A few days ago, Agent Luc’s superiors at the STS took him off High School duty and put him on National Laboratory duty. In that time, two new STS recruits replaced Luc at his old post at the High School. Whereas Luc only looked young enough to be in High School, his two replacements are young enough having graduated from High School themselves only last year! Since they were so close in age and mentality to the students themselves, they got along very well with the teenagers on campus. However, being in the force, these two new recruits flaunted their police authority and reveled in their newfound High School popularity which they either did not have when they were in High School themselves, or if they did, never wanted to grow up and leave it behind.

To win favors with the students, these two new recruits were allowed to bring several military vehicles, both traditional and experimental, to the High School parking lot to show them off like some kind of car show. As shallow as this popularity gimmick may seem, it nonetheless worked as the High Schoolers crowded around and asked questions about the various military transports on display. The two new recruits patted each other on the back as they saw their popularity grow.

“Hey, it’s working!” one recruit said to his partner. “I’m sure glad Captain Konnard gave us the idea to bring these vehicles to the High School.”

“I know!” replied the other recruit. “Now we’re the most popular guys on campus!”

Winning some High School popularity contest was not a goal many would want, but it seemed to make these two happy. Rather than over-analyze these two, it was best to leave them alone in their bubble of bliss.

A curious sophomore student took particular interest in one special vehicle he never saw before. It looked sleek and modern, even by UEN standards! Even standing still, it looked fast enough to outrun anything that did not fly. The sophomore asked the two new recruits about this new vehicle.

“What’s this vehicle all about? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of these driving around before.”

“That’s a prototype vehicle,” said one of the new recruits. His chest puffed with pride. “It doesn’t have all the electronics required to be a patrol vehicle, but it’s got it where it counts.”

“Yeah, it can run faster than anything else in our fleet,” added the other new recruit.

Without warning and from out of nowhere, two women dressed in unassuming plain clothes shoved aside the new recruits and jumped into the prototype vehicle!

“Thanks for telling us, boys! We’ll take it from here,” said one of the female thieves.

Before the two new recruits knew what happened, the women who jumped into the prototype vehicle sped off with a squeal of wheels kicking up a small cloud of dust. They raced down the parking lot toward the other end. Picking himself up off the blacktop, one of the recruits caught his breath and got up on his feet.

“Hey! You can’t take that! That’s not yours!” He yelled in the direction of the disappearing prototype vehicle.

“A lot of good that’s going to do,” said the other recruit. “They can’t even hear you! What are we going to do?”

“Don’t look at me, I dunno! Maybe we should call in that a vehicle was stolen. What do you think?”

“Don’t ask me! I thought you were in command here!”

“Am not! I joined the force just a day before you!”

“That means you have seniority over me! You’re in charge! What’re we going to do?”

While the two new STS Agents argued with each other over who was in command over whom, the two car thieves found their real target and headed full speed toward Anaelle and Marielle! As the prototype vehicle tore down the parking lot, frightened High Schoolers jumped out of the way for fear of being mowed down by the quick moving car. Anaelle and Marielle saw the car heading right for them and stood paralyzed with fear. They were too scared to jump out of the way, but also too scared about being run over by the speeding vehicle.

Inside the stolen vehicle, the female driver concentrated on her job. “Targets identified. Do we have verification?”

“Yes, targets have been positively verified,” said her partner in crime. She used a sleeve computer similar to Luc’s to verify the identities of the twins. “Commence capture sequence.”

The driver stomped on the brakes hard and turned the wheel to the left and drifted to a screeching, smoking stop, but even before the car came to a complete rest, the passenger side door swung out as the back hatch of the car opened up. The driver’s accomplice sprang out to scoop up the shocked twins by their waists and threw them into the trunk of the car. It was a kidnapping!

