The Super Spies and the High School Bomber

by Lisa Orchard

  “Okay. Bye.”

  Sarah disconnected the call and looked at Jackie. “Ali Hameedi has relatives in Afghanistan, but that’s all he found.”

  “Bummer, I was hoping he’d have more.”

  Sarah pursed her lips and blew air through them. “Yeah, me too. Hopefully, Scott comes up with something.”

  “It may take forever to get information out of the lovebirds.” Jackie giggled.

  Sarah rolled her eyes. “You can say that again.”

  “It may take—”

  “I get it.” Sarah snickered. “Well, let’s hop on the computer and see if we can find anything.”

  “Cool beans.”

  They strolled into Uncle Walt’s office. Sarah pulled another chair up to the desk before she turned on the computer. She logged on and then signed in to her account.

  “Now, let’s start searching.” Jackie brushed a curl out of her face.

  Sarah typed in Ali Hameedi. After sifting through a few of the pages, Sarah found the teacher. His page popped up and Sarah studied the information.

  Sarah relayed the information. “He teaches social studies at the high school, and he’s been teaching for ten years. He’s married and has two young boys.”

  “Pull up his friends list,” Jackie said.

  Sarah pulled up his friends and scrolled through them. “I don’t see anyone I know, do you?”

  Jackie shook her head. “No, I don’t. Hey, see if he’s friends with Randy Ferguson.”

  Sarah nudged her friend. “Good thinking.”

  “Yeah, I know.” She gave Sarah a cocky grin and then turned her attention back to the computer.

  “Well, Ali Hameedi isn’t friends with Randy Ferguson. So, there’s no connection there, but maybe we can find Randy Ferguson.”

  “Search, girlfriend, search.” Jackie pretended to crack a whip.

  Sarah rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She typed in the criminal’s name and waited as the computer searched. “Ugh, there’s like thirty of them out there.”

  Lacey walked into the room, interrupting them. “Hey guys.”

  “Hey, so, can Scott get us the info?” Sarah asked.

  “He said he’d e-mail you the list. He found it on his dad’s computer.”

  “Awesome!”

  Lacey cracked a smile. “Yeah, he is pretty awesome, isn’t he?”

  Sarah rolled her eyes again. “Whatever.”

  Jackie nudged her friend. “Check your e-mail, see if it’s there.”

  Sarah typed in her password. “Holy cow! It’s here already.”

  “See, I told ya. He’s awesome.”

  Sarah raised her eyebrows and smirked at Jackie. “Okay, I’ll just print this list out.”

  The sound of keyboard keys clicking filled the room, followed by the whir of the printer.

  Jackie ambled over to the printer and pulled off the pages. “Wow, there’s about ten people on this list.”

  “Yeah.” Sarah nodded grimly and looked at Lacey. “Are these all patients at the hospital now?”

  “Yep.”

  Sarah sighed. “Okay, let’s start working.”

  Jackie glanced up from the page she was studying. “Are these all teachers?”

  “Yeah, I think so.” Lacey nodded.

  Jackie pursed her lips and let out a low whistle. “Wow.”

  Sarah frowned. “One of these teachers is the target.”

  “So true, but which one?” Jackie asked as she studied the list. “I mean, we’ve got Walt Bennett, Ali Hameedi, Mark Anderson, Bill Stevens… Bill Stevens? He’s the football coach. We didn’t have a winning team until he took over coaching.” Jackie sank back into her chair as she studied the list.

  “For real?” Sarah asked.

  “Yeah, he put our school on the map with his coaching. The whole town’s going to be bummed if he doesn’t make it.”

  Sarah reached over and pulled a pad of paper out of a drawer. “We need to write our ideas down.” She searched for a pen then wrote on the pad.

  “This might not have anything to do with terrorism.” Jackie furrowed her brow. “Do you think this Ferguson guy had a beef with one of the teachers?”

  “Anything is possible at this point.” Sarah glanced at her friend. “Okay, let’s change our direction. Let’s search for the teachers on the Internet and see if there’s any connection to Randy Ferguson.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Jackie said.

  Lacey nodded and nudged Jackie so she could share her chair with her.

