Enemy Spy

by Wendelin Van Draanen

  Definitely FBI-issue shades!

  All of a sudden the front door to my house opened.

  Another FBI guy came out!

  And another!

  They were carrying a computer!

  I focused on it as they hauled it to the car. It wasn't my computer—it was my mom's! And right behind them, with her hand wrapped around my mother's arm, was an FBI lady!

  They were taking my mother away?

  Why?

  I focused the binoculars on my mother's face. She seemed serious, but she wasn't crying. She was just going along, getting in the back of the SUV. And before I could run home and yell “Let her go!”they were driving her away.

  I jumped on my bike and chased after them. As fast as I could, as hard as I could, I pedaled after that SUV! And boy, it's a good thing there are red lights! It gave me the chance to catch up while they waited for them to turn green.

  We were getting near the Cedar Creek Bridge when a news van came blasting over it, going the opposite direction. Chatty Adams was in the pas-senger seat!

  I looked over my shoulder as they zoomed by. Was she going to our house?

  Had she heard they were arresting my mom?

  But Chatty Adams must have spotted the SUV, because all of a sudden the news van spun a U-turn!

  It was coming after us!

  Was Chatty going to yell a bunch of questions at my mom?

  Was my mom going to be on national TV?

  Were they going to make her seem like a criminal?

  If Chatty could, she would!

  I moved over from the right side of the road and rode smack-dab in the middle of the bridge. I had to stop Chatty Adams! She was crazy! She thought Mr. Green had a house full of guns! Who knew what she'd say about my mom!

  Chatty's van honked.

  I kept riding in the middle of the road, pre-tending I didn't hear.

  The van honked longer. Louder!

  I kept riding in the middle of the road, doity-doity-doity-doy.

  When we were over the bridge, the van went off the road, onto the shoulder! It guzzled gas like crazy as it passed me by! Chatty Adams glared out the window at me.

  I pretended I didn't see her. Doity-doity-doity-doy. But now I had to catch up again! And boy, they were going so fast!

  I tried my hardest, but I just couldn't keep up. There was a long stretch of road with no stoplights, and they lost me.

  When I got to Old Town, I skidded to a halt at a pay phone. I dug through my backpack for leftover lunch money. My legs were shaky from the ride. And my head was pouring sweat! I tore off my helmet and dropped coins into the pay phone. My hands were shaking as I punched in my mother's cell phone number.

  Brrrring… brrrring… brrrr …

  “Hello?”

  “Mom! I saw them taking you away.”

  “Calm down, Nolan. I'm fine,”she said to me. Then, to someone else, she snapped, “Do you mind? It's my son. He's worried.”

  I guess they decided to let her talk to me, because she said, “Everything's going to be okay, honey.”

  “They took your computer,”I whispered. “Why?”

  “They seem to think I'm Shredderman,”she said.

  “You?”

  She laughed. “Pretty funny, huh?”Then she added, “By the way, they've taken your dad in for questioning, too.”

  My dad, too! Oh, no! They had him, my mom, and Mr. Green? What had I done?

  “Mom, I'm sorry I took off. I had to—”

  “We'll sort this all out later, okay? Right now, you just stay safe. Everything will be fine. Your father and I haven't done anything wrong. They just want to ask us a few questions down at the police station. But since we haven't done anything wrong, we're not in any trouble, okay?”

  She was being so calm. She sounded so… brave. “Mom?”I asked, and boy, my voice was quivering! “What should I do?”

  “Where are you?”

  “In Old Town. At a pay phone.”

  “Go home, Nolan. Go home and wait. I'll call you there when we're done. It shouldn't be too long,”she added cheerfully, “seeing how I don't know anything about Shredderman.”

  “You rock, Mom!”

  She laughed, and I could tell she was going to hang up, so real quick I said, “By the way, Chatty Adams is right behind you.”

  “Oh, brother,”she said. Then she started to ask, “How did you… ?”but stopped herself. “Never mind. I'll talk to you soon, okay, honey?”

