Enemy Spy (8 page)

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!

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…”