Part 4
Written by:
Laurie LeBlanc &
Scott LeBlanc
(Slight poetic licensing, if you will. I don't know if Telluride has a hospital or if it is
possible for someone to live on Mt. Sneffels. I just picked these spots when I saw them on a map
of Colorado.)
After Carmen had finished speaking, there was an awkward silence. Zack and Ivy looked at
each other as if to say, "What can we say to her?" Finally, Ivy decided to break the silence by
softly saying, "I'm so sorry Carmen. I wish I could say more, but I'm at a loss for words."
"Pure, pure evil," Zack said, also talking softly, "You weren't kidding."
"Now you can see why I'm so shaken?" Carmen asked, her voice quivering. "I know him too
well and I'm afraid someone else will..." she trailed off and sniffed slightly. Then quickly,
she brushed her right index finger below her right eye to wipe away a tear.
"She's crying," Zack whispered to Ivy.
Ivy nodded sadly. She then offered, "Um...is there anything we can get you, Carmen?"
Carmen sniffled, "No," she squeaked out. She then began to try to regain her composure.
As she sighed with shaken breaths, she bit her lip and glanced at the two detectives.
"Where do we go from here?" Ivy asked.
"Yeah, I mean, how can we find this guy? Or maybe, we don't want to! After all, this
creep makes the unibomber look...look like...well, Bambi!" Zack blurted out.
"Zack!" Ivy exclaimed, "This is no time to joke!"
"Sorry!" Zack retorted. "I'm just trying to ease the tension!"
The Chief, who had been silent the past few minutes, cleared his throat and said, "See
why I never said anything? I was hoping I'd never have to access that memory file and...and...
well...I haven't felt this bad since we thought Carmen was dead." With that, a Niagara Falls of
tears streamed out of the Chief's eyes. "Wah!" Then quickly, he stopped the hysterics and
added, "Ok, I've recovered." Clearing his throat, he added, "Now that you detectives know the
severity of the situation, it's time we took some action."
"What action can we take?" Ivy asked.
"Well, I just got a hot tip that Lee Jordan was brought to the Telluride hospital in
Colorado last night. Seeing he was suspected to be in league with Marco, maybe you could go
there and question him," the Chief answered.
Ivy growled, "That pathetic little..." She then trailed off with another growl.
"Of course none of us likes him Ive, but he's our only lead." Zack remarked.
"Zack's right," Carmen replied a moment later. "He IS our only lead, unfortunately."
"Then we'll just have to C-5 to the hospital and question him," Ivy finally agreed.
"Ok Player, fire up the-" Zack began.
"Wait!" Carmen exclaimed.
"What? What's wrong?" Zack asked puzzled.
"Well, am I going with you?" Carmen asked.
Zack and Ivy looked at each other, and then at the Chief. "She should," the Chief
replied. "She's dealt with Marco, you two haven't."
"Well then Chief, shouldn't I go undercover?" Carmen asked. "I mean, if I'm in my
common outfit it'll cause quite a stir with security and whatnot. Usually a little chase doesn't
bother me of course, but seeing such a thing would interfere with our mission-"
"You got a point there," the Chief replied. "Well, we can bring you to the hospital
wearing a different outfit." The Chief paused and then said, "Hmm, I could put your old
detective clothes on you."
"I guess that'll have to do for-" Carmen began.
"Granted, you kinda looked like Indiana Jones, but that's ok." the Chief interrupted with
a smile. He then began to hum a few bars of the theme music.
When he finished, Carmen slightly smiled and nodded.
"Ok! So, without further ado, let's fire up the C-5!" the Chief exclaimed as the blue
circle entrance appeared before them. The detectives and Carmen jumped in and the entrance
closed behind them.
While inside, the Chief began like a ride safety warning message, "Welcome aboard! We
ask that for the duration of the trip that you keep hands and arms inside the corridor at all
times. Also, no eating, drinking, or smoking while you are in flight. For your inconvenience,
safety exits are placed...well...no where!"
"Chief!" Zack interrupted, "We get the point!"
"Ok, ok! Uh...oh yeah! You're heading to Telluride Colorado, county seat of San
Miguel county. No, when the corridor comes to a full and complete stop, gather all personal
belongings, take small children by the hand-"
With that Ivy grabbed Zack's had with a smirk. "Hey!" Zack exclaimed with a ticked
expression.
Ivy giggled a bit at Zack's reaction to the silly joke. After the quick giggle, the
Chief finished, "And watch your step as you exit the corridor!" With that, the detectives and
Carmen (now sporting her old detective outfit) appeared in the hospital lobby.
