As it approaches, you see Chase Devineaux standing on deck, grinning proudly. He orders the cruiser close to where you are standing and then tosses a rope ladder down the side. “We saw you jump from Carmen Sandiego’s boat,” he shouts, “and came to rescue you. Come, swim to me. I am eager to speak with you.”
Reluctantly, you dive back into the water and swim with tired arms to the Interpol cruiser. You catch the rope ladder and haul yourself up until you stand wearily on the deck.
“Take our guest inside,” Chase barks. “We have much to discuss.”
Two Interpol officers grab you roughly and take you inside the cabin of the cruiser. To your dismay, they sit you on a bench and handcuff your wrists behind you—treating you like their prisoner.
A few minutes later, Chase comes into the cabin and sits across from you. “Well, well. Carmen Sandiego may have slipped through my fingers once again, but it seems I have captured one of her associates, oui?”
You start to speak, but he interrupts you. “No! I will ask the questions here. Tell me, why is Carmen Sandiego stealing exotic animals from all around the world? A rhinoceros from Kenya. A red wolf from North Carolina. A tiger cub from Vienna. And now I receive a tip that someone is trying to steal one of the chubby parrots from here in New Zealand.”
“Inspector Devineaux,” you protest, “you have it backwards. Carmen is trying to save the animals. I know. I work at the zoo in Vienna where the Amur tiger cub was stolen.”
“Aha,” says Chase confidently. “I knew it was an inside job!”
“No, that’s not what I said. It was . . . criminal organization called VILE, some of the most dangerous criminals in the world.”
Chase leans in close. “Enough lies. Tell me now where I can find Carmen Sandiego, or I will hold you personally responsible for every single animal theft.”
“I don’t know,” you say. You really don’t know where Carmen is now, and even if you did, you wouldn’t tell Chase Devineaux.
When you arrive back on land, you are immediately arrested and taken into custody by Interpol. Chase says that you will be going to prison for a very long time. You know you are innocent, but your story is so strange, you fear that no one will believe you.
THE END
Return to page 78.
“YOU HAVE A DEAL!” you say.
The woman smiles and tells you that half of the money has already been transferred into your bank account. The other half will come as soon as she gets her snake back. You check your account on your phone and see that you are indeed one hundred thousand euros richer!
The woman’s face disappears from the screen and is replaced by a map, with a flashing ping at a nearby location. You turn the truck around and head for the marked spot, which turns out to be a bus station. As instructed, you park the pickup truck and catch the next bus for São Paulo.
Two days later, you are back home in Vienna. The whole crazy adventure seems like a dream—but the mountain of money in your bank account is very real. You give most of it to charities that help save endangered species around the world but save enough to buy yourself a sweet new car. You figure that you’ve earned it.
THE END
Return to page 112.
“NO,” YOU SAY. “I don’t want to be a thief, and besides, if I’m being honest, I really hate how you’ve been stealing all these animals.”
“Well, I’m sorry to hear that,” says Brunt, and then pulls out her phone. “Brunt here. I’m going to need the Cleaners down at the docks ASAP.”
The Cleaners? You don’t like the sound of that.
“Maybe we can compromise,” you say. “Just take me back to Vienna, drop me at the Schönbrunn Zoo, and I promise not to cause any trouble or mention anything to anyone about any of this.”
“Sorry, sugar, but that horse has left the barn. You made your decision, and now I’m going to need you to park yourself on that bench over there until some friends of mine arrive.”
You do as she says. What choice do you have? A few minutes later, two men wearing janitor uniforms, one short and one tall, emerge from the large gray building. They walk over and stand right in front of you.
“Greetings,” says the short one in a Russian accent. “You will be coming with us now, I think.” The two men grab you, one on each arm, their grips painfully strong. They stand you up and lead you back toward the building.
“Where are you taking me?” you ask.
“No conversations, please,” the tall one responds.
As the doors to VILE Academy slide open and the Cleaners lead you inside, you have a feeling that this is . . .
THE END
Return to page 20.
YOU’RE NOT ABOUT to put some random gizmo into your ear. You pitch the device over the railing and into the ocean. The red drone considers you for another moment and then buzzes away.
