After 20 long minutes Interpol came out of Carmen's car empty handed, except for one who had a letter in his hand. When Zack, Ivy and April saw them without Carmen they hung their heads.

"She got away?" yelled Zack. "Are you kidding me?"

"It's addressed to ACME" the agent said and handed it to Ivy.

She unfolded it and read it out loud, "I applaud your effort to capture me, detectives. But let me give you some words of advice. To catch something impossible make sure you first thought out ALL the possibilities…see you next crime."

The Lead Interpol agent, Station Master and Steve appeared. Zack seized the opportunity to talk to the Station Master. He and Zack went into his office. Steve and the Lead Agent remained on the platform.

"We've confirmed that the bust was concealed within a fake one. Thank you ACME detectives for your assistance on this case." He shook each of their hands then joined his colleagues.

5 minutes later Zack came out. "You're not going to believe this. I saw the surveillance video. Carmen walked out right in front of us. She was right behind the cabin stewards."

"That's just great" said Steve.

"The Chief isn't going to be happy about this" April said.

"Tell me about it" Ivy sighed.

All four detectives stood on the platform watching Interpol take Carmen's henchmen away. They felt relief and remorse about finishing the case.

~ ACME HQ ~

A day and a half later the tired detectives returned to San Francisco with one day to rest before their appointment with the Chief the following morning.

"Now I want to discuss what went wrong on the case" she paced back and forth in front of them.

The detectives sat straight up in their chairs, their hands folded on their laps.

"First, we get a call about King Tut's bust missing from Cairo. Correct?"

They nod.

"I assigned the case to Ivy and Zack, who are the most experienced detectives. Correct?"

They nod.

"We find out that there are four henchmen involved. I send Steve and April for assistance along with the warrants. Correct?"

They nod again.

"I am provided with the last location information and relay that to Interpol. They agree to rendezvous with you at the last train stop in Venice. I then get a call from our sponsoring agency demanding for an update as they hear we're so close to catching Carmen. I tell them we're going to nab her this time. I mean how hard it is for someone to escape from a bunch of boxes?"

The detectives look at each other.

"Which brings us back to why we're all here" she smiles. "Tell me how did she escape again?" The Chief was eerily calm.

Ivy cleared her throat, "She", sigh, "…escaped by walking out with the cabin stewards who were dressed in their red uniforms…" her voice trailed off.

"Walked out with the stewards." The Chief nodded. "So it was that simple." She threw her hands in the air out of exasperation. "So simple, in fact, none of you thought of it." Her voice boomed. "Now I have to explain to our sponsor, again, how we failed to catch her."

The detectives hung their heads.

~ACME HQ, A month later~

Zack, Ivy, Steve and April had recovered from their incident with the Chief. April and Steve were on a CrimeNet assignment. Zack and Ivy had just closed their separate cases. The Chief was in her office sorting through a pile of Monday's mail.

"I need to get an assistant" she mumbled.

She opened each one envelope, scanned its contents then placed it in it respective attention severity pile. Seeing an envelope from the credit card company was enough to make her stop. Raising an eyebrow she carefully opened it. The letter opener slowly tore through each strand of paper fabric. She carefully took it out, as if it was going to bite her.

Her eyes read each line item then widened as they settled on the total of almost $9000.00.

"They didn't tell me how much it cost to ride the Orient Express!" Expletives raced through her mind. "If this is part of Carmen's twisted plan to bankrupt ACME so we wouldn't have the funds to chase her, then I'd say its working."

"Zack! Ivy! Get in here!" she shouted with her eyes closed. She got up and paced behind her desk, mumbling to herself. "Oh the sponsor is going to love this one, especially when I have to ask for another budget extension." To calm her nerves she stared at the window, looking at the ocean and horizon.

Both detectives cowered in.

"Sit down" she snapped, still admiring the scenery.

"I received the credit card bill today." Her voice was relatively calm making the gumshoes more nervous. "I was appalled when I saw how much you spent. Can either of you provide an explanation?" Her eyes still focused outside.

Zack mouthed to his sister, "You do it."

Ivy mouthed back, "No you."

"I'm waiting"

Zack insisted. Ivy mouthed an explicit adjective at her brother. He sat back in his chair smiling smugly.

"We had no choice Chief. Carmen and her henchmen were on board" Ivy said nervously.

"I see, what about the clothes?"

"Well, if we didn't buy appropriate clothing we would've stuck out like four sore thumbs." Ivy was wringing her hands.

The Chief didn't say anything. The silence and anticipation for her next words was torture.

"I want the clothing retuned, as they are now ACME property."

"Yes Ma'am" Ivy said.

"Zack?"

He cleared his throat, "Yes Ma'am." His smug smile was gone.

"I'll notify Steve and April when they return." She finally turned around. "If you ever make charges like this again" Zack was going to say something, the Chief drowned him out "EVEN if Carmen is going on a luxury cruise you better find an alternative. Got it?"

They both nodded. The Chief dismissed them with her hands, watched them leave then closed her office door. She went to her desk".

"Carmen sure thinks very highly of herself traveling around the world in luxury style." She took out four darts. "Who does she think runs this agency King Midas? One way or another, we're putting you behind bars Carmen."

The Chief swung around and threw a dart at the dartboard that hung on the back of her door with a picture of Carmen on it. The dart settled in the bullseye.