[Cancun, Mexico]

The museum stopped shaking. By now, the roof was caving in.

Carmen slipped away, dropping a small bag.

Ivy ducked. "If Luke lives through this," she muttered. "I'll kill him."

Eventually, the ceiling tiles stopped falling.

Ivy picked her way through the rubble. "And if Luke caught or catches Carmen,
I'll faint."

Luke reached down and removed the bag.

Ivy snatched it from him. "This must be Carmen's clue."

Inside the bag were two green stones, an article, and a map of the Pacific
Rim.

Luke took one of the stones and examined it. "Definitely jade. Only which
variety? There's two different varieties of jade--jadeite and nephrite." He
ran one finger along the gem. "A hardness of 7 on the Moh's scale, where talc
is one and diamond is ten. This specimen is jadeite. Jadeite also has a
specific gravity of 3.3 to 3.5." Luke took the other piece. "This is
nephrite. Nephrite has a hardness of 6.5 and a specific gravity of 2.9 to
3.1." Luke continued. "The Spanish conquerors of Mexico believed that the
Indians' green stones would cure kidney ailments. They called them kidney
stones or piedras de hijadas, and from this the word jade was derived. It was
only in 1863 that there were proved to be two different minerals, now called
jadeite and nephrite."

"Wait a minute," Ivy interrupted. "How do you know all this?"

Luke looked annoyed. "I'm Zack, Ivy. At least the part of Zack that actually
thinks straight."

"There's a scary thought." Ivy smoothed the map. "This is an old black and
white map. Myanmar is labeled by its former name, Burma. Burma and New
Zealand are highlighted in green."

Luke read the article. "It says here that there's going to be a jade exhibit
in Rangoon, Myanmar. Two jade vases are the main attraction. One is jadeite
made by a Burmese sculpture, and the other is nephrite, sculpted by the
Maoris of New Zealand. The two vases are identical in shape and size." He
grinned. "Kinda like reunited long-lost twins."

"Never mind," Ivy snapped. "C-5 us to Rangoon."

[San Francisco, California, USA]

Zack ran into the Hancock household and sighed.

There was a knock on the door. Zack answered it. He almost fainted.

"Hello, Luke," a soft voice with a British accent spoke. The speaker was a
lovely fourteen year old girl with long black hair and green eyes. She wore a
green and white daydress and a necklace of sparkling green emeralds. "Ready
for our date?"

Zack swallowed. Oh no, he thought. Trapped on a date with Luke's
drop-dead-gorgeous girlfriend. "Uh, Katrina?"

"Yes, darling?"

"Um, er....do you want to see my new comedy routine?" Zack ran in circles.
"Hey, Moe! A leaky faucet!"

Katrina stared at him. "The Three Stooges, Luke? The Three Stooges?" She
studied her host's face. "Something about you seems different. I can't quite
put my finger on it, though. You're not the Luke Hancock I know and love."

Zack gulped. Better pretend to be Luke, he decided. "But I am."

Katrina raised her eyebrows. "Oh, well. It's probably just my imagination.
Let's go to the Rosebud Cafe. We can take my limo."

Across the city, Mortimer's communicator beeped.

"Mortie!" the Chief cried. "I've got some bad news for you! Your cousin Lee
is on the loose! You are dismissed from your detective duties until Lee is
apprehended."

"But Chief," Mortimer protested. "What good is a detective who can't go on
cases?"

The Chief's computer image turned red. "This is for your own safety! And I'm
the boss, remember?"

[Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA]

"Oof!"

Moe Skeeter, Lars Vegas, and Jewel Case landed in the exhibit hall.

Jewel was the first to get up. "Come on, you two clowns. We've got to steal
those rubies."

Moe brushed himself off. "Who said you're the boss?"

"Yeah!" Lars agreed. "I'm the boss on this operation!"

"Who died and made you King Henchman?" snorted Moe.

"Carmen?" suggested Lars.

Moe bopped Lars on the head. "The boss is still alive, bonehead!"

Lars rubbed his skull. "But Carmen put me in charge of this operation."

"Oh, yeah?" Moe punched Lars and the two began to tussle.

Jewel rolled her eyes and made her way to the ruby case. "I hate working with
amateurs."

[San Francisco, California, USA]

"So, Luke, how is your food?" asked Katrina.

"Good," replied Zack. Although I'd settle for a plain cheeseburger than this
fancy stuff, he thought to himself, but didn't dare say aloud.

"Oh, Lukie!" called a high female voice from the next table.

Katrina frowned. "Sandra, what are you doing here?"

"Eating. Like what most normal people do in a restaurant," Sandra retorted
sarcastically.

"Get out of here, gold digger!" snapped Katrina.

Sandra sniffed, rose, and left.

Katrina turned back to Zack. "Now that the petty annoyance is gone, we can
have dessert."

"Great," Zack squeaked out. He glanced at the menu. "How about a coke float?"

"You usually order the chocolate mousse," replied Katrina. She glared. "You
aren't really Luke, are you?"

On the other side of the city, Antithesis knocked on Mortimer's door. "Sorry,
I'm late," she apologized. "I was busy teaching my young ballet students."

"That's okay," Mortimer replied.

A mail carrier came in. "Telegram for Mortimer Jordan."

Mortimer took the telegram. His face turned white as he read it.

"What is it?" asked Antithesis, voice full of concern.

"My cousin sent this. He says he's coming after me--tonight."

"What are you going to do?" Antithesis asked.

"I-I don't know. I just don't know."

To be continued