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“Welcome to Team Strikeforce,” Tiffany said, red-faced and angry.
Once the pile of cheerleaders untangled themselves, Kylie found Matilda. “That was awesome,” Kylie whispered to Matilda.
“Thanks,” Matilda whispered back as she watched Tiffany storm off the field. “But I’m worried it was a little too awesome.”
When the girls finished practicing “Shoot the Rocket,” they headed to the kitchen for some di
“Congratulations are in order, Wheezer,” Mr. Brand said. “I hear you are an official member of the squad.”
“Don’t tease me. This is so silly.”
“Well, the world appreciates your sacrifice. Do you have any suspects?”
“Maybe Tiffany. She’s got moves a normal kid doesn’t usually have,” Matilda said. “Everyone seems to think she’s been cheering since she was in diapers, but you know as well as I do how a back story can be invented. I’m keeping an eye on her. If you could have someone activate the comlink around three in the morning to wake me up, I’ll search her stuff. But I don’t know where she would hide that machine. If it’s as big as Gluestick thinks it is, there’s no place for it in this cabin. I’ll have to search the other buildings.”
“Happy hunting,” Brand said.
“Wheezer, out.”
Before she knew it, she was fast asleep and having terrible dreams about monstrous pom-poms chasing her through the woods. She was pulled out of the nightmare by a rougher-than-usual shaking. She leaped out of bed and swung wildly, her secret-agent training taking over. Her fist co
“What do you think you’re doing?” Jea
It was then that Matilda noticed that Jea
“Nothing a surgeon can’t fix,” the girl said angrily. “It’s time to suit up.”
Matilda glanced out the window. It was still pitch-black out—too early for practice. “Now? It’s the middle of the night.”
“Less talk, more action,” Lilly snapped.
Matilda slipped into her clothes and stepped out of the cabin and into the night.
The moon was high in the sky over the practice field. The squad headed straight across it to the woods, and Matilda followed.
“Listen up, Maddie,” Tiffany said.
“It’s Matilda.”
“It’s what I say it is!” she roared. When she calmed, she continued. “The squad wants to invite you to take part in a little job.”
“What kind of job?”
“Not so much a job—more like a shopping trip,” McKe
“Shop Op!” Shauna and Toni said together, then gave each other a high five.
“Sounds … fun. You do realize it’s the middle of the night? What store is even open?” Matilda asked.
“It’s not a store and it’s not really shopping,” McKe
“But there is going to be some shoplifting,” Jea
“Shoplifting?” Matilda said. Kylie stood nearby. From her expression, she was as unhappy about the plan as Matilda.
Tiffany bristled. “Cheerleading is an expensive sport. The uniforms, meals—hey, do you think this camp is free? Team Strikeforce doesn’t have sponsors and the prize money is peanuts. The competition fee for the finals alone is more than my allowance until the end of time.”
“So we’ve found a way to pay for it,” Lilly said.
“By stealing?” Matilda asked.
Everyone nodded.
Matilda had never stolen anything in her life, but she knew she had to play along. “No arguments here. I’ve lifted a few tubes of lipstick and a purse. Shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Well, listen to public enemy number one,” Pammy said, laughing.
McKe
“Are we far enough away from the camp?” Pammy asked. “That machine sucks all the energy out of everything. If we go back to camp and my curling iron is dead, heads will roll!”
“We’re far enough,” Lilly said. “There’s a strip mall not far from here that will feed the machine.”
McKe
“Jackpot, ladies,” McKe
“Let’s go, girls! We’ve only got ten minutes,” Jea
Duncan had explained Gerdie’s machine and what it did, but to actually see it was almost more than Matilda’s brain could handle. Even with all the tech in the Playground and the millions of tiny robots coursing through her own body, this device still felt like something yanked out of the pages of a comic book.
“Today!” Tiffany barked.
Kylie reached for Matilda’s hand. “C’mon, we’ll go together.”
Matilda and Kylie stepped forward, and then there was a light so bright that Matilda could see it through the hand she raised to protect her eyes. Electricity danced across her skin and an incredible roar flooded her ears. She had once visited Niagara Falls during a mission, and the millions of gallons of water that tumbled over its edge was only half as loud.
And then … it was over.
She lowered her hand and glanced around. She and the other cheerleaders were standing inside a dark room with wooden walls and floor. She couldn’t see much, but the floor was rocking back and forth.
“We’re on a ship,” Pammy said.
“Duh,” Toni said.
“Can we please not argue?” Shauna said. “We’ve got nine minutes and counting to grab and go. Unless of course you aren’t interested in this room full of treasure chests.”
Toni snarled but turned to one of the big wooden chests. She opened the heavy lid and let out a happy shriek.
Matilda stepped forward. Inside the chest, packed to the top, was a collection of gold coins, rubies, sapphires—even a crown. She had never seen anything dazzle so brightly.
“I’m totally posting this!” McKe
“So how did we get on a pirate ship?” Matilda asked.
“This is an alternate Earth,” McKe
Tiffany pushed McKe
Matilda watched the squad leap into action like little ferrets stealing seeds. Lilly found a pile of empty canvas sacks and started shoving as much precious material into them as she could. When one was full, she stuffed empty sacks into Matilda’s and Kylie’s hands and dragged them over to another chest.
“Hey, the first time I did it I was completely freaked out, too. But we don’t have a lot of time,” Lilly said. “If you don’t help, Tiffany might just leave you here.”
“The battery is charging at fifty percent, girls,” McKe
Matilda reached into a chest of diamonds, grabbed a handful, and stuffed them into her sack. She felt terrible. She prided herself on her integrity—a trait her parents had instilled in her. How could she ever look them in the eye again? Still, she had to remind herself that this was a mission. She had to do this to save the world—her world.
“Four minutes, people,” McKe
“We have to come back here,” Shauna said. “There’s enough to fund our entire lives. We’d never have to work again.”