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He made it three feet when Mr. Dehaven appeared in front of him. “And where do you think you’re going, Mr. Jones?”
“Uh, I was thinking class would be the first stop,” Jackson said.
Dehaven eyed him carefully. “I’ve spoken with your teacher, and we have agreed that you shouldn’t get a break because you were out for three days. So, you have quite a stack of homework to do and a quiz. I’d recommend you pass that quiz, son. It’s worth fifty percent of your grade. Currently, your other fifty percent is a big fat zero.”
Jackson nodded and hurried off to his class.
“Remember, Jones. Bull. Horns!”
Jackson made note of an interesting phenomenon in his class. When he took his mind off his former friends and his plans to regain his popularity, his schoolwork was easier. Crazier still—he was learning a few things.
In the halls he went out of his way to be friendly, especially to the kids he knew he had bullied. Most of them looked suspicious or stu
Then just as he was filling out his name at the top of the quiz Mr. Dehaven had warned him about, he felt a buzzing inside his nose that made him sneeze. He looked around and saw the rest of the team getting out of their seats. A moment later Heathcliff was putting the teacher into a trance.
“C’mon,” Matilda said as they filed out of the class.
“That test is worth fifty percent of my grade,” Jackson complained as he followed them into the hallway.
The others ignored him as they hurried toward the secret lockers.
“If I don’t take it, I’m going to fail,” he continued. “I’ll have to repeat the fifth grade.”
The team was still ignoring him as they all took their seats at the briefing table. Agent Brand and Ms. Holiday approached.
“It’s good to see you, team,” Ms. Holiday said. She seemed more chipper than ever,
“Yes, good to see you,” Brand mumbled. He flashed a wooden smile, then looked over at the librarian. She nodded in approval.
“What’s up, boss?” Matilda asked.
“I’ll brief you on the School Bus,” the agent said.
“Where are we going?” Flinch asked.
“Los Angeles,” Ms. Holiday said.
“Los Angeles?” Jackson exclaimed. “We were just in Egypt three days ago.”
“Welcome to the world of a secret agent,” Flinch said. “I call shotgun!”
As the lunch lady piloted the School Bus into the stratosphere, Agent Brand and Ms. Holiday began the briefing.
“Team, your destination is the home of Hector Munoz,” Ms. Holiday said.
A blue orb produced a hologram of a chubby man with thick black hair, a wide face, and plump lips. “This is him,” Brand explained. “He’s a theoretical mathematician.”
Jackson had no idea what a theoretical mathematician was, but Duncan squealed and clapped his hands.
“OK, maybe I missed the day when we discussed theoretical math,” Jackson said.
“Or maybe you’re a dummy.” Ruby rolled her eyes and received an angry glare from Ms. Holiday.
“Don’t be afraid to ask a question, Jackson,” Duncan said. “There are no dumb questions. Theoretical math is a field of study in which scientists use equations to determine what is possible, even if it is impractical. For instance, time travel is possible, but the amount of power needed to make a single trip would drain the planet of every last resource. In fact, you’d need at least a hundred more Earths to get the job done.”
“Well, if it’s impractical, why study it at all?” Jackson said.
Duncan seemed confused and Jackson suspected the boy was reexamining his belief about dumb questions. “Well … it’s so we can know.”
“Dr. Munoz wasn’t on the list,” Ruby said. “What does he have to do with all of this?”
“Uh … good observation,” Mr. Brand said. He seemed to stumble over the compliment. “Dr. Munoz was a colleague of one Dr. Felix Jigsaw.”
“The Jigsaw Puzzle King,” Ruby said.
“You’re familiar with the doctor?” Brand asked.
“Isn’t everyone?” the itchy girl asked. “He’s a legend in the world of competitive jigsawing!”
“Competitive jigsawing?” Jackson laughed. The nerds looked at him as if he were a soupy zucchini they found in the bottom of the crisper drawer. “You’re not joking?”
Agent Brand continued. “Glad to know you have heard of him, Pufferfish. Er … you are a valuable member of this group.”
“What’s going on here?” Matilda asked Agent Brand.
“Pardon me?”
“What’s with all the compliments? ‘You are a valuable member of this group.’ You never praise us!”
Agent Brand flashed another look at Ms. Holiday. “It has come to my attention that you are children and maybe I shouldn’t be talking to you like seasoned war veterans. Thus, I’m trying to present a more positive tone.”
“Did you put him up to this?” Matilda asked the librarian.
Ms. Holiday shook her head. “I have no idea what you are talking about,” she lied. Ruby scratched her arm furiously.
Brand scowled. “If we can get back to Jigsaw. He’s an expert on continental shifts in the Earth’s surface. Apparently, he and Dr. Munoz worked on a variety of projects together before Jigsaw lost his mind and had a stay at a mental hospital in Mi
“No way!” Flinch shouted. “That explains Greenland and Hawaii!”
“Maybe,” Heathcliff said. “Still, that kind of technology is pretty advanced. What tells us Jigsaw is smart enough to do something like that?”
“He’s not,” Brand said. “But when you look at the list of big brains that have been kidnapped recently—experts on geology and advanced power sources, inventors—he might be able to put something together.”
“You think Jigsaw is behind the kidnappings?” Ruby asked.
Brand nodded. “And I think we’ve already met someone who is helping him.”
The hologram changed again. Jackson saw a three-dimensional drawing of the blonde kidnapper he had come face-to-face with in Cairo. He was stu
“Meet Mindy Beauchamp,” Ms. Holiday said.
The image was replaced with a photograph of a young woman wearing a sash and a tiara. The kidnapper and this beauty queen were the same girl.
“Otherwise known as the Hyena,” Agent Brand said.
“Why do they call her the Hyena?” Ruby asked.
“We’re still working on it,” Ms. Holiday said. “But we do know a little bit about her. She’s a former pageant contestant who gave up her sash and gown for life as a professional goon. She’s been spotted at a few of the kidnappings.”
“Bingo!” Matilda said as she cracked her knuckles. “Now I know who to punch in the face.”
“That still doesn’t explain why we’re headed to Los Angeles,” Jackson said.
Ms. Holiday nodded. “Dr. Munoz lives there with his nine-year-old daughter. When he approached the FBI, he claimed to have some of the schematics for Jigsaw’s continental-shift machine, but they thought he was crazy, too.”
“Can’t he just mail them to us?” Jackson said. “I’m missing a very important test.”
Agent Brand shook his head. “We’ve reached out to him, but Munoz believes he’s being watched and is refusing to talk. He won’t even repeat what he told the FBI. So, the team is going to him for a face-to-face. Your cover will be his daughter Elizabeth’s birthday party. You need to find the schematics and see if you can get Munoz to talk about Jigsaw.”
“How do we plan on finding the documents?” Duncan asked.
Ms. Holiday reached down into a bag and took out a guinea pig. It had a big red bow wrapped around its belly. “With this.”
“Guinea pig cameras rule!” Flinch cried.
The cockpit door opened and the lunch lady poked his head out. “We’re over the drop point,” he shouted.