Zack scurried down the hallways, stopping here and there to ask if someone had seen his sister. He turned a corner and almost ran full into Ambassador Seldavia. "Ambassador, have you seen Ivy?" he demanded breathlessly.

The Ambassador pointed behind her. "I was just with her. I think she's heading home for the day. If you run you can still..." Zack was gone in a flash. "...catch her." She watched him run at a fast clip. "I wonder what he's so excited about." she frowned. "Maybe I should find out."

Zack found Ivy as she was about to step outside. "Wait!" he called, and she turned around.

"What are you so excited about?" she asked.

"Come into the Computer Room." was all he would tell her.

Once inside, she noticed that all twenty-six of the Passangue Juniors were inside the Computer Room. "What's going on?" She demanded.

Zack motioned to the computer. "We have reason to believe that Carmen is in an empty building in the Tarrenburg area. We're waiting for one of the Mod-5 satilllites to confirm that the building is there."

"That's what you dragged us all in here for?" Ahma-Ti demanded.

"Why don't you just go after her yourself?" Irene asked. "Why did you drag us all in here?"

"Well, evidently if we all go in there, we have a good chance of catching her." Zack answered.

Ivy crossed her arms. "And just where did you get this piece of information?"

"Armondo's in the same area." Zack replied. "He says that he saw her there."

"That's all you know?" Jasmine asked.

"This may not be a good idea," the Chief began, who had been quiet this whole time. "I mean, all of you at once? I mean, you don't really know what's out there, and...well, I mean..."

Zack snorted. "Hey, c'mon, Chief, how dangerous can it be? This is Carmen we're talking about here," he said, addressing the entire group. "She doesn't blow things up, or knock people off, or stick knives into them or anything. There's no way anything really bad is going to happen to us. The only thing she's ever hurt is our pride; how perilous can it be for us? We can get her this time. Isn't that what we want? Isn't that what Acme's been trying to do for ten years?"

There several mutterings of agreement, and a couple people said, "Can't argue with that," "He's probably right," and more hearty approvals.

"Great!" Zack exclaimed. "Now, who's with me?"



After the Passangue Juniors had decided to go through with the operation, Ivy had decided to go along for reasons of her own. They hadn't had any trouble getting inside the complex, though the barbed wire told Ivy that this place was usually well guarded, which made her uneasy. When Zack (whose arrogant leadership was beginning to become annoying) suggested they split up, Ivy went off on her own. The concept of being alone in a strange dark place frightened her a little, but she took a deep breath and continued; she sensed there was something more important at stake than a simple Carmen case, and it was up to her to find out.

She walked carefully down the dark hallways, glancing down corridors, looking into corners, peering into rooms. After a while she walked straight into a dead end, turned around, and kept walking in a different direction. After three more dead ends, Ivy was about to give up. She started walking back the way she came when she heard a female voice; and turned her head, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. She stood very still, and listened; it was coming from her left. She crept softly in that direction, listening hard, and as she came closer she could distinguish words.

"Rodger." said the voice. "Rodger, come in." Then, more urgently, "Rodger, answer me! If you're playing a trick on me, it isn't funny! Rodger!" By this time Ivy knew exactly who the voice belonged to; but who was Rodger? She crept closer to where she had last heard the voice.

As she came to a corner she heard the rapid click of high heels on the floor, and almost ran slapbang into Carmen Sandiego as she rounded the corner. Suprised, the young criminal caught her breath and took a running step back. Ivy stood very still, not wanting to scare her off, and noticed that she was carrying what looked like a radio in her hand. Assuming that the Junior did not intend to do anything to her as of yet, Carmen asked with a certain degree of astonishment, "How did you get in here?"

"It was easy," Ivy said, taking Carmen's suprise at her presence as support for her theory that the place was usually well guarded. "Nobody stopped us from coming in. What are you doing here? There is nothing here worth taking; the whole building is empty."

"Muerganne is here!" Carmen told her, not without fear. "You should leave. Now. If you don't know your way back I will help you leave. Is your brother here?"

Ivy stared at her. "Who? What? Explain yourself!"

"Rodger said Muerganne is here. That's why you have to leave." she said, starting to pull at Ivy.

"Rodger who? Why are you in here? What's the matter with you?" Ivy demanded, wondering if Carmen had lost her mind.

"I can't tell you." was all she would say.

Irritated by Carmen's mysterious behaviour, Ivy turned on her heel and grabbed at her. "I can make you tell me!” Suddenly she threw an arm around the young woman's neck and threw her weight against her, reaching for her handcuffs.

