Knight Rider 2000

Silent Introductions

Written by

Scott Kirkessner

Based upon KNIGHT RIDER

Created by

Glen A. Larson

Original KNIGHT RIDER 2000 Concept by

Rob Hedden

New concept by

Scott Kirkessner

Dead or alive? After Natalie’s car explodes in the Knight Industries parking lot, the team searches for answers and the persons responsible.

Rated PG-13 for language.

March 22, 2002

2102 Hrs PST

Knight Foundation Headquarters

Location: Seattle, Washington

“It was a confusing scene today in Oklahoma City as Medallion CEO Walter Anderson was indicted into federal court. FBI and Foundation for Law and Government officials declined to comment in regards for Anderson’s arrest. It is unknown at this time whether or not Medallion’s future contract with Homeland Defense will be signed. Homeland Security director Tom Ridge also declined to comment on the situation…”

Shawn turned the WireNet News Service off and yawned. It had been a hell of a week for her. Now that the case was over, there was an emptiness inside of her. Much like the emptiness she experienced soon after she left FLAG.

One thing that no one knew was that Shawn had never intended to return to FLAG. She would hope that she would be able to disappear and just live life on her own terms, under her control. It had been close to a year since her departure and Shawn wanted more than trying to disconnect herself from FLAG, but still keep a small shred of it in her heart.

Which is why she told Maddock and everyone else that she was returning to FLAG, to continue on the fight for justice, because she would be no better than those who threw their hands up in disgust and gave up. Everyone was overjoyed to hear the news, especially Bonnie and Kevin.

Natalie took the news well. She knew that Shawn would eventually return to claim her old position. But as much as she thought about it, she had actually grown to like her position with FLAG. It took her a long time to get used the concept of her car as a partner, and unfortunately, she never really utilized KITT as a partner, which is a move she regretted now that it seems that Shawn will be coming back.

But, even though Natalie grew to like her temporary FLAG Agent position, she knew where she belonged. In the Bureau. The Bureau was her life for years. She succeeded in finding serial killers, kidnapped victims and everything that earned her plenty of accolades and awards.

The two drivers were sitting inside the garage amidst hundreds of pages of documents that consisted of their paperwork for the case. Medallion had lost, and FLAG had won by default. It was a great victory for the Knight Foundation.

They hadn’t said much to each other while they were working on their documents. It had been a very long week for all of them, especially the 24-hour day from yesterday.

Natalie yawned and stretched. “Hope you don’t mind, but I am going to take off,” she said, standing up, “I’ll finish up at home.”

Shawn nodded and fought a yawn. “Have a good night.”

“You too,” Natalie said, grabbing her coat, “and welcome back.”

Natalie walked over to her navy-blue Crown Victoria in the parking lot in front of the Knight Industries complex. The lot was well lit save for some bush and tree areas. She fumbled for her keys and turned around as she heard footsteps coming towards her.

“Excuse me Agent Markins?”

Natalie recognized the person as Nick, the young whiz-kid techie that Knight Industries hired right out of high school.

“Yes, Nick, what is it?” Natalie asked, presuming that the nerd would try to ask her out to dinner or something. She didn’t anticipate the sharp pain in the back of her head, a gunshot and everything going black…

Shawn was sitting inside the main garage in front of a computer terminal typing the case report when she noticed that Natalie had forgotten some files that she said she would work on at her house. She grabbed the files and ran out of the doors hoping Natalie hadn’t left yet.

Shawn ran out the front doors in time to see Natalie’s car pulverized by a massive explosion that set off car alarms and shattered windows. Looking up past the fire, she saw a navy-blue Chevy Suburban speeding away from the scene.

It took no more than 15 minutes for police and fire units to arrive on the scene. A split second after their arrival, curious journalists began showing up as well.

Maddock ran from the other side of the Knight Foundation campus once he learned the news of the explosion. Bonnie and Kevin were alerted as well and quickly appeared next to Shawn, who was awestruck.

