Investigating the Hottie

by Alexander, Juli

  I closed my right eye as planned, but probably not quickly enough. But, you know, I didn’t really care when his soft, warm lips touched mine.

  And for a moment, I forgot about GASI, and hacking, and missions, and all I knew was how wonderful his lips felt. He didn’t force his tongue into my mouth like Danny Breck in the seventh grade during spin the bottle. He just kissed my lips with soft kisses that made me feel warm and fuzzy all over. And I kissed him back.

  He tasted like minty toothpaste, but I didn’t care. He’d snuck out to brush his teeth before kissing me. How cute!

  Then, he pulled away just a little and I opened my eyes. He looked down at me with those blue eyes and I knew he felt the same way I did.

  “I really like you, Amanda,” he said.

  “I like you too.” Why did he have to be a criminal?

  I laid my head on his shoulder and realized that this was one of the most amazing moments in my life. My first real kiss.

  “I have to tell you something,” he said, reluctance clear in his voice.

  Not yet. “No. You don’t.” I hugged him a little tighter.

  “Yes. I really do. Sit down.”

  “Okay.” Once he released me from the hug, I really had no choice anyway because my knees were too wobbly to stand.

  I stepped back and sat in the chair. He sat too. I hoped he sat for the same reason I did.

  Then, I stared at that handsome face with those big blue eyes and that wavy dark hair, and waited for him to tell me what I already knew. That he was a hacker.

  “I’m sorry I’ve been in such a bad mood about this Art project. It’s not because I didn’t want to do it with you. It’s just embarrassing,” he said, grimacing, “because I have this reputation around the school for being some sort of hotshot when it comes to computers.”

  Here it comes.

  “But the truth is.” He combed his fingers through his hair in a nervous gesture. “I don’t know much about computers. I can check my email, surf the net, and type a paper. That’s about all. People got the wrong impression with some of the projects I’ve done.”

  What? “I don’t get it.”

  “I mean, I’m not good at this stuff. I’ll do the project, but I won’t be much help.” When his eyes met mine, I saw uncertainty.

  “You’re kidding me.” Good kisser. Bad liar.

  “No,” he assured me.

  “You don’t know how to hack into websites and mess them up?” None of this made any sense.

  “No.” His answer angered me.

  Exasperated, I said, “Will. I know you’ve done it.”

  “What?” Confusion flickered in his blue eyes.

  “I know you really did it. I have the evidence right here.” I pointed to my backpack. “Why are you lying to me? You’re a hacker.”

  “Hacker?” He wrinkled his brow in confusion.

  I jumped up. “Yes. Hacker. The two CPU’s.” I motioned to the desk. “This one even has the cover off. And there. The URL’s on papers all over the desk.”

  He shook his head. “I’m telling the truth Amanda. How do you know all this hacking stuff anyway?”

  “I’m investigating you,” I snapped.

  “You what?” His eyes narrowed.

  “I’ve been sent to investigate your hacking activities. My agency wanted to stop your plans for Monday night, whatever they are.” My hands on my hips, I demanded, “What are they anyway?”

  He just stared at me with disbelief. “You’re investigating me?”

  “Don’t look at me like that.” Did he have no shame? “It’s your fault. You’re the one who broke the law.’

  “Actually,” a voice said from the doorway, “he’s not.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Grandma came into the room. She offered Will an apologetic look. “I’m the one who’s been doing the hacking.”

  I stared at her, then at Will. “Are you kidding me?”

  Grandma looked at Will, “I guess I should have taken up cooking like you guys suggested.”

  “Grandma!” Will was suddenly on his feet. “You’ve been breaking the law?”

  She shrugged. “Guess so. I didn’t mean any harm. At first I just hacked into a few sites to see if I could. Then, I couldn’t resist scrambling up the matches on that website.”

  “But you’re a grandmother,” I said, struggling to comprehend.

  “Old people make mistakes too,” she said.

  Will stood next to her. “You’re not old, Grandma. You’re dead because Mom will kill you, but you aren’t old.”

