The Enemy Within: Chapter 1 

(Sequel to Blood and Water)

By Lisa Leonard

Roxanne sat in the back of a taxi listening to music on her portable CD player. Her mind wanders as she watched the scenery out the window pass by. Six months have past and a lot had changed in her life. The music blared rather loud in her ears, yet she blocked it out as she reflected back on her six months of confinement. The first month was the hardest and nearly drove her insane. The questioning was non-stop and she was always afraid to give an answer. All they wanted was the truth, but she couldn't even give them that.

About 6 months ago at the PNA Safe Holding:

Roxanne sat in a dull room smirking at the two-way mirror. She crossed her arms and slouched down in her chair. She pondered what was going on behind the mirror, what exactly were they saying about her. A man in his late 40s wearing a business suit walks into the room and pulled up a chair. He smiled at her hoping for her to understand that he was her friend, "Good Afternoon Roxanne."

She sat up straight and said in a not so thrill tone, "Hey Todd, what sort of torture are you putting me through today?" Roxanne pretty much couldn't take the questioning anymore. Everyday for the past two weeks they've asked her the same questions over and over. The only reason they did that was the hope of seeing her change her answers.

He says trying to make her feel better, "Now come on. I know this isn't the best place in the whole wide world. But were doing this for your sake."

She laughs slightly, "Todd drop the act. The only reason your putting me through this is because the doctor and my father told you I was a chronic liar."

He asks, "Why do you think that's so?"

She shakes her head, "If you want an answer to that tape my doctor, she'll give you a much better explanation. Now let's get on with it."

He pulls out a pad and paper, "Alright. Tell me again how you escaped."

She smiled, "I picked the lock on my cell, got the heck out of there, and hitched a ride back with a trucker."

He watched her closely, "So even after you got struck a few times, you were still able to get up and pick the lock. With out any help?"

She narrowed her eyes on him, "Why can't you accept that? Sure it hurt like hell, but if I would have stayed there who knows what would happened. I felt my life was in danger. And who on earth would help me in there? They all hate me; I blew up their perfect plan for world conquest. If they love me so much why do I have these marks on my back? Huh? Answer that?"

He tries to calm her down, "Ok...I get the picture just calm down."

Roxanne felt she had to lie about her escape. She felt a lot of gratitude towards Vanessa and guys for helping her out. Yet, telling the PNA they helped her escape would ruin their reputation. Roxanne remembered Vanessa telling her that Contra World had informants everywhere, even deep within the PNA. She respected her friends, so she kept her mouth shut and stuck to her lies.

He asks her another question on his list, "What can you tell me about Contra World or VENOM?"

She says with a smart-aleck tone, "VENOM works for Contra World."

He says not amuse, "Spare me the jokes. What are they planning? Who works for them? Anything that you feel that can be of use to us?"

Roxanne did know about a few plans in the making, from accidentally overhearing certain conversations. Yet why should she tell them, they've locked her away and treated her like a prisoner. They left Roxanne practically in the dark on everything, so it was only fair to leave them in the dark as well. She confesses, "I don't have the faintest idea what they're planning. I'm just a kid; I was never in on any of the planning for any operations. I hardly left the base, and they never trusted me to begin with." She put her hand over her head feeling a major headache coming on.

He disagrees, "Yet they gave you a bike and mask."

She sighs, "I offered a trade for the microchip, plus I had a nice shinny gun pointed directly at Mayhem's head. Those two together offer a great persuasion package, don't ya think?"

Present-day:

She remembered the questioning usually lasted three hours. Of course by the time she was done, she'd have to go to her little therapy session to prove she was sane and capable of living in society. She hated those the most. They always try to make her remember her childhood; of course that was the one thing she wanted to forget. Reliving the murder of her mother wasn't how she wanted to spend her days. She wanted to move on, even if the past haunted her. So again she lied to her doctor, to hide her real pain and suffering. She knew what the doctor wanted to hear, she been thru it all before. Why was this doctor any different then the ones she had before?

After surviving a harsh day, she had only one thing to look forward to. Her father had kept his promise and called her every other day. She cried and complained a lot the first couple months about how she was treated. He attempted to comfort her the best he could, but told her in the end she had to stick it out. Over time when things got better, Roxanne and Matt were getting along and beginning to understand one another. But there were still secrets each side held from one another. Roxanne figured that when they were reunited the truth would have to come out. Roxanne was not happy that it took six month to prove she was better, but now that she was free there was a whole new world waiting for her.

Roxanne looked up as she saw the Trakker mansion coming over the horizon. She was finally going home and eagerly awaiting her reunion with her father. But there was one small problem; her father wasn't expecting her to return for another week. Roxanne secretly moved her flight up and managed to convince everyone at the safe house, that Matt was the one who order it. She smiled as she though about how she hacked into the airlines and the compounds internal systems, meanwhile she was offering to help repair some damage systems. She wondered, "What could he possible do, send me back?"

The taxi drove down the Trakker driveway. There were several cars parked in front of the mansion. The cab driver asks as he put the car in park in front of the house, "Having a party?"

