Enemy Spy by Wendelin Van Draanen Page A

Ronnie Stalwess appeared on TV, saying, “No way! Have you seen the site? It's awesome. What kid knows how to do that?”Then Trinity Althoffer said, “A kid? Like a sixth grader or something?”She sniggered. “I don't think so.”
    They cut from Trinity to a boy I didn't recognize right away.
    His hair was sticking out in a couple different directions.
    One side of his collar was stuck
inside
his shirt.
    The other was flipped up.
    He had a streak of peanut butter across one cheek and was stooped a little forward from the weight of his backpack.
    Mom grabbed Dad's arm.
    Dad held his breath.
    My brain felt like it had been dunked in cement.
    Did I really look like that?
    Chatty Adams held the microphone under her chin and said, “People tell me you're the smartest kid at school. Would
you
know how to put up a site like
shredderman.com
?”Then she stuck the mic right in my face.
    “Me?”I said, pointing to myself. “Uh
…
no.”
    My eyes were shifting around like crazy.
    My cheeks were red and twitching.

    I'm a terrible liar!
    Then I started talking into the microphone really fast, saying, “How could a kid do a site like that? It's got links all over the place. Awesome graphics! It's gotta be done by a professional. Or,”I added, “a policeman.”
    Mom looked at me.
    Dad did, too.
    And I could tell they were both thinking exactly what Chatty Adams said: “A
policeman
?”
    On TV, my eyes were big and bulging, staring right into the camera.
    I looked idiotic!
    Harebrained!
    Really, really stupid!
    “Uh-huh,”I said, then I spun around and power-walked away from Chatty Adams as fast as I could.

Chapter 2
Ambushed
    After Dad clicked off the TV, I frowned and asked him, “Why do they even care who Shredderman is? Why can't they just leave it alone?”
    “Because people are curious. And they're celebrity hounds.”
    Shredderman a
celebrity
? Kids said I was the number one nerd at Cedar Valley Elementary. How could
I
be a celebrity?
    Mom said to Dad, “I know Nolan registered the site with all the privacy precautions, but don't reporters have ways of getting around that?”
    Dad laughed. “Don't worry.
This
reporter tried to get information on who owns
shredderman.com,
but got nowhere.”
    “Really?”Mom asked.
    “Uh-huh. I figured that since Mr. Zilch assigned me to find out who Shredderman is for the
Gazette,
I should at least try it. But what I found out was that unless something illegal is going on or our national security is at risk, they won't tell me who owns the site.”
    “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 schoolI 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