  “But how could you do it? How could you know how to do it?” And they’d said Will didn’t fit the profile!

  “I’m retired. I’m not dead.” She seemed offended. “I’m a quick learner, always have been. I took a few courses at the community college. Then I got interested in learning more. There’s all kinds of hacking chat rooms. I just go listen in, and then I try out what I’ve learned.”

  “So, you’re the hacker.” I nodded in Will’s direction. “And Will is—”

  “Innocent,” she assured me.

  I glanced over where Will was glowering at me. “And pretty mad at me.”

  “What I don’t understand is how you can be investigating anything,” Grandma said. “You’re only a junior in high school.”

  “Sophomore,” I admitted. “It’s something new in my aunt’s agency.” I certainly wasn’t going to tell them which agency. “They wanted to use me to protect Will from the anti-terrorism laws. They didn’t want their hands tied as far as prosecuting him. And they didn’t want publicity for arresting a minor.”

  “Well,” Grandma said. “I guess there will be even more publicity when they arrest a senior.” She smiled and walked over to look out the window. “So do the feds come storming in any moment now, or what?”

  “Actually, I’m not sure. I guess we need to contact my aunt.” I went over and fished in my backpack for the mini cell phone.

  I had dreaded handing over Will, but handing over his Grandma was a hundred times worse. I stopped and looked at her.

  “Go ahead, Amanda,” she said. “It’ll be okay. I knew I was doing something not quite right.”

  “The word you’re searching for is ‘wrong,’ Grandma,” Will muttered.

  “Or illegal,” I said.

  “No one asked you,” Will snapped.

  I punched the autodial for Christie. The message said she wasn’t available. “I don’t know if I should use the emergency number or not.” I thought for a moment. “I guess we can just wait.”

  “Sure, hon. Why don’t I go find us some cookies,” Grandma said.

  I didn’t know if I should eat her cookies when I was turning her in.

  She left me alone with Will.

  He glared at me.

  So I sat there, feeling really uncomfortable, until Grandma came back. The sensation of someone hating my guts was new to me. Geez, you’d think I had betrayed him or something. Oh, yeah.

  Grandma came back in with a plate of chocolate chunk cookies. Store bought, of course. “Here you go kids.”

  Since I didn’t know what to do, I took one.

  Will’s glare turned meaner. I could feel it.

  “Don’t feed her cookies, Grandma,” Will said, breaking his long silence.

  “William Alexander Middleton,” Grandma scolded. “It isn’t her fault.”

  He crossed his arms and turned away.

  “I take it you don’t want any cookies,” Grandma said to him.

  Will grunted. “No, thank you.”

  Grandma set the plate down and seated herself in the yellow rocking chair in the corner. “Well, isn’t this nice.”

  Since I was pretty sure she was being sarcastic, I smiled.

  Will’s energetic Grandma looked almost weary. And all because of me.

  I took a bite of the cookie but it tasted like sawdust. And when I say this, I’m just guessing, since I’ve never eaten sawdust.

  I put the c
ookie on the table next to me and leaned on my elbows. I’d never felt like such a jerk.

  Finally, I couldn’t stand it anymore. “If you wouldn’t mind driving us, Mrs. Tarver, I can try to track down my aunt on campus.”

  “Sure, I’ll drive,” Grandma said.

  “I won’t,” Will muttered.

  Moments later, we piled into her purple RAV4 and headed to the university. I sat in the front with Grandma. Will glared at my back the whole way.

  Grandma turned up her Norah Jones CD to drown out the oppressive silence.

  Luckily, the trip took only seven and a half minutes. I watched the clock on the dash the whole time.

  Grandma turned the radio down. “Which building?”

  “Seaton Hall. She’s wrapping up another case,” I said. “Up there on the right.”

  She guided the car down the tree-lined road and pulled up in front of the building.

  “I’ll just run in—” I started, reaching for the door handle.