Having nabbed Anaelle and Marielle, the two female car thieves now tried to make their getaway. The driver floored the accelerator pedal and peeled away from the parking lot onto a surface street. Meanwhile, the two new recruits watched the entire event unfold and realized that something very bad happened. They at last had the good, common sense to call for backup support from headquarters. One of the new recruits, the leader of the two by one day of seniority, spoke to HQ on an earpiece he wore in his ear. He held his hand up to the earpiece and pushed on it in order to be able to hear himself speaking to a senior command officer at HQ. The situation was serious. He spoke quickly and urgently into his communicator.

“I’m not sure who the hostages are, but they looked identical! Two girls. Same clothes, same shoes, same ties, same hair color, same hair style, same bag, same everything!”

He paused to listen while his command officer spoke.

“No, I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart! They looked like mirror images of each other!”

Another pause.

“You’re serious about that?”

Another pause.

“OK, I understand.”

The new recruit closed the communication channel with his superior.

The other new recruit was anxious to know what was going on. “What did they say?”

“We’ve been authorized to shoot-to-kill the kidnappers if we can.” The first recruit was grim.

“But they’ve practically escaped the parking lot while you were blabbing with HQ!”

Indeed, the prototype vehicle turned onto a surface street and was already pulling away from the High School and heading down the hill.

“I’ve never had to kill anyone before using my weapon,” said the first recruit.

“Neither have I,” said the second one, “let’s hope we’ll never have to.”

Outside on the streets of Capital City, the stolen prototype military vehicle sped around carrying the kidnapped victims, Anaelle and Marielle, in the trunk. Due to the erratic driving and speed of this special purpose vehicle, local police law enforcement took notice in short order and gave chase. Through the clean and uncongested streets of Capital City, both STS Agents and local police followed the stolen vehicle with lights flashing and sirens wailing but unable to overtake it due to its special performance abilities to run fast and corner hard.

The kidnappers wound their way down to the edge of the city where it met the ocean. With cops and STS Agents not far behind, it was not clear how this chase was going to end, but everyone saw that the kidnappers were running out of road as they drove nearer and nearer to the shoreline. A helicopter with the loud noise of its rotor joined in the chase flew above to keep eyes on the stolen vehicle. Even if the two kidnappers could outrun cop cars and the other military vehicles, they would not be able to outrun a helicopter with an overhead view. It looked like it might be over for these two kidnappers as they boxed themselves in with the ocean on one side and the authorities on the other and with a helicopter overhead.

Instead of slowing down as they approached the shoreline, the two women with Anaelle and Marielle in the trunk of their stolen vehicle sped up! The driver of the stolen vehicle found a boat launching ramp at the edge of the ocean and gunned for it. The prototype vehicle slammed into the water going over 50 mph which caused a tremendous splash on either side of the car. Were they trying to drown themselves and their twin hostages, too, to avoid capture?

Right after the prototype vehicle drove into the water, it changed shape! The composite-fabric of the vehicle’s body deformed and re-arranged itself. The wheels tucked themselves into the body and were enveloped, disappearing from sight. The side-windows sealed over to prevent water leaking in. The door, hood and trunk seams filled in to become water-tight. It had transformed into a miniature submarine! Somehow these two female kidnappers knew that the prototype vehicle was amphibious. After completing the metamorphosis from car into submarine, the prototype vehicle slipped under the surface of the water and glided away. It dove to the bottom of the sea floor as soon as it could.

The other agencies chasing the two kidnappers were unable to continue pursuit because their vehicles were not amphibious. Maybe they could survive a car wash, but they could not survive entering the water. Instead, they came to a screeching halt long before the boat ramp. Local police and STS Agents alike who joined in the chase jumped out of their vehicles and watched bewildered as the prototype vehicle crashed into the water and then changed into a submarine just in the nick of time to dive under the surface of the water to escape.

Not even the helicopter which watched from above and witnessed the entire chase could believe what just happened. It hovered above the water, circling in the sky, buzzing loudly in the way only helicopters sounded, but despite its air superiority and high-tech sensors and cameras, it was unable to see under water where the kidnappers had escaped to.

It was an unexpected conclusion to a chase which started off impulsively, seemed like it would end with nowhere else to run, but then ended with the getaway of the two female kidnappers with their hostages, Anaelle and Marielle who disappeared under the water.