The burning mass of mangled metal could hardly be recognized as a car. The explosion had been so large, Bonnie and Kevin felt it on the tarmac behind the Knight Industries garage, and it could have been viewed from the Space Needle.

Aside from the explosion, paramedics were taking away Nick’s body.

“Is that…” Bonnie asked, referring to the burning Crown Victoria.

“Yeah, it’s Natalie’s.” Shawn replied, stunned.

“Oh my God.” Kevin said.

“Have they found anything?” Maddock asked.

“I don’t know.” Shawn said.

The firemen fought to douse the massive flames from the car. It would be another 30 minutes before the fire was brought under control.

KITT was soon brought out of the garage to investigate. He was facing nose-to-nose with the remains of Natalie’s car and his front scanner light was working furiously to determine the cause and the ultimate fate of Special Agent Natalie Markins.

“Shawn, Mr. Maddock, I am detecting no human remains in this vehicle.” KITT reported.

“How could that be?” Bonnie asked, looking closer.

“She wasn’t in it.” Maddock said, sharply.

“Well I know that,” Bonnie said looking up, “but why wasn’t she in it?”

“More importantly, why would someone go to the trouble of detonating her car, and not putting her in it?” Shawn asked.

“To give us a message,” Maddock said, “I saw a case like this before. A high profile mobster’s errand boy was thought to be killed in a car bomb, but it turned out he was kidnapped, beaten, and then returned. The car bomb was a cover, a message to scare the shit out of the people.”

“You think that’s what we have here?”

“What happened to the other guy?” Kevin asked.

“We never knew,” Maddock said, “no one ever saw him again.”

“Oh shit.” Shawn said.

The team looked at the charred remains of Natalie’s Crown Victoria.

“This has to be Medallion.” Shawn said.

The four of them were sitting in Maddock’s office. Deep down, they all knew it would be another sleepless night. The security video of the parking lot was playing on the flat screen TV hanging from Maddock’s wall.

“I want to know why it’s static from when Natalie exits the building to when her car explodes.” Shawn said.

“Someone must have jammed the frequency or something.” Kevin said.

“Shawn, is that the navy blue Suburban you saw speeding away?” Maddock asked, pointing to the TV.

“Yeah, freeze frame the video.” She said.

The video stopped with the Suburban in limited view.

“Can you zoom in on to find the license plate?”

Kevin typed a few commands on the computer and the image enlarged. He enhanced the image and then sighed.

“There’s no license plate?!” Bonnie said, shocked.

Maddock rubbed his eyes. “Where did we go wrong?”

“Who was the gunshot victim?” Shawn asked.

“Nick Carlson,” Bonnie said, “he worked for us at KI. Jesus, he was only 19.”

“Do you think he could be connected?”

“I don’t think so,” Kevin said, “why would someone go to the trouble of blowing up a car and then killing themselves.”

“Besides, the wound was in the chest, oriented in such a way that it couldn’t have been self inflicted.” Bonnie explained.

“Then what in the hell is going on?” Maddock said turning around and looking out the window.

“KITT detected no traces of human remains in the vehicle,” Shawn said, “could his scanner be malfunctioning?”

“Not possible,” Kevin said, “I recalibrated the scanner just before you guys left yesterday. Did you run into anything that could have thrown it out of whack?”

Shawn closed her eyes and accessed her memory chip. She saw everything from the previous day in exact detail. “No,” she answered, “nothing could have damaged the scanner.”

Maddock turned around. “Maybe we should have a closer look.”

It was a grim scene inside the Knight Industries main garage. The twisted and torn metal remains of Natalie’s car were sitting directly under one of the spotlights. Bonnie and Shawn were kneeling over the passenger and driver’s side with flashlights pointed inside. Shawn had a small pen camera fixed to her flashlight. The image was projected onto a TV screen.

Shawn coughed at the smell of the burnt interior of the car. “I don’t see anything.” She said, using her gloved hand to move small pieces of debris off the seat. The seat disintegrated at her touch.

“Fire seems to have burnt so hot, it was able to deform most of the metal supports.” Bonnie reported.

“Scans indicate the fire reached temperatures up to six thousand degrees.” KITT said.

