"Alchemy of Love" by Belle Book Author's Notes: Carmen Sandiego, Zack, Ivy, Jasmine, the Chief, and Carmen's henchmen are creations of Broder- bund Software and DIC Productions. Chase Dev- ineaux is a creation of Broderbund Software. Globie and Jaci are creations from Globie Leung's series of fanfics and from my own fanfic, "Headed for the Future". Sy Cologee is a character created by Becky Oberg. All other characters are my own creation. I must give Erin Mills credit for helping me with certain details, including details for a neat comic scene which you'll see in Part 3 or Part 4. Globie Leung also gave me some help, and MadridMan at http://www.madridman.com for giving me info on a location used in the Prologue. This fic will take place before Globie's fic, "Poison Ivy". I'm having the sequence of fics between "Headed for the Future" and "Poison Ivy" take about two years, which means Jaci is 23 at this point. The title of the fic comes courtesy of Erin. He got it from a song in a Tenchi Muyo movie. Since this story is going to center around romance, I thought it would be a great title. Now on with the story! Belle Book _____________________________________________________________________________ Prologue Over Madrid, Spain, June 25, 2001. Jaci looked down from the helicopter she was travelling in, at the city below. It was a lovely sight, whether during the (usually) cloudless days, or at night, like tonight. Of course, not all of Madrid was pretty, but then again, every city had its ugly sights. Turning to the auburn-haired man flying the helicopter, Jaci said, "Thanks for helping me out on this case, Chase." "You're welcome, Jaci," said Chase Devin- eaux, smiling but not looking at her. She could understand why. After all, he had to keep an eye out for other helicopters. They were nearing the Plaza de Oriente on the way to Acme's Madrid HQ, when Chase's instru- ments picked up a strange helicopter approaching the Plaza. A minute later they saw it heading for the Teatro Real. That's when Chase headed the helicopter toward the other side of the Plaza de Oriente. Jaci got on the helicopter's radio and contacted Acme's Madrid HQ. "Hello? Acme Madrid HQ? This is Jaci Harris speaking. Chase was taking me back to HQ when we spotted Carmen Sandiego heading to- ward the Teatro Real. Chase is parking his helicopter on the other side of the street, then we'll head over to the other side. We could use some back-up, however. Jaci out." At that moment, Chase glided the heli- copter down for a safe landing, and together, the two detectives went to find Carmen. ************************************************************************ A few minutes later, at the Teatro Real Chase and Jaci were greeted by an u- sher who seemed ready to throw them out. How- ever, he softened considerably when the two showed them their Acme detective badges. That's when the C-5 corridor opened -- depositing Ivy and Zack! "Ivy! Zack! It's good to see you two again!" Jaci whispered. Turning to the usher, Chase heard her say in Spanish, "These two are Acme detectives, like the two of us. We be- lieve Carmen is going to steal something here. Could you let Zack and Ivy go backstage while Chase and I take one of the boxes?" "Sure," said the usher. He flagged down a young woman who must also have been an usher, and told her what was going on. In a minute, the woman escorted Ivy and Zack backstage while Chase and Jaci were led to one of the boxes by the male usher. "Normally, this balcony would be oc- cupied," he said as he led them through a door, and into the box. "But the couple who were supposed to be here never showed up." "This will do nicely," Chase replied. "Gracias." "De nada," said the usher. "By the way, what would Carmen want here?" asked Jaci. "I don't know," said the usher. "The Teatro Real is used only for concerts these days. Tonight's concert features a number of excerpts from 'La Vida Breve'. But what Carmen would want with it, I don't know." "Maybe she just wants a copy of the score of Spain's most important opera," said Jaci. Chase barely heard her -- he was busy casing the hall with binoculars, looking for Carmen. Finally, he looked up above, into the shadows. And there, high above the catwalk, was a very familiar person. "Mira!" he whispered. "On the cat- walk, in the shadows!" Jaci looked, and then gasped. Chase knew she'd seen what he saw. Carmen Sandiego. *********************************************************************** Carmen smiled as she looked down at the musicians playing excerpts of "La Vida Breve". Manuel De Falla had created a very good opera, with traditional Andulasian mu- sic, and a sad plot. Maybe it was no "Ring of the Nibelung" or "Tristan and Isolde", but she'd stolen stuff concerning those o- peras already, and this was something she hadn't tried before. She would just wait until the cur- rent excerpt was concluded, then make off with the score. It took about four minutes, by her watch, but finally the excerpt was finish- ed. It was time. Carmen tied one part of her wrist grappler to the railing, slid over it, and shot down the line toward the orchestra. But as she slid down, she saw two Acme detectives that she knew well heading toward the pit. Zack and Ivy. Ivy reached the edge of the pit just as Carmen did, and immediately leapt into it, grabbing the score before Carmen could reach it. "Sorry, Carmen!" said Ivy. "This is one thing you're not going to steal!" "And how did Acme get on the scene so soon?" asked Carmen, smiling as usual. That's when she saw the doors to the hall open -- and two other detectives appear in the entryway. "Of course," said Carmen. "An Acme agent currently stationed in Madrid, and the finest Acme undercover detective." "We spotted you heading for the Tea- tro Real," Chase Devineaux explained as he and Jaci Harris headed down the aisle. "What do you want with that copy of 'La Vida Breve'?" asked Jaci as they reach- ed the end of the aisle and prepared to get on the stage. "The famous Spanish Dance is a clas- sic," said Carmen. "And this is one of the excerpts being played. I am a fine piano player and I wanted to make a version of the Spanish dance for my piano. Now, since I do not have the score, it looks like I'm going to have to take my leave." And with that, she shot up the line to the catwalk above. As she looked down, she saw the four detectives racing toward the