. They changed half of the staff over”, he explained, as he looked both ways. There was no one near enough to overhear their conversation.
“Why?”
He sighed. “Look, I know that it is none of my business but you seem like a nice girl. You are no way near old enough to be here and if you are looking for someone who isn’t here tonight then you are looking for someone who is up to no good. Why don’t you just go home?”
Chloe was oddly touched by this, although also annoyed; she had thought that she had been doing a very good impression of a worldly wise sophisticate.
“Why have they all left?” She asked, only just loudly enough to be heard.
The dark haired youth looked at her intently for a second before saying, “The son of a former investor is arriving tonight to discuss business, they don’t want to give themselves away in front of him. In fact, if you are thinking about going into this line of work, you will probably be chucked out pretty soon. They are desperate not to have anyone find out”.
“Hmm”, Chloe murmured as she took another pretend sip of her drink. So that was why no one she was looking for was around, there really was little point in staying in that case, it was just unnecessary danger. She could slip out down the stairs and out the back way right now before anyone noticed her and be in a cab on the way to Lois’ within five minutes.
She looked at the time, 11pm. She could even get some homework done.
Chloe gave the bartender a genuine smile, “Thanks”.
As she stood up to leave, she asked, “By the way, what’s your name?”
“Jimmy”, he extended his hand to her.
“Lana”, she shook it and then headed for the staircase. She would just have to come back another day, although how she was going to manage that she had not quite worked out yet. Her father had not been too pleased at the idea of her missing a day of school to go and stay with Lois for a night and a day, even if it had been to attend a seminar. The school had been slightly easier, agreeing to just send her with the work, although she was not sure that that would work again. But what choice did she have if no one was going to be there tonight?
Her thoughts travelled to Laura, and to the man in the closet downstairs, she had wanted this to be resolved tonight. If it weren’t, then tomorrow would be another night when Laura had to give herself to men for money, and by tomorrow Chloe’s cover could be blown by the captured man. She would be powerless to help.
“Damn it”, she hissed. It was just her luck that everything would go wrong and no one would be there tonight, she only needed one photo of the men in charge, to prove that they had been on US soil and that – coupled with her documents – sent to the police would close the whole ring down within 24 hours. She did not have enough without the picture to go to the police, but it didn’t look like she was going to get it now in any case.
She didn’t have enough, but if she could find out who this business man was that they were all so clearly afraid of, she could send him the documents. He could get the extra information – and presumably would, if they were all this scared of him sniffing out what they were up to – and everything would be resolved just as quickly. It goaded her that she was going to lose her story, but it was more important to do the right thing.
With that in mind, she moved to the side at the top of the staircase as she heard a large group of people coming.
Chloe could only just make out snippets of their conversation, something about clearing the area, this must be the man she was waiting for. Carefully, she moved into position so that she could see the face of every person who passed and her jaw almost hit the floor.
“Oh fuck it!”
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