“Wait, move over.” Maddock said.

“Which way?” Shawn asked.

“To the left.”

Shawn moved the light to the left and shined it on a white object.

“What is that?” Maddock asked.

Shawn carefully moved dust and debris out of the way to reveal a melted portion of Natalie’s FBI badge. “Oh God.”

Kevin walked into the garage with Polaroid pictures in his hand and a camera in the other, with a tape measure in his back pocket. “We have to figure out how much explosives were used, because there is a hole in the lot six inches deep.” He stopped talking when he saw the melted badge displayed on the monitor. “Shit.” He said.

“So, KITT, can we rule out Natalie was in the car?” Maddock asked.

“I am almost a hundred percent sure, Mr. Maddock.” KITT replied. “However, there is one last test to conduct to be perfectly sure.”

“Which is?” Shawn asked.

KITT’s engine started up and he drove closer to Natalie’s car. A deep blue light appeared in the interior of the car. It was obvious KITT was performing a black-light scan.

“If you will look at the monitor.” KITT said. The image on the monitor showed the black light scanning the interior of the car.

“What are we seeing, KITT?” Maddock asked.

“The black-light scan indicates no traces of human life,” KITT replied, “my own scanners indicate that Agent Markins’ badge was purposely placed there.”

“Scan for fingerprints.” Kevin said.

An image of the mutilated badge was isolated on the monitor. “No fingerprints appear in the scan. However, I do detect a small piece of fabric on the edge, right here.” The image was magnified to display the piece of fabric.

“KITT, it’s a piece of fuzz.” Maddock said.

“Scans indicate the piece of fuzz, as you put it, came from a glove.”

“Damn.” Bonnie said.

“All right, we’re going after them.” Maddock said.

“What?” Kevin asked.

“Shawn, you and I are going to DC to talk to Walter Anderson and Will Taylor. Kevin, Bonnie, I want you two to take the 747 to Edmond and get that Silver Bullet of his and take it apart. I want to know everything about that car.”

“It’s in Edmond PD impound, Russ.” Kevin said.

“Be creative!” Maddock said, leaving the garage.

“All right, let’s go.” Bonnie said, walking towards the rear door of the garage.

“We’ll be in touch, KITT,” Kevin said, “stand-by to activate the Satellite Uplink System.” He said, running out of the garage after Bonnie.

2215 Hrs PST

The LearJet was just a few miles outside of Seattle on its way to Washington, DC. Only about 55 miles behind of the jet was the 747 that was taking Bonnie and Kevin to Edmond, Oklahoma.

“Would you stop pacing?” Bonnie asked, looking at Kevin.

Kevin stopped in his tracks and looked around the garage. “How long has it been?”

“No more than an hour,” Bonnie said, “sit down.”

The younger technician obeyed his superior and sat on a crate. He was unable to sit still and began biting his fingernails.

“And knock that off.” Bonnie said.

“I can’t help it!” Kevin yelled, standing up.

“Driving me crazy isn’t going to help anything. Now you can sit your ass back down.”

Kevin remained standing. “What the hell am I supposed to do? Natalie’s missing or dead and I am stuck here waiting to land in like a million God damn hours.”

“Calm down,” Bonnie said, “you’re not going to be able to help me out when we get there. We need to get some rest. The Satellite Uplink System hasn’t even been tested yet and you know its systems in and out.”

“I can’t sleep.” Kevin protested.

“Well you’re going to, Kevin! There are things we have to do for her. I know Natalie is still alive somewhere, and we have to find her, and find her when we are awake.”

“All right, all right. You’re right, Bonnie.” Kevin said, running his hand through his hair. He left the cargo bay without saying goodbye for his cabin.

Bonnie sat still for what seemed to be endless minutes after Kevin left. Looking at her watch, she found out that it was only a minute and a half. She stood up and stretched, noticing a slight pain in her right wrist. What the hell, she thought. It had to be carpal tunnel because she was too young for arthritis, she told herself.

