PREDATOR IN THE DUNES

JOB SEVEN: Location, Location, Location.

"All right, Carmelita," says Bentley over the binoc-u-com once she's crossed the fissure once again. "We need you to explore that tower. We don't know what's going to be up there, so if you need to, contact me and toss the grapple-cam or slap on my remote hacking device; I'll take care of things there."

"Of course, Bentley," Carmelita says, focusing her camera on the door. It opens, and Rajan comes out; he appears to be speaking with a guard. "I'm sure it will be fine."

"If you find Sly, but you can't free him, don't try it anyway," says Bentley. "We've got a plan in place. Get him that mask you're carrying, then get out. You'll play a vital part in taking down Rajan; we can't lose you as well as Sly in an ill-advised attempt at rescue."

"Bentley," says Carmelita, "if you think for one minute I'm leaving him behind again—"

"Again?" asks Bentley. "Usually it's been us trying to leave you behind!"

"If he hadn't fought Le Paradox alone, then—"

"Look, Carmelita, you can't blame yourself," says Bentley. "Just... get in there and stay out of sight. We'll worry about whether we can get Sly out now or if we have to wait once we've found him. And be fast. Rajan will only be gone long enough to watch the chariot races. Khamen and Murray are entered in the final heat; they'll give you some warning."

Carmelita shoves her binoc-u-com into her pocket. This time, when she approaches the tower, she goes right in through the front door... after opening it a crack and glancing through first, of course. No one in sight. She slips inside and stands in the bare stone room, letting the door close behind her.

The inside of the tower is made of stone, cold and gray and utterly un-Egyptian. A doorway directly opposite from where she stands catches her attention, and she moves forward to investigate, only to discover it's heavily trapped—too heavily for her to even hope of getting through. A staircase spirals around the edges of the room, wide and thick, and so she begins climbing that.

About one story up she comes to a door. Closed, locked. Directly across the room is a landing, just out of jumping distance... and on that landing a single guard. Fast asleep. Standing right next to a large, red, highly shootable switch.

Congratulations. Interpol's best shot gets to climb a tower full of switches that have to be shot to open doors. And yes, I do mean full of switches. By the time Carmelita's reached the balcony level, near where she put that radio-transmitter pyramid, she's shot lots of switches. Moving switches, tiny switches, big switches, switches on timers, Carmelita's nailed them all. I mean, it's obvious none of them were designed to be shot at. There's another staircase going up the wall, parallel to the one she's on, and the switches are always by platforms: it seems obvious guards are supposed to buzz people through. Most of them are unguarded, however. And the few that do have guards, well... as any Sly Cooper fan knows, guards aren't very good at guarding things.

This seems to be the top of the staircase, in any event. Or, at least, this staircase. The room she's arrived at takes up half the tower; the other staircase's entrance can be seen on the far side. A wall divides the tower neatly in half. No one's in sight.

There are two ways out of this room. One is a rope ladder that goes straight up, to a hatch in the ceiling; presumably, there's another room up there. With a massive padlock on the hatch to keep it closed, of course.

The other way out is a door in the center of the wall dividing the tower in two. It's strong, sturdy, almost certainly unbreakable. And next to it is a modern-day computer, keeping it closed.

Carmelita puts one hand to her head to ensure the communicator works. "Bentley," she says. "I am deputizing you for police work and assisting me with cracking this computer for—"

"I know, we've got plenty if you want to arrest him, let me at the computer! You don't need to justify it, yeesh!"

Carmelita slaps Bentley's remote... computer... hacking... thing on the tower and Bentley gets to work. This is undoubtedly more of Penelope's work. "Hello, Bentley," the computer greets him. Perhaps his hacking style is too unique for its own good... or maybe he's just the only one who's ever cracked her servers.

"Saving your friends, Bentley?" the computer asks him as he makes his way through B-trees and breaks down her firewalls. He finds himself being accosted by the anti-virus, of all things, and almost laughs; he's never dealt with that before.

"Don't look in its eyes," her computer warns as he breaks through her defenses. What a bunch of nonsense. "Okay Carmelita, I'm opening the door," says Bentley.

And so he does. And what's on the other side?

I think the next room can be properly described as a death trap. There's no doubt that large sections of the floor will kill on contact; there's equally no doubt that these things can't be turned off or removed. Tiny patches of safe ground litter the place, all within Carmelita's jumping distance—just—but little else; banners line the walls, orange with white tips like those outside, hanging from hooks.

And across the room, chained hand and foot to the wall, back to Carmelita, is a raccoon in a tattered blue shirt and hat.

"I found you," Carmelita says, bringing up her binoc-u-com. She zooms in on him, noting how the cuffs go around both his gloves, how his feet dangle a good few inches off the ground.

Bentley responds through the binoc-u-com. "You found Sly? He's there? Where—whatever you do, Carmelita, do not yell out to him. Do you see those wires dangling off the ends of the banners? They're sensitive to sound. Make too much noise and every guard in the place will come running."

"So I'll just have to get close enough to talk to him," Carmelita murmurs.

"Are you sure you can make those jumps?" Bentley asks, as Carmelita focuses on spot after spot, trying to plan a route.

"It won't be easy," Carmelita admits, "but busting criminals never is. I'll get to Sly."

"Okay. Once you've reached him, give him his new mask—you may have to tie it on for him. I doubt you're capable of picking those locks, and if he could escape he wouldn't be here. But be careful."

"I make no promises," Carmelita says, and puts her binoc-u-com away before Bentley's done scolding her. Getting through this area will be a major test of her skills. One wrong move won't just mean failure and her own capture, maybe death—it'll mean Sly will still be trapped here, and Rajan and his guards on alert for others from the future.

So, naturally, Carmelita crosses with the sort of ease that would make Olympic Medalists cry foul. I mean, I'm not sure what type of Olympic Medalist would be doing that, but they'd do it. I promise you.

"Sly," she says when she's across, and lays a hand on his shoulder.

Sly jerks against the chains. "Well, I suppose it had to happen sometime," he says to the wall. "I didn't know my imagination was this good."

"Get over yourself, Ringtail, and look at me."

Sly does, but his expression doesn't change. "All right, next rehearsal time. Look, Carmelita, I was an absolute idiot. I wasn't honest with you when I should have, and—"

"It's all in the past, Ringtail," says Carmelita. "And now isn't the time for it, anyway. "

"Really?" asks Sly, raising one eyebrow. "Because, I mean, we're in the past, after all."

Without thinking, Carmelita threatens him with her shock-pistol, and Sly cringes. "Okay, not dreaming," he says. "Listen, Carmelita—I don't know how you got here, but—"

"I came with your friends," she says.

"Bentley and Murray? They're here? Well, that changes things. What do you know about what's going on?" Sly asks. "Cause I could fill you in, but I'd really appreciate getting down from here first."

"I was sent ahead with this," Carmelita says, showing him the new mask. "I don't have the keys to your chains. But I promise, Ringtail—I'll come back for you. And with your mask on, you'll be able to hear the plan."

Carmelita changes his mask as Sly holds still. "Guess I won't be able to make suggestions, though," says Sly. "But I'll be here if you need me. And, Carmelita?"

"Yes?"

"I... I, uh—"

"I know," says Carmelita. She stands on her toes and gives him a kiss on the nose. "Me, too."

JOB COMPLETE

Carmelita doesn't give a victory pose or acknowledge the camera in any way; instead, the victory screen simply shows her and Sly talking.