“Train? I’m in deep trouble with my dad. I’ve got a list of chores a mile long, and if they aren’t done by the end of the day, he’s going to put me up for adoption.”
Duncan reached out and took the list of work from Jackson. “We’ll help you with this. Training is more important.”
“What about Mrs. Pressman?” Jackson asked. “My dad hired her to babysit and she’s going to notice if I’m not working.”
“I’ve taken care of her,” Heathcliff said, gesturing to the front yard, where they could see the old woman doing jumping jacks. Her eyes were spacey—Heathcliff had unleashed his teeth on her.
“If she has a heart attack, it’s all your fault,” Jackson said.
Matilda went first, fighting Jackson with a variety of silly weapons she found in the garage, including a bucket, a pogo stick, and some old Hot Wheels race car tracks. In the meantime, the others started on Jackson’s chores. Jackson watched from the garage as Flinch stood over a pile of leaves and clapped his hands. There was a sonic boom and leaves were blasted into the neighbor’s yard.
Despite their long morning together, only Duncan would eat lunch with Jackson.
“I get that I’m not good at this,” Jackson said to the sticky boy. “I get that you don’t trust me ’cause I used to be cool. I also get that I’m not the ideal member for the team. But why do you all hate me so much?”
Duncan blinked in bewilderment. “You truly don’t know?”
Jackson shook his head.
Duncan reached into his pocket and took out a blue sphere. He pushed a button on its side and it began to spin. A moment later Jackson heard Benjamin’s voice.
“What can I help you with, Gluestick?”
“Could you pull up some surveillance tapes of Nathan Hale Elementary?”
“Anything specific?” the computer asked.
“Yes. Show us the file labeled ‘Jackson Jones.’”
There was a strange humming sound and then holograms appeared. This time, instead of a three-dimensional landscape, Jackson saw a square floating before his eyes. A moment later it flickered to life—showing video footage recorded in a busy hallway. Jackson recognized it as the hall where his locker was and quickly spotted himself in the crowd. The video was taken at the height of his popularity.
“You guys have been taping me?” he asked.
“Just watch,” Duncan said.
Suddenly, Flinch walked down the hallway. Jackson watched himself knock the boy’s books out of his hand so that they scattered all over the floor. Brett and the rest of his friends laughed.
Then the image jumped to another day when Jackson gave Duncan a wedgie. The image jumped again, and he saw himself tripping Matilda so that she fell to the floor. Then he saw himself tape a KICK ME sign on the back of Ruby’s jacket. Then he saw himself dumping a soda on Heathcliff’s head. The video went on and on, but it was always the same—Jackson tormenting nerds, his teammates in particular. He stuffed them in lockers, flicked their ears, forced them to kiss his feet, dipped their faces into the drinking fountain, pulled their hair, gave them wet willies, and put them into full nelsons. All the while, he and his stupid friends giggled like idiots.
“Do you see?” Duncan asked. “I have about twenty more hours of this if you don’t get it.”
Jackson was speechless. He didn’t recognize the Jackson in the video.
“They hate you, Jackson, because you’re mean. You think you were popular, you think you were well liked, but you weren’t. You were a bully.”
There was that word again. Bully. Jackson remembered the events in the video clearly, but not the faces of his victims. They all melted into a single, awkward, misfit kid. Teasing nerds had been fun, a joke. He had never once thought of it as bullying.
“We all got our fair share of it,” Duncan continued.
“But you guys are awesome fighters. You could have put me in my place easily.”
“If we fought back, you might have been seriously injured, and it would have blown our covers as spies. But there’s another reason why we took it, Jackson. It’s because we know that what the popular kids have to offer the world is so tiny and unimportant compared to what the nerds will do. The dorks, dweebs, goobers, and spazzes that you picked on are the ones who will grow up to discover the vaccines, write the great novels, push the boundaries of science and technology, and invent things that make people healthier and happier. Nerds change the world. Kids like you and Brett, and that gang of lunatics you called friends—well, you never amount to much. Knowing I have a bright future helps when I’m pulling my underpants off my head.
“I don’t hate you, though I do think you are way too arrogant for your own good. The others, however, hate your guts. I know Ruby resents you because Brand brought you in without discussing it with her. Flinch and Matilda think you don’t have what it takes in the brains department. And Heathcliff, well, he has a special place in his heart for the hate he feels for you.”
“Why?”
“You took particular delight in abusing him. He got the worst of it,” Duncan said.
Jackson watched as the video showed him dragging Heathcliff down the dirty hallway by his feet. Ashamed, Jackson looked across the lawn at his teammates, and for the first time he wasn’t annoyed that they didn’t want to be his friend. He suddenly understood. He didn’t deserve their friendship.
The Hyena sat in a dark corner of the lab with her laptop. She was busy working on her résumé and searching want ads for contract killers. She wasn’t having a lot of luck.
“Mindy, may I have a word?” a voice said behind her. Startled, the Hyena spun around and found Dr. Jigsaw standing over her. Terror swept through her. Had he seen what she was doing? Was she headed for the fire pit?
“I think it’s time to introduce you to Simon,” Dr. Jigsaw continued.
“Simon?” she asked, quickly closing her laptop.
“Follow me,” the doctor said. He led her up a flight of stairs into the glass-walled observation room that overlooked his giant satellite dish. She noticed that the henchmen and scientists below were assembling huge solar panels. Jigsaw pushed a button and an enormous television screen rose up out of the floor. It was as big as a wall. The Hyena rolled her eyes. Villains always had to have such big TVs.
A strange man with a skull mask appeared on the screen. He was the same man she had glimpsed in Jigsaw’s helicopter.
“Hyena, my name is Simon. Tell me about Cairo,” the masked man said.
Jigsaw turned to the Hyena. She stepped forward and nervously cleared her throat. “Um, when I got to Cairo there was a team of … well, they were kids, waiting for me. They were trying to kidnap Dr. Badawi themselves. The odd thing is, they didn’t seem like goons or henchmen. It was like they were trying to protect her.”
“They’re called NERDS. They are quite formidable,” Simon said.
“I’m sorry,” Hyena said. “Did you say they were nerds?”
“Secret agents with incredible technology at their disposal. They are of little concern to us,” Simon said. “Precautions are already being made to help with your next pickup.”
“Next pickup?” the Hyena said. “I got everyone on the list. There is no next pickup.”
“You’re not the only one who screws up, Hyena. It appears Dr. Jigsaw has revealed our plan to an old colleague.”
Jigsaw shuffled uncomfortably. “Someone from my past could cause some problems. It’s a bit of a long shot, but I did the math and there is a five percent probability that he could figure out our plan.”
“That’s a chance I’d rather not take,” Simon said. “Hyena, I believe this is a job best suited for your talents. Find the good doctor’s friend.”