She left the cargo bay and walked slowly to her cabin. It seemed like an endless journey, but she made it soon enough. She didn’t stop to change into any clothes, and she collapsed on her bed. She put the pain in her wrist aside and for the first time in a long time, she cried.

There were times Bonnie showed some weakness and let some tears fall, but she always managed to fight them back and turn it off. This time, however, the tears were too much for her wheel power, and they flowed like a river out of her eyes.

Shawn hasn’t had an alcoholic drink in over a year, and didn’t intend to drink for another year, but considering the events over the past week, she was quite enjoying her scotch on the rocks. Maddock handed her a folder. “What’s this?” she asked.

“I had this printed before we left. This is the file about the disappearing mobster.” Maddock explained. “Johnny Traverso was a high profile mobster in Nevada. He controlled many of the small hotel/casinos in Las Vegas, Reno, and Laughlin. He got into an altercation with the manager of the Little Gold Casino in Reno. The manager disappeared and was found dead a week later. One of Traverso’s associates blew the whistle on the operation. It was his number two man, Bobby DiBiasi.”

“Go on.” Shawn said, flipping through the folder and looking at the pictures of the men.

“Once the police got involved, DiBiasi was subpoenaed. His car exploded across the street from the Little Gold Casino. Investigators found no traces of his remains in the car.”

“And then he disappeared without a trace as well?”

“Yes,” Maddock confirmed, “investigators scoured the three cities for a month. The case was dismissed as DiBiasi was the only witness.”

“Russ, in your mind, how much do you think this is connected to Medallion?” Shawn asked.

“I think it’s a good chance.”

“Do you think Natalie’s dead?”

“I sure hope not.”

There was a long and endless moment of awkward silence before Maddock spoke up again.

“How was your birthday?” he asked.

“What?” Shawn asked, caught off guard. “Oh yeah. It was good, I guess. I spent it alone.”

“Why alone?”

Shawn sat silent for a while, staring into her glass. “I don’t know.” She replied, finishing her scotch.

March 23, 2002

0219 Hrs CST

The taxi pulled up across the street from the Edmond PD Impound Lot. Bonnie and Kevin got out of the cab and quietly walked across the street as the cab pulled away.

Kevin took out a cell phone and dialed a number. The phone number connected with KITT’s telephone systems.

“I was waiting for your call.” KITT said.

“All right, KITT, activate the Satellite Uplink System.” Kevin said.

In the cold reaches of Earth orbit, a satellite bearing the Foundation’s logo activated. Lights activated as the dish opened up towards Earth and antennas extended. Thrusters activated as the satellite began to change its location in orbit.

“Where is the satellite now?”

“It’s approaching Oklahoma now. It should be in contact range in two minutes.”

“I sure hope this works.” Bonnie said.

“I’m sure it will,” Kevin replied, “the SUS is supposed to enable us to use most of KITT’s technological abilities via the FLAG satellite.”

“I tell ya what, kid, I sure wouldn’t have thought something up like this before.”

“What can I say, it came to me in a dream.” Kevin explained.

“Bonnie, Kevin, the satellite is in orbit above Oklahoma.” KITT reported.

Bonnie took out another cell phone and dialed in to Kevin’s so she could speak and hear as well.

“All right, KITT,” Bonnie whispered, “disable all the perimeter alarms and cameras.”

“Bonnie, if I do that, it will trigger an alarm within the security systems.”

“Hold on,” Kevin said, taking his laptop out of his bag. He sat down on the ground and started typing. “I’m on it. KITT, access the station’s mainframe.”

“I’m there.” KITT said.

“Relay access through my laptop.” Kevin said. The mainframe screen appeared and Kevin started typing on the keyboard. “I’m in security now.”

“Disable that fail safe thing, or whatever it is.” Bonnie said.

“Already done.” Kevin said, with a self-satisfaction grin.

“The perimeter security systems have been disabled, Bonnie.” KITT reported.

“All right, KITT, open the doors and let us in.”

Bonnie and Kevin walked through the retracted gates and looked around the impound lot. “KITT, help us out.” Bonnie said into her comm-link.