  The Super Spies huddled around the computer. Sarah typed, read what was on the screen, and then wrote the information down on the pad of paper.

  Squinting at the screen, she sighed. “This is going to take me forever.”

  She continued to work in the same manner for several minutes, growing more agitated with her pace.

  Lacey seemed to sense her frustration because she reached for the pad and said, “Here, I’ll write while you read out loud to me.”

  “Cool, thanks Lace.” Sarah gave her sister a grateful smile.

  After an hour of searching and taking notes, Sarah was ready for a break. The girls grabbed some bottled water and gathered around the kitchen table.

  Sarah pulled the pad toward her. “Okay, what have we got so far?” She studied the notes and frowned. “It looks like Randy Ferguson went to our high school.”

  Jackie stood and read over Sarah’s shoulder. “Yeah, he graduated seven years ago.”

  “Okay, so we have one link.” Sarah wrote on the paper. “He must have known a lot of the teachers.”

  Jackie brushed her curls away from her face. “Yeah, I wonder which one he didn’t like.”

  “I don’t know,” Sarah said as she rubbed her forehead. “Maybe we can ask Scoop about that.” She took a drink of her water and sighed. “He’s graduated already. If he had a beef with a teacher, wouldn’t he have dealt with it when he was in school?” She frowned. “I wonder if there’s a way to find out which teachers the bomber had.”

  “There must be a way,” Jackie said.

  Lacey bit her lip. “Yeah, don’t they keep student records or something?”

  “I bet Scoop can find out for us. I’ll give him a call.” Sarah reached for her phone and punched in Scoop’s number. “It’s ringing.”

  “Hello?” Scoop said.

  “Hi Scoop, it’s Sarah.”

  “What can I do for you, Sarah?”

  She chuckled. “Well, the bomber graduated from our high school. So he must have known a lot of the teachers there.”

  “Go on.”

  Sarah could tell he was interested. “We think maybe this whole thing has to do with a beef with one of the teachers. It’s not a terrorist thing at all.”

  “Hmmm, that is a possibility. What do you want me to do?”

  “We need to find out which teachers Randy had in school. That way we can narrow down the list of targets.”

  “Ahh… I gotcha. Let me see what I can dig up. I’ll call you back.”

  “Awesome.” Sarah disconnected the call and gazed at the rest of the Super Spies. “He’s going to look into it.”

  Jackie yawned and stretched. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m beat.”

  Sarah nodded. “Me too. But I don’t feel like going to bed yet. Anyone feel like watching a movie?”

  “Yeah, let’s make popcorn, too.” Jackie stood and fidgeted with her curls. “I’m going to get my jammies on. I think I left my bag in the living room.” She sauntered off toward the front of the house.

  “Me, too.” Lacey stood and made her way to the bedroom.

  “I guess that means I’m making the popcorn,” Sarah grumbled.

  She stood and went to the cupboard. Sighing as she searched, Sarah’s mind wandered back to the last time she had made the yummy snack. It had been with Uncle Walt. Tears filled her eyes.

  It had been a rare evening when it had been just the two of them. They had rented a movie about the Zodiac Killer. S
arah loved true crime novels and her favorite stories were the ones about this particular serial killer.

  Sarah was sure she could solve this mystery if she had enough time. The Zodiac Killer had terrorized the San Francisco area and then suddenly disappeared. She’d always wondered what had happened. Did he die? Did he go to jail for some other crime? Hoping the movie would answer these questions, she had watched it with Uncle Walt. Chills ran down her spine as she watched, but at the end of the show she had been bitterly disappointed.

  Uncle Walt had seen her disappointment and had tried to cheer her up. “Sarah, this just means you get to solve the mystery.” He had smiled and given her a hug.

  Sarah smiled at the memory and her heart grew heavy. She missed her uncle. Tears spilled down her cheeks and she quickly wiped them away. He woke up. That’s a good sign. Who knows, maybe tomorrow he’ll be talking.

  Sarah found the popcorn just as Jackie walked into the room.

  “Hey, what are you doing out here? I thought the popcorn would’ve been made by now.”

  Sarah made a face. “I’m on it. I’m on it.”

  “Chop, chop.” Jackie clapped her hands together and giggled.

  “Why don’t you go put the movie in the DVD player?”

