The Fourth Stall - Chris Rylander [60]
“Let’s close the office for the rest of the day. I’ll see you guys after school,” I said.
For the first time in my life I was really happy to be going to class. Schoolwork just seemed so simple and easy compared to the mess I was in with the business. I watched the other kids working. They had the easy life. No money or business worries. No Staples. If they only knew how good they had it, they wouldn’t complain so much about having homework and lame assignments and everything else like that.
At lunch that day it was time to put my own private plan into action. I picked my way through the different groups and cliques of kids, working my way across the north baseball field and over to the little Dumpster on the far side of the school parking lot. It’s a pretty private place, and kids are not usually allowed back there, but like I said before about the recess supervisor: She doesn’t like walking much.
I found my target sitting against the Dumpster reading a book. Just where I knew he’d be. Tyrell Alishouse, über–spy extraordinaire, looked up at me.
“Oh hey, Mac,” he said.
I nodded at him and said, “Hey.”
Whenever sleuthing or sneaking had to be done, Tyrell is my guy. Ever since his brilliant exposure of the Graffiti Ninja, he has been my number one spy. And he loves spying on people, so he’s always willing to help. Honestly, I should have gone to him sooner. Maybe I could have avoided this mess. But his services are expensive and I just didn’t think it was necessary, especially with the way Vince had been acting about our shrinking piles of cash. Now I just couldn’t take any more chances. I needed the truth even if it meant breaking the bank to get it.
“What’s up?” he asked, putting his book aside. It was called The Spycraft Manual.
“I need your help. People who I need monitored.”
“Oh really?” he asked with a smile.
I nodded.
“What sort of monitoring?”
“I need you to follow some people and let me know what they’re up to, who they’re spending time with. Basically, I need to know if any of my friends and employees have decided to switch sides.”
“Interesting. That sounds like some pretty extensive monitoring. Possibly dangerous, too. It might cost you,” he said.
“This I know,” I said.
He nodded and looked at the ground. I could tell he was just bursting with excitement. He loved challenges, especially dangerous ones. And this was the biggest I’d sent his way perhaps since the case of the Graffiti Ninja.
“What’s the offer?” he asked, looking up at me.
“I’ll double your usual fee. Half now, half once you get me some hard information.”
Tyrell pretended to ponder the offer for a while. He would accept; he always does.
“Consider it done,” he finally said. “So who exactly am I shadowing this time?”
I sat down next to him, took a deep breath, and began talking.
Chapter 20
Oh, you’re so dead now,” Joe said as he cornered me.
“No, come on. I can’t believe it!” I yelled.
I tried to run, but I was stuck in the corner. There was nowhere to go. I lifted my own weapon, but it was no use. It was empty.
“Good-bye, sucker,” he said, and pulled the trigger of his Uzi.
He had tricked me and I paid for it with my life.
Fred and Vince laughed. Then Joe and I joined in. We were all sitting in my bedroom playing video games, having just finished helping my dad clean off the graffiti. Which had been a lot of work. The spray paint wouldn’t wash off, so we had to repaint over it completely. Now we were just killing some time while my dad ran out to get us a movie and my mom baked us cookies. I wanted to hold the meeting in the basement with the movie going as a cover.
“I’m going to sit this one out,” I said, getting up.
Fred, Joe, and Vince started another round. They were pretty focused on the game so it seemed like a good time to get something from my closet. I went to the back corner and removed the loose wood paneling. I took out the first half of Tyrell