She replies just as curious, "Looks like it." She talks quietly to herself, "Funny I didn't get an invitation." The driver removes her luggage from the trunk. Roxanne pays him the fare and he takes off. She could see white smoke coming from the back of the mansion and the smell of food filled the air. Roxanne left her bags in the middle of the driveway and moved towards the side of the house. She stops as she reaches the corner and peaks around the side to check out the back yard.

There were about 15 people or so scattered about enjoying private conversations. They were all men, except for one woman; she couldn't help but wonder what sort of party this was. No one looked recognizable to her, and half the people had their backs to her, from her position. She looked around for her least favorite tin can T-bob, figuring if she found him Scott would be near by. Sure enough T-bob was standing right next to Scott, who was talking to a man in a red shirt and white apron at the barbeque. Roxanne was getting the jitters just looking at all those people. She wanted to run over to Scott and say 'hi', but what if they all worked for the PNA? What if they all knew about her? Would they send her back? She was practically sweating as she puzzled herself with 'What if' questions. She says nervously, "Maybe I should have waited a week." Just before she was going to turn away and think of a place to hide for a week, she saw a friend of hers. She smiled as she watch him, "Brad still wearing those silly shades are we." She then notices her father coming out of the house and talking to a bald man in his early 50s. She squints her eyes thinking she can get a better look, "I know I've seen him before, but where? He was the guy who was with me the night I jumped out the window. It's funny how I remember that night so well." She looks in the opposite direction, "There's my other doctor Julio." She pulls back and leans up against the wall, "That would make probably 3 or 4 MASK agents at this party. I wonder." She had a wicked look on her face, "Ah well somebody going to have to crash their fun."

Buddy talks to Matt and Alex, "You know it's funny. I keep trying to get information out of my underground contacts about the next big hit. Yet they tell me Contra World is dead silent."

Hondo replies, "I don't know about that. Mayhem seems to be finding things to keep us occupied."

Gloria butts in on the conversation, "Do you guys always talk about work at parties?"

The guys laugh as they realized she was right. Matt smiled, "Gloria were ashamed to admit it, but you caught us."

Dusty asks flipping burgers on the grill, "So Matt you've never told us when the trouble maker is coming back?"

Matt eyed him, "I take it your referring to Roxanne."

Dusty nods, "I don't know who else has been in a heap load of trouble, beside Buddy running out on his dates."

Buddy crosses his arms trying to think of a way to get back at Dusty for that remark, "Well I don't see the ladies lining up for you. Besides I need to figure out how VENOM always knows when I schedule my dates, that way I can save the world and have a social life at the same time."

Matt answers Dusty's question, "She's coming back next week."

Alex explains to him, "You are aware Matthew, that she is a big security risk for MASK. Where her loyalties lie is still questionable?"

Matt takes a sip of his drink, "I know that, but I can't lock her away in her room while she stays here and try to hide the truth from her. We all witness her break into my office. It would be just a matter of time before she broke into MASK headquarters."

Bruce suggests, "It would be best to let the cat out of the bag. The more we hide from her, the curious she'll become. She poses more of a threat snooping around. After all my friends it was the curiosity that killed the cat."

Brad smirk, "Oh yeah Bruce nice one. You thought that was an amusing touch didn't you."

Bruce smile, "Just keeping you on your toes my friend."

Alex adds, "Well I guess there is no choice, but to tell her. We should still add extra security around our main systems. It's fairly obvious the girl has such high level knowledge about computers."

Brad looks to everyone, "I think you guys need to get past the point that she use to work for VENOM. It would be in everyone best interest to befriend her and not think of her as a criminal. She doesn't understand our causes for fighting, nor do I think she cares. All she knows is who are her enemies and her who are her friends. When she realizes that we are her friends as well, she won't think twice about double-crossing us. Another thing I'm going to suggest since we all feel she's trouble. Watch what you say or do around her, she's cunning and keeps an eye and ear open all the time."

Gloria says noticing a young woman in the background, "Matt are you sure she's coming home next week?"

Matt looks at her oddly, "Yes, I don't see why she wouldn't. She absolutely hates that place."

Gloria motions her neck for him to turn around, "Because she's here."

Everyone turned to look at Roxanne who was walking slowly towards their direction. She smiled weakly feeing the spot light had just been given to her. She waves, "Hi. Is this a private party or can anyone join in?"

Matt was a bit surprise and approached her, "What are you doing home so early?"

She says innocently, "I though you knew. They let me out a week early. They needed my room."

Matt tilted his head not buying the excuse, "What's the real reason?"

She says letting it fly by as if it was no big deal, "I couldn't wait another week. Dad I wanted to see you so badly. I've missed you a lot." She walks over to him and gives him a big hug.

He smiles as she hugs him, "Nice performance. I should send you back for that, but I'm glad your home. I'm still going to have to call them."

She wines, "Aww man, do you have too?" She glances at Matt's friends, "So who are your buddies, I recognized a few faces. Let me guess having a M...A...S...K convention?"

He puts an arm around her and walks her towards his friends, "What makes you say that?"