  “Okay,”I said, and hung up. Then I picked up my bike and clipped on my helmet.

  Shredderman had work to do!

  Chapter 15

  Holy Cryptanalysis, Batman!

  The police station's not that far from Old Town. If I'd have gone straight there instead of stopping to call my mom, I might even have beat them. There are lots of stoplights along the way that would have slowed the FBI down. Stoplights I was now running!

  But by the time I got to the police station, Mom was nowhere to be found. Lots of other people were on the police station steps and around the parking lot, though. There were even a few kids from my class, probably trying to find out what was happening to Mr. Green. I saw Ian McCoy and his friend Vinnie. Trey was there, talking to Marvin Speltz. And there were some girls, too. Miriam and Danielle and Trinity. And uh-oh… Bubba.

  Bubba Bixby hadn't given me trouble for a while, but he still made me nervous! Then Miriam spotted me. And she nudged Trinity, who nudged Danielle, and pretty soon there was this whole chain reaction and everyone was charging over to me.

  “Hey!”Marvin said. “I heard they arrested your parents.”

  “They did not!”I said, wishing I had gone home.

  “Uh-huh!”Vinnie said. “That dude over there said they've arrested Eve and Steven Byrd. Those are your parents, Nerd, in case you didn't know it.”

  “Shut up,”I told him. “They didn't arrest them, they just want to ask them a few questions.”

  “Nuh-uh, dude! The FBI hauled 'em in for trea-son!”Marvin said.

  “Who told you that?”I demanded.

  “That news reporter dude. You know…”He pointed over by the station steps. “What's-his-face.”

  “Harry Kane,”Miriam said. “He used to do the weather, but now he does news. My parents watch him every night.”

  Boy, did I have a thing or two to say to Harry Kane! I parked my bike and power-walked right up to him. And to my surprise, all my classmates followed.

  Nobody ever follows me—they usually avoid me!

  But I guess they were curious about what was going on with my mom and dad, so they all tagged along. By the time I got up to Harry Kane, I felt like I had a whole army behind me!

  Not that they would defend me or anything, but still, it made me feel more sure about what I was going to tell him.

  “Hey,”Harry said. He was leaning on the wooden railing by the steps, chewing on a toothpick. “What's up?”

  “My name's Nolan Byrd,”I told him. “My par-ents are Eve and Steven Byrd.”

  “Ah,”he said with a little smile. His toothpick was like a skinny wooden fang, sticking straight out.

  “My parents are not traitors or spies or anything else. They're good guys! And,”I added, “so is Mr. Green.”

  “I see,”he said, but he was still kind of grinning.

  “Mr. Kane, I'm serious! They had nothing to do with any of this, and I don't think you should go around telling people they've committed treason when they haven't!”

  A guy with a big camera came up and aimed it at me, but Harry yanked the toothpick out of his mouth and pointed it at the camera guy like a micro magic wand. “No, man,”he said. “Not the kid.”

  “But, Harry…”

  “I said no, man. It's not cool.”He kept pointing the toothpick right at him until the cameraman grumbled, “Whatever,”and backed off.

  Harry turned to me and said, “I know your dad—not real well, but I do know him. We've covered a lot of the same stories—him for the paper, me f
or TV. Always seemed like a pretty decent guy to me—”

  “He is. He's a great guy! So's my mom!”

  He scratched his neck and looked at me. “You said your name's Nolan, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Okay, Nolan, I'll tell you what. I'll do my best to be sensitive to what you're going through, but if your parents are part of an international spy ring, it's my job to report it.”

  An international spy ring? Holy cryptanalysis, Batman! This was getting bigger by the minute!

  “You've got it all wrong! My parents aren't the spies! Neither is Mr. Green! They're the good guys!”

  “That's right,”a few of the kids said. “No way is Mr. Green a spy.”

  “Yeah!”said Vinnie. “He's a hippie!”

  Harry laughed. “Well, look. I appreciate that you kids are sticking up for your teacher and Nolan's parents, but like I said—”

  I interrupted him. “How would you like to be plastered all over the news as a criminal when you were the good guy? My parents and Mr. Green are the good guys, I promise you.”

