Vince and I looked at each other. Everything else around us stopped. We’d gotten so close to pulling it off that it actually hurt to finally lose like this. It was like the 2003 Cubs play-offs all over again. We still remembered the pain of that relived over and over through highlights, even though we hadn’t even watched it live because we had been too young.

But then the door to the office opened again, and a small head with neat and perfectly parted hair on top of it popped in, followed by his small impeccably dressed frame. He was holding two cans of spray paint, one red and one black, and was shaking them both up and down.

“Kitten? How did you know we were in here?”

He shrugged, staying calm, as always.

“You guys carry on with business. I’ll take care of this,” he said.

“Kitten, no! You’ll be expelled,” Vince said.

“Don’t do it,” I agreed. “You don’t need to do this for us.”

Then a sickening smile spread very slowly across Kitten’s face. It was kind of like cutting open the devil and staring into the black hole where a heart should have been. Except that, in this case, the devil was on our side.

Without another word Kitten was gone, the door swinging closed.

We all sat there quietly, listening to what happened next. I heard Dickerson’s muffled cry as he realized what was about to go down. Then we all heard the noise of spray-paint cans discharging. Dickerson was yelling now. Screaming, actually. I could even picture his red face with that one pulsating vein that he had in his forehead.

But even above that we heard the laughter. It had to have been Kitten’s. And it sent a chill deep into my spine. That cold, maniacal laughter followed by sounds of spray paint hitting a Suit would have haunted my dreams for the rest