Enemy Spy (2 page)

“Did you try bribing them?”Mom asked.

“Try…
bribing
them?”

“Like a reporter who
really
wanted to find out might do?”

“Oh,”Dad said, sounding like Mom had squooshed the air out of him.

The phone rang. Dad hurried to get it while Mom called out, “Probably someone who knows how to bribe, wanting to talk to Nolan!”

Dad's head popped back into the room. “Then they'd be calling to talk to you—he used
your
credit card, remember?”

“Oh,”Mom said as Dad disappeared around the corner. “That's right.”

Two minutes later, Dad was back, saying, “Nolan, that was your sidekick. He's calling a powwow.”

“Mr. Green is?”Since when did sidekicks call powwows? That's the superhero's job! “Is he coming over?”I asked.

“No, we're going to his house. He seems to think it would be less conspicuous.”Dad shrugged. “He does drive that wild van, and we do live right across the street from the school I told him we'd be right over.”

A superhero being summoned to his sidekick's lair? Unthinkable! Did sidekicks even
have
lairs? Or caves? Or headquarters? No! They always hung around the superhero's place!

I followed them into the garage. Into the car. “Do you know where he lives?”I asked after I was buckled in.

“He gave me the address,”Dad said. “Shouldn't take long.”

We drove out of our neighborhood, over the Cedar Creek Bridge, and past the Old Town Square. Then we took a turn off the main road. And another turn onto a gravel road. And another onto a
dirt
road!

It was dark.

Mom was holding on to the dash!

I was bouncing around like crazy!

Maybe my sidekick really
did
live in a cave.

Finally Mom couldn't stand it any longer. “Are we lost, Steven?”

“No, Eve…,”Dad said as the car pitched into another pothole. “He did warn me that it would be a bit rough.”

“But there's nothing out here! This doesn't even seem like a road anymore! I think we should—”

“There it is!”Dad said, pointing straight ahead.

“Wow,”I said as we got closer. “It's a log cabin!”

“That's painted
green,”
my mom said, like she'd smelled something stinky.

“Cool!”I said, and it was. The whole place was made out of logs. The walls, the roof, the doors… logs, logs, everywhere!

Mr. Green guided us into the living room, saying, “Not conventional, I know, but I dig it.”

Mom and Dad were nodding, but they weren't checking things out like I was.

There was a big stone fireplace!

Giant leather furniture!

Old Indian rugs!

And guitars! Guitars everywhere!

“Your house
shreds,
Mr. Green!”

He laughed and said, “Thanks,”then asked, “How about some cocoa? I've got it all ready. Just needs to be poured.”

“Great!”I said. “Got any marshmallows?”

“I'll put you in charge of marshmallows,”he said, then winked at my mom and dad as he led me into the kitchen.

So I put one marshmallow in everyone's mug. Everyone's except mine.

I got three!

Yum-my!

When Mr. Green poured the hot chocolate into the mugs, he said, “So, Nolan. How do you like being in the middle of a media frenzy?”

“Huh? You mean how Chatty Adams is trying to find out who Shredderman is?”

He frowned. “It's not just Chatty Adams, you know.”

“Um—well, I wish they'd just leave me alone. But Dad says they can't figure out it's me unless I do something illegal—which, believe me, I won't!”

He nodded and handed me a mug to carry, but he didn't say anything until we were back in the room with Mom and Dad. Then, after everyone had their hot chocolate, he said, “I did not like that Chatty Adams.”

“Me neither!”I said. “She was… she was…”

“Meddling? Intrusive?”my dad asked. “Invasive?”

“Yeah!”I said. “It was just like an invasion!”

“Why in the world did the principal allow them on the school grounds?”my mom asked.

Mr. Green said, “Because Ivana Voss would love to find out who Shredderman is.”

“Because of how Shredderman trapped her son?”Mom asked.

Mr. Green nodded. “She's still ticked off about that.”

I wanted to say something about Dr. Voss's son getting what he deserved, but I didn't. I had the world's softest, tastiest hot-chocolate marshmal-low dissolving in my mouth.

Mm-mmmm,
good!

But then Mr. Green said, “So what are your plans for the Web site, Nolan?”

“Hmmmm?”I asked through my marshmallow. “Oh. Well, number one: To not do anything illegal.”

Mr. Green nodded, but he didn't smile.

And that's when I realized that something was wrong.

My mom noticed, too. She said to him, “Elmo?”

That's right. My sidekick's name is
Elmo.

