"Headed for the Future"
by Belle Book

Part Six

Three minutes after Sara's theft, approaching
the Broadcasting House in Marylebone District,
London, Year 2605

        Ivy, Zack, Carmen, Renee, Jaci, and
Polly had been racing from Canary Wharf to
the Broadcasting House.  Chief Lyons had
alerted the people in the area near this
building, so they had all evacuated, just
in case the magnet exploded.

        Globie had reported that Sara was
flying toward the Broadcasting House at a
general speed of twenty miles an hour.  He
had been urged to keep at that speed, while
the others went at thirty miles an hour in
a more roundabout way, so as to beat Sara
to the spot.

        Carmen led the group, Sara's laser
pistol inside a pocket in her coat.  While
she had no intention of hitting Sara with
it, she did think it would come in handy
as a diversion, to enable Globie to grab
the magnet, if such a diversion was needed.
Behind her, Polly was managing to keep her
seat.  Then came Ivy, with Zack behind her,
and Jaci trailed them, with Renee behind
her.

        At that moment, they reached the
front parking lot of the Broadcasting House,
home of the B.B.C.  Nobody could be found.

        "Looks like we beat Sara!" Ivy said.

        "Yes, but not by much," said Jaci.
"I think I see her just now."  Jaci pointed
to the southeast as she spoke.

        Carmen looked.  Sure enough, there
was Sara, and right behind her was Globie.

        "It's time, detectives," said Carmen.

_______________________________________________________

Outside the Broadcasting House, in the sky

        Globie saw Sara approaching the Broadcasting 
House, when all of a sudden, she stopped.

        Looking down, Globie saw why.  Carmen,
Ivy, Zack, Jaci, Renee, and Polly had reached
the Broadcasting House front parking lot and
Sara had seen them.  She knew she'd have to
get past them to get inside.

        So, Sara raised her glove, and fired
a shot at the group.  Polly was hit, and fell
to the ground.  Renee went to her side.

        But Sara had the magnet in her other
hand, and the ends were pointed at Globie.
Globie took his opportunity, and flew
toward the magnet.  Fortunately, Carmen had
seen Globie, and had aimed her laser pistol
at Sara, encouraging Sara to attack her.  As
a result, Sara was too busy aiming her glove
at Carmen to pay attention to Globie.

        Before Sara could attack Carmen, Globie
grabbed the magnet's ends, and in an instant,
he felt incredible power flowing into him!

        Sara felt the tug at the magnet, and
turned, in time to see Globie trying to pull
the magnet away.

        "No, you don't!" yelled Sara, and she
aimed her glove at Globie -- but the blast
had no effect on him!

        "Looks like whoever has touched the
magnet is unaffected by your gloves," said
Globie.

        Sara and Globie began an intense
tug-of-war for control of the magnet, with
the others down below dragging Polly behind
the Broadcasting House in case the magnet
exploded.

        The tug-of-war was intense, with both
Sara and Globie kicking at each other, but
with no effect, at least at first.  However,
though both had immense power, Sara was by
nature physically weaker than Globie, and
in a fight would weaken first, even if she
was as powerful as she was now.

        Finally, Sara began to weaken, and
Globie saw his chance.  He punched Sara, and
she let go of her hold of the magnet.  Globie
grabbed it, only to see Sara come after him.
He dodged Sara, then used the magnet to aim
a blast at her jetpack!

        The jetpack lost its power, and Sara
fell to the ground.  The police had arrived
a few minutes before, so they caught her
before she reached the ground.

        Globie then was about to fly down
and return the magnet, when he saw that it
was flashing furiously.  Chief Lyons had
told him that when that happened; it meant
that the magnet would explode!

        So, Globie yelled, "Hide!  The magnet's 
going to explode!"

        The policemen hid, with Sara in tow,
and Globie threw the magnet down, before
flying to safety behind the farthest of the
policecars.

        The magnet fell to the ground, glowed 
for a moment, then exploded in a blinding
flash of light.  The nearest cars were thrown
against cars further back by the explosion.

        Globie, who was safe behind a car by
this point, opened his communicator.

        "Ivy!  Zack!  Jaci!  Is Polly okay?"
he asked.

        Jaci's voice answered, "She was stunned, 
but fortunately will recover.  Are you okay?"

        "I'm fine," said Globie, then turned
to Sara, who was being held by the police.