“The Silver Bullet will be about 40 meters from where you are standing and to your left.” KITT said.

The two of them walked over and found the sleek silver machine parked alone. The Silver Bullet sat silent and deactivated from when Will Taylor pulled its plug.

Kevin walked over to the driver’s side. “What are the chances this car is similar to KITT and breaking in normally won’t work?”

“Pretty good chances if you ask me.” Bonnie said.

Kevin raised his comm-link up to his mouth. “KITT, give me a hand and open up the door.”

Mixed letters and numbers appeared on KITT’s center monitor. “I am attempting to decode the electronic door locks, Kevin, stand by.”

“Hurry KITT,” Bonnie said, “I don’t want to be here any longer than we have to.”

A combination of letters and numbers appeared. “The doors are unlocked, Kevin.”

“Thank you.” Kevin said, sitting down in the driver’s seat. Bonnie sat down next to him and they looked around the inside of the car.

“Not much for space is it?” Bonnie asked, feeling cramped inside the Silver Bullet.

“How do you turn this damn thing on?” Kevin said, looking around for the ignition.

“You men always have to stick things into places huh?” Bonnie asked, pressing a button marked POWER.

The Silver Bullet quietly came to life. Kevin took note of the systems powering up. “Let’s go.” He said, driving the car out of its space and past the other seized vehicles.

“Bonnie, Kevin, you two might want to hurry, there is a tow truck approaching from the south.” KITT warned.

Kevin drove out of the lot and hauled ass down the road as they passed the tow truck arriving just in time for the main gates to close and reopen again.

0439 Hrs EDT

United States District Court

Location: Washington, DC

“We usually don’t let people in to question prisoners this late, but considering the case and its high priority, Anderson and Taylor have been set up in separate conference rooms for the two of you.” The guard said, as he led Maddock and Shawn down the hallway.

“Thank you.” Shawn said.

“We’ll let you know when we’re finished.” Maddock said.

“Sounds good. Right through this door.” The guard instructed.

Maddock and Shawn entered the separate hallway and stopped just outside of the two conference rooms.

“Good luck.” Maddock said.

“Thanks, you too.” Shawn said, entering the conference room. Walter Anderson was sitting at the table and looked up as she entered.

“You sure made a mess of things, Taylor.” Maddock said, circling the table.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Will Taylor replied. “As far as I am concerned this whole God damn nightmare is over.”

“Oh, you think it’s over,” Shawn said, sitting down to face Walter Anderson, “but you’re wrong.”

“What are you saying?” Anderson asked.

“One of our agents is either missing or dead.”

“And you think Medallion as something to do with it?”

“You’re God damn right I do.” Maddock said.

“Why is that?” Taylor asked.

“It’s only too damn convenient. We bust up your crooked operation, you detonate our agent.” Maddock said, sitting down.

“Is this some kind of a joke?” Anderson asked, looking around the room.

“This is far from a joke. There’s no yellow light in this room. No Peter Funt and Suzanne Somers to say you are on Candid Camera. I want some God damn answers.”

“And what makes you think I’ll give them to you?”

Maddock stared at Taylor. “If you don’t tell me now, I don’t think you want to see how we will get your answers.”

“I don’t respond well to threats, Agent McCormick.”

Shawn leaped from her seat and knocked Anderson off his chair. “I don’t respond well to bombs going off in parking lots outside my job! You’re going to start talking, because I tell you what, that security camera isn’t recording, and no one is watching it either. No one is behind that mirror. Get it through your head, Anderson. No one is going to be here for you.”

Shawn picked Anderson up and set him back into his char. “Start talking.”

“About two years ago, Walter Anderson receives a deal from this man representing another man. The representative’s name was Eric Johnson. He told Walter that the man he was representing was offering Walter two hundred fifty million dollars.”

“That was the payment to kill five people?” Maddock asked.

“Correct.”

“Johnson strung me along. Kept saying that the money would come soon. Soon, I ran out of money, and still no quarter of a billion in my account.”

“Who were these five people?” Shawn asked.