Roxanne smiles, "I was being very observant while I was checking the situation out. It's kind of funny in VENOM we had poker night, and you guys have the innocent looking barbeque." She looks down, "You probably didn't want to hear that." Matt ignores the comment and introduced her to his friends. She greeted each agent and did her best to fit in. She couldn't even remember most their names, and felt kind of out of place.

After a half hour of trying to mingle with Matt's friends, she disappeared from the party. She snuck up to her room and started to unpack her bags. It was strange out there; she was the odd ball in the pack, one VENOM agent completely surrounded by several MASK agents on all sides. It was even harder to think of what to say that didn't involve VENOM one way or another. What could she talk about; she had no life before VENOM. During her six months of confinement, she wondered more about what her friends were doing and what she was missing out on, then her family. She watch the party from her window thinking, "It's funny I don't feel like I've quit VENOM. Even if I hate Miles Mayhem, that's where my friends are and my heart is. These MASK agents are not my crowd."

Roxanne turned around as she heard a knock on her door. Matt walked in, "I've wonder where you disappeared too."

She puts her clothing away, "I though I'd unpack."

He suggests, "You know you can do that later?"

She hangs stuff up in her walk-in closet, "No I think I need to get this out of the way."

Matt walks over to her bag and looks down into it. A bag full of medication catches his eye, and he pulls it out. He opens it up and looks at the 4 bottles reading the prescriptions on them, "What's all this for?"

She leans over him, "Don't worry I haven't gotten myself hooked up with drugs yet. Well I got sleeping pills, that's for headaches, and that other stuff I can't pronounce is suppose to keep me chemically balance. Believe me I don't need all this stuff, but the doctor insisted."

Matt zips up the bag, "Then I'll hold on to it, for you."

She looks at him oddly, "What for? I'm a big girl I can take my own medication."

Matt replies, "That's not the point. It's part of the agreement of you being handed back into my custody. I have to make sure you get your medication."

She crosses her arms, "What else is on this agreement?"

"We can talk about that later, " he suggests. Matt asks curiously, "Did somebody say something to make you feel uncomfortable?"

She sits on the bed, "No. They all hate me don't they?"

He sits next to her, "Why do you say that?"

She looks to him, "I just feel it and see it in their eyes. Nobody wants me here."

Matt holds her hand, "I want you here. They just need time to warm up to your charming personality." She smiles slightly. Matt continues, "Now come down with me enjoy yourself and grab something to eat. I got a big surprise for you tonight."

She looks at him very curious, "Surprise?"

He stands up, "Yeap, but your not going to see it unless you come down now."

She thinks, "Oh you drive a hard bargain. I really can't resist a surprise." The both of them walk downstairs to rejoin the party.

Roxanne sat in a lawn chair near the pool watching the sunset. She wanted everybody to leave. Not just because she want to know what the surprise was, but socializing wasn't easy. She talked most the night with Scott; of course all he could talk about was all the action she missed over the past 6 months. Brad talk about working on his new album and the live televised concerts he was going to be putting on next month.

Roxanne admired Gloria and enjoyed the conversation they were having about martial arts. Gloria even asked her if she would be interested in signing up for a class. Roxanne was tempted by the offer, but wondered if her father would permit it. After all he could think of it as extended training, even if Gloria reassured her that it was about discipline and not hurting someone. Then there was Buddy, she didn't really talk to him, but glanced over in his direction a couple times. She couldn't help but think he was the best looking guy there, and felt kind of shy to go over and talk to him.

Scott burst her thinking bubble, "Hey Roxanne, dad is looking for you!"

She stands up and walks over towards him, "Really, tell me what's the surprise?"

Scott smiled, "Wouldn't you like to know? Don't worry you'll know soon enough. Everybody just left, so dad waiting by the front door for you."

Roxanne clapped her hands for joy and sprinted off, "Great!"

Matt smiled as he saw her coming towards her, "Didn't take you long to get here?"

"Well I've been guessing what the secret could be all night, so I'm dying to see it," she says in an eager voice.

Matt leads her towards his office, and enters his pin on the lock. She looks at him thinking, "Funny he's not worried about me looking over his shoulder and remembering it." They both enter his office. She says looking around, "Looks the same as I last saw it."

Matt laughs, "That's not the surprise." He hits a hidden button on the far wall, which causes the wall panel to pull back and reveal an elevator. She raised a brow and he replies, "After you." Once the elevator hits the bottom floor, there was a transport waiting for them.

She guesses, "Don't tell me you have own your private roller coaster."

Matt smiles, "You'll see in a moment." He motions for her to get on the transport. He then activates the transport, "Destination, MASK headquarters."

She turned to look at him a bit shock. She couldn't believe it he was taking her to MASK headquarters. She asks waiting for the transport to arrive at its destination, "Where else does this go to?"

Matt answers, "My office and a private airfield."

When the transport arrives at MASK headquarters she jumps out with haste. Matt leads her into the central control room, which is the center of the base. She had her mouth wide open with disbelief, "This is awesome! I never imagined it would look like this. I mean it's not as big as where I was at, but it just perfect." She walks around the huge round table, "Wow a holographic table, I didn't think they made these." She then walks over towards the huge computer, "That is the biggest computer I've ever seen."

