A Secret Worth Keeping  
                             Part 2 

Acme Headquarters, 1997 (Almost 14 years) 

     Zack sat at his computer console; his sister Ivy stood beside him.  The 
two of them were carefully going over the employee file of the newest Acme 
Agent.  They had been assigned to introduce the new agent to the Acme 
policies, and even though she didn't start work until the next day, they had 
asked her to come to headquarters to meet with to discuss files and the Acme 
prodical. 

     "So when will this Scotts person get here?" Zack complained.  "I'm sick 
of waiting for her!" 

     "Give her a break Zack!" Ivy told him.  "Her first day isn't officially 
until tomorrow.  She's off doing errands for her mother her parents when I 
called her.  Her mother said she'd send her here as soon as she got home." 

     "But being late on the job won't help us any," Zack snapped.  "What if 
she's late when we're in the middle of a case?  We're liable to end up in a 
world of trouble!" 

     "Oh!" Ivy snapped back at him.  "And I suppose you've never screwed up a 
day in your life, Mr. Perfect!" 

     Zack chuckled embarassingly, remembering when he had created his Zack 
Attack 20,000 security computer, and he and his sister had gotten into a world 
of trouble, debating who's method of capturing criminals was better. 

     "I see your point," he stated.  "Besides, we are just meeting her.  We'll 
just tell her to try to be on time from now on." 

     "But we'll do it nicely," Ivy added.  "The last thing we need is to have 
our new partner hate us."  

     At that moment, the Acme C-5 corridor appeared just behind them.  Both 
Zack and Ivy turned to see who was entering the control room.  A moment later, 
a young girl exited the corridor and it closed behind her. 

     The young girl that now stood before them was not a tall person; only 
abou 4 foot, 11 inches, with long, brownish-blonde hair, and piercing sea- 
green eyes.  She was very thin, but well built, as though she worked out quite 
bit.  She was very beautiful. 

     She stood there,staring at the two of them for a moment and then spoke in 
a calm, gentle voice. 

     "Hello," she stated.  "I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner.  I'm Desiree 
Scotts." 

     Zack and Ivy were momentarily caught off guard by Miss Scotts' arrival, 
but Ivy quickly regained her senses and spoke. 

     "No appology needed, Miss Scotts," she replied.  "Welcome to Acme.  I'm 
Ivy, and this is my brother, and partner." 

     Ivy motioned to Zack, who was still had a stunned look across his face. 
He seemed in a daze, startled by how beautiful Desiree looked, and he hardly 
noticed his sister's hand, waving in front of his face.  When that had no 
effect on her brother, Ivy slightly nudged him in the knee with her foot. 

     "Aah!" Zack scowled, but didn't say anymore when he saw the 'get a grip' 
look his sister was giving him.  "He turned back to Desiree.  "Uh...hi.  I'm 
Zack!" 

     Desiree snickered at the embarassed expression on Zack's face, but then, 
she cleared her throat. 

     "As I was saying, I'm sorry I'm so late.  My parents are going to this 
huge party tonight and I had to do some errands to help them out.  Anyway, 
it's nice to finally meet you two.  I'm looking forward to working with you."
 
     "Well, we're, uh, looking forward to having you here," Zack stuttered. 

     "Both of us, we, uh, read your resimay, and, we were very impressed." 

     "Your resimay's not all that impressed him!" Ivy joked. 

     That really made Zack blush. 

     "Do you always have to do that?" he snapped.  "Can't I think someone's 
cute without you making some smart-alec remark?" 

     Ivy was about to snap back at him, but Desiree interupted. 

     "Please don't fight," she begged them. "We're here to work together, not 
tear each other apart." 

     "You're right," Ivy admitted.  "Sorry!" 

     Desiree smiled at her and Zack.  Suddenly, the screen to their left, 
sprank to life, revealing the odd-shaped head of the Chief. 

     The Chief was just a computer generated head, floating in the center of a 
pink screen.  His light-yellow face was narrow, with a square-shaped chin and 
neat mop of hair.  He wore a pair of glasses, which had a slightly orange tent 
to their lenses.  In all, he was very strange. 

     "Hot tip, Gumshoes!" the Chief announced.  "This just in from Crimenet. 
That wolrd famous criminal mastermind, Carmen Sandiego, is at it again.  She 
and her henchmen were just spotted outside the Natural History Museum in 
Chicago." 

     "Man!" Zack said in an annoyed voice.  "Doesn't Carmen ever take a day 
off?  We have other things we need to do!" 

     "Well," Ivy said, "the last thing Carmen probably wants is having more 
Acme agents chasing her across the globe."  

     Ivy sighed. Then she and Zack turned to Desiree. 

     "Sorry to get you here, only to have us run out like this," Ivy 
appologized.  "I guess we just wasted your time." 