“Real estate moguls.” Anderson said. “Two in Seattle, one in Vancouver, and two in Phoenix.”

“The police never found out Medallion was responsible?” Maddock asked.

“No,” Taylor replied, yawning, “Walter succeeded in covering everything up. Pretty soon we were up the creek, and Medallion still didn’t get a big head start. That’s when Walter had me rob the armored car. Twenty million dollars later and we’re on our feet, finally.”

“What about the car?”

“The car was a brain project of a Silicon Valley company. Hell I can’t remember the name, anymore. Com- something.” Anderson said. “Johnson was always meeting with us and giving us the one up on you guys.”

“What?!” Shawn asked, appalled.

Anderson nodded. “He told us not to ever go after you, but gave us some pointers to mirror your operation. Which led us to steal the car from… Comtron. Yes, Comtron. We figured if we had a flashy car to go around the states, then we could soon get the one up on you.”

“And that’s when Julie Bernstein unraveled most of the plans?” Maddock asked.

“Yeah,” Taylor said, “it’s my fault too. She wanted to talk to me one day so we used Walter’s office. Well, often times eyes wander astray and she found out about the car. Once Walter found out she told Joe, he wanted to stop the leak with her. He said take care of it… I did.”

“By killing her.”

“Yeah.” Taylor said, lowering his head. “Not one of the high points in my life.”

“I wouldn’t think so.”

“You’re pretty much caught up to this point.” Anderson said.

“Except I’m still asking why our agent’s car exploded in our parking lot.”

Anderson sat there for a while pondering his next response. He was close to shitting his pants after spilling his cuts to this agent. In the hours since he was arrested, he’s been thinking where he went wrong with his operation. All he wanted to do was to fight crime, and make a difference in the world. Instead, he sunk down to the level of the criminals he so wanted to go after.

“Whoever this guy that Eric Johnson speaks for… I guarantee that he or they have something to do with the demise of your agent, Ms. McCormick.”

“It can’t be Medallion, Mr. Maddock. You guys have everyone that was Medallion.” Taylor said.

“Thank you for getting this on record, Mr. Taylor,” Maddock said, getting up and leaving the room.

Shawn was waiting for Maddock in the lobby. “Well?”

“We need to go back and do some research on this Eric Johnson they told us about.” Maddock said.

“I agree,” Shawn said, walking toward the doors, “from what I was told, it sounds like we’ve been watched for awhile. And whoever Eric Johnson represents purposely sent Medallion after us.”

Maddock held the door for Shawn as they exited the building and walked over to his rental car. It was a black Mercedes sedan. “We should also think of the fact that Eric Johnson could be representing himself, and this man they told us about doesn’t exist.”

“I never thought of it that way.” Shawn said, getting into the car.

“I only came up with it a few minutes ago.” Maddock said, starting the engine.

“So what are our options?”

“I’m still thinking those over.” He said, driving onto the road.

Light rain began to fall as they drove back to the Foundation.

“This sounds like something out of the X Files.” Shawn said.

“Huh?” Maddock asked, confused.

“This whole conspiracy that someone is after us.”

“It sickens me,” Maddock said, “everything we’ve accomplished over the past two years can be turned to shit in an instant because some guy has a vendetta against FLAG.”

“Hopefully that car will have some answers for us.”

“I’d rather we find that it still is Medallion responsible instead of this fairy tale guy with a beef.”

“It’s more feasible.” Shawn said.

Maddock squinted as a car with high beams passed him in the oncoming lane. “One thing I have learned was that the feasible solution is never a solution at all.”

0719 Hrs PST

Natalie looked up at the bright light, wishing she could wipe the beads of sweat off of her brow. The room she was kept in was blazing hot, around 92 degrees, she estimated.

She hadn’t been fed, nor watered by her captor or captors. She didn’t face any of them either, as she was spoken to by a voice booming from a PA system in whatever room she was in.

“Good morning, Agent Markins.” The voice said.

“What the hell do you want?” Natalie asked. “You bring me here, tell me to sit tight at wait, and now it’s morning. Not to mention my back is killing me because you have me tied to this God damn pole!” she yelled, tugging at the ropes.