Just before her hand reaches to touches it, Matt steps in and grabs it, "Of course it's off limits!"

She says in a sweet voice, "I was just going to touch it, I wasn't going to press anything. I swear!"

Matt asks, "I'm trusting you Roxanne and expect that you respect what I'm about to tell you. You are under no circumstance, unless I tell you allowed to touch this computer. If I even catch you or seen it's been tampered with you won't be allowed down here. I let Scott come down here and the same rules apply to him."

She says understanding, "Yes sir."

Matt motions her to follow him, "Come on I'll show you the garage." Matt leads her down the corridor to the garage.

Her eyes were gleaming as she saw all the MASK vehicles lined up in two straight lines. She stepped away from Matt and walked around each vehicle. Roxanne peaked in and left her fingerprints pretty much all over the cars. She stopped at the Thunderhawk admiring it, and then looked to her father, "Can I take it for a spin?"

Matt walks over to her, as he sees her about ready to open the car door, "What do you think? No!"

She pleads, "Why not? I just turn 16, of course I don't have my license yet, but I know how to drive and fly."

Matt says, "You don't know how to drive this car. On top of that it stays in this garage, until I use it for MASK work."

She looks at him not believe that, "Oh yeah sure, you've never taken it out on a vacation." Matt eyed her wonder how she could know that. She smiles wickedly, "Scott told me." Before Matt could come up with something to contradict her, Roxanne takes off towards the corner of the garage. Something black and purple caught her eye and she felt drawn towards it. As she reaches the corner she sees Chameleon just as she left it. She couldn't believe it, "It's here...I really didn't think I'd see it again."

Roxanne sits on the bike, "This is turning out to be a wonderful day. Dad I'm going to go for a spin to get the feel of it again." She was going to turn the ignition, but the key was missing. She looks to him asking, "Can I have the key?"

Matt shook his head, "I don't think so young lady. I'm not going to tell you where it is either."

She says pouting, "Why not? It's my bike. I think I have a right to drive it."

Matt pulls her off the bike, "Correction that bike belongs to the US military. I'm still waiting to find out what they want to do with it. They might let us keep it or they'll scrap it to get their stuff back."

She says appalled, "They can't scrap my baby." Roxanne looked at the bike it still had the words 'VENOM' on it. Matt was right it was technically stolen property, but it's just not right to take a gift away. Especially one as advance as this.

Matt put his hands on her shoulder, as he notices her sad face. He says hoping to make her feel better, "I'll get you a new bike, after you get your license."

She says even though it really wasn't what she wanted, "ok."

She asks curiously turning her back to the bike, "So the outside is a service station. What a great disguise. Who designed this place anyways?"

Matt answer, "My brother Andy started the plans, I finished them and had the structured build."

She looks up at the ceiling then back to him, "So when do I get to meet Uncle Andy?"

Matt said in a sad tone, "I'm afraid he was killed about 16 years ago."

Roxanne looked down, "I...I had no idea."

Matt smiles and ruffles her hair slightly, "I know, we have a lot of catching up to do. Now that you know about this and the names of my agents, I expect you to keep this a secret from the outside world. I know how good you are at keeping secrets."

She looks to him smiling, "Don't worry your secret is safe with me, I'd take it to the grave." She says silently to herself, "Like everything else I know."

Matt leads her back towards the transport, "Come on it's getting late."

The next day Roxanne sat on the couch watching TV wearing jeans and a t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She clicked the remote repeatedly looking for something to watch. She then reaches over to T-bob who had his top open, to grab some popcorn.

T-bob grumbles, "Why can't you get a bowl?"

She says in an annoying tone, "Why can't you be a quite I'm looking for something to watch. You should be happy I fix the popcorn popper."

T-bob replies, "There's a reason why it's not suppose to work."

She smiles, "Yeah I know you shouldn't try to break yourself, or next time you'll do more harm then good. Then all you'll be good for is a popcorn popper" She reaches over and crams a handful of popcorn in her mouth.

Matt and Scott walked over to her. Matt asks, "Roxanne were going to PNA headquarters do you want to come along?"

She turns around on the couch to face him, "I think I'll pass on that. I don't want to see anything with PNA on it for the time being."

T-bob says repeatedly, "Take me with you Scott!"

Scott walked over to T-bob and grabs a handful of popcorn, "You know I didn't think this function was working."

She smiles, "Yeah I know, I fix him." Scott looked at her wondering how she accomplished that. She laughs, "I got myself a good exercise chasing him around the house until I cornered him."

T-bob huffed, "More like tackled me and sat on my circuits."

She could tell Matt wasn't too happy with her by the expression on his face, "Me and T-bob came to a middle ground of understanding. I didn't play with any of his memory circuits or controls. I just fixed the popcorn machine. Anyways he's not a very good popcorn bowl."

Matt replies feeling a bit relieved, "Well then we'll see you later. You need anything you have my cell phone number."

She smiles, "Yeah I know. Have fun."

When Matt, Scott, and T-bob left she turn around to face the TV. She smiles as she finds something to watch, "Alright MacGuyver on!"

