Enemy Spy (10 page)

Someone I recognized!

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?”

Two policemen had pulled their prisoner out of the backseat. It was the shabby guy who had left the papers in the boulder and taken the money!

He was handcuffed!

“What is he charged with?”Chatty shouted. “Is this one of the international spies?”

Both the policemen shook their heads, telling her they weren't going to answer her questions.

She chased after them anyway. “Is he Shredderman?”

Shredderman?
How could she think
that
? Shredderman had blown the whistle on this guy!

How stupid could this lady be?

One of the police officers seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he stopped in his tracks and gave her a long, steady look. Then he let the other policeman take their prisoner into the sta-tion while he stayed outside. He came a few steps our way, then cleared his throat and said, “I under-stand that you've got a lot of questions concerning this case, and we
will
answer them to the best of our ability when the time is right—”

“When will
that
be?”Chatty snapped. “You expect us to wait out here all night?”

The policeman took a deep breath. “How about we give you a statement in… oh, half an hour?”

“Can't you give us
any
thing now? Who is that man? Why was he arrested? Are you going to—”

Harry cut in. “Hey, Don, can you tell us if this arrest means you'll be releasing the Byrds and
Elmo Green?”He glanced at us. “There are some people here who'd really like to know.”

“Hi, Harry,”the policeman answered. “I'd like to help you on that, but right now I can't say. Someone'll be back out in half an hour, okay?”

“Good enough, Don,”Harry said.

“Hey, Don!”Chatty called.

The policeman put up a hand before she could say anything more. “Please, Ms. Adams. That's enough. I'll have someone back here in half an hour.”

Chatty practically stomped her foot. Then she stormed off, muttering, “Bunch of good ol' boys around here. Bunch of lousy, clubfooted good ol' boys.”

Roy was on her again, saying, “Chatty, knock it off! You've scared off your source, and now you're alienating this whole town!”

“But it's not right! I was here first! This is
my
story!”

“It's still your story, Chatty. Calm down!”

“No, it's not! You think they're gonna keep a lid on this? You watch. In half an hour, this place will be swarming with reporters!”

Chatty stormed off to her news van, and I was expecting my classmates to take off, too, but they didn't. Trinity said, “I'm going to call my mom, but I'll wait with you, okay, Nolan?”

“Me too,”Ian said, then looked at Vinnie. “You taking off?”

“No way.”He was walking backward quick, with one eye on Trinity. “I'm just gonna beat Pony-girl to the phone!”She tried to punch him, but he took off running.

Some kids called home on their cell phones. Some went to the pay phone. I didn't have to call anyone—my parents were in the police station.

Maybe even in jail!

Someone else didn't call his parents, either.

Bubba.

And the way he was acting was making me nervous.

He was quiet.

Very quiet.

And he was watching me, kind of pacing back and forth. Like he was thinking.

No, more like stalking prey.

But he hadn't given me trouble in weeks. Weeks and weeks! Ever since I'd done him a great big—make that
enormous
—favor.

But still. Right now, he was looking very…
dangerous.

I tried to wave at him, like, Hey, dude. What's happening? But it was a pretty lame wave, even I could tell.

And it made him do the one thing I
didnt
want him to do.

Walk my way.

Uh-oh. Was he going to pound me?

But why would he?

Unless he… unless he suspected that
I
was the one who'd posted his Big Butt on the World Wide Web. Unless he'd figured out that
I
was the one who'd gotten him busted for bullying. Unless he'd figured out that
I
was…

Shredderman.

Kids were starting to move our way. But before anyone got there, Bubba came right up to me and said, “I'm not as dumb as you think.”

I gulped. “Who said you were dumb?”

“I know that's what you think.”

Actually, I didn't think that. Bubba had managed to get through
years
of bullying and stealing and lying. Sure, I thought he was sneaky, but you can't be dumb and get away with all of that.

I shook my head. “I don't think you're—”

“I can put two and two together, man.”

“You can multiply them, too! And divide them! And probably even exponentiate them!”Man, my
mouth
was the one that was dumb. Real quick, I added, “I didn't mean that the way it sounded. Honest!”

“Just
listen
to me, Nolan.”

At least he wasn't back to calling me Nerd. I gulped and nodded.