        Chief Lyons said, "Sara Bellum, in
the name of the Metropolitan Police, I am
placing you under arrest and am handing you
to Acme for trial."

        Globie then stepped forward and he
placed the Time Cuffs, which Polly had given
him prior to going out after Sara, on Sara's
wrists.

__________________________________________________________

Ten minutes later

        The police and the detectives had
been very busy over the past ten minutes,
Carmen noted.

        First, the detectives explained the
real reason they'd come to capture Sara,
including the real status of Carmen.  Since
Carmen had not stolen anything while she
was in London or in Calgary, the police
had no plans on arresting her.  But Carmen
was certain the detectives would try to
arrest her as soon as things settled down.
Therefore, Carmen had to escape quite soon.
Of course, Sara would go back with the
detectives to face trial.

        As for damage to the Broadcasting
House and the parking lot, they were very
lucky there.  The explosion did cause a
big hole in the parking lot, but it was
repairable.  In fact, repairs would be made
beginning the following day.  Most of the
cars were badly damaged, some from the
explosion itself, some from crashing into 
other cars, some from being crashed
into by other cars, but the cars could
be repaired easily, and backup cars were
being sent.

        As for the jetpacks, Sara's was
out of power thanks to the blast from the
magnet, and Globie had taken his off just
before checking on Polly, who had recovered 
by this point.

        In fact, Carmen could see Globie's 
jetpack some distance away from Globie,
who was currently watching over the
newly captured Sara.  So, Carmen decided 
it was time to go back into the present.

        Carmen snuck up and grabbed the
jetpack.  Putting it on her back, she
snuck some distance away from the others
before activating it.

        The sound of the jetpack alerted 
the other detectives, particularly
Globie, who looked for his jetpack.

        "Where is it?" Carmen heard
Globie yell.

        "Here it is," Carmen replied.

        As the detectives turned, Carmen 
continued, "I was glad to help you
capture Sara, but if I stay, I know you
will try to arrest me.  So, come and
catch me, detectives."

        And with that, she flew into the air.

        Below her, Globie cried out, "Let's
get her!"

        Globie and Polly took one rocket-bike, 
Jaci and Renee took another, and 
Zack and Ivy took the third, while Chief 
Lyons, at the detectives' request, took 
Sara and went into his own policecar.

        But by the time they all got onto 
the rocketbikes or the policecar, Carmen 
was flying away.

______________________________________________________

Hyde Park, two minutes later

        Three rocketbikes and one policecar 
arrived.  After thanking Chief Lyons 
for his assistance on the case, Globie, 
Ivy, Jaci, Zack, Renee, Polly, and Sara 
(still cuffed) raced into the park after
Carmen.  Chief Lyons went after them,
hoping to retrieve the jetpack.

        "I can't believe I let her take
my jetpack!" Globie growled.

        "Carmen's clever," said Jaci.

        They went to the spot where Jaci 
had discovered the time machine.  It was 
still there.  However, Carmen had the door 
open.

        "There's the jetpack," she said, 
pointing to a jetpack in the grass.  "I 
don't need it anymore, so Chief Lyons can 
have it. I also found this," she said, 
throwing them the time-travelling device 
Sara stole.

        "If you can recover the two paintings 
I stole, they're yours as well," Carmen 
added.  "See you in the present, detectives."

        With that, she closed the door and 
the machine began to spin.

        "I'll get her!" Globie cried, and 
he leapt toward the time machine.  But 
before he could reach it, it vanished.

        "Polly!  The Chronoskimmer!" Jaci 
cried.  "Do you still have it?"

        Zack pulled it out, saying, "I do."

        He activated it, and soon it began 
to hum.  Then the blue corridor opened.

        "She's heading for her base in New
Mexico," said Zack.

        With that, they all leapt into the 
corridor, which closed behind them, leaving 
Chief Lyons to retrieve the jetpack.

_______________________________________________________

The VILE Base, New Mexico, Year 1999

        The detectives arrived in time to 
see Carmen getting into her jet-powered 
helicopter.  Art Forger was trying to get 
in after her, with the paintings Carmen 
had stolen.

        While Renee and Polly guarded Sara, 
the other four leapt after Art and managed 
to capture him.

        But while Jaci was busy tying Art up, 
Carmen started her jet-powered helicopter.