Just then the show turns off and is interrupted by an announcer, "We interrupt your regular schedule programming to bring you a special news report."

She throws a pillow at the TV, "What can be more important than MacGuyver?"

The reporter stood there holding her microphone, "We have something you'll only see on channel 5 news. In moments you'll see Videotape footage, of the British Prime Minister's, captures. Apparently the Prime Minister was kidnapped from his home in London two days ago. The government has been trying to keep this under wrap, but we here at channel 5 received the only copy of this disturbing hostage situation."

The Prime Minister was tied up in a chair, meanwhile a man in a middle east military uniform stepped up to the camera. He spoke with a strange accent, "We are holding the Prime Minister hostage, and we want all troops removed from our country. Also we demand to be compensated 100 billion dollars to help our people. If these demands are not made by he time of the peace summit, you'll have more then one Prime Minister to worry about."

The reporter came back on, "The Iraq government is denying they have anything to do with this. And if they fail to produce the Prime Minister, Britain is threatening a possible war."

Roxanne sat back and shook her head, "That's just messed up." She gets up and moves closer to the TV and stares at the freeze frame of the kidnapper and the background. She started to laugh, "Nice one Rax, but I don't think you'll win an Emmy for this performance." She stands up and picks up the phone. Roxanne pulled out the number her father gave her, from her pocket. She dialed the first 3 digits, then decided to slam the phone down. Roxanne spoke to herself, "Let's see how this plays out. Something interesting might come out of it."

Roxanne jumped over the couch, "This just gets me in the mood to have a little fun." She walks up towards the office and enters her own pin number on the lock. To prove how much her father trusted her; he gave her, her own pin number. Once Roxanne made it to MASK headquarters she glanced around, "Deserted, how nice." The first thing she looked at was the computer, "I promised him I would touch it. But he didn't say anything about the cars." A wicked smile appeared on her face as she entered the garage. She walked over to the Thunderhawk and opened the door. Roxanne slipped into the driver seat. She smirks, "No key." She steps out to look around the garage, "Where on earth does he hide the keys. Guess I'll have to do this the old fashion way." She sits back in the car and pulls out a pocketknife. She opens the panel under the steering wheel. She digs through the wires, "I should thanks Bruno for teaching me how to hot wire a car." She started the engine and activates the computer in the car. She smiles, "Who needs the big computer when this thing is already linked to it." She orders the computer, "MASK computer open the outside door." She drives the car out of its parking space and towards the door. The siding wall pulls back to reveal the inside of the service station. The car that was sitting on the service station's ramp gets flipped over and replaced by a flat surface. She was smiling, until she saw Buddy walking in the distance outside to move from the path. She curse to herself, "If he sees me I'm dead." Roxanne slouches down in the driver seat real low and slams her foot on the gas petal. Thunderhawk sped out of the garage in a hurry. She practically left skid marks as she turned onto the road.

Buddy shook his head, "Gee Matt sure must be in a hurry. I've never seen him rush off like that." He walks up to the skid marks then watches the car disappear up the road, "And I just changed the tires for crying out loud."

Roxanne sits up laughing, "Oh that was close. Ok now lets see how this baby flies." She secures her seatbelt and readies the Thunderhawk for flight mode. Both doors open and extend, then the rockets in the back fired. Roxanne flew around in circles miles away from the service station, "This is great, I'll just have to keep an eye on the clock and make sure I get this back before anyone finds out."

Meanwhile at PNA headquarters, President Duane Kennedy was sitting at his desk surrounded by reports and videotapes. His secretary buzzed him on his speakerphone, "President Kennedy, Matt Trakker is here to see you."

Duane hit a button on the speaker, "Send him in, Alice."

In a matter of minutes, Matt walks into Duane's office. Duane got up and walked over toward Matt, to shake his hand. Matt smiled, "What do I owe the pleasure for this meeting?"

Duane was not smiling, "How about a bizarre case of kidnapping?"

Matt watch his facial expression, "I take it this one got you puzzled."

Duane nodded, "Yes, but not only me. Every government in the world is trying to figure out this."

Duane sits behind his desk, "Just yesterday I got word that the British Prime Minister was kidnapped. We received a ransom tape. I'll show you." Duane grabbed a remote and activated the VCR on the TV, on the opposite side of the room. Matt watched the same tape that Roxanne had seen earlier on TV.

Matt looks to him thinking it is strange, "The Iraq government kidnapped the Prime Minister?"

Duane sat back in his chair, "The government denies having anything to do with this. Yet Britain is threatening to take some sort of action. But just today I learned from our underground sources that Mexico's President is now missing. Another ransom tape was distributed, yet this one looks like it came from Columbia. Again the government denies having anything to do with this. I fear somebody else is going to go missing tomorrow"

Matt put his hand on his chin, "Well then something is amiss. It has to be the same group."

Duane agreed, "That is what my boys figured. I'm still waiting for the copy of the second ransom tape. Were hoping to analyze the two and come up with something."

Matt asks, "How can MASK help?"

Duane replies, "I want MASK to check out the crime scene at Mexico and England. We are hoping your team might be able to figure out what terrorist organization is behind this."

