Chapter 4

Carmen carried a stack of papers in both hands. She stopped outside David's office and shifted the papers to one arm. She tapped in the door.

When she didn't get a response she frowned. She tried to peer through the closed blinds, but there were no cracks.

She gave up and went to Charles' office. The door was open so she walked right in.

"Lo siento, Charles," she said when she saw the stacks of paperwork on the desk. She lifted up her own stack.

"Just put that on that pile there," he told her, pointing to a relatively short pile.

"This is getting ridiculous now. Why is David having us redo all of this? It's already been archived in Cold Storage."

Charles rubbed his weary eyes under his glasses. "You can blame KARR. Ever since he broke into FLAG's databases, David wants hard copies of all files backed up and stored."

Carmen grumbled to herself in Spanish. "If I ever get my wrench on KARR I'm turning him into a vespa..."

She frowned worriedly and Charles caught it right away. "What's wrong?"

"He's got the Camaro now. That means he has my engine."

He nodded. "I can see your concern. You haven't had a chance to patent the technology, have you?"

She shook her head. "No, David holds the patent. And that's okay. That's not what's worrying me."

"The chair across my desk is always available." He gestured to it.

She turned and shut the door. Then she removed another stack of papers from the chair and sat down. She placed the stack in her lap and leaned close. "I really need someone to talk to about this, but can you keep a secret?"

"I would answer that, but I've been sworn to secrecy."

She gave him a wry smile. "Well I won't go into too much detail, just in case."

He inclined his head towards her. "Whatever you feel comfortable with telling me."

"It's about KITT's engine. It's not finished. That's why it hasn't been put into production for Knight Industries yet."

Charles folded his hands together. "But it works perfectly. KITT hasn't had a single issue with it."

A tremor ran through her. "Not yet. There's so much testing that needs to be done. I've been monitoring it carefully, just in case. I can't do that with the one KARR stole."

"What are you afraid of happening?"

Her voice dropped even lower. "Un desastre."

"Tell me."

She turned her eyes away. "I told David it wasn't ready yet, but he said the best way to test it would be for KITT to use it."

"Please tell me, Carmen. What kind of engine does KARR have under his hood now?"

She bowed her head. "Hydrogen."

Charles glasses slipped down his nose and he didn't bother adjusting them. "H-hydrogen? You mean..."

She nodded. "I've been studying the theory since I was nine and I came up with a prototype that could separate the hydrogen from the oxygen in water. That's why KITT doesn't use gas." She looked away. "I wanted to make a car that could run forever."

"That explains the ten gallon tank of water he carries. How long can he run on that?"

She looked at him, giving him her most serious expression. "Decades."

"If something were to happen and the engine became unstable..."

"The chance of something happening by accident is slim, almost non existent. You'd have to purposefully mess with it." She let out a heavy sigh. "Anything in a ten block radius would be destroyed. I've already done the math."

Charles carefully thought over everything she had said. "We need to get that engine back. Once KARR realizes what he has-" He swallowed hard.

"You can't tell anyone else," Carmen cautioned. "The Team doesn't know that they're working around a potential bomb. David would skin me alive if he knew that I was telling you now. Even KITT doesn't know."

"I won't say a word to anyone, I swear." He stared at her silently for a long time.

"What?" He voice rose defensively.

"I'm just in disbelief how someone so young has accomplished so much. The math involved... You're an utter genius, Carmen. If Wilton Knight were still with us he would have proposed by now."

She couldn't help but grin. "Did you think I was just a grease monkey? I can do the math, just not on the computer. I write it out by hand."

"How on Earth did David ever find you?"

"The internet. I scanned some of my notes and put them on my blog. Don't ask me how he found them or even understood them." Her smile was fond. "I'm glad he did. This is the best job in the world." A shadow passed over her face. "I just hope I can finish it."

"If you've managed to come this far, I don't think anything is going to stop you."

"Gracias, Charles." Her smile was radiant. "I have to get going though, I have to change KITT into some new clothes." She rose from the chair and replaced the stack of papers.

"I'll be here..." Charles let out a sigh. "Forever, probably."

"You should have David help you. He's holed up in his office right now."

He shook his head. "No, I told him to go rest. He went through a great deal last night. All of you did."

"You know he's not resting. He never takes a break. I don't think he knows how to." She opened the door and walked out.

As she passed David's door again she paused. She leaned close to it, listening intently. She could just barely make out music from inside the office. She listened to the lyrics for a bit, then frowned. "There's something wrong with you," she muttered before continuing down the walkway.

She turned at the stairs and ran down. "Are you ready for a new suit, KITT?"

Ian stepped out of the passenger's side, his laptop in his hands. "I died..."

She gave him a strange look. "Sorry for your loss?"

"It's okay. There's always next game. KITT's still playing, though."