        "Good job, detectives," said Carmen.  
"You have all the paintings.  Art was unable 
to make good copies of them, so you don't have 
any copies.  And Sara's been stopped."

        "But we don't have you!" said Ivy.

        "You can always catch me next crime," 
said Carmen.

        Then the jet-powered helicopter took off.

        "Drat!" yelled Globie.  "She got away again!"

        "And we were so close," said Ivy sadly.

        "I know, but at least we got the paintings back," 
said Zack, picking up the paintings.  "And we have Sara, 
and the time-travelling device."

        "Yes," Jaci added.  "So, now we have 
to return the paintings and turn Sara over to 
the Los Alamos police."

____________________________________________________

Acme HQ in San Francisco, a half-hour later

        Jaci now had time to reflect on how 
things had gone.

        She had returned "Majas on a Balcony" 
to the Prado, while Zack had taken Monet's 
painting back to the Philadelphia Art Museum.  
Meanwhile, Globie, Ivy, Renee, and Polly had
turned over Sara and Art to the Los Alamos 
police.  The two would be tried by Acme, 
Sara for the theft of the time-travelling 
device, and Art for conspiring to create
forgeries.

        They'd learned that Sara had hacked 
into the Los Alamos computer to find the 
information about the project.  The Chief 
had reassured Chase that he couldn't have 
done anything to stop Sara's hacking.

        And now, they were all back at Acme 
HQ, where the Chief was about to make an 
announcement.

        "Well, Chief?" asked Globie.

        "All of you get a month's vacation 
for your work on this case.  In the case of 
Globie, Jaci, Ivy, and Zack, it's doubly 
deserved, I might add," said the Chief.

        Ivan planned to tour Silicon Valley, 
California, and Zack asked to go with him.
Both Ann and Ivy were excellent dirtbikers,
and decided to do some dirtbiking on their
vacation.  Ann also planned to visit the
Pyramids toward the end of her month's
vacation.  

        Polly planned to visit the British 
Library, where two copies of the Magna Carta 
was being held, while Renee and Kim were 
busy making plans to catch a performance of 
Beethoven's Fifth Symphony in San Francisco 
that night.  And Globie was currently plan-
ning to go see every Broncos game he could.
That would make up for the last Broncos 
game, which was briefly interrupted by 
the last theft.

        Jaci planned to visit some of the
Native American sites in Central America,
sites such as Tikal and Chichen Itza.

        And more important, she planned
to ask Chase if he wanted to see those
sites with her.  She'd long wanted to
get to spend some time with Chase and
to get to know him as more than just a 
fellow Acme agent and the one who had 
furthered her training before she was 
posted to Madrid.  She'd just never had 
the chance, because of her work and his.  
Until now.

        So Jaci took a breath, and said, 
"Chase, I was just wondering if you have 
any plans for the vacation."

        "I don't yet," said Chase.  "Why 
did you ask?"

        "Would you like to go with me and 
see the Native American sites in Central 
America?" asked Jaci.

        Chase thought for a minute, then 
smiled and said, "I'd like to."

        Jaci smiled back and said, "Thanks."

        Chase then said, "If you wish, we 
can leave right now."

        "All right!"  Jaci cried, then she
calmed down and said, "I'd love to."

        So, Chase and Jaci said goodbye to 
their fellow Acme detectives, and went to 
begin their vacation. 

_____________________________________________________

Epilogue

Beverly D'Angelo's apartment, six days later

        Beverly got a knock on her door,
so she opened it.

        There seemed to be nobody there.  
However, there was something on the doorstep.

        Beverly took the package inside.  
Attached to it was an envelope.

        Beverly opened it.  Inside was a 
birthday card, and it said,

        "I know it's been a long time
since we last saw each other, but I'm
still thinking of you, and hoping you
have a happy birthday, as well as many
more happy ones ahead.  Happy Birthday, 
Love Carmen Sandiego."

        Beverly was surprised and very
happy.  Carmen still thought of her enough 
to want to send a birthday present 
to her!  Though Carmen was now a thief,
Beverly still cared about her.

        True, she had cared about all
the orphans, but she had especially
cared about Carmen.  And Carmen had
cared about her, too.  Enough to give
her a birthday present.

        She opened her present, and she
smiled as she saw the statue of Carmen.

        "Thank you, Carmen," she said
out loud.

        Outside the apartment, a woman 
silently smiled, then walked away.

        It was Carmen Sandiego.

		The End