Matt stands up accepting the job, "I'll get right on it."

Duane stops him from walking out the door, "One more thing Matt. You do know the Peace Summit is suppose to take place next week in Paris. I'm sadly thinking of canceling it. It's too obvious of a target, if the world leaders meet all together."

Matt adds, "Then again that could be their goal to stop the Summit. Just continue on with the planning of the Summit. I'll let you know in a few days what I think."

Duane smiles slightly, "Thanks Matt."

Matt asks, "Do you mind if I take that tape?"

Duane walks over and pulls it out of the VCR, "Go ahead, and good luck!" Matt takes the tape and leaves his office.

Matt exits the office and Scott comes walking up to him curious, "So dad what mission are we going on this time?"

Matt and Scott walk towards the elevator, "The only mission you're taking on is your homework."

When they get in the elevator Matt lets the nagging Scott on the details, "It appears MASK will be investigating two kidnappings."

Scott tries to persuade him, "Detective work is right up our alley. T-bob excellent when it comes to looking for clues, we'd save you a lot of time dad."

Matt looks down to him, "Normally I take you with me Scott, but a crime scene is no place for you or T-bob. Besides I don't want to leave your sister alone. I shouldn't be gone too long. "

The elevator reaches the parking garage and they walk towards his red viper. Once inside Matt pulls out a brief case, and opens it. Inside was a computer network system that had satellite linked up to MASK's computer. Matt spoke to the computer, "MASK computer select the best agents for investigating kidnapping in Great Britain and Mexico."

A female computer voice replied, "Bruce Sato, Alex Sector, and Brad Turner."

Matt replied, " Approved assemble Mobile Arm Strike Kommand."

Once Matt made it back to MASK headquarters Bruce, Alex, and Brad were awaiting his presence. The four of them sat around the round table ready for battle. Matt clears his throat before beginning the briefing, "I'm sure you've all heard about the kidnapping of the British Prime Minister."

Alex nodded, "Yes I say that's rather peculiar."

Brad looked as though he knew about it, when in fact he didn't have a clue what was going on. Matt said hoping to shock his friends, "Well he's not the only one missing, Mexico is short one president and this time the Columbians are to blame."

Bruce asked, "What could they possibly gain by doing that?"

Matt said agreeing, "That's the puzzle my friends. Duane has asked if MASK could personally check out both sites. He's hoping we'll find something the police can't. Brad and me are going to check out the latest hit in Mexico. Alex and Bruce check out London. We need to know who were messing with? As well as, do everything in our power to get the Prim Minister and Mexico's president back. The only thing we do know is something going to go down at the Peace Summit and this terrorist group is being extra cautious not to draw attention to itself. In the meantime, I'm going to ask Buddy if any of his underground sources can tell us who might be behind this. Let's get to work!"

The four of them headed towards the garage. Matt pulled out the keys to Rhino, Condor, and Thunderhawk and handed them to the guys. Matt smiled, "Been taking extra precaution." Of course when the four of them reached the garage they realized something was missing from its parking spot. Matt looked a bit shock, "Where's the Thunderhawk?"

Bruce says searching for the logical solution to the problem, "Maybe Buddy is working on it. He has been talking about tuning up the cars."

Matt walks over to the intercom and buzzes the service station, "Buddy you there?"

Buddy was working on a car in the garage, he walked into is office as he heard the intercom. Buddy answered, "Yeah Matt?"

Matt said, "Funny joke Buddy, it's not April fools yet. Where's the Thunderhawk?"

Buddy scratch his head, "You drove it out of the garage two hours ago. Didn't you?"

Matt thought that was rather unusual, "How could I, I was with Duane. Scott and T-bob were with me..."

Brad coughs a reply, "Roxanne."

Alex shook his head, "I told you it was a bad idea to even let her down here."

Buddy says noticing a red camero coming up the road, "Don't worry Matt I can see the car coming up the road right now."

Roxanne looked at the clock and panicked, "I can't believe I lost track of time. Two hours and I manage to get myself lost flying out in the middle of nowhere. I guess I don't know the area, as well as, I thought I did." Thunderhawk drove up the road well over the speed limit. She couldn't waste anymore time, if Matt was already at home she was going to be in big trouble. She slowed down as the service station came in sight, "Looks like Buddy not around. Maybe I won't get caught." She orders the MASK computer, "MASK computer open garage door." She drove right thru the service station to the hidden MASK garage in back. The lights were off and everything looked as though she left it. She quickly closed the garage door and parked the Thunderhawk back into its spot. Roxanne says with relief in her voice, "Thank god for miracles. Nobody noticed. I'm not doing that again anytime soon." Roxanne opens the car door and steps out. A strong hand clamps down on her arm as she exits. Her head turns and jerks at the figure standing over her. She has a small weak smile, "Hi...dad."

Matt pulls her away from the car and slams Thunderhawk's door shut, "What heck were you thinking?"

She looks at his angry eyes, "I...I wasn't thinking."

Matt shouts, "I told you, these cars are used for MASK business only. Not joy riding, young lady."