  “All right, but when I come back, I want some popcorn.”

  “I’ll give you some popcorn,” Sarah muttered and gave her friend the evil eye.

  Jackie walked into the den and Sarah heard her rummaging around with the DVDs and the player. She chose the microwave popcorn, deciding that it would be the fastest. Sticking the bag into the microwave, she slammed the door and punched in the cook time.

  Sarah dashed into the den. “Don’t start it yet!”

  Jackie laughed. “Hurry up.”

  “Are we watching To Kill a Mocking Bird?”

  “Yes.” Jackie nudged Sarah toward the kitchen. “Now go make that popcorn and don’t burn it!”

  “I won’t. I’m not like you.” Sarah snickered and ran back to the kitchen.

  “That last remark was uncalled for!”

  Sarah giggled and checked the popcorn. It only had a minute to go and it was popping like crazy. She grabbed a bowl from the cupboard and opened the microwave door when it dinged. Pulling the bag out of the microwave, she avoided the steam as she opened it. Lacey walked into the kitchen just as Sarah poured the popcorn into the bowl.

  “Are you going to put extra butter on it?”

  “I don’t think we need to. This is the movie theater kind.” Sarah showed Lacey the wording on the bag.

  “Okay, I’ll take your word for it. Go get your pajamas on and meet us in the den.”

  “Okay.” Sarah rushed to the bedroom to put her nightshirt on.

  After donning her favorite sleepwear, Sarah dashed into the den.

  She found Jackie and Lacey sprawled out on the floor with the popcorn bowl between them and their soda cans by their sides. Sarah’s can sat near the bowl.

  Sarah giggled at Jackie’s bright red, penguin print pajamas. Only Jackie.

  She sat next to her friend and motioned to Lacey to start the movie. To Kill a Mocking Bird was her favorite movie of all time. She identified with Scout, the little girl, who was a tomboy and always seemed to get into mischief. Sarah loved her spunky character and imagined that when she was Scout’s age she’d had the same pluckiness.

  Sighing, she grabbed an afghan from the back of the couch and snuggled under it. Then she reached for the popcorn and popped a few kernels into her mouth. As she chewed, she settled in to watch the movie.

  Lily trotted into the den and wiggled her little body next to her. Wagging her tail, she begged for some popcorn. Sarah dropped a few kernels on the floor, before she focused on the show.

  Sarah woke with a start and stared at the TV; the bright blue screen emitted a strange glow around the room. How long have I been asleep? Rubbing her eyes, she spotted Jackie and Lacey sprawled out on the floor. At some point in the night, they had gotten blankets.

  Lacey’s gentle snore caught Sarah’s attention. She slept on her back with her arms spread wide. Sarah sat up and then fumbled for the remote. When she turned off the TV, the room was plunged into darkness. There was a faint glow of light coming from the kitchen. Sarah knew that they had left the light on above the sink.

  Lily was sprawled on the couch, all four legs sticking up in the air. Her front paw twitched occasionally and she whined in her sleep. Dreaming of chasing rabbits, Sarah thought with a smile.

  The rumble of a motor invaded Sarah’s consciousness and the hair on the back of her neck prickled. Turning, she groaned when she realized she couldn’t look out the window. She stood, listening. It sounded like the vehicle was idling in front of the house.

  Lily woke and shook her head, sending her dog tags jingling. Her ears perked up and she let out a low growl.

  “Quiet, Lily.” Sarah stroked the dog’s head.

  After a few minutes, Sarah tiptoed through the sprawled bodies and crept up the stairs to the front door. She opened it a crack and peered out into the night. A chill ran down her spine as she looked for the source of the noise. She turned on the porch light and peered out into the yard. Lily was by her side, sniffing the air.

  Sarah opened the door wider and stole out onto the porch. Closing the door behind her, she trapped Lily inside. She shivered in the cold air and hugged her body. The engine grew louder as it revved, and then the vehicle peeled out, lunging into view. It was a green pickup truck. The bomber’s truck! Sarah cringed—she was on the porch in plain view. Her eyes darted for a place to hide.

  Staring as the truck drove past, she shrank back against the door. Her breath caught in her throat and sweat broke out under her arms.

