Acme Detective Agency August 6, 2000 "Chief, something's going on with Kassandra," Zack said. "What do you mean, something wrong's with Kassandra? She's one of the best detectives Acme's ever had!" the Chief said. "Chief, you call someone who never show up on Acme stakeouts 'one of the best detectives Acme's ever had'?" Ivy was mad at what the Chief just said. "Chief, what's gotten into you? Carmen's already pulled two failed robberies--" "Uh, Carmen Sandiego's not a thief, she's a murderer on the run," the Chief said. "Chief, what the hell are you talking about? What about the time she busted Maelstrom?" Zack was puzzled. "Who's Maelstrom?" Ivy was fed up. "Chief, do you even remember who Zack and Ivy are?" "Uh, two thieves on the run?" "Argh! Never mind! Zack, I think we need to get outta here." Ivy grabbed Zack by his jacket collar. ********** Sydney, Australia Armando watched the crowds mill about in the Opera House. "Maria, do you see Carmen anywhere?" Armando asked. The pink screen opened up with Maria's image. "She's not here. I don't see her outside." "Do you think the Chief's tip about Carmen stealing the music for Waltzing Matilda was a dud?" Armando asked. "I'm starting to think so," Maria answered. "But I can't help thinking what kind of trouble we'll get if we leave and Carmen swipes it after the stakeout is over." "Me too, Maria, but give it some more time. Carmen should show up some time sooner or later," Armando reassured. Ten minutes passed. "Now I think the tip's a dud. It's been more than six hours!" Maria complained. "Yeah, and I was supposed to meet Kassandra here at the Opera House too," Armando grumbled. "Forget it, amigo. Let's get back to Acme. We need to talk to the Chief about this." ********** Acme Detective Agency The C-5 opened up and Armando and Maria stepped out. The first thing both detectives noticed was that Zack and Ivy were sitting on the street curb. "What happened, amigos?" Armando asked, joining the siblings. "The Chief's flipped out," Zack sighed. "He thinks Kassandra's one of the best detectives Acme has, he thinks me and Ivy are two thieves, and Carmen is a murderer. I've even checked if he was infected with a virus, but it doesn't look like it." "Well, his hot tip about Carmen at the Sydney Opera House was a dud," Maria said. "Yeah, and on this stupid stakeout I was partnered with Kassandra and she never showed up. I had to call Maria for assistance before the two of us realized it was fake," Armando said. "You know, this is the third stakeout Kassandra's screwed up," Ivy said. "What do you suppose she's up to?" "She wants to ruin Acme's reputation? Come on, sis, no one can go THAT low," Zack said. "Not even Carmen Sandiego." "Maybe not, but she's acting like the time I got partnered with Lee Jordan before he went bad. Let's hope it doesn't escalate to the point Lee was behaving when he kidnapped Malcolm Avalon. I can't believe he could go as far as to hold someone's father hostage," Ivy said. "Especially Carmen." Armando shuddered at the thought. "Por favor, Ivy. Don't remind me of that." "The only thing Kassandra's missing is Lee's ego. And let's hope she's in no way related to Lee, blood relative, marriage, or associations," Zack mumbled. While the four detectives were talking, Kassandra had been listening to their conversation. 'Uncle Lee kidnapped Carmen Sandiego's father?' she thought. 'I need some more info on this!' Scrolling through files in her laptop, she located one of the jails. 'I should go talk to Cruiser. Mom'll throw a fit if she finds out I visited Uncle Lee in Pelican Bay.' 'Cruiser's doing time in Colorado,' she thought. Activating the C-5 corridor, she shut off her laptop and went in. ********** Colorado State Penitentiary Kassandra knocked at Cruiser's door. "Cruiser!" she hissed. Cruiser opened the door. "Who are you?" he asked. "Lee Jordan's niece. Kassandra Morrow's the name. I need to ask you something." "Go right ahead." Cruiser pulled up a chair for Kassandra and took a seat at his bed. "Was Lee Jordan ever involved with the kidnapping of Malcolm Avalon?" Kassandra asked. "He was. The idea came to him when Carmen botched a home invasion robbery and didn't get what she wanted. We were in New York robbing an electronic store when we heard the story. Lee decided to go after whatever Carmen couldn't. I told him that was impossible, but he wouldn't listen to me. We broke into Avalon's estate, kidnapped him, and brought him to Carmen's hideout. That was when Lee found out Avalon might be Carmen's father and decided to blackmail her by forcing her to steal five valuable objects. When we met up with Carmen in Beijing, Lee wanted one more favor for Carmen. He wanted her to destroy every detective in Acme because while Carmen was out pulling all the thefts, Lee's plan was to use the objects Carmen was stealing to create a group of supercrooks no law enforcement agency could stop. In the end he never got to achive this plan, because Acme interfered with his plans, and Avalon lost his memory of what happened during the time period he was abducted," Cruiser explained. "Thanks to his foolishness, we're all serving time when we could be out there terrorizing innocent citizens." A plan slowly formed in Kassandra's mind. "Cruiser, what were the five things Lee forced Carmen to steal?" "The Hope Diamond, the British Crown Jewels, a samurai sword, Honus Wagner's baseball card, and the Mona Lisa," Cruiser said. 'Hm...' A thought formed in Kassandra's mind. 'Uncle Lee really must be this desperate if he wanted to destroy Acme...' She looked at Cruiser. "Thanks for the info, Cruiser." "You're welcome." Cruiser was now facing the cell wall.