“So sorry, Agent Markins, my apologies, I guess you expected being kidnapped as staying at the Hilton.”

“Up yours, you cock-sucker.” Natalie yelled.

“Now, now, now,” the voice scolded, “I don’t like you using foul language.”

“Who in the hell are you?”

“Why Agent Markins, you disappoint me. You rewrote the case file on me not so long ago. You have to remember my escape from nowhere.”

Natalie closed her eyes and tried her hardest despite her thirst and hunger to search her mind. The voice had just given her hints that she had either encountered or studied it before. Then it hit her… Nowhere. “Erewhon.” She said, referencing the disavowed floating prison in the Pacific Ocean.

“Clever girl.”

“Mr. X, I presume.”

“Correct.” The voice replied.

Everything suddenly hit Natalie… this wasn’t some crazy loon with nothing better to do than to bother her and FLAG… this was a captured criminal, a dangerous man, who is seeking revenge… and his first target is the Foundation for Law and Government!

1057 Hrs PST

Knight Foundation Headquarters

Location: Seattle, Washington

Bonnie and Kevin looked up as the garage doors opened and Maddock pulled his Mercedes inside.

“It started raining again.” Kevin said, looking outside in a trance.

“It’s Seattle, Kevin, when is it never raining?” Bonnie said, wiping her brow.

Kevin snapped out of his trance and returned his focus onto the car. If someone looked at pictures of the Silver Bullet before and now, they would be unable to fully recognize the car. The hood was removed from the car and computer components were scattered on the floor. Important parts were hooked up to diagnostic machines, while non-important pieces were tossed aside into a pile.

Lying beside the hood was the car’s super-tech dashboard, which had a multitude of wires connected to it.

Bonnie tossed a piece over into the junk pile. “Welcome back. What did you find?”

“A whole lot of stuff we already found out yesterday. And too much that we didn’t know.”

“Such as?” Kevin asked, yawning.

“Well we know that this car sure wasn’t made by those yahoos. In fact, you wont believe where they stole it from.” Shawn said.

“Humor us.” Bonnie said.

“Comtron.”

“They’re still in business?” KITT asked.

“Check on that, KITT,” Shawn said, “Medallion stole this car from Comtron not too long ago, and I would be willing to bet there is not much left of the business anymore.”

“You’re right Shawn. Comtron closed its doors and had its credit reduced to junk status around three months ago.” KITT reported.

“So with Tanya Walker dead and her operatives behind bars, would it be agreeable to rule them out?” Maddock asked.

Everyone acknowledged in agreement.

“What else?” Bonnie asked.

“According to those two men in lockup, FLAG is under watch by a phantom man represented by another man named Eric Johnson. Turns out it was this man who offered Medallion the hefty sum of money. He never paid up.” Shawn said.

“Johnson strung Medallion along, and gave them the one up on our operations for a while.” Maddock said.

“It’s a whole God damn conspiracy against us.” Bonnie said.

“Does Eric Johnson ring a bell in any of you?” Shawn asked.

The garage fell silent as everyone took a while to ponder the name. No one gave acknowledgement of remembering the name.

“How about you KITT?”

“I have no records of that name in my memory banks.” KITT reported.

“What have you found out about this car?” Maddock asked.

“A whole lot,” Kevin said, standing up, “this car is barely intelligent. I guess it is Comtron’s attempt at AI. It is equipped with pre-recorded responses and has no sentience or self-awareness like KITT.”

“It’s also cheaply put together,” Bonnie said, “this bullet-reflective alloy is nothing short of bullet-proof metal that the Secret Service equips for presidential vehicles. The car looks like a reject from Batman. The electronics are cheap and undercut. This car’s budget was obviously sliced halfway through production.”

“It’s a silver shit-rocket, Russ.” Kevin explained.

The garage fell silent once again until the silence was pierced by a loud alarm. Everyone jumped. Maddock ran over to a wall and picked up a telephone. “This is Maddock,” he yelled, after he dialed the number for security, “what the hell is going on?”