     "That's alright!" Desiree assured her.  "Now go on.  You two have work to 
do." 

     "But we were gonna get you familiar with the Sandiego case before you 
started tomorrow," Zack told her. 

     "That's okay," Desiree replied.  "I think I'm ready!" 

     "Well just to be on the safe side," Zack suggested, "why don't you review 
the case from home tonight.  That way, you'll be good and ready for tomorrow."
 
     "That's a great idea," Desiree told him.  "I won't have anything else to 
do tonight since I'll be by myself until 2 in the morning or so.  I'll do 
that." 

     "Good," Ivy answered. "Then, I guess we'll see you in the morning.  Good 
night!" 

     "Player," Zack cried, "C-5 us to the Natural History Museum in Chicago, 
Illinois." 

     With that, the C-5 corridor opened and Zack and Ivy vanished into it.   



Scotts' Residence, later that evening 

     It was around 9:30.  Desiree was seated at her computer in her room, 
going over the Sandiego criminal file.  Her parents had already gone, so she 
was using her time alone to prepare for her first day at Acme.  Her cat, 
Samson, was asleep at her feet, as he often did when she worked at her 
computer. 

     As she scanned the page on her screen, she thought to herself, "Why do I 
have to read this?  It hasn't told me anything I didn't already know!" 

     Desiree sighed.  She was really bored, but continued to read until she 
reached the bottom of the page.  At the bottom of the page was a link to 
another file, titled "Project VILE".  A brief description of the page was 
given, stating that it concerned all known information on the Villians' 
International League of Evil: suspect dossiers and possible hideout locations, 
as well as ideas on how to stop VILE all together. 

     Desiree was about to go to the page when she heard her stomach rumble. 
she quickly stood, left her room, and went to the kitchen.  A few moments 
later, she returned with a turkey sandwich and a glass of milk.  She set both 
down next to the keyboard and sat back down.  She picked up her sandwich and 
took a bite as she clicked on "Project VILE".  A small screen quickly opened. 
     "Please enter employee authorization code," a voice said. 

     Desiree typed her code and was about to hit enter when Samson, smelling 
her sandwich, leapt onto the desk in front of her, causing her hand to slip 
and hit another key. 
  
     "Samson!" Desiree screamed at the cat, but he ignored her harsh voice and 
stepped onto the keyboard, accidentally hitting the enter key with one of his 
paws. 

     "Now look what you've done!" Desiree scolded, snatching him up and 
placing him on the floor.  "Shoo!"  She lightly smacked him and Samson fled 
the room. 

     She looked at the screen.  A message had come up. 

     "Downloading information!  Please stand by..." it read. 

     "I guess no harm was done," Desiree shrugged. 

     Suddenly the screen was filled with information, but before she could do 
anything, a voice spoke. 

     "The following information on "Project VILE" has been classified!" The 
voice stated.  "Only those who have security level 42 may view this 
information." 

     "Wow!" Desiree exclaimed.  "You've done it again, Samson!  I'd better get 
off this page.  I don't even have level 2 security clearance yet!" 

     Desiree was about to click back when something about Carmen that was on 
the page caught her eye, and she began to read.  As she read down the page, 
she realized why it had been clasified, and as she read further, she realized 
she'd discovered something she wasn't suppose to know. 


On board VILE Helicopter, somewhere over the Atlantic 

     Carmen was seated in the center chair on board one of her VILE 
helicopters, heading out over the Atlantic Ocean.  She and her henchmen had 
only hours earlier, pulled  off a successful heist at the National History 
Museum in Chicago: An ancient Anaszi Tapestry from the Central U.S.  As 
expected, Acme had sent Zack and Ivy, currently their two best agents, to stop 
her, but she had anticipated their arrival and had set a trap for them. 

     After capturing them and locking them in the museum's basement, she had 
taken the tapestry and fled, leaving one of her clever clues for them to 
crack, beginning her game of cat and mouse, once again. 

     Carmen had a satisfied grin on her face.  Her game was not only 
challenging and exciting, but hers to control.  She made up the plots, pulled 
off the heists, and still almost always was successful at making her daring 
escapes.  It was much more exciting than doing all that casework at Acme would 
have ever been, and she enjoyed every moment of her games.  Though sometimes, 
a feeling of guilt fell over her, or memories of her old Acme friends would 
surface, she couldn't imagine a more exciting way to live and she wouldn't 
trade it for all the riches in the world. 

     Suddenly, her security phone rang.  She knew that none of henchmen would 
disturb her in the middle of one of her capers without a good reason so she 
assumed there must be an emergency.  But when she picked it up, she didn't 
recognize the voice on the other end. 

     "Carmen!" the woman said frantically.  "Thank goodness I've been able to 
reach you!  We have a serious dilema pending!" 