Roxanne tries to reason with him, "I really didn't think it would matter. The guys use to let me take the cars out all the time, after I took care of them"

Matt lets his anger out forgetting he had an audience watching, "Roxanne this is not VENOM. Get that through your head right now. They may of let you run wild over there, but here we have strict rules, especially about these vehicles. I don't even want to know how you started that car without the key."

She says in an upset voice, "Well what do you expect? I was hanging around a bunch of convicts for a year; I picked up a few things along the way. I'm sorry I know I shouldn't have taken it without permission, old habits are hard to break." She says with an honest face noticing Buddy, Alex, Bruce, and Brad watching, "You going to hit me?"

Matt takes a breather and calms down a bit, " I'm not going to hit you, and you should know me better than that. You're grounded, and I don't have time to punish you right now. I have work to do. Buddy I'm sure you can find something fitting enough as punishment."

Buddy nodded, "Yeah I got a few things that need to get done."

Matt looks to his friends, " Let's roll out men!"

The four men got into their vehicles. Thunderhawk, Condor, and Rhino all took off down the road towards the airfield.

Buddy looks to Roxanne, "You sure out done yourself. You've only been back two days and your already grounded."

Roxanne walked over to him, "If you were me, you'd be temped too."

Buddy smiles, "I'm sure I would, but I wouldn't get caught. Come on I have a job I was saving for the next time Scott got grounded. But it looks like you got drafted for it.

Roxanne looked over at Buddy blushing a bit, as she walked behind him thinking, "Maybe this punishment won't be that bad, I'll get to know Buddy."

Matt and Brad arrived in Mexico 2 hours later. Thunderhawk and Condor pulled up down the driveway of a mansion that was surrounded by military forces and cops. Brad says to Matt over the radio, "They must be using everybody they can get their hands on to solve this riddle."

The two agents left their vehicles and walked up to the front door. A slightly over weight man in a business suit and thick dark mustache open the door, "Ah Senior Trakker and Senior Turner I presume. The PNA told us you were coming. As you can tell the entire compound is blocked off. Were not leaving any stone unturned. Sorry I should introduce myself. I'm Inspector Rodriguez I'm in charge of the investigation."

Matt smiles, "Pleasure to meet you inspector. I'd like to see the ransom tape, and I'm sure you can offer me a copy. Were hoping to see if it has a connection to the Great Britain disappearance."

Inspector Rodriguez nodded, "Certainly, follow me." He leads them to a black van parked in the driveway. The three men attempt to squeeze in the back of the van, which had video equipment. The inspector hit the play button on one of the panels.

The President of Mexico was handcuff to a chair and had a gag in his mouth. A man with sandy dark blond hair and dark skin appeared in front of the camera, wearing a Columbian military uniform. He spoke, "We demand that Mexico pay us 200 billion dollars, to see their precious president again, and the Columbian Drug Lords released from their prisons and return to their rightful country. If these demands are not made by the time of the Peace Summit, you might have a World War to worry about."

Matt crosses his arms, "This one just gets to the point, again the Peace Summit is due date of the ransom."

The inspector suggests, "Well that settles it we must cancel the Peace Summit."

Matt stares at the video image, "It wouldn't matter if we canceled it or not. They'd pick off the world leaders one by one. Eventually they'll complete their political baseball collection."

Brad leaned back against the truck, "So the guy wasn't kidding about possible World War, if everyone pointing the finger at their enemies. What about security cameras, did they pick up anything?"

Sadly the inspector said, "No they cut all power and phone lines to the estate, even the back up generator was blown. We do have tire marks imprints that were left, but that's not really much to go on. Nobody seen anything, and security was sleeping on the job when we received the call from the President's distraught wife, saying her husband had been kidnapped by black ski masked men."

Brad asks, "You mean they were taken out right?"

Inspector shook his head, "No they were literally sleeping on the job, and we couldn't wake them up."

Matt smiled, "Thank you for your help inspector, do you mind if we look around a bit?"

Inspector indicated it was ok with the gesture on his face, "By all means gentlemen, go right ahead."

Brad and Matt walk around the compound, they stopped at site that was marked off as 'Exhibit A' in Spanish. Matt kneeled down to check out the tire marks. Brad pulls out a digital camera and begins taking snap shots. Matt says, "I hope these match up with what we have on file."

Brad says taking pictures, "You think VENOM is apart of this?"

Matt stands up and looks at Brad, "Maybe, but I don't picture VENOM wearing black ski masks and not their actual masks. It's sort of their trade mark."

Brad and Matt return to the Thunderhawk. Matt removed the memory card from the digital camera and inserted it into the MASK computer. Matt orders, "Analyze the tire tracks in the picture and compare to the ones on file."

In a matter of seconds the female computer voice replied, "No match can be found."

Brad looked a bit confused, "You know I was certain there was going to be a match and we'd be chasing after VENOM by now."

Matt sat back in Thunderhawk pondering, "Possible rent a car could have been used. I think we should scope the area out again. Then we'll head back to Boulder Hill. There isn't much else were going to come across."

Brad leaned on Thunderhawk, "Your hoping Alex and Bruce might find something."