You decide that this night has been strange enough and that maybe you should get some rest, so you go below deck. Finding a small cabin with a cot inside, you stretch out and go to sleep. When you wake up and come back out on deck, it’s a beautiful morning, the sun sparkling over the Mediterranean Sea.
Moose Boy stands at the ship’s railing, so you walk over to join him. “Where are we going?” you ask.
“I’m not supposed to tell you anything,” he says cautiously, “so let’s just say that it’s a private island with its own secret zoo off the coast of Greece.” He slaps himself on the forehead. “I guess I just told you a lot.”
You pat him on the shoulder. “That’s okay. It will be our secret.”
Sure enough, within a few hours, you are approaching a green jewel of an island that rises out of the Mediterranean. You know that Greece has thousands of islands and that if you have enough money, it’s possible to buy one all for yourself.
The cargo ship sails into a natural harbor where the crew ties up at a long dock. A crane attached to the dock lifts the first animal crate, the one with the giant panda, off the ship and onto a waiting flatbed truck. Once the crate is secure, the truck drives away on a road that leads over a ridge.
No one seems to be paying any attention to you, so you decide to follow the truck. When you reach the top of the ridge, you are astonished to see an entire zoo. There are a few carefully constructed habitats separated by fences. In one rocky enclosure, a Komodo dragon suns itself on a rock. There’s even a large water tank, where you glimpse a sea turtle swimming around.
Near the entrance to the zoo, Coach Brunt is talking to a man in a perfect tan suit. “The master is pleased,” the man says. “However, we cannot send payment until the three final animals are delivered.”
“Fair enough,” says Brunt. “They’ll be here soon. In the meantime, I’m happy to stay and enjoy your Greek hospitality. How about someone fixes me a gyro?” Brunt notices you. “Plus,” she says to the man in the suit, “I got you a bonus. We’re throwing in a free zookeeper, from a fancy zoo in Vienna.” She waves for you to come over. “Zookeeper, come on and introduce yourself!”
You shake the man’s hand. “I do have to get back home eventually,” you say nervously, “but I’m happy to help the animals get settled.”
Brunt frowns at you. “Now, now, sugar, I thought you understood. When you take a job with VILE, it’s a permanent position.”
“Wait . . . you mean I’m supposed to stay here . . . forever?”
“That’s what permanent means.” Coach Brunt clenches her fists in a way that tells you not to argue anymore. “You’re a zookeeper,” she says. “Now, go do some zookeeping!”
The next day, two more animals arrive by cargo plane, a black-footed ferret and a Cropan’s boa from the Americas. All the animals are put into their new habitats and start to settle in. Finally, a kakapo egg is delivered from New Zealand, which you’ll need to watch carefully until it hatches. With the zoo complete, Coach Brunt takes her payment and leaves.
As weeks and months go by, you get used to your new life. You are made the head zookeeper, with tw
o assistants to help you. The zoo is mostly well designed, but you do have ideas to improve some of the animals’ homes. The man in the tan suit tells you that he can get anything you need, and sure enough, everything you ask for arrives by boat within days. You meet some of the other staff on the island: an army of gardeners, groundskeepers, cooks, carpenters, and cleaners. Some of them become your friends.
Every so often, the master of the island throws a party that includes a tour of the private zoo. His guests ooh and aah while he talks about how incredibly rare the animals are and what a privilege it is to see them.
Months stretch into years, and Nadezhda is now a strong and beautiful Amur tiger. It’s certainly not the life you expected—head zookeeper at an illegal zoo on a private Greek island—but it’s not a bad life . . . not really.
THE END
Return to page 123.
“YES,” YOU TELL CARMEN. “I’ll join your crew.”
“Perfect,” she says.
Carmen drops Lady Dokuso and her team, still unconscious, in a park outside Paris. She calls Interpol with an anonymous tip to pick them up, saying that they are responsible for all the animal thefts. She also tells Interpol that the stolen animals can be found on an island off the coast of Greece.