stairs. ************************************************************************ On the roof, a few minutes later -- Chase was the first one onto the roof. A few steps behind him was Ivy, and then came Jaci. Zack trailed them all, panting. Chase looked around quickly, then saw Carmen standing at the edge of the roof. "We have you now, Carmen!" he heard Ivy cry. But then he saw Carmen put something down on the edge of the roof, and push a but- ton. Immediately, the small thing became a raft-like bridge running from the Teatro Real roof to a roof on the left side, crossing a street. Carmen ran across the bridge to the other side, then waited for the others to at- tempt to cross. Chase said, "I'll go first!", and ran across, slowly at first, then faster. The raft- like structure was a little hard to get used to, but it was steady, and soon he was on the other side. Carmen had stepped away from Chase as he reached her side of the bridge. "Okay, who's next?" he called out in- to his communicator. "I am!" Jaci replied. Chase watched as Jaci began to cross the bridge. She went more slowly than he did, but not much more slowly -- she merely walked fast. However, when she was more than half- way across, the bridge began to shake badly. This slowed Jaci down quite a bit, but she still continued to make progress. However, Chase looked down at the attachment on his side of the bridge and he could see that it was beginning to give way. Recently, Acme had developed a ver- sion of Carmen's wrist grappler, and Chase had been given it so he could test it. He had never tested it before, but it looked like this was as good a time as any to test it. Glancing at Jaci, he saw that she was almost across, but the shaking was even worse now -- Jaci was trying hard just to keep from losing her balance now! Immediate- ly, Chase extended his arm toward her, and prepared to touch the mechanism that activa- ted the grappling hook. That's when the sha- king bridge gave way! Immediately, Chase launched the wrist grappler, and it caught Jaci's wrist, cutting off her scream. She was dangling over the street. He had to reel her in! Chase pushed a button on the grappler and stepped back from the edge of the roof as he reeled Jaci in. Once Jaci was on safe ground, he took her hand -- and then pulled her tightly in- to his arms! *********************************************************************** Carmen watched from a safe distance as Chase held Jaci tightly, and Jaci threw her arms around Chase's neck, trembling as she did so. Chase began to stroke Jaci's back lightly, and Carmen could hear him telling the young woman, "It's all right. You're safe now. I'm here." Carmen knew from her earlier experi- ence with Chase and Jaci that the two had a strong rapport and made an excellent team. Though she had eluded them in the end, she had come to respect the pair. It was too bad that Jaci and Chase parted shortly af- ter that, but she suspected that they kept in touch. Until this moment, she had no indi- cation that there was anything more to their relationship than friendship. But now, as she watched and realized that neither Chase nor Jaci were aware that she was there, wait- ing for them to chase her, she began to won- der if their relationship was changing. That's when she heard the sound of the helicopter that she'd had come pick her up. She watched Chase and Jaci draw apart quickly and turn toward her. The helicopter arrived, and a dais dropped down. Carmen leapt on it as Chase and Jaci ran toward her. Then as it lifted into the air, she looked down at the detectives and said, "It looks like I'm going to have a chat with Pro- fessor Bellum about that device. Until Next Crime." *********************************************************************** Ten minutes later, at Acme HQ, Madrid -- Jaci was finally heading to her of- fice to put in her report that Carmen had failed to capture a copy of De Falla's o- pera "La Vida Breve", but still managed to get away. Chase was escorting her back to her office, and she was glad for his support af- ter that narrow escape. "Where did you get that device?" she asked. "Acme Research and Development de- veloped it, and gave it to me to test it," he explained. "I only got it a couple of days ago, and I didn't test it until to- night. I would never have chosen that time to test it, however." Jaci had to agree as they reached her office. Once they got inside, Chase moved to- ward her and was about to say good-bye, but Jaci wanted to let him know how grateful she was for aiding her. So she leaned forward and kissed his cheek. That's when Chase grabbed her shoul- ders. Looking up into his dark brown eyes, Jaci almost gasped as she saw the very in- tense light in those eyes. "Wh--why did you do that?" he whis- pered. "I--I did it out of gratitude," she said. Or did she? Now that she thought of it, maybe she'd acted out of some other mo- tive. For some time, Jaci had been in love with Chase and tried to give some indirect hints of her feelings for him. However, she had never gotten any indication that Chase thought of her as anything more than a very close friend -- until now. Now was he be- ginning to feel the same way for her that she felt for him? "At least, I think I did it out of gratitude," she heard herself saying. They stared at each other for one very long moment, then unthinkingly, Jaci reached up and touched Chase's cheek light- ly. Immediatley, Chase dropped his hands until they went around her waist, pulled Jaci against himself, bent his head down, and kiss- ed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, responding to his kiss. For one brief moment, Jaci felt like she was on cloud nine, then Chase lifted his head. Looking up into his eyes, she could still see the bright light in them. And now she was certain he loved her. "Chase, I love you," Jaci whispered, saying what she'd longed to say for some time. The look in Chase's eyes changed from excitement to surprise. Or was it shock? They then heard a knock on the door and a voice saying, "Are you back, Jaci?" Jaci and Chase pulled apart and turn- ed in time to see Marta Avilles, the head of Acme's Madrid HQ, opening the door to her of- fice. "Yes, I'm back," said Jaci. "Looks like I'd better go, then," said Chase as he let go of Jaci and began to walk away. He then turned and said, "Hasta la vis- ta, Jaci." "Hasta la vista, Chase," she replied as Chase left.