Carmen Sandiego - The Final Caper

Chapter 12 - The Plan

(Jules's POV)

As I strode through the halls of ACME there was a lot of chatter between agents. The organisation normally wasn't one for gossip, but once the rumour went around that Carmen Sandiego was joining us, that was all anyone could talk about. I had many people come up and ask me to confirm or deny, but I'd always send them away with a "don't believe everything you hear." I still actually never answered the question, but this satisfied most people. When I was just outside of Carmen's cell, another agent came up for my opinion. I told them the same thing as everyone else and Carmen laughed as they walked away.

"Another cryptic message? Is anyone going to get a straight answer from you?"

I sighed, shaking my head.

"Not unless they have high enough clearance and demand the answer from me. Unfortunately for them, Agent Meszaros does not have high enough clearance."
Carmen raised an eyebrow at the last name.

"Meszaros, is that Hungarian?"
I nodded, astounded by her knowledge.

"Yes, Bence Meszaros. They came from Hungary, but got moved here after being recruited for ACME."

She became lost in thought, then her eyes lit up.

"Jules I just thought of a game we could play to pass the time. We can take turns talking about historical landmarks for a country and whoever runs out first is the looser."

I became excited at this, always eager to share my knowledge.

"It's a shame you didn't come up with this game before getting out, I would have loved sharing all my knowledge with you."
A small smirk crossed my lips.

"And wining of course."
I saw Bence running off, clearly about to tell everyone the information they had just uncovered. Carmen heard my challenge and got excited, looking happier than I had seen her in a while.

"Oh, it's on!"

After playing a few rounds, and being surprised when Carmen kept up with me, I remembered why I was there.

"Oh no I just remembered; we were supposed to go over the checklist!"
I started pulling it out of my bag, pen in hand. Carmen was laughing again, but not in a mean-spirited way. As we went through the checklist she said she was feeling good, and for the first time, I believed her. Afterwards I left, and took out my ACME issue tablet, the same one Carmen had been using to contact Player, and pulled up the message board. I sent him a message, knowing that he would respond quickly.

"It's Julia. I have something that I must discuss with you. Ember and Fireman are welcome, but their presence is not required."

As I knew he would, Player responded instantly.

"Why, is something wrong? They're sleeping right now so I don't want to bother them unless necessary."

Of course! In my nervous state I had completely forgotten about time zones. That did raise one question, however.

"My apologies, in my haste I had forgotten about time zones. Don't bother waking them up. If it's so late though, why are you awake?"

I could see that he had typed a message and then deleted it, and after a minute he had finally settled.

"It's fine, you don't even know where we are. I'm awake just in case something like this happens. Anyway, what's wrong? Has something gone wrong with the transfer to ACME?"

I was fidgeting, typing taking too long for me in my agitated state.

"Can we call? It may be more effective than typing."
When I got no response I quickly typed another message.

"It doesn't have to be a video call, just audio."
After a few more seconds I get a message back.

"An audio call sounds good; I was just setting up all my security measures."
I felt a pang of sadness that they still didn't trust me, which I quickly pushed down when Player started to call me. I picked up and got straight to the point.

"Since Carmen is being released soon I thought we could put together a celebration. I get you may not trust me with the location of your base yet, but I do want to help."
Player was stunned into silence for a few seconds, then started laughing.

"That's what you messaged about? Oh, thank god, I was so worried it was something bad. On the topic of our location, I'm fine with it as long as Carmen gives the ok, but Iv- Ember may have a problem with it."
I nodded, remembering her hostile reception, and then the fact Play couldn't see me.

"We could arrange it at another location, I just felt it would feel more like a welcome home party if it took place at Carmen's home."

Player made a mumble of agreement.

"I'll talk to the crew and try to ask Carmen discreetly if she would trust you there. I believe she will after everything that's happened, but she is the boss. Let's plan the party but not finalise anything till I have that confirmation. Does that sound good?"

After confirming it was I felt hope rise. I was getting lost in my thoughts again when Player spoke again.

"Also, that thing we discussed earlier? All taken care of. I've found the perfect one."

We spoke for hours before I could hear Player yawning. He tried to stay on by drinking coffee, but I told him to go to bed. I promised we wouldn't contact him for at least 8 hours so he could get a proper rest. After he logged off I put my tablet down happily. Everything was coming together.

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