CHAPTER 15

COLIN

Colin fought down panic. FBI.

“I’m Agent McElroy,” said the guy, “and this is Agent Sydney. We need to speak with you.” The agents ushered all five of them to the elevator.

“Sir and ma’am—” Colin started, but the guy shut him down with a stern look and pressed the button for the fifteenth floor. Colin’s palms were slippery with sweat.

There was no turning back now.

***

Inside the SolarStar offices, the agents led the way to a conference room. Len Steinberg sat there with some other people Colin didn’t recognize. Colin shot Steinberg a sheepish look. The only other time they’d met, Colin had been lying to Steinberg and trying to bug his office. He hadn’t made a wildly successful first impression.

But Steinberg gave him a small smile, and Colin felt a little better. Maybe that meant these people would listen.

Agent McElroy motioned for all of them to sit down. Then he said, “Len Steinberg called us after you called him. We’ve been looking into this SolarStar sabotage since it started. Mr. Steinberg here has known for quite a while that something was going on.”

Agent Sydney added, “But now we think you should tell us how you’re involved.”

James pulled out the schematics. “First, here are the plans I took. I didn’t know what they were at the time. I’m sorry.”

Ana spoke up quickly. “But James didn’t do it alone. We were all part of this.” She held up her tablet. “And I have information from your business partner, EarthWatch. I was supposed to destroy it, but I saved copies. I hope we haven’t done any permanent damage to your project.”

“This it wasn’t our idea,” Colin added. “We were all in the dark about the real purpose.”

The room was silent. Steinberg grabbed the file folder and looked over the schematics. Then he nodded at the agents. Agent McElroy said, “OK. How about you start at the beginning?”

Maiv took a deep breath. “Right. Here’s what happened.”

When she finished, Len Steinberg took off his glasses and rubbed his nose. The agents looked at each other again. But Colin had hope. They weren’t dismissing the story outright.

Maiv sat back in her chair, looking exhausted. “I’m guessing you won’t find the website for the Contest or the emails the Benefactor sent us. But we do have evidence that Alfred Huffmann masterminded this. Ana, play the recording.”

Ana took out her tablet and called up the soundbite. She played it for everyone in the room.

Even the FBI agents looked stunned.

Finally, Agent Sydney said, “OK, let me have the tablet, please. We’re going to verify that. We’ll look into the website and the emails. For the moment, we need you to stay in here. We’ll have an agent outside the door, for your protection.”

Colin tried hard not to roll his eyes. Yeah. Their protection.

The FBI agents, Len Steinberg, and the rest of the people got up to leave. Agent McElroy crouched down in front of Izzy. “Sweetie, can you tell us parents’ phone number?” asked McElroy. “We can get them to come pick you up.”

Colin saw Ana’s hand tighten on Izzy’s shoulder.

“No, thank you,” said Izzy. “I’m staying with my sister.”

The agents looked at each other, and Agent Sydney nodded. A moment later, the five of them were alone in the conference room.

“Good work, gang,” said James dryly.

They all managed to smile.

***

“In the twenty-five years of my career, I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Agent McElroy an hour later. “But it looks as if your story checks out.”

Colin felt as if a physical weight had lifted off his chest. The others swapped relieved, disbelieving glances.

Maiv asked, “But how did you find out so quickly? The website, our emails . . . I was sure he would’ve scrubbed them by now.”

Agent Sydney explained, “The FBI has actually been monitoring Huffmann for several months. It seems he was doing some insider trading while he . . .”

Colin finished, “Was masterminding an evil plan?”

“Apparently,” said Agent McElroy without missing a beat. “Since we’ve already been tracking him, we were able to dig up the emails and website files pretty easily. He wasn’t even trying to hide what he was doing on his own computer. It looks like he was that arrogant. And really, he could have been. The team watching him was looking specifically for insider trading, so none of this was on their radar. Anyway, we have it all.”

Agent Sydney continued, “We will be bringing Huffmann into custody in about . . .” She checked her watch. “Ten minutes.”

“So does that mean you’re not arresting us?” asked James. “Because that would be awesome.”

Agent Sydney frowned. “It’s up to SolarStar and EarthWatch whether to press charges for your role in the burglaries. But for now, you’re free to go. Your parents are on their way—all except yours, Ana.”

Ana said quickly, “They’re not my parents. And they’re probably in some trouble of their own right about now.” She took a deep breath. “I think you’d better contact social services instead.”

James reached over and squeezed her hand. She squeezed back. Colin was glad to see how close they’d gotten. At least something good was coming out of the Contest.

“We’ll look into that,” Agent Sydney told Ana. “And we’ve gotten hold of Paul Grayson as well. He seems willing to cooperate.”

“Oh sure, now he wants to be helpful,” grumbled Colin. Maiv snorted.

“There’s still one problem,” Agent McElroy went on. “Huffmann clearly had help with setting up this ‘contest,’ as he called it. It seems that he hired someone else to do most of the bugging and hacking.”

“And to kill us,” added Colin. In his opinion, that part was pretty crucial.

“Possibly,” said Agent McElroy, who clearly still wasn’t quite sold. “We’ve recovered communication between Huffmann and this other person, but we haven’t been able to track him down yet.”

Maiv sat up straight. “You know, I think we can help with that.”

***

At exactly 5:00 p.m., a man with a hat pulled low over his head walked to a garbage can on Nicollet Mall.

At 5:01, FBI agents surrounded him and arrested him.

At 5:22, as Colin sat with the others in the SolarStar conference room, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Hey, loser. So they finally caught you?”

Danni stood at the door with their mom. With them stood a woman who had to be James’s aunt, plus Maiv’s whole family. In two seconds the room was filled with laughing, crying, hugging, and—in the case of Colin and his sister—some light punching.

Once again, everyone demanded answers. Colin knew it would take a long time to explain everything, but he finally felt strong enough to tell the story.