Anyway, Mr. Green took a deep breath and said, “Back when Nolan was flying solo on his Web site, I thought he could really use someone
to confide in. But now that the two of you are on board…”

I waited, but he didn't really have to finish his sentence. It's funny how missing words can be so much louder than real words. Finally I choked out, “You're saying you don't want to be the Bouncer anymore?”

“It's not that I don't
want
to be, it's just that it's not
necessary
anymore.”

“But, Mr. Green!”Suddenly I didn't want cocoa. Or marshmallows. What was he
doing
? Sidekicks don't quit!

Sidekicks
can't
quit!

“I understand, Elmo,”my dad was saying. “You're in a touchy position at the school. Especially since Dr. Voss is no fan of Shredderman.”

Mr. Green nodded. “I wouldn't do this if Nolan didn't have the two of you. But he does, and really, it's just a matter of time.”

“Before what?”I demanded.

The three of them looked at me. Finally Mr. Green said, “Before they unmask you, Nolan.”

“No way!”I cried. “They're not going to do it! I won't let them!”

One by one, the three of them looked down.

“Mom?”I asked. “Dad … ?”

Finally my dad said, “I do think it might be a good idea to cool it for a while, champ.”

“But—”

“Plus,”my mom said, “have you thought about the trouble your dad will be in if people do find out?”

“What do you mean?”I couldn't believe this. They were all ganging up on me!

This was a total ambush!

“What I mean is, your father's been telling Mr. Zilch that he's getting to the bottom of who Shredderman is. What do you think Mr. Zilch will do when he finds out that your father's known all along who Shredderman is?”

“You don't think … you don't think they'd
fire
him, do you?”I turned to my dad. “He can't
fire
you, can he?”

Dad shrugged. “He won't take kindly to it, I can tell you that.”

Everyone was quiet for a minute, until my mom said, “Why don't you lie low for a while, Nolan? Just until things cool off.”

Until they cooled off? When would
that
be?

My lips felt all sticky.

My throat felt choked.

And in my stomach, the world's fluffiest marsh-mallow felt like a rock.

I knew what they were really saying.

It was time for Shredderman to stop.

I went to bed mad.

What kind of superhero has his sidekick quit on him?

What kind of superhero has parents who tell him what to do?

Sheez.

But there was no arguing with my parents.

So what if I'm a superhero?

They're
adults.

When I woke up at 5:37 a.m., I was still mad. So I got out of bed.

I booted up my computer.

I went to
shredderman.com.
It had been a long time since I'd played around on my own site. It was a great site! A fun site. Lots of cool links. Lots of cool graphics. Lots of funny jokes.

I'd worked so hard on it!

No way was I going to tear this down!

No way was I going to stop fighting for truth and justice!

I was going to make my site bigger and better than ever!

“Honey?”Mom tapped on my door and opened it. “I saw the light on.”

“I'm busy,”I grumbled.

“Oh, dear,”she said, and came in anyway. And when she saw that I was working on my site, she frowned. “I thought we decided you'd lie low for a while.”

“You
decided,”I said.

“But, honey…”

Sheez. I'd never get anything done with her looking over my shoulder. So instead of arguing, I shut down my computer and headed for the bathroom.

“Honey… ?”she said again, following along.

“Do you mind, Mom?”I asked, closing the bathroom door in her face. “I need some privacy.”

I could hear Mom and Dad talking about me in the hallway.

I couldn't tell what they were saying, but I knew they were not happy.

Well, fine.

Let them be mad.

It had all been some cute, childish game to them.

Well, truth and justice were
not
cute. They were
not
a game!

They were… They were…
everything.

I looked at myself in the mirror.

Man, my hair was a mess! It was sticking out everywhere!

I tried wetting it down, but
boiiiiing,
it shot back out.

I filled up the sink and dunked my head in.

Brrrrrr!

And now I was stuck. I couldn't reach the towel!

So I dripped across the bathroom, rubbed my hair with the towel, then went back to the mirror.

I looked wild!

Crazy!

Hmmmm.
Maybe I should just leave my hair like that.

I took out some gel and went to town, rubbing it all through my hair. I spiked it up.

Looked kinda cool.

I combed it straight back.

I looked like an evil warlord.

I spiked it back up.

I kinda liked it.

I combed it regular.

Bor-ing.

I spiked it back up….

Mom knocked. “Nolan?”

“What!”

“You've just been in there a long time. Are you all right?”

What was she thinking? That I'd flushed myself? Why couldn't they just leave me alone? “

Nolan?”

That did it. I took one last look at myself.

I was going to school spiked.

Mom practically fainted when I opened the door.