Read Enemy Spy Online

Authors: Wendelin van Draanen

Tags: #Ages 7 & Up

Enemy Spy (9 page)

BOOK: Enemy Spy
6.96Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

“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 for 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.

BOOK: Enemy Spy
6.96Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

F O U R by JASON
Baby Be Mine by Paige Toon
The Sicilian by Mario Puzo
In the Deep End by Pam Harvey
Is Three A Crowd? by Louisa Neil