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.