"I can multitask just fine, Ian," K.I.T.T said. He rolled off his circle and drove over to the vault. "Can it just be you that outfits me right now?" he asked Carmen as she unlocked the vault.

"Me da igual, it'll just take longer."

"That's all right."

She smiled as he drove into the vault. "Is there something you want to talk to Mami about in private?"

"If it's okay."

"You know it always is." After they were inside she hit the button on the wall. The huge door closed and locked. "Now what's troubling mi bebé?"

"First, a question. If you're my mother, and Charles is my father, then what does that make Pierce?"

"That crazy uncle that keeps forgetting your birthday and mutters to himself."

"I see." He drove over to the support system.

Carmen grabbed the hanging switch box and hit a button. The rows of hanging parts moved. "Shall we try out the Corvette? Or should we go for the Porsche again?"

"The Camaro is fine."

She gave his hood a worried look. "Are you sure? You'll look like KARR."

"Correction, KARR looks like me. He stole my look and I'm not going to let him bully me out of wearing my favorite suit."

She smiled. "That's mi bebé. Don't let anything stop you from being yourself."

"That's the plan."

She hit another button and the parts for the Camaro moved to the front. She raised K.I.T.T's platform up and started on his kickplate. "So, tell Mami what's troubling you."

"I need to find a way of defeating KARR once and for all."

"You think I can help you with that?"

"Of course. No one knows the Camaro shell the way you do."

She twisted her mouth in concentration. "That's true, but I can't think of any weak points that you don't already know about."

"He's upgraded his weapons systems. That means he had to modify the body, correct?"

"He'd have to, but that's impossible. The Molecular-Bonded Shell prevents any modifications on the parts. It's impossible to cut once it's been treated." The kickplate dropped down and she slid it out from under K.I.T.T. Then she started working underneath.

"Then how did he put a rocket launcher in place of one of the light machine guns?" He rolled down all four windows.

"He would have had to make due with the space available after removing the light machine gun. That means it's not a perfect fit." She removed the front passenger's door and placed it on a dangling hook.

"So the areas he's modified are more vulnerable to attack?"

"That would be a safe bet."

"Next question. Do you have any reinforced tires that can stand up to my laser?"

"I might, but they're bigger than the ones I usually pair with the Camaro." She hit another button on the switchbox and the tires switched out for a different set.

"That's fine. At least I'll be a couple of inches taller than KARR."

"What is your thing about height?" She finished removing the doors and started on the tires.

"I don't like being the shortest member of the Team."

"Being the strongest, fastest, and handsomest isn't enough?"

"Of course not." He paused for a moment. "You're the first person that David hired for FLAG, correct?"

"Yep, right after Charles." She rolled the old tires away after she removed each one.

"That was before I became fully aware. What was FLAG like back then?"

She laughed. "It was less than a year ago, KITT, not the eighties. And there was hardly a FLAG at the time."

"What do you mean?"

"The facility was still being built. Charles was holed up in building B, and David and I worked out of his house in New York."

"The one we just came back from?"

"Si, I had a lot of drafting and designing to do before I started building your engine so I took over a spare bedroom."

"It must have been terrible sharing a living space with David. I'm sorry."

She laughed again. "It wasn't that bad! I got to spend all day working on my designs, then when Alex came home from school I'd make him lunch and he would tell me about his day."

"Alex is David's son, correct?"

"The one and only."

"I thought he lived with his mother, Karen Summers."

Carmen paused her work. "No, that was only just recently. When David and Karen divorced, he took custody of Alex. Karen had the tougher career back then and had to be in DC almost all the time, so it was the better choice."

"So Alex and David are close?"

She got back to work on his tires. "Are you kidding? David loves him more than life itself. He'd do anything for that boy."

K.I.T.T processed this new information carefully. "I'm trying to sync up this information to my data on David and it doesn't make sense to me."

"That's natural. David doesn't like anyone knowing he has any weaknesses."

"With so many enemies after us, I can understand that."

"Outside of KARR and ROOC we really don't have enemies," she pointed out.

"KARR and ROOC are enough."

"That's an understatement."

They chatted idly until Carmen was done with the refitting. "All right, you can reconnect now." She hit a button on the switch box and the lift lowered down to the floor.

K.I.T.T's scanner bar light came on, moving back and forth quickly. "Perfect. As always, Carmen."

She grinned with pride. It fell away as his color changed. Red the shade of blood flowed over his body, starting from the front and going to the back. She couldn't place why, but she felt uneasiness settle into the pit of her stomach. "Tired of the black?" she joked.

"KARR is black and silver. I wouldn't want someone to confuse us for each other." His light paused. "I thought you liked red."

"Si, the cherry red is muy bueno. This is a bit morbid, no?"

"Let's see what Kat says." He drove to the vault door.