Meanwhile Sara Bellum's laboratory, Sara was checking her e-mail when she noticed a
message with the subject heading, 'Greetings, Professor' from an address she had never seen
before.
"Hmm, what's this?" she asked herself. She pulled up the message which read:
'Greetings, Professor!
I understand that you are acquainted with the larceny expert, Carmen
Sandiego. I also understand that you have your own private ambitions- some of
which you seemed to have abandoned. I was wondering if you would like to join
me for some scrupulous business dealings.
I also know that you are a renowned computer expert as well and would
love to discuss with you some new technologies and such.
If you wish to learn more, directions to my place are enclosed in a
.zip file attached to this letter. Please meet me there at 1 pm tomorrow.
Thanks in advance,
Sincerely yours,
A friend
When Sara finished reading this, she was a bit puzzled. "Why would someone send me this
message? And who? And how does this person know so much about me? Maybe it's a trick!" she
thought to herself. Then she thought, "But still...it does sound too interesting to simply
forget about..." She paused and scratched her chin slightly. "Well...I don't have anything
planned for tomorrow...why not discover what this is all about? Or, should I?"
While Sara pondered her situation, Carmen and the detectives decided to ask the person
at the lobby desk as to Lee's whereabouts.
"Excuse me," Ivy said to the attendant at the desk, "We're Acme detectives," She then
flashed her badge and continued, "and we were wondering if we could speak to a patient named
Lee Jordan?"
"Well," the attendant replied, "Mr. Jordan's condition isn't the greatest. Just about
every bone in his bone has been broken! He's managed to tell us two thugs for some guy he was
working with beat him up when he showed up late."
"But is he stable enough to speak with us?" Ivy asked.
"I'm sure he is now. He's in room 202."
"Thanks for your help," Zack said as he followed Ivy down the hallway with Carmen
following him.
When they reached Lee's room, they saw the rough shape he was in. His eyes were swollen
and black and blue. His left arm was in a sling and his two legs were in casts. His right arm
was dangling off the bed. He was still asleep when the detectives and Carmen entered the room.
"Rise and shine!" Ivy exclaimed.
Lee's eyes opened somewhat and he groaned in pain.
"Well, if it isn't Acme's finest detective," Ivy sarcastically said with an evil smirk.
"Indeed," Lee replied weakly, but somehow managed to sport a smug grin.
"You haven't changed a bit," Ivy retorted.
"Yeah well, that's me for ya," Lee replied. He then added, "Be a doll, and hand me the
remote?"
"Sure..." Ivy replied with a big evil grin. She then took the remote from the left side
of the bed and began to move it over to Lee's right hand. On the way, she "accidentally" banged
into his left arm.
Lee screamed in extreme pain and began to curse at Ivy. She ignored him, and placed the
remote in Lee's right hand, which she tossed up onto the bed.
"Aw," Ivy said with sarcastic emotion, "Widdle Wee Jordan has a big painful boo-boo!"
She then burst out into hysterics.
"Ivy," Carmen began, "As much as we all detest this- and I use the term loosely- person
here, we are on a mission. We're not here just to give him some painful revenge."
"Of course," Ivy replied, partially ashamed, "I should have realized that."
"Yeah Ive, that was Day One of our investigate training. Remember Rule One: 'Don't
torture the informant!'" Zack reminded his sister.
"You're right, little bro."
Lee looked at the three visitors somewhat puzzled. "Wait, I know you're Zack," he
said as he titled his head towards him, "Cuz I sent you off to the Pentagon..." Then he looked
at Ivy and smugly said, "And I know you're Ivy- cuz I doubt we'll ever forget each other-"
"I try to," Ivy interrupted.
Lee continued, "So, this third person here I'd have to guess is none other than Carmen
Sandiego!"
"Very good Lee," Carmen replied, "I can see that your deductive skills are still sharp,
but your reasoning skills...well...that's another matter entirely."
"Now as much as I hate to interrupt, aren't we here on official business?" Zack asked.
"Of course," Ivy and Carmen replied at nearly the same time.
Lee then questioned, "Ok, I see why the Chief would send Zack and Ivy here. They are
the best agents- behind me of course-"
The detectives and Carmen groaned, but Lee continued as if he didn't hear them. "But
why would the Chief send Carmen here? That doesn't make sense to me."
"It's quite simple," Carmen replied, "I have experience dealing with the man we're here
to question you about."
"You know who we mean- Marco Kane?" Ivy asked him with a growl.
"Oh," Lee replied with a scowl, "The last time I saw him, he pushed me out a first
story window."
"I bet you deserved it," Ivy remarked.
Lee ignored the remark and continued, "Then his guards used me as a human punching bag."