But Carmen was quicker. She threw Ivy off her back, whirled round, and encircled her arms around Ivy's body, pinning her arms to her sides, and held her down. As Ivy struggled, furious at being caught off guard, the young woman said softly, "Listen to me, Ivy, listen. This is something too big for you. If you get involved you will get killed. I don't even know if I can get out of it myself." After a few moments Ivy stopped struggling. "Now, I'm going to let you go. And when I do, you're not going to jump me. Right?" Ivy nodded, and Carmen let go.

Ivy stepped back from her. "Is your brother here?" Carmen asked once more.

Before Ivy could think of how she was going to explain where her brother probably was, they heard shouts from their left. "Muerganne!" Carmen cried, tensing to run. Turning to Ivy and offering her hand she said, "They must not find you here. Come with me and I can show you a way out."

The shouts became louder, and abruptly they both realized that they were not the low shouts of adults, but the high, sharp cries of children. "Not Muerganne," Ivy said. "Juniors. All of Passangue Division." Carmen stared at her with disbelief.

"You have led them to me?" she asked softly.

"No." Ivy assured her. Then, "Run." she urged. "Run, or they will catch you. I will do nothing to you alone; but when the others call on me I cannot go against what I am assigned to do."

A brief sense of understanding and gratitude passed between them. Then Carmen turned and fled down the hall, away from the coming Juniors.



Rodger pushed hard on the latch above him. It gave way, and as he opened the small door he was greeted by sunlight. He blinked hard and grimaced; the bright light hurt his eyes. After a few moments he crawled out onto the grass and looked around. He was out of the building; but Carmen was still somewhere inside. He was debating what to do when he heard a bold female voice say, "Well, look what we got here! Strangest lookin' gopher I've ever seen." Startled, Rodger gaped at a strangely-dressed, brown-haired woman. She laughed and said, "You must be Rodger! Pleased to meet ya. I'm Ambassador Seldavia Mociyambuti, Ethnic Relations Divison." She offered him a hand to help him up.

She heaved him up, and he dusted himself off. "I heard about you. You're the one that speaks Donnekahshaie and tried to investigate the Case of the Crystal Chandelier."

She nodded, grinning. "That's me, all right. What brings you around these parts?"

"I was about to ask the same thing."

"Well, seems to me there've been some strange goings-on. I heard this place was burstin' with Muerganne’s people."

Rodger nodded. "I came to investigate that. But I haven't found any."

"Yeah, me neither." the Ambassador agreed. "'Course, the other story, the one that brought in all them Passangue kids, is that Carmen Sandiego lady is somewhere in there, doing I don't know what."

Rodger started. "The Passangue Division is in there?" he demanded.

She looked at him. "Well, yeah. They heard she was in there and they all piled in. I thought it was odd, why would a former Senior go alone where Muerganne is?"

"Listen, Ambassador...uh, I'm going to need your help. Let me fill you in on what's been happening..."



Carmen skittered down the hall, every few moments glancing over her shoulder to see if she was being followed. After turning a few more corners she slowed to a trot, then stopped and leaned against the wall, breathing hard. She tried to calm herself by taking deep, shuddering breaths, but she only started to tremble; there were other Juniors here! The entire Passangue Division, no less. Although Ivy's motive for finding her seemed to be pure curiosity, Carmen knew that all of the others would be looking for her for quite a different reason. She leaned against the wall and tried to collect her thoughts; she looked round, wondering where she was. She frowned as she realized this area of the building was not familiar to her. She tried the radio again. "Rodger? Rodger, are you there?" She got only static.

Grinding her teeth, she felt infuriated for messing up again. She had lost Rodger, she had Juniors on her tail, and she still couldn't figure out what Muerganne was doing. Ivy was right; the place was empty. What was going on? The silent corridor seemed to be waiting for the piercing shouts of the Juniors; she continued walking, not wanting to stay in one place. She had to figure out what was going on before the Juniors found her. The Juniors would catch her and lock her away, and then she would be helpless to do anything while the Muerganne came and killed off both the Juniors and Seniors.

Carmen paused suddenly. It may have been her nerves (which had been giving her more trouble in the past hour than they had in years), but she could have sworn she heard someone following her; just one person, not a pack of Juniors. She started walking again, then stopped. She was sure she heard footsteps this time, and whoever it was had stopped when she stopped, to prevent his footsteps from being heard. Carmen's first thought was that it was Ivy again, but after a moment she decided that after their chance meeting Ivy would be more direct. She started walking again, and turned into a corridor that she saw had a large glass window of a room. Although she tried to maintain her same speed, as if she suspected nothing wrong, her pace involintarily quickened and so did the pace of the person behind her. He was nearer now, and she took a deep breath to calm herself even as she felt her heart flutter. A few more paces, and the person behind her broke into a trot. She turned to the side and looked in the glass to see the reflection of the person behind her.

