Mission: Possible

by Gary D. Snyder

Chapter 6:

The officials at the Middleton Police Department were familiar with Kim Possible and had grown accustomed to the strange circumstances that seemed to accompany each of her adventures. Even so, the events at the materials lab required some routine questions and neither Ron nor Cindy were in a position to give very convincing nor satisfactory answers. At length the lieutenant who had been placed in charge of the investigation leaned back in his chair and stared silently at them, drumming his fingers against his desk while pointedly ignoring Rufus, who was helping himself to the sugary donut in front of him.

"Look, I know it sounds weird, Lieutenant Sawyer," Ron said, "but all I can say is that Kim will have to explain when she gets back."

"Uh-huh," the lieutenant grunted. "But you can't say where she is now."

"No."

"Or when she'll be back."

"No."

"Or what she's doing."

"No."

"Or what you're doing."

"No."

"Or who this young girl –" He stopped hid drumming to point at Cindy. "- is or what she's doing here."

"Well…" Ron considered it as the police officer leaned forward expectantly. "No," Ron finished unhappily.

Lieutenant Sawyer slumped back, looked at Cindy, and raised a questioning eyebrow. Cindy sighed and said, "No, no, no, no, and…well, no."

The police officer stood up and turned towards the window, clasping his hands behind his back. "You know, you two kids are putting me in quite a spot here. Maybe to you it's all fun and games and live for the moment. But for everyday Joes like myself there are rules and regulations and reports and responsibility. What am I supposed to say to the captain?"

Ron fought to find the right words. "You can say that Kim is on the case and she's never let you down before."

The words apparently were the right ones for the lieutenant's reply sounded strangely thoughtful. "I suppose it's the least I could do after she helped me out with those stolen energy weapons."

"Hey, as Kim would say, 'No big'," Ron offered hopefully. "After getting past the heat-sensing explosives and trained attack leopards it was so not the drama."

The lieutenant came to a decision. "All right. I'll trust you on this one for Possible's sake. But I'd better get some answers in short order or I'll have to formally re-open this investigation and follow through. Clear?"

"As crystal," replied Ron.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," added Cindy.

"Yeah, yeah," Lieutenant Sawyer muttered gruffly as he resumed his chair. "Just get your rodent out of here and go back home before I change my mind. It's late and there's a curfew around here, you know."

"Right away, sir," said Ron in relief. He scooped up Rufus, who had finished the donut and was belching contentedly, and retired from the lieutenant's office with Cindy close behind him.

"That was close," Cindy commented once they were outside the station. "Now, how do we contact Wade?"

"Through Kim's web site," Ron replied. "He'll see our message and contact us. I guess the best place to do that is at my house."

The walk to Ron's house took about twenty minutes although it seemed like hours to Cindy. She was not familiar with Middleton, which made the trip seem longer, and she was worried about Jimmy, which made the time seem to drag. When they arrived at Ron's house they found that his parents had apparently already turned in for the night, which enormously simplified the situation for Ron. He had been worrying about how he could explain what he had been doing and who Cindy was, and, unlike Lieutenant Sawyer, his parents would not be willing to wait for answers.

Once upstairs Ron closed the door to his room and surfed to Kim's Web site to post a request to Wade. Cindy couldn't help noticing the phrase, "I can do anything" prominently displayed on the Web page. Just who is this girl? she wondered. Despite the obvious skills Kim had displayed earlier that evening Cindy still couldn't help thinking that she was just a basic, average girl.

After about five minutes Ron's phone trilled and he answered it, activating the speakerphone feature for Cindy's benefit. "Ron here."

"Ron? Wade. What's up with the Web posting?"

"Lost the Kim-municator, Wade. Kim, too. Drakken got her."

"And Jimmy," Cindy called out.

"Who's that?" asked Wade.

"This is Cindy Vortex. Oh, and another thing. Professor Calamitous and his daughter are working with Dr. Drakken and Shego."

This drew a whistle from Wade. "I saw some references to him and his daughter on the B.T.S.O. system earlier. That's not good. Any ideas on where they went?"

"We were hoping that you'd know," Ron replied.

"Sorry, not a clue. I've been looking for Drakken's new HQ but there's no sign as yet. If he's working with Professor Calamitous that will make it twice as hard, because that doubles the search possibilities." Wade's voice took on an even more dismal tone. "And they may have set up a brand new base that neither have used before."

Cindy tried using logic. "Can you use what they stole to figure out how far they could transport the goods and maybe triangulate from that?"

"Good idea. Let me check." There were a few silent moments, aside from a faint clicking as Wade worked his keyboard. "Sorry, Cindy, no go. With Drakken's and Calamitous' resources they could have hauled the stolen items anywhere in the world."

"Oh, no," grunted Rufus.

Cindy sounded incredulous. "Anywhere in the world? Are you sure?"

"From my information they could haul a herd of elephants without any trouble."

Ron couldn't keep the sarcasm out of his voice. "Well, that would be great to know if we were looking for an elephant, Wade!"

"Calm down, Ron," Cindy said, although she felt just as bad. "It's not Wade's fault."

Ron heaved a heavy sigh. "I know. It's just that…I guess Drakken was right. We really aren't much of a threat to him even though he did try to burn us up." He sighed again. "I guess the second-stringers aren't much use."

Wade, however, had been thinking. "Finding an elephant," he mused.

"What?" Cindy asked.

"Finding an elephant. Maybe that's it!"

"Are you…" Cindy tried to take in what Wade was saying. "Are you saying we should look for elephants now?"

Wade's voice was becoming more excited. "Yes. No. What I mean is, if you steal an elephant where could you hide it?"

Cindy and Ron thought about that. "I suppose in your garage," Ron answered. "But I guess it could make a lot of noise and –"

"No," Cindy interrupted in dawning realization. "You couldn't hide it just anywhere. It's too conspicuous. You'd have to put it where it wouldn't stand out."

"Exactly!" Wade crowed in triumph. "You can't put an elephant just anywhere because someone is going to notice. Drakken and Calamitous are building the most powerful electromagnet in the world. You can't hide a magnetic field that size, especially if you were running tests. You'd need to put it where no one would notice it until it's too late."

"Okay, we're listening," said Ron.

"There are only two places on Earth where they could do that." Wade concluded triumphantly. "The north and south magnetic poles."

Cindy felt a faint thrill of hope. "You think that's where Calamitous and Drakken are hiding out?" she asked.

"I'm positive."

"Well, that narrows the search to two places," Ron said. "There are two of us. I guess we could split up and complete the search twice as fast. I'll check the north pole and Cindy can check the south pole."

"No," Wade argued. "You should stick together. With Drakken and Calamitous working together you need someone familiar with each of them on the team. You'll just have to check out both locations."

"But that would take too long!" objected Ron. "They already have the parts they need. And every minute we waste puts Kim – and Jimmy – in greater danger!"

"I still think –" Wade began.

"Out of the question –" Ron argued.

As the two boys argued over the best course of action Cindy's thoughts were racing. Suddenly she froze as the answer came to here. "I know where they are."

The quiet intensity of her voice was enough to silence both Ron and Wade. "What?" they asked together.

"I know where they are," Cindy repeated.

"How do you know?" Ron demanded. "We have to be sure about this."

"I am." Cindy looked at Ron with calm determination on her face. "Because Calamitous and Drakken told me."

"Told you what?" Wade asked.

Cindy smiled. "Ho, ho, ho."

End of Chapter 6