  “Wait, Amanda,” Grandma said, squinting at the blue sedan pulled up to the curb ahead of us. “That’s odd.”

  “What?” I asked.

  She stared ahead for a moment. “That license plate. CUWWBU. There’s someone sitting in the car. That’s the handle for one of the hackers in my chat room. He’s a real piece of work. Always talking about what society owes him. No conscience at all.”

  I looked at her. “A hacker? Here? My aunt is inside wrapping up a big case involving a chemist and a hacker.”

  Grandma raised her brow. “She’s looking for a hacker?”

  “Yeah. A really skilled one. They haven’t found him, but they found the chemist.”

  “And now the hacker has shown up,” Grandma mused.

  I dug in my bag for my cell phone and pointed it at the car. I pushed scan and got a reading. “Someone’s using a pretty sophisticated listening device in that car.”

  “Stay here,” Grandma said, opening the door.

  “Grandma,” Will said.

  “I don’t think…” I started to say.

  But Grandma jumped out and walked toward the car before I got the words out. She rapped on the window.

  “Will,” I warned, “this could be dangerous.” She might have broken the law herself, but she wasn’t equipped to deal with real criminals.

  “I know,” Will said, already getting out of the car.

  I climbed out too and looked around for someone to help. Where were all the GASI agents? Didn’t anyone know that the hacker was out here?

  The beefy, red-haired man was out of his car now, and Grandma was in his face. “You can’t park here,” she said and poked her finger into the large man’s chest. “You’ll have to move.”

  “Look, Granny, I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m not moving.” He took a step toward her and shoved.

  Then, he started running toward the building while Grandma was still fighting for balance.

  My tablet! The tranquilizer dart! I aimed it like at technology camp and triggered it. Please don’t let me hit Grandma.

  My accuracy had only been mediocre last summer. Luck was with me. The dart hit his left butt cheek. The hacker fell to the ground not moving.

  “You hit him!” Will shouted. He punched me in the shoulder.

  “Oww. I got him!” We ran over to Grandma.

  She threw her arms around us. “Nice shot. He’s not dead is he?”

  “It’s just a tranquilizer. He’ll be fine in a few hours.”

  A man came running out of the building. “Miss Peterson. Is everything all right?”

  Obviously an agent. “Yeah,” I said, releasing Grandma and Will. “This guy is a hacker. We think he’s the man you’re looking for.”

  The man gave Grandma and Will a funny look. Then he said to me, “Your aunt is almost finished. Come on inside. All of you, and we’ll get this all straightened out.” He snapped some handcuffs from his pocket and cuffed the hacker. He pulled the dart from the guy’s buttock and put it in a plastic case. Then, he called for backup on his walkie talkie. Two other men came out to take the unconscious prisoner.

  Grandma put her arm around Will’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”

  Will looked at me and put his other arm around my shoulder. “C’mon,” he said.

  The three of us walked in, side by side by side, to get this whole mess over with.

  The Rat, wearing a gray suit, was being led out of a room in handcuffs.

  “I’ll cooperate, all right,” he was saying. “Just promise I don’t have to deal with those two and their bickering.” He gestured over his shoulder.

  I peered past him to see, yep, Nic and Christie arguing as usual.

  At least they got their man.

  Chapter Fourteen

  The doorbell woke me at nine o’clock on Sunday morning. I plodded to the door in the torn soccer shorts and 2012 Olympics T-shirt I’d worn to sleep in. Smoothing my hair down with my left hand, I turned the knob with my right and opened the door to reveal Will’s grandmother.

  “Good morning, Amanda.” She stepped forward and gave me a big hug.

  “Mrs. Tarver.”

  “Call me Grandma. I think we know each other well enough at this point.”

  At least she wasn’t in prison yet. “Come in, um, Grandma. Nic and Christie aren’t here. They had to go in early and do some paperwork.”

  “I know hon. I came to see you.”

  “They aren’t putting you in prison are they?”

  She smiled and adjusted her glasses. “Not exactly.”

