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.