Matt had a doubtful look on his face, "I doubt it. Buddy might be our only light on the subject. Plus the tapes could reveal something important we overlooked."

Six hours have gone by and Matt and Brad had already returned to Boulder Hill. The two of them were trying to compare and find some similarities in the two ransom tapes. Just then the computer stated, "In coming message from code name Mega Byte."

Matt ordered, "Send it thru!"

Alex was on the other side talking from inside Rhino's computer room. Alex said not too trilled with the news, "After that long flight, we've manager to dig ourselves into a dead end."

Matt smirked, "I was afraid of that."

Alex said hoping to lighten the mood, "But not all is lost. Bruce went undercover in a local pub where several of the Britain's troops like to hang out. Bruce found out that prior to the kidnapping there was an odd looking group looking for potentials for a group called The White Fang. Bruce is back down at the pub seeing if anyone else can give us some more information."

Matt smiles feeling they might have a lead after all, "Good work Alex. Let me know if you learn anymore." Matt stands up stretching, "I'm going to see if Buddy found out anything. I also have an idea of how we can catch our mystery terrorist group, but it's risky."

Brad smiles, "Sounds like a challenge." Brad continues to Match the ransom videos with criminal files in their database, "Aren't you forgetting you've grounded somebody?"

Matt gave him a stern look, "I haven't forgotten."

Brad laughs, "Go easy on her. She's a teenager, their suppose to do stupid things like that. Don't tell me you never bother to steal your father's car when you were her age."

Matt replied, "Brad when you have kids of your own, you'll understand one day."

Matt walked into the garage seeing a car with a hood up, and somebody was working on it. Matt assumed it was Buddy, "Hey what do you say about a job in Paris?"

Roxanne slammed the hood down smiling and covered with grease, "I'd say it sounds like fun! When are we going?"

Matt couldn't believe his eyes, when he saw his daughter there working on a car, "I though you were Buddy?"

She uses a rag to wipe her hands off, "I don't look like him, but does that mean I'm not going to Paris."

Buddy came out of his office and walked up to Matt, "You were looking for me?"

Matt crossed his arms still glancing at Roxanne, "Yeah you turn my daughter into a grease monkey."

Buddy laughs slightly, "Hey you didn't tell me how talented she was. One minute she was stacking the tires outside, the next I find her in here doing my job."

Roxanne replied over hearing them, "Well not everything I learn was illegal."

Matt asks, "Can you step outside Roxanne, I want to talk to Buddy."

She nods, "Yeah sure thing," and walks out of the Service Station.

Matt and Buddy step into the office, hoping she'd be less likely to overhear their conversation. Matt asks, "So what did you learn?"

Buddy takes his hat off, "Well there's this new terrorist group call The White Fang that just popped up recently. I think they're the ones causing the problems."

Matt agreed, "Alex and Bruce came up with the same hypothesis."

Buddy continues, "Well guess who's funding this little terrorist group, Contra World. And for all we know it could just be a false name to throw us off course. Beyond that there's nothing on them." Buddy asks curiously, "I over heard you say something about Paris."

Matt smiled, "The Peace Summit is coming up. I think I'm going to have Duane convince the world leaders to attend."

Buddy sat on his desk and cross his arms, "Your hoping they'll take the bait and surface."

Matt lowered his voice with a crooked smile, "And here's where you fit in..."

Roxanne sat outside wondering what they were talking about. About 20 minutes had gone by, before Buddy and Matt emerge. She walked up to Matt asking, as well as, pleading, "So what's up with Paris?"

Matt answered her, "There's a Peace Summit taking place in Paris next week. I was asking Buddy if he was interested in attending."

Roxanne raised a brow, "Buddy at a Peace Summit?" Roxanne already got it through her noggin that had to be MASK business. It wasn't hard to figure out VENOM was connected with the kidnapping that was in the news, she sort of wondered if her father had figured it out. She asks, "Can by any chance I come?"

Matt looks down at her, "What could you possible do?"

She says sounding excited about the idea, "Well I've never been out of the country. I'd love to see Paris and go site seeing."

Matt crossed his arms, "Aren't you forgetting something? Like didn't I ground you?"

She gets down on her knees, "Please, pretty please I'd die to go to Paris. I'd wash the cars, if that's what it takes."

Buddy looks to Matt, "I don't know Matt she looks rather desperate to go."

Matt helps her up off the ground, "You can go. On one condition you'll be helping Buddy out at the service station for a week and washing the vehicles."

Roxanne smiles, "Sounds good to me."

Matt hinted a smile, "Now go wash up for dinner."

She looks down at her clothing, which was covered in grease, "Ok." She says repeatedly with excitement as she walked towards MASK headquarters to take the tram back, "I'm going to Paris."

Buddy said shaking his head as he watches her leave, "Cute." Matt looked at him questionable. Buddy laugh, "I'm sorry but she looks adorable dirty like that, should of got my camera makes a perfect Kodak moment. Then ya have a picture of her to carry around in your wallet."

"Funny Buddy," Matt suggested, "now what do you say we get down to business and start planning our snake trap."