     "Who..." Carmen started to say, but then she recognized the voice.  "Oh, 
it's you!  Calm down and tell me what has happened." 

     "The plan's been discovered, and it's in danger of being exposed!" the 
woman exclaimed. 

     "What?  How?" Carmen asked, understanding the urgency. 

     "I don't know!" the woman explained.  "The alarm around the file was 
tripped at around 9:30.  We've traced the connection to the address of a young 
Acme recruit named Desiree Scotts.  It must have been her that accessed the 
file." 

     "Oh dear!" Carmen replied.  "Well, what do you want me to do?" 

     "We can't let her tell," the woman replied.  "If she does, the plan will 
be ruined!  You have got to stop her!" 

     "Alright,"  Carmen told her.  "I'll stop her, but you need to firgure out 
a way to keep her silent without causing her any harm." 

     "I'm already on it!" the woman staed.  "Good luck!"   

     Then, she hung up; Carmen did as well. 

     "Is something wrong, Carmen?" the helicopter pilot asked. 

     "Just a little change of plans," Carmen answered.  "We're returning to 
the hideout!  We'll just have to continue this little game another time!" 

     She then turned to the co-pilot. 

     "Call Walter in San Francisco," she told him.  "Tell him I need him to 
fetch a young Acme agent named Desiree Scotts, and bring her to me at the 
hideout, immediately!" 


Scotts' residence, thirty minutes later 

     Desiree sat, staring at the screen before her in disbelief.  She had read 
and re-read the document more than a dozen times since she first discovered it 
half an hour earlier, and she still didn't believe what it told.   

     "This is unbelieveable!" she exclaimed.  This can't be true!  No 
government would willingly let someone take their national treasures.  they'd 
be too afraid of not getting them back.  This must be some Carmen trick!" 

     She paused, staring at the screen. 

     "But, why would Carmen, or anyone, for that matter, make something like 
this up?" she asked herself.  "It must be true!  Oh, I just don't know what to 
do!  Maybe I should contact the Chief, or Zack and Ivy...No!  I can't!  This 
is suppose to be top secret!  Oh, what should I do?" 

     Suddenly, desiree heard the front door open.  Her head quickly turned.
 
     "What?"  she asked.  "Mom said they wouuldn't be home until at least 2:00 AM.  
I guess they left the party early.  I'll talk to her and dad.  They'll know what I 
should do." 

     Desiree clicked print, making a copy of the page.  When it was done, she 
picked it up and folded it gently.  Then, she shut off Crimenet and left her 
room, heading down the hall. 

     "Mother!" Desiree called.  "I found something important!  I need to talk 
to..." 

     She stopped as she reached the top of the stairs.  Looking down into the 
living room, she didn't see her parents.  Instead, she saw two of Carmen 
Sandiego's costumed henchmen.  Both of them had heard her, and the one closed 
the stairs started ascending the steps. 

     "Oh no!"  she exclaimed, backing up, quietly tucking the paper into her 
pants pocket.  

     She turned to run back to her room, but the henchmen, suddenly, sprang 
forward and grabbed her. 

     "Let go, creep!" she shouted, slamming her foot down on his. 

     "Ouch!" he cried, releasing her and grabbing his foot. 

     Desiree started to dash away, but before she had even taken two steps, 
the other man had scaled the stairs and tackled her.    

     Desire reached for the wrist communicator on her right arm, but the other 
henchman, who'd regained his senses, grabbed her wrists. 

     "I don't think so," he told her, pulling the communicator from her wrist 
and tossing it aside.  "Our boss would like a word with you, and we wouldn't 
want to disappoint her." 

     As he said this he pulled her arms behind her.  His collegue passed him 
some rope and he used it to bind her hands behind her back. 

     Once she was secured, the men pulled themselves up, and dragged Desiree 
to her feet.  One of the then picked her up and draped her over his shoulder. 
Desiree tried kicking and screaming, but it did no good.  They were too 
strong. 

     The henchmen carried her downstairs to the door.  the other man peered 
out quickly.  "Okay," he said, "it's clear!  Let's go!" 

     They swiftly carried her out of the house to a car-like hovercraft.  The 
other man opened the back door and the one who was carrying her, tossed her 
inside.  Then, he took out a piece of black cloth and tied it around her head, 
covering her eyes.  Then he shut the door and he and his partner got into the 
front seat, started the vehicle, and it flew off. 

     "Where are you taking me?" Desiree asked with deep concern. 

     "You'll find out," one of them told her. 

     Then all was quiet. 

     Desiree knew this was because she'd found that file.  She was poitive 
that Carmen knew that she'd read it, and this was her way of preventing her 
from sharing the information, but she had no idea how much trouble she was in 
because of it.  Now the only thing she could do was wait! 

		To be continued...