“You humiliated me, dude. All those jokes about me. That picture of my butt. I swore when I figured it out I'd beat whoever it was to a pulp.”

I was sweating bullets.

He knew!

Without a doubt, Bubba Bixby knew.

Other kids were coming in closer. And closer. He was going to say it! He was going to blow my cover.

How could he resist?

Bubba looked around at all the kids gathered. He was feeling the power of it! The glory of it!

This was it—I was about to be unmasked.

And by Bubba Bixby!

He looked right at me. There was a hint of a smile on his face. He cocked his nose, like, Come here.

I squinted a little, like, Huh?

He did it again, then said to everyone else, “Step back! I gotta ask Nolan something.”

Everyone backed up, boy! Nobody could figure out
what
was going on, but they sure didn't want to be in the middle of it!

Then Bubba said to me, “Come
here,
dude!”

What else could I do? I moved a step forward.

He rolled his eyes.

I moved another step closer.

He grabbed my arm and yanked me next to him.

But he didn't pound me.

He didn't hurl me onto the pavement.

No, instead, he
whispered
in my ear.

And what he said was, “You need a sidekick, man?”

“I'm serious, dude,”he whispered when I took a step back. “I'd be good!”He flexed an arm and grinned at me. “I kinda look like the Bouncer, don't you think?”

I was just staring at him, my mind going a million miles an hour.

He knew. There was no doubt about it.

But Bubba Bixby as the
Bouncer
? Bubba was the whole reason I put on the Shredderman mask in the first place. And now he wanted to be my sidekick?

But what if I said no? What would he do then?

Pound me?

Or worse—unmask me?

Bubba put down his arm and said, “You're thinking this is a threat, aren't you?”

I just stared at him.

“Well, it's not, dude. I just think it'd be cool.”

I kept right on staring. My whole face felt frozen in place!

He sighed. “Man, you're thinking I'm going to rat you off, aren't you? Well, I'm not the creep you think I am. And to prove it, I tell you what— whether you say I can be the Bouncer or not, I ain't squealin'. Now or ever. You got my word.”

His
word
? Bubba Bixby's word was about as good as a punctured ink cartridge!

But I couldn't just keep standing there, staring! I had to say
some
thing! Bubba had figured it out, and I could see he wasn't just guessing.

He
knew.

But Bubba Bixby as a sidekick?

I practically laughed out loud.

It was just too… ironic.

Paradoxical!

Totally unexpected!

Completely surprising!

My face thawed into a little smile, and I heard myself whisper, “I wasn't aware that you were big on truth and justice. But there
does
happen to be an opening.”

He pumped his arm and said, “Yes!”Then he whispered, “And, dude, I can totally get into truth and justice. Wait and see. I'm gonna be the best—”

“Shhhhh-shhh-shhh!”

Kids were sneaking in closer.

“Oh. Oh, right,”Bubba said. He put on a poker face. “I'm cool. I'm cool.”

Trinity was the first to say something. “You okay, Nolan?”

“Yeah,”I said, and tossed a look at Bubba. “Everything's cool, right?”

“Absolutely!”Bubba was grinning from ear to ear. “Everything is way cool.”Then he laughed and said, “It's nifty. Groovy! Awesome! You might even say it's
copacetic.”

Everyone busted up. And I knew they were laughing because Bubba was doing what
I
always do, but he wasn't really making fun of me.

It was just funny!

“Copacetic, dude?”Vinnie called. “Can you
spell
that, too?”

“Yeah, man!”Bubba called back. “It's spelled C-OO-L.”

Everyone laughed again.

Then Trey came charging up, all out of breath. “Hey, guys! Have you seen that crowd on the steps? It's, like, twice as big as it was before!”

We looked over, and wow! People seemed to be pouring in from everywhere!

“Chatty Adams is gonna be so ticked!”Danielle said. “Two other news vans just showed up!”

By the time half an hour was up, you couldn't even see the station steps. They were packed with people! Cameras! Someone even set up a podium and put microphones around it!

Then they rolled out some CAUTION tape that we weren't allowed to cross.

The place was buzzing with gossip!

Cedar Valley had never seen anything like this!

A lot more kids from school showed up, too. Some with parents, some without. We kids all hung together, and pretty soon we were spotting
teachers
from our school.

“There's Mrs. Bernhart!”