"A Secret Worth Keeping" Part 3 Scotts' Residence, 10:45 Mr. and Mrs. Scotts arrived back at their home after receiving a call from the Acme Detective Agency to return home. Their house was swarming with cops. Both quickly exited their car and raced up the sidewalk, but were stopped by an officer. "I'm sorry," he said, "but this is a crime scene. No one may enter." "But this is our home!" Mr. Scotts objected. "It's alright, officer," cut in Ivy's voice. "These are the parents." "Very well," he stated, allowing them to enter the home. Ivy immediately came to meet them. "What's going on here, detective?" Mrs. Scotts demanded. "Where's Desiree?" Ivy motioned them to sit, and both took a seat. "Now, I don't want to upset you, Mr. and Mrs. Scotts," Ivy explained, "but we have sufficiant evidence to believe Desiree has been abducted." "What?!" Mr. Scotts shouted. "When? Why?" "Sometime between the time you left and 10:15," Ivy stated. "We feel it was that time because your neighbors reported hearing screams at just after ten, and a passer-by reported seeing two of Carmen Sandiego's henchmen, fleeing the area in a hovercraft, shortly thereafter." "Well, where's Desiree?" Mrs. Scotts asked again. "You've found her, haven't you?" "No, we haven't," Ivy said, sadly bowing her head. "we don't have any clues as to where or why Carmn took her. My brother is checking her computer address report from Crimenet. She was suppose to view some files, tonight. Maybe they'll tell us something, but for now, we're at a dead end." "We never should have agreed to let her get this job!" Mr. Scotts said angrily. "Now, my precious baby girl is in the hands of that demented wacko, and we're all powerless to anything about it!" "I know how upsetting this is for you," Ivy comforted, "but there's no reason to believe Desiree is in any danger of being harmed by Carmen, or any of her henchmen. Carmen is not, by nature, a violent criminal, and in fact, has saved my brother and myself on numorous occations. I don't believe Carmen plans on hurting Desiree, but we will find her. I promise you that!" Near VILE Headquarters, several hours later Desiree sat silently in the back of the hovercraft. she was not sure how much time had passed; it seemed like an eternity. She was still bound and blind-folded, and her hands were becoming numb. The ropes were too tight, but she wasn't about to complain. Her abductors hadn't said a word to her since San Francisco. They were busy chatting to each other in some foreign language, though she was certain they were keeping their eyes on her. Finally, she felt the hovercraft descend; they were landing. When they had landed, the two men exited the vehicle. A moment passed, then Desiree heard the door to her left open. A hand grabbed her by the arm and dragged her from the hovercraft. She heard the door close, then suddenly, the blind- fold came off. Desiree stared wide-eyed at the huge stone building before her and gasped. It was enormous, four stories tall. It looked like an ancient cathedril or mansion. But she only had a moment to study its appearance though, because both men quickly grabbed her by her arms and forced her inside. Once inside, they hauled her down a short corridor to a set of double doors. One of them knocked hard and a female voice answered, "Come in!" The man who'd knocked opened the door and they took her inside. The room appeared to be an office. In the center was a large oak desk, which appeared to be kept quite tidy. There was a large leather-clad chair behind the desk and two in front. Three large book shelves, containing books and items of every sort, lined the walls. The chair behind the desk was facing a large window, the room's sole access to the outside. "Yes," came the female voice from behind the chair. "We've brought Miss Scotts, boss," one of them said. "Very good, boys," the woman said in a pleased sounding voice. "You may go now!" The men looked shocked. "Are you certain?" one man enquired. "This kid's pretty tough!" "I can handle her," the woman replied. "Okay," the other stated. Then, they both released their hold on Desiree and left, closing the door behind them. After they had left, the woman pressed a button on the right arm of her chair. Desiree heard a click, and she knew the door had been locked. She stared at the back of the chair, not making a sound. the woman was quiet for a moment, then with her back still facing Desiree, she spoke. "Well, Miss Scotts," she said calmly. It seems you happened upon something this evening, that you weren't suppose to know." Desiree didn't answer. "I was quite surprized when I received that call, alerting me that a young Acme recruit, with no experience with such an advanced system like Crimenet, was able to access the "Project VILE" document." "Not as surprized as I was, since I had only ment to go to the page that told what VILE is, or should I say, what everyone else thinks it is." The woman gave a gentle laugh. Then, suddenly, her chair turned around, revealing her. She was in her early thirties, with long, semi-curly black hair, and lovely blue eyes; her face was perfectly shaped. She wore a long red trench coat