Enemy Spy by Wendelin Van Draanen Read Free Book Online Page A

“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 doneanything
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!

Chapter 15
Holy Cryptanalysis, Batman!
    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 thatwould 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 rightup 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 anythingelse. 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