  “You did help apprehend the hacker,” I pointed out.

  “True, but to tell you the truth, I don’t think they had prison in mind. I think they wanted to recruit Will to work for them.”

  “Really?” No one had told me.

  She grinned, her green eyes twinkling. “So they got stuck with me instead.”

  “You mean you’re working for GASI.” It would really help me deal if I could see some of these things coming.

  “I’m saying goodbye to retirement.” She walked to the sofa and plopped down.

  “That’s so cool.”

  “It was either that, or give up hacking and behave.” She winked. “Now, you know I couldn’t possibly promise to behave.”

  “I guess you won’t be bored anymore.” Lord knows I hadn’t been since I’d discovered GASI.

  “No. To tell you the truth, I thought about going into the FBI years ago. But I had small children, and then a grandchild to think about. While I’m waiting for great grandchildren—” Her gaze turned assessing, like she was sizing me up.

  “Don’t look at me,” I mumbled.

  She waved dismissively. “I may as well contribute to society with my trouble-making skills.”

  “I think you’ll be really good at it,” I spoke truthfully.

  “Enough about me, young lady,” she said, her expression suddenly serious. “I came here to talk to you about my grandson.”

  “Will?” So much for my plan to pretend he didn’t exist. He hadn’t spoken to me after our brief moment of celebration at downing the hacker.

  “He really likes you, you know.”

  “You mean he liked me,” I corrected her. “Now he isn’t talking to me.”

  “He is a little upset,” she admitted.

  “A little.” I threw my hands in the air, catching some of Grandma’s melodrama. “Let’s see. I lied to him, spied on him, tried to send him to prison, tried to send his grandmother to prison . . . I’m not sure what he’s mad about.”

  “Well, when you put it like that,” she said, nodding, “it sounds pretty bad.”

  “Yeah.” I sighed.

  “Of course, you left out the part about sacrificing your fall break to help your country, and shooting a man who could have caused injury to your aunt or others.”

  “So, you’re saying he’ll get over it.” Things might be looking up.

  “Most assuredly,” she said, then crushed my hopes. “But mayb
e not before your flight leaves at seven.”

  I slumped onto the couch beside her. “Yeah, I guess that would be too much to hope for.”

  “Unless maybe you helped him along.” Her eyes glimmered with her typical mischief.

  Raising an eyebrow, I said, “And you just might have an idea?”

  She nodded. “I just might.”

  An hour later, I stood in the street studying the amateur drawings leading down the long sidewalk to Will’s door. The only thing more embarrassing than my crude artwork was the pathetic apology I’d written in sidewalk chalk.

  A half dozen neighborhood children had offered to help with the drawings, giving me advice, and cringing at my lack of ability. They stood with me, anxious to see if the big boy who lived there would forgive the “really bad draw-er.”

  Finally, Grandma opened the front door and pushed Will out onto the porch.

  Here we go.

  I waved.

  He turned from side to side, taking in the children, and stepped onto the sidewalk. Looking down, he walked slowly towards me, examining each illustration and each word.

  I had written it in French. I wasn’t brave enough for the whole neighborhood to read it. Being a bad artist was one thing; being a totally lame girl with a crush was another.

  The gist of it was that I was sorry I’d lied and that I’d really miss him and his, um, er, kisses.

  He stepped over the drawing of stick figure me holding flowers out to the stick figure wearing Will’s jean jacket. I’d let little Timmy help me with the jacket but I wasn’t going to admit it.

  Will lingered over the stick figure that, with tips from Chelsea, was obviously crying with the big open mouth and tears falling from her eyes. I wasn’t getting down on my knees to beg forgiveness even in stick figure form.

  Then, he raised his eyes to mine. With a grim expression, he stepped over Chelsea’s flowers.

  Uh-oh.

  I offered him a tentative smile and tilted my head to the side as I waited for his response.

  He put his hands in his jeans pockets. “Did you really think that defacing my sidewalk with your art would convince me to forgive you?”