over a yellow turtleneck, a pair of black, leather gloves, and a large, red fedora with yellow trim sat atop her head. Desiree knew her instantly, though she'd been certain of her identity from the moment she'd been brought into the room. Sitting in the chair was the head of VILE herself, Carmen Sandiego. Carmen stared silently at her young captive for a moment. Then she stood up, came around the desk, and started walking towards Desiree. Instictively, Desiree took a couple of steps backwards backing against the office door; her hands, though still tied, began searching for the door knob. Desiree's actions caused Carmen to stop, a few feet from her. Carmen stared at her with a concerned look on her face. "Do you really believe I'd hurt you Miss Scotts?" Carmen asked. "To be honest," Desiree answered nervously, "I'm really not sure." Carmen sighed and bowed her head slightly. Then she came the rest of the way, and gently placed a hand on Desiree right shoulder. Desiree turned her head and looked at Carmen's hand. Then she turned back to Carmen. Carmen had a gentle, almost sad look on her face. "I would never hurt you, Desiree," Carmen told her. "The only reason I brought you is because you discovered a very important project, one that we can't allow to be exposed. It was felt that you would probably disclose the information to others, like Zack and Ivy, so I had to have you brought here! Do you understand?" Desiree nodded slowly. She was still very certain that she couldn't trust Carmen, it she really didn't have much of a choice. After a moment, Carmen removed her hand from and just stood, watching her for a moment. Then she took her by the arm and tugged gently. "Come over here," she told Desiree. Desiree had no choice but to obey, and moved away from the wall. Carmen then led her over to the desk. Carmen moved her in front one the large chairs. Then, suddenly, Desiree felt Carmen's hand touch her wrists. Startled, Desiree ripped away from Carmen and whirled around to face her. "It's all right, Desiree," Carmen explained. "I was just going to untie you." Desiree stared questioningly at Carmen. Her look was sincere. After a moment, Desiree turned back around and allowed Carmen to remove her ropes. "There we are," Carmen said as she pulled the ropes and slipped them into her pocket. "That should be more comfortable! Now, why don't you sit down, dear, and we'll discuss this." Desiree nodded, and sat down in the chair closest to her. Then, she gently twisted her wrists to get ridof the numb feeling in her hands. Carmen smiled gently, then walked back around the desk and sat down once more in her chair. After sitting down, Carmen turned to a small table next to her chair. On table was a glass pitcher, filled with water and ice, and several glasses. "Would you care for a drink, dear?" Carmen asked, picking up the pitcher. Desiree looked at her a mooment, and then nodded and softly said, "Please!" Carmen poured two glasses of water. Then she set the pitcher down, picked up both glasses, and passed one across the desk to Desiree. "Thank you," Desiree said, taking the glass. She took a sip; it tasted so good! "You're quite welcome, Desiree," Carmen answered, taking a drink from her own glass. Then she set it in the desk. "Now, why don't you tell me how you stumbled upon this plan." "It was an accident!" Desiree announced. "I didn't mean to open it!" "Easy, easy! Calm down!" Carmen told her. "I'm not upset, Desiree. I assumed it was an accident. I just wanted to know what happened." Desiree shook. She was very shaken up; Carmen could tell this. She stood again, came around in front of Desiree, and nelt down before her. Carmen then took her hand and held it gently in her own. "Desiree, honey," Carmen spoke in a calm, kind voice. "I know you're uncomfortable and very upset. I would be too if I were in your shoes at this moment, but I swear, with all my heart and sole, I will not hurt you. Please believe me! I couldn't ever hurt anyone, especially a little kid like you, and I won't let anybody else harm you either. I give you my word!" "Then what are you going to do with me?" Desiree demanded, almost in tears. "That isn't up to me," Carmen explained. "I wish it were, but it's not. It's up to Amanda Willis and her collegues." "The head CEO at Acme?" Desiee said in a stunned voice. "Then, what I read, is true?" "That's correct," Carmen told her, smiling. "Miss Willis notified me that you'd found out the truth about "Project VILE" and asked me to bring you here so you couldn't tell anyone what you'd learned, and right now, she's called an emergency meeting with the other CEO's to decide on what is to be done about your discovery of our plan. But until a decision is made, you're to stay here with me, as my guest. I've had a room prepared for you upstairs, and I've done everything I can to make things as comfortable for you as humanly possible. I don't want you to be afraid, even though I know that's not possible at the moment. But believe it or not, we really are on the same side; just, you might say, in different departs." Desiree smirked at Carmen last comment. Could what Carmen have said and what she'd