A blond boy in an army jacket.

Quick as lightning she leaped forward, just as Zack tried to pounce on her from behind. He shouted, and two more Juniors suddenly appeared, one from each of two side corridors. She tore past them, and they pursued her, shouting as she ran. She sprinted down the hall, zigzagged down the twisting corridors, and almost fell down a side flight of metal stairs. Upon reaching the bottom she ducked into a tiny crawlspace under the stairwell, and after two heartbeats she heard the Juniors thunder down the stairs and continue running down the hall. She held her breath as she saw them through the spaces in the stairs, hoping they would not look back.

How ironic it would be, she thought to herself as she hid behind the stairwell, if they would catch her now that she had finally found a damned good reason to stay free, and that the reason was to save those Juniors' lives. How ironic that she was finally doing something useful and her past activities would now prevent her from finishing what she had come to do. This is not the time, this is not the time for them to take me!

More footfalls came from the corridor she had just left, and she stopped breathing when she sensed more Juniors above her. She remained pressed against the wall, and listened to them speaking. She drew in her breath when she heard sniffing, and realized with horror that they had brought the dog with them. In the corridor near the stairwell, he small bloodhound sniffed at the ground, inching closer and closer to where she hid. Its tail wagged eagerly as he followed the trail she had made. It began shuffling down the stairway and sniffed at the bottom stair. Its back was still turned to her, and she waited in agony, very still, not making a sound, mentally forcing her will upon it as if she could keep it from turning around. It took its time, wagging its tail and whimpering happily as if it were on a sportsman's hunt. Carmen's breath caught in her throat and she choked; hearing her, the dog looked back. Their eyes met, and it set up a howl.

In that instant the others, who had turned back, rounded the other end of the and found her. Four Juniors, Zack running in the lead, spotted her and shouted. She froze, and looked back; the other set was catching up to her. To her right were double doors leading to a large two-story room. Should she run? Or should she stand her ground as she always had? Would they believe her story about Muerganne? They ran for her, ready to jump her, and she read in their eager faces that no story would save her from imprisonment now. Her only option was to run, as fast and far as she could; she turned tail and fled.

The four Juniors let out a triumphant shout as they chased her. In all the time they had worked against her she had stood her ground, said her piece, and then vanished like smoke, leaving them stunned and empty-handed. Now she was running from them, running in fear; they sensed her fright and feeling of helplessness, and it spurred them faster, feeding their speed, strength, and confidence with her terror. They had her this time.

She dodged a Junior near the door; another leaped in front of her, and she turned on her heel and ran to the left. Another leaped into her path, then another, and another! One made a grab for her and she dodged, losing her balance and falling hard on the floor. She scrambled up again and felt no pain; adrenaline had broken uncontrolled into her body, and it speeded her flight as she began to panic. More and more Juniors appeared along her sides, shouting as she fled down the aisles. On the left, on the right; another and another! A swarm of Juniors was descending upon her. She lifted her legs higher, pumped her arms faster, and breathed in ragged gasps. She suppressed a cry of terror as she heard their eager shouts and realized they were enjoying this. They were hunting her down and getting as much pleasure from it as if they were playing a game. Of course it was a game, a game she had played for ten years, but now she wasn’t playing anymore…

The dog ran quickly, and in a few moments it was a leap behind her, growling. She glanced up, noted the baclony above her, and jerked her hand above her head. She flexed the hand, and a rope shot forward from the mechanism on her wrist. The hooks on the end caught, and she was pulled upward into the air. The dog skidded to a halt; and the four Juniors, unable to stop, piled into it and they all fell to the ground. It was a rather comical sight, and Carmen would have laughed if she were not in such great danger.

After crossing the balcony and entering a door on the second floor, Carmen turned down a passage and was met by two more Juniors; she skidded to a stop, turned a full 180 degrees, and continued running in her origional direction, the four other Juniors already on the second floor and barely missing her as she ran into the main hallway once more. Each time she tried to turn down a different path she was met by another pair of Juniors. With her heart thunping wildly, she lost all control, and began fleeing down the main corridor as fast as she could go. She heard their yells behind her as they chased her down. At any moment she would be knocked down from behind and they would have her. At any moment she would feel the steel grasp of their hands restraining her as she tried to free herself. At any moment...