Ivy had an evil grin on her face as she heard this. She then managed to somewhat get
rid of it as she said, "As much as I would like to hear more of your painful torture, I must
remind myself that I am here on official detective work."
"So I supposed you all want to know where to find Marco then?" Lee asked.
"Duh," Ivy retorted.
"Ivy!" Zack scolded. He then added, "That is what we came here about."
"Well, I can tell you where his hideout is. See, the nurses put my stuff in the drawer
of the night table to the left of me." He then motioned with his hand and continued, "There you
will find a CD-ROM that will tell you how to get there. It's encoded and stuff, but I figure
Zack can figure out how to use it."
"I'm sure," Ivy said, "Now how did you figure it out? Do they have a book, 'Decoding
for Dummies?'"
Carmen shot her a look then said, "Enough!"
"Oh wait," Ivy then realized, "You did screw up the Pentagon computers, didn't you?"
Lee nodded with a smug grin.
Zack then went over to the night table and took out a black case. He opened it up and
noticed the silver CD. He closed the case, and held onto it in his right hand. "I guess we
should go," Zack said afterwards.
"So soon?" Lee asked with a sarcastic sad voice.
"Actually," Ivy began, "I gotta ask- why did you decide to work for Marco anyway?"
"Simple," Lee retorted, "He said he'd pay well and I figured seeing we had common
enemies that I could get back at all of you."
"Figured," the three remarked with a growl.
"And besides, I didn't think he was bad as his files made him seem-"
"Well, I got a news flash for you," Carmen replied, "I wrote those files, and believe
me- he's worse!"
"Ok, now I also gotta ask this," Ivy began, "How did you get in contact with him?"
"Well, I had escaped a couple of months ago and I was still feeling rather ticked off at
all of you. So, I had remembered the file I read back when I was at Acme that said where he
was held. I then visited him-"
"Ok, lemme get this straight-" Ivy interrupted, "You visited him in jail? I mean, nobody
thought to say, 'Hey, didn't this guy escape from jail?' or something?"
"Well, I was pretty good about aliases and stuff. I managed to stay hidden for all that
time- no Acme agent came close to nabbing me!" Lee boasted.
"Yeah..." Ivy said through her teeth, "So, you talked to him, and eventually you two
decided to work out this master plan where you'd try to weasel your way back to either Acme or
Carmen, right?"
"That was the plan," Lee replied.
"We were laughing so hard when you came by here that you managed to run off," Zack
said.
"Yup, but hey, even though that didn't work, I figured I'd try my luck with Carmen," Lee
replied. "But that didn't work out either- and of course, that little error of mine where-"
"Error?" Ivy asked, "Being late, right?"
"No, actually, I was talking about an error before that. I left a little bit too soon, I
guess. That's why you didn't know of Marco's escape," Lee replied.
"I'll confess," Carmen said, "When I talked to Zack and Ivy, they got the news as we
were speaking."
"You DID? You lied to me!" Lee exclaimed.
"Oh, and you didn't?" Carmen asked glaring at him.
Lee didn't know what to reply.
"So after all that, you reported back to Marco too late, and he did this to you?" Ivy
continued.
"Right," Lee replied with a sigh. "It'll be ages before I'm up and about again!"
"A lot of good being up and about will do!" Ivy exclaimed, "You'll be heading back to
jail, loser!" Before anyone else could say anything, Ivy added, "C'mon, we got what we need,
let's go."
Zack nodded and said, "Ivy's right about that, unless you have something you'd like to
ask him Carmen."
"Nothing at all, detectives. I think we had better go see what's on the CD now?" Carmen
suggested.
"Yup," Zack replied. With that, he, Carmen and Ivy began to walk out of the room.
"Hey!" Lee exclaimed, "I don't even get a 'thank you' for that info I provided!"
Ivy turned around and said like a child being forced to say it, "Thank you Mr. Jordan."
Carmen turned and said, "We'll have to see if the info is worth anything to know if we
should be really thanking you. Good-bye Lee."
With that, the three exited the room. As they began to walk down the hallway, Lee
pressed his nurse call button and said into the little speaker, "Nurse, I believe that Carmen
Sandiego is in the building."
"Oh really?" the nurse on the other end replied, "Well if that's the case, I'm sure the
Acme agents that were here to see you would have spotted her by now."
"But, one of the detectives you sent in here was Carmen!"
"Now Mr. Jordan, we'll," then with a chuckle added, "look into it."
Lee growled and decided to go back to sleep.
* * *
The detectives and Carmen returned to headquarters to figure out how to get to Marco's
hideout.
"Chief," Zack asked, "What do you make of this CD?"
"Well, it uses all sorts of encryption codes and stuff and...well...it's gonna take
awhile," the Chief told Zack.