  “All right, all right! I said I'd be sensitive, okay? My sources are telling me that none of them is being very forthcoming—”

  “Whaddaya mean, 'forthcoming'?”Vinnie asked.

  “You know—they're all keeping their mouths shut.”Harry leaned forward a little. “That usually means they're hiding something.”

  Maybe, but it wasn't spy information!

  “But—”I said.

  “But,” he said, “I'll make sure the story's solid before I run it. If they're spies, though, there's nothing I can do about that.”He nodded over my shoulder at the parking lot. “Your real problem's not me, though. Your real problem's out there.”

  I looked over at the white news van parked under some trees. “You mean Chatty Adams?”I asked.

  He nodded. “Good luck getting that news chick to back off.”He snorted. “Just from the few days I've known her, I can promise you that she'll report what she's got, no matter who it hurts.”

  All of us were looking at Chatty now. And inside me I felt something strange swelling up. Something strong. Something I've only ever felt when I was being Shredderman.

  But here I was, just Nolan Byrd, surrounded by classmates who were waiting. Waiting for me to say something. Or do something.

  “Come on,”I said, leading the way. “Let's go have a little chat with Chatty Adams!”

  Chapter 16

  Chatting with Chatty

  They followed me. Every single one of my class-mates followed me. Even Bubba Bixby! And on the way over, Trinity whispered, “I like the way you stood up for your parents, Nolan.”

  I didn't understand why she was whispering. Or what the big deal was. “My parents are great,”I told her.

  She nodded. “Mine are, too.”She was still whispering. “But it's not real cool to admit it, you know what I mean?”

  I couldn't help pulling a face. “Why?”

  She smiled at me. “That's what I like about you, Nolan.”Then she scurried away to walk with Miriam and Danielle.

  Weird! But I didn't have time to think about it. I had to get my digital camera set up without anyone noticing, and I had to do it while I was walking!

  This was going to take subtlety

  Finesse!

  Some real legerdemain!

  And believe me, I'm not known for my smooth moves.

  Lucky for me, my camera was already in the secret compartment in my backpack. But I had to open the lens flap.

  Get out the remote control.

  Activate the camera and stash the remote in my sweatshirt pocket.

  And I had to do it all without anyone asking me what I was doing!

  First step, trip!

  I'm good at tripping.

  Comes real natural, believe me.

  Turns out, I'm good at faking it, too. I pretended to stumble and twisted out of my backpack. And while I was recovering, I ripped open the lens flap, snuck the remote control in my pocket, and untied my shoe.

  “You okay?”Trinity asked.

  “Yeah,”I muttered. “What a klutz, huh?”

  “It's okay,”she said with a smile. “When I do that, my mom says I'm just trying to catch up with a growth spurt.”She pointed. “Look! You probably just tripped on your shoelace.”

  I tied it quick and picked up my backpack by the top loop, like a briefcase. “Thanks,”I told her. Trinity really is pretty nice.

  Then I noticed something amazing. All the other kids were waiting for me, too. They weren't hovering over me or anything, but they were waiting.

  So I smiled at them and said, “Sorry! Klutz attack!”

  They laughed. And for the first time ever, them laughing at me wasn't painful.

  It felt good.

  Like it was… okay that I was the way I was.

  Like somewhere inside they actually liked me.

  It was a very strange feeling.

  A good feeling!

  Actually, I felt about six feet tall! And by the time the group of us was at the news van, I felt really brave. If Chatty Adams didn't leave my parents and Mr. Green alone, boy, was she going to be sorry!

  Chatty and that Roy guy had their backs to us. Roy was by the driver's door, talking on one cell phone. Chatty was by the passenger door, chattin' on another.

  Maybe they were talking to each other!

  How stupid would that be?

  More likely, they were trying to get information about Mr. Green and my parents!

  Chatty's camera guy was pulling equipment out of the van. He stopped working when he saw us and said, “Hey. What's up?”