read in that file really be true. Desiree decided to ask Carmen about this supposed plan. "May..., may I ask you something?" Desiree enquired nervously. "Of course, Desiree," Carmen answered. "How did you become part of this plan?" she asked. "I thought you left Acme to pursue a life of crime." "Well, I had become bored with my work," Carmen explained to her. "There wasn't any challenge left in my work, and I was considering changing careers. Miss Willis and the other CEO's didn't want me to leave. They wanted me to stay and train the Acme recruits, so they'd have many agents, who were just as good at detective work as I was. But there wasn't any challenge in that either, so I declied the instructor job they'd offerd me. But Amanda wouldn't give up! She and the other CEO's concocked this crazy plan where I would, pretend to leave Acme to pursue a career as a criminal. But in actuallity, it was an advanced training program that they wanted to use to teach Acme's new agents the ropes of the detective life, without putting them in any real danger. So far their plan has been very successful. We been able to filter out the bad agents, like Lee Jordan, and have been able to find and strengthen the agents who had a lot of potential, like Ivy and Zack." "So, the CEO council thought up this plan, and got permission from the government to follow through with it." "Exactly," Carmen stated, "and not only America, but dozens of other countries as well. The only condition they had was that they wanted a garantee that they'd get their national treasures back, and that, of course was agreed to." "So that's how you've been able to steal things, not only from the U.S., but from countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North & South America," Desiree said, understanding the whole plan now. "and I see why it needs to be kept a secret, because if everybody knew about, it would work. No one would really learn anything from chasing you." "Very good, Desiree," Carmen said to her. "Now, do you think you tell me what happened, that put you into this mess?" "Yes," Desiree replied. "I was surfing Crimenet tonight, and was eating a turkey sandwich. My cat must of smelled the turkey, and was hungry, because he lept up onto my computer table, and caused me to enter the wrong access code when I tried to go to the "Project VILE" page. Then he stepped onto the enter key before I had a chance to change the code. I guess the code he caused me to enter was the access code for the true "Project VILE" page, because it took me there." Carmen snickered, and then said, "So you got into all this trouble because of a cat. Cats can be such bothersome creatures sometimes, don't you think?" "Yes, and Samson's real good at getting me into trouble, but this is the first serious trouble he's gotten me into," Desiree added. "Well my advice, dear, is to not let Samson into the room when you,re eating and surfing Crimenet," Carmen suggested. "Next time, you might find some dirty little secret that I'm not involved with, and you might be in some real trouble. Now how about I show you to your room so you can get some rest. You look exhausted." Desiree nodded. To tell the truth, she was tired, and probably could use some sleep. Carmen smiled, and then stood andhelped Desiree up. She reached across the desk and pressed the button on the arm of her chair, unlocking the doors. Carmen then took Desiree's hand and led her out of the office. The two henchmen that had brought Desiree there, were waiting near the door that led back outside. Both of them started to take Desiree by the arms, but Carmen stopped them. "I've got her, boys," she told them. They nodded, and stepped back. Carmen and Desiree continued passed them, into the den, where there was a staircase that led upstairs. Carmen took Desiree up the stairs, and down a long corridor, passed many doors and a few windows. Finally they came to a stop. Carmen opened the door in front of them, and led Desiree inside. The room was modestly decorated, and very pleasant, with a beautiful canopy bed next to a large window. There was another door to the right of the bed, and a small, walk-in closet to the left. There was also a small table to theleft of the bed. "Well, this will be your room while you're room," Carmen explained to her. "That door to the right of your bed is a joint bathroom, so you won't have to leave your room to find the bathroom in the middle of the night. Now, I'll leave you be so you can try to get some sleep. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. no matter what it is I'll try to get it if it will help you feel more comfortable. If you'd feel safer, you can lock your door. I'll let you know when Miss Willis contacts me with their decision. I'll see you in the morning. Good night." Then Carmen turned and exited the room, closing the door behind. Desiree walked over to sat down on the bed. She was, surprized, that Carmen was being so polite, and still wasn't sure if she could trust her, but she was much more relaxed then she had been only half an hour ago. 'Maybe' she thought. 'Maybe everything's going to be all right after all.'' To be continued...