"So what should we do until then?" Ivy asked, "After all, if this is going to take
awhile-"
"I dunno Ivy," the Chief replied. "There's really nothing you can do."
"How about looking at some old files?" Ivy suggested as she turned towards Carmen, "Or
would that just bring up more painful memories?"
Carmen sighed, "Perhaps, but it's a good way for you at least to become more acquainted
with the man you'll have to deal with."
Ivy nodded and then asked, "Hey Chief, could you print up a couple of files for us to
look at?"
"Sure," the Chief replied, "But...uh...I think you're going to be surprised by what you
read..."
"Are any of them worse than what Carmen told us?" Ivy asked.
"Well...there's some that are one that level, that's for sure," the Chief replied.
"Well, maybe reading them will lessen the surprises we're likely to encounter," Ivy
suggested.
"I doubt it," the Chief replied, "This guy is quite a surprising character..." The
Chief then trailed off and a few piece of paper came out of the computer printer. Ivy took them
and began to read with interest, but shock as well.
"Man, this guy doesn't have any regard for human life does he?" Ivy asked in surprise,
"I mean, I knew that from your story but-"
"Well Ivy, the thing with Marco is that if you get in his way-" Carmen began.
"He'll kill you or beat the daylights out of you. Or put you in emotional hell." Ivy
finished.
Carmen sadly nodded. "I think only his guards were the ones he cared about."
"Has he ever killed one of them?" Ivy asked.
"Not that I know of, but I wouldn't be surprised. Marco doesn't like slip ups, and I'm
sure they couldn't be perfect all the time."
Ivy pointed to a case file she had read on the printout and said, "Look at this! It
says here three museum guards were killed when Marco tried to steal the Hope Diamond!"
"I pity anyone who was a museum guard in Marco's way. Quite often he did a lot of them
in." Carmen sighed and bowed her head.
"What about..." Ivy began nervously, "What about detectives that were assigned to chase
him?"
"He had threatened a couple, but he it wasn't until that night I told you about when he
seemed determined to actually...to actually..."
"It's ok Carmen, you don't have to talk about it if it's too painful."
"It is, it is," Carmen replied with a sigh. "All I'll say is this- Suhara and I got
too close and he wanted to get rid of us."
"As you said earlier, it must have felt good to hear Marco was put away, while at the
same time..." Ivy trailed off.
Carmen nodded sadly.
Suddenly, Zack exclaimed, "Bingo! We got it!"
Carmen and Ivy turned towards Zack. Ivy then asked, "Where can we find him?"
"At 108.95 degrees north by 38 degrees west." Zack replied. He then pressed a button on
the keypad which brought up a map that pinpointed the located.
"That's right on Mt. Sneffels in Colorado!" Ivy cried out. She then started to giggle.
"Such an evil guy has his hideout on a mountain with such a silly name?"
"Yeah, you would think it would be something more evil sounding- like Mt. Doom or
something!" Zack exclaimed.
"Zack! That is so comic book!" Ivy exclaimed back at him.
Then Carmen remarked, "Well, that would explain why Lee was in Telluride-"
"Yeah, it's only a few miles away," Zack interrupted.
"But something bugs me," Carmen continued, "This seemed too easy."
"Too easy?" Zack and Ivy asked in unison.
"Well, Marco always left a clue. It was something on the idea of what I give you. You
know, something you have to figure out- except Marco's are usually on the bizarre or twisted
side..."
"So, he's not one to let people easily know where his hideouts are then?" Ivy asked.
"No, not at all," Carmen replied.
"This sounds like a trap," Zack said. "I mean, why else have Lee sent to that hospital?
Marco must have known we'd go question him, right?"
"Right, Marco must have planned all this-" Carmen began.
"Did he know Lee would slip up?" Ivy asked.
"Maybe not," Carmen replied, "Maybe Lee was going to get our attention some other way.
Either way, Marco had planned to use Lee as bait!"
"Oh great," Zack replied with a gulp.
"But it's our only lead! We have to go there, right?" Ivy asked.
"Yes, we do have to go there. However, I do have the feeling Marco's going to be ready
for us."
Ivy sighed and said, "Well, we'll just have to be really careful then." Then she
commanded, "Player, C-5 us to Mt. Sneffels."
Moments later, Carmen and the detectives were standing before a dark mansion. It was a
maroonish color with black shingles. Two large windows were on either side of the house. The
one on the left was broken in the middle. Shards of glass lay in the bushes below it. "Must be
the place," Zack remarked.
Ivy and Carmen nodded.
"So, I guess we should go inside," Zack said.
"Guess so," Ivy replied.
With that, Zack opened the door and stepped inside.
To be continued...
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