  “We're here to talk to Chatty,”I said.

  “You want autographs?”

  “Not exactly,”I said. “I have information.”

  His eyebrows went up.

  “About… ?”

  “The international spy ring.”Man! Was I being cool, or what?

  “Hey, Chatty!”he called. When she turned, the cameraman said, “They say they've got information.”

  She took one look at us and scowled at him.

  He shrugged at her like, Don't blame me! and she turned her back on us, shaking her head.

  So I went right up to her and said, “Excuse me, but this is important.”

  She looked at me like I was an annoying bug in her no-fly zone. “Go away.”

  “No,”I said, loud and clear.

  My classmates gasped.

  Chatty's nose flared.

  Her eyes squinted!

  She was practically foaming at the mouth!

  Finally she whispered “Call me back in five”into the phone and snapped it closed. She looked me over. Hair to toe. Toe to hair. Then she said, “So what do you want?”

  “I want you to back off Mr. Green and the Byrds,”I told her. “They're not spies, and they're not Shredderman—”

  “I recognize you now!”Chatty was squinting at me but good. “You're that nerdy little kid from the elementary school who—”

  “I am not nerdy,”I told her.

  “Yeah,”someone beside me growled. “He's just smart.”

  I recognized the voice, but I still couldn't believe my eyes when I turned and saw who'd said it.

  Bubba Bixby.

  None of my other classmates could believe it, either. For a second no one said anything. But

  then all at once, other kids started shouting stuff at Chatty.

  “Why you callin' him names?”

  “Yeah! He hasn't done anything to you!”

  “Yeah, lady. If you call him anything, call him Mister.”

  “Yeah! 'Cause one of these days, you'll be working for him.”

  Now I couldn't believe my ears. These were my classmates. The same kids who'd been calling me Nerd for years!

  “What is this?”Chatty said, still squinting away. “Roy!”she called over her shoulder. “Get these stupid kids out of here!”

  “Look,”I said. “We're not trying to bother you—
”

  “Well, you're doing a pretty good job of it, any-way!”

  “We're just here to ask you to leave the Byrds and Mr. Green alone. They're innocent.”

  “Oh, yeah? Well, how would you know?”

  “I know because—”

  But before I could say more, she said through a smirk, “And what are you gonna do if I don't, huh? Sic your calculator on me?”

  “Hey!”Trinity said. “That's cold!”

  “Yeah!”Ian yelled. “Why don't you listen to him?”

  But she wasn't about to. We were just kids. Annoying little kids.

  Little did she know that Shredderman was a kid!

  I moved my backpack so the camera was angled at Chatty. From the look on her face, I could tell that with one more little nudge it would be showtime!

  I reached inside my pocket and pressed the camera's remote control.

  Movie mode, go!

  And then good ol' Vinnie shouted, “Yeah! What's your problem?”

  And… action!

  “My problem?”Chatty said, winding up. “My problem is you, you twerp.”She started pointing around, picking on us one at a time. “And you, you geek! And you, you wannabe Barbie! And you, you big-beak brat! And you, you fatso! And especially you, you annoying knuckleheaded nerd. Can't you tell I'm busy? Get away from me!”

  “Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa. ”Roy was pulling her away, trying to calm her down. “Easy, sweetheart. It's okay. Everything's ooooookay.”Then he called over to us, “I'm sorry about that, kids. She didn't mean any of that. She's just under a lot of pressure.”

  But then Chatty spotted a police car zooming across the parking lot.

  Her eyes got sharp.

  Her nostrils flared.

  She wrestled free from Roy and started moving like a barracuda after blood.

  “They've got someone else!”she cried to her cameraman. “Come on!”

  The rest of us ran after the police car, too. And when we caught up, I saw that Chatty was right. They did have someone in the backseat.

  Someone I recognized!

  Chapter 17

  Sweating Bullets

  Harry Kane got to the police car about the same time Chatty and the rest of us did. Chatty shoved Harry aside and shouted, “Can you tell us who you've got there?”