There was a door. She didn’t know where it led, but there was nowhere else.

She dived, rolled, and slammed the door shut. It clicked, and she heard the angry frustrated shouts of the Juniors as they banged on the locked door, their prey once again having slipped through their fingers. Carmen was shaking like a treeleaf in a windstorm and panting in short, sobbing breaths, as she frantically tried to brush away the feeling of the Junior's touch from her shoulder.

It didn’t take long for them to break down the door. A yell from Zack, a karate shriek from Ivy, and it was open. Carmen looked wildly around the large room. All the windows were thirty feet above her head.

There was a shock and a pain, and she felt herself being hurled bodily to the ground. Her arms and legs reacted instantly and heaved the weight off her. It was soft and it grasped at her as she sent it sailing through the air. She rolled over, leaped to her feet, and saw one of the Juniors picking himself off the cement where she had thrown him. Another appeared behind him. Then another.

She whirled round, and was horrified to see still more Juniors, forming a circle around her. She glanced up; the ceiling was too low to jump. Her head snapped back down and she danced frantically round in a circle. For even in her fear of her imminent death, her movements held an unequaled grace; and the trapped terror of the previously unconquerable woman, about to be fettered forever, was the most stunning and remarkable thing the Juniors had ever seen. Each of the Juniors saw the look on her face, but only Ivy's green eyes saw it for what it was; the bewildered sick look of a cruel trickster's victim, combined with terror and utter despair.

One of them made a running jump, and she dodged down and to her left as he sailed over her. The other Juniors, seeing her attention diverted, rushed at her and grabbed her. She fought back, throwing them off with a violent urgency. Her sudden battle spirit only encouraged the Juniors; for if she was physically fighting them, they knew that her fight was for her survival. She had no other options left.

Several Juniors at once attacked her, and she fell to the ground. She tried to rise, but there were too many for her and they held her down. She continued to struggle as she felt their weight pressing her to the ground, front side down, and strained with all her strength against them. Finally she felt them restraining her so that she could not move; and she let out a short cry of despair as she felt her hands being pinned behind her back and heard the handcuffs snap. Defeated, she fell limp in surrender.

Jasmine and Armondo raised her to her feet, and the first thing she saw when she looked up was the triumphant look on Zack's face. "Guess what!" he said with a self-satisfied grin. "You're under arrest."

Carmen said nothing; she was still gasping for breath. Tatyana stepped forward and inquired, "What are you doing here? The whole building is empty." Several of the other Juniors voiced their puzzlement. Carmen's gaze fell upon Ivy; it was clear that she knew from the look on her face, but she pretended to know no more than the rest of her comrades.

Carmen was seized with a vague hope that if she told them about Muerganne, she might find time to figure out an escape for herself, as the Juniors would simply transport back home.. "Muerganne's people are here." she told them, her face a picture of sincerity. "If they find you they will kill you. You must leave." She hoped that they would take advantage of her effort to save their lives; and her own as well.

They stared at her for a few moments; then suddenly Zack snorted. "There's nobody here!" he told her, spreading his arms wide. "Did you actually think that we would believe a story like that?" Some of the other Juniors shook their heads, and Carmen looked round in puzzlement, unable to understand why they wouldn’t believe her. Zack continued, "No offense, but…you might be a good thief, Carmen, but you're a terrible liar."

Shocked by his words, she stared at him in disbelief. "But..." she began, "I'm not lying. Muerganne is here! We are all in danger!" she looked at Ivy for support, but Ivy looked away. As the Juniors mutter their denials, she shouted, "Have I ever lied to any of you? I'm telling the truth!"

"Tell it to the judge." said Armondo, and shoved her.

Abruptly Ivy stepped forward. "Don't handle her so rough, street cop!" she shouted at Armondo, and pushed him from Carmen's side. "What if she is telling the truth, or at least thinks she is?"

Zack frowned. "C'mon, Ivy, don't tell me you believe that!"

Ivy looked indecisive for a moment, then said, "Of course not." There were mutterings of agreement from the others, some of them still snickering. Carmen looked at the Juniors around her, then at Ivy, who looked away from her hurt glance. There was nothing else for it. Her shoulders slumped, and closing her eyes, she bowed her head. Ivy felt her move, and looking up, she could sense the young woman's hurt and sorrow, but restrained herself--not without effort--to do nothing. All will gone from what was left of her spirit, Carmen docilely let them lead her away.

Return to the Summary 1