“Sir, a vehicle has run the gates and it is headed towards the KI garage.”

“Dispatch the rolling security teams and stop it at all costs-” Maddock was cut off as the front sliding doors to the garage exploded.

Everyone was either knocked to the floor or fell to the floor in shock or cover. A black Jeep Liberty entered the garage and screeched to a halt in front of KITT. Three masked men exited the vehicle with semi-automatic machine guns aimed at the team. A fourth masked man exited the Jeep and walked around back where he opened the back and pulled out Natalie Markins, who was unconscious, bound and gagged. He carried her to the front of the Jeep and set her on the ground.

With their guns fixed on the team, the men jumped back into the Jeep and backed out of the garage. The Jeep spun around only to face six patrol cars blocking its path.

“Come on man, go for it!” a masked man yelled to the driver.

The driver revved the engine a few times and floored it.

“Open fire!” the head officer yelled.

The FLAG security officers opened fire on the speeding Jeep Liberty. To their surprise, the bullets bounced off the Jeep.

“Fall back!” the officer yelled as the Jeep plowed through the barricade.

“KITT, is she alive?” Maddock asked, kneeling over Natalie’s still body.

“Yes, she is, barely.” KITT reported.

“Alert the paramedics and get them over here fast.” Bonnie said.

“I’ve done that already,” KITT said, “the ambulance will be here in eight minutes.”

“What the hell was that?” Shawn asked, looking out the destroyed door.

“I have no damn clue,” Kevin said, “but I bet it had something to do with this Eric Johnson guy.”

“KITT, what are her vitals?” Bonnie asked.

“Her vital signs are faint, Bonnie, we need to get her to the hospital.”

“She isn’t going to make it in eight minutes.” Maddock said, scooping Natalie up in his arms.

KITT caught on to his drift and opened the passenger side door and moved the seats forward so Maddock could lay Natalie down in the backseat.

He ran around to the driver’s side and got in. “You three stay here and deal with the security.” Maddock ordered.

“I’m going with you.” Shawn said, hopping into the passenger seat.

Maddock slammed his foot onto the gas pedal and sped out of the garage. The speedometer passed 130 miles per hour.

“KITT, alert the hospital of our arrival.” Shawn said, as they whip-passed a car on the road.

“They are expecting us, Shawn,” KITT said, “and are awaiting our arrival in the ambulance bay.”

“What the hell is going on?” Maddock asked, shaking his head.

“I don’t know,” Shawn said, “but someone, somewhere, has some answers to give us.”

March 25, 2002

1519 Hrs

Kevin ran into the garage where Maddock was supervising the repair of the doors and Bonnie and Shawn were working on KITT.

“She’s awake.” He simply said. The two words grabbed the attention of the team.

It was just under an hour when Natalie was discharged and back at the Foundation. They were sitting in the conference room and the exhausted FBI agent listened as the team filled her in on the past 48 hours.

“Eric Johnson is just the right hand man. You guys have no idea how far this goes.” Natalie said.

“What the hell do you mean?” Maddock asked, surprised that their 2^nd assumption had been disputed.

“There is just one man in control here, and he controls it all, and controls us. His name is Mr. X.” Natalie reported.

Silence fell over the team as they let it all sink in. Someone very powerful had been playing them for fools for a long time.

“Mr. X? Who the hell is this Mr. X?” Shawn asked, looking at the badly bruised Natalie.

“Someone I hoped I would never hear of again.” Bonnie said, speaking up.

“What? You know this guy?” Kevin asked.

“Mr. X, who’s real name is Baxter Lex, was a mad genius who decided to go on a bombing spree in 1986. It was FLAG who busted him.” Natalie explained.

“How come I don’t know about him?” Shawn asked.

“It was a case that we didn’t like to talk about.” Bonnie said.

“Wouldn’t I have picked it up from KITT’s memory chip?”

“No.” A voice answered from the doorway. Everyone turned around to see who it was. It was Michael Knight.

Email your feedback to the author

Back to Knight Rider 2000 Fan Fiction