  She turned and fumbled with the doorknob. It wouldn’t open. I must have pushed the lock on the knob! A sob escaped her throat. Her body flooded with dread as she heard the screech of the tires on the asphalt. Taking a few steps toward the street, Sarah watched as the truck stopped, turned into a driveway, and backed out. It turned toward her—the bombers were coming back. They must have seen me!

  Dashing back to the door, Sarah pounded on it, and then frantically rang the doorbell. Lily barked wildly and jumped against the door.

  The truck grew louder, which meant it was coming closer. Sarah knew if they found her, all was lost. Her heart thundered in her chest and her throat constricted as irrational thoughts ran through her mind.

  She jumped off the front porch and ran through the yard and around the corner. When she reached the back door she skidded to a stop and reached for the doorknob. Her hand, slick with sweat, slipped off of it. She shrieked and reached again. Grabbing it this time, she pulled it open and lunged inside. I’m so glad I didn’t lock the back door. Sarah slammed the door and locked it with trembling hands. She peered through a tiny crack between the boards, searching for the truck.

  Lily raced into the kitchen, barking. When she spied Sarah, she stopped and wagged her tail. Nuzzling Sarah’s hand, Lily begged for attention. Absentmindedly, Sarah stroked the dog’s head, never taking her eyes from the crack in the boards.

  Peering through the tiny crack, Sarah saw the pickup lurch into view. It had followed her around the corner and was driving slowly down the street. A bright light shone from inside the vehicle and Sarah realized they must have some sort of searchlight. She shuddered and put her hand to her chest, hoping to calm her pounding heart.

  The pickup made its way down the street. After taking a ragged breath, she grabbed the phone. She dialed 9-1-1, and gulped air as she waited for the police to answer.

  Jackie walked into the kitchen. Her curls bounced wildly around her face, contrasting with her sleepy expression. “What’s going on?”

  “The bombers were just outside.” Sarah drew another ragged breath. “I think they know where I live.”

  Jackie’s eyes opened wide, the sleepy expression gone. “What? Are you kidding me, girlfriend?”

  “No.” Sarah shook
her head vehemently and then turned her attention to the operator who had just answered the call. She spoke urgently into the phone. “We have a suspicious truck driving around our neighborhood. I think it’s the one the FBI is looking for.” She nodded as she listened to the operator, then she gave her address. Disconnecting the call, she faced Jackie. “They’re sending a squad car here.”

  “You really think it was the bomber’s truck?”

  Sarah nodded and took a deep breath, before she told her friend about the truck’s odd behavior.

  Jackie cringed. “Wow. I’m so-o glad the windows are boarded up.”

  “Me, too.” Sarah shuddered. “The bombers know where I live.” She took another ragged breath and clenched her hands.

  “Are you sure they saw you?” Jackie asked.

  Sarah sighed. “I’m sure. I was out on the porch and ran around the corner of the house.”

  “Crap!”

  “Yeah.” Sarah frowned. “They had a huge searchlight and they were shining it in the back yard.”

  “Major bad news.”

  Sarah gazed at her friend. “No kidding.” Her legs turned to jelly. Wobbling over to the table, Sarah sat down. Jackie trailed behind her.

  “Where’s Lacey?” Sarah asked.

  “She’s still sleeping.”

  “You mean to tell me I didn’t wake her up?”

  Jackie smirked. “Yep, slept through the whole thing.”

  Shaking her head, Sarah grumbled. “I don’t believe it.”

  “Believe it, girlfriend.” Jackie snickered and then attempted to tame her wild curls. “I have major bed head.”

  “You always have major bed head.”

  Jackie stuck her tongue out at her friend.

  Their banter was interrupted by a sound at the front door. The girls exchanged a perplexed look, before making their way to the entryway.

  “I wonder if that’s the police?” Sarah said.

  “If it is they’re fast.”

  When the girls reached the door Sarah hesitated, staring at the doorknob. It wiggled as if someone was trying to open it. Sarah’s fingers tingled as she hesitated.

  Lily growled and stood next to Sarah.

  Suddenly there was a knock. Sarah sighed with relief and exchanged another look with her friend. “It must be the police.” With a trembling hand she grabbed the door knob.