From there, you start your new life with Carmen’s crew. She teaches you thieving skills, like self-defense, sneaking, deactivating security systems, picking locks, and picking pockets. You travel with Carmen all around the world, using your new talents to stop VILE’s schemes.
Before long, she trusts you to handle capers on your own. You break into the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a top-secret tech lab in Munich, and a bank vault in Singapore. You never imagined that you would become a thief, but it turns out that you’re a great one—fast, smart, and stealthy.
Like Carmen, you steal only for good, never for personal profit. You are proud to be part of Carmen Sandiego’s crew and grateful to be her friend.
THE END
Return to page 129.
VILE PLOT
THE FIVE VILE INSTRUCTORS were gathered in the faculty lounge, discussing their latest defeat at the hands of Carmen Sandiego.
Coach Brunt, an enormously strong Texan who taught self-defense, shook her head sadly. “Black Sheep could have been VILE’s best operative, then she had to go and betray her family. Sometimes I wonder where I went wrong.”
“Let’s not dwell in the past,” snapped Professor Maelstrom, a gaunt man with a wicked face. “Black Sheep no longer exists. Now she is Carmen Sandiego, our sworn enemy, and she must be stopped by any means necessary.”
“It will not be easy,” grumbled Shadowsan, a grim Japanese man trained as a ninja. “Carmen Sandiego is fast, she is strong, and, most of all, she is smart.”
“She also had the worst table manners of any student I can remember,” said Countess Cleo, with her nose in the air. “To be honest, I never thought she’d amount to anything.”
The fifth VILE instructor, Dr. Saira Bellum, wasn’t paying attention to the conversation. She had five computer monitors open in front of her, tapping away at one with her left hand and another with her right hand, while looking at a third.
“Dr. Bellum,” said Maelstrom wearily, “do you have anything to contribute?”
Bellum’s specialty was science and gadgetry. “Oh, indeed I do,” she said with a mad chuckle. “Perhaps our operatives will not be so worried about Carmen Sandiego— once they are able to fly.”
The four other instructors stared at Bellum blankly, waiting for her to explain.
“Jetpacks!” she exclaimed, waving her hands in the air. “Ten months ago, I hired a top technology company to build them according to my plans. The first jetpacks will be delivered tomorrow. Just imagine, VILE operatives will be able to strike from the sky at any time!”
“Well,” said Countess Cleo with a sly smile, “I have always enjoyed looking down on people.”
“Excellent,” Maelstrom agreed. “It seems that we have some good news today after all.”
Will VILE succeed in their plot to become flying criminals? In this story, it’s up to you. Your choices will lead to one of twenty endings.
ARE YOU READY?
Turn the page.
YOU ARE AN ENGINEER at Zeta Circuits, a technology company in Singapore.
You have lived your whole life in Singapore, a city at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula in Asia. Long ago, the area belonged to fishermen and pirates, and later became part of a British colony. Today Singapore is its own country—your grandparents remember when it declared independence in 1965.
As one of the busiest ports in the world and a hub of high-tech manufacturing, Singapore is bursting with opportunities for a smart engineer like you. In fact, you recently got the chance of a lifetime: a job on a top-secret project for Zeta Circuits.
You have been working on personal jetpacks, small enough to wear on your back, powerful enough to let a human fly like a bird. Although you are part of a large team, you have made important contributions, especially to the design of the rockets. After ten months of hard work, the jetpacks are finished.
Tonight you are working late, reviewing the results from the final flight tests—but after sixteen hours of staring at numbers on your computer screen, you have dozed off at your desk. You wake up disoriented, looking around your dimly lit office. All your coworkers are gone. Glancing at the clock on your computer, you see that it is 2:30 in the morning.
On the other side of the room, the door to the vault that holds the jetpacks is cracked open. Thai’s strange. The vault has a thick metal door, which can only be unlocked by a fingerprint sensor. It’s always supposed to be closed, to guard against high-tech spies and thieves. This doesn’t make any sense, unless . . .
Unless there’s a thief in the vault right now.
WHAT DO YOU DO?
▷ Trigger an alarm.
▷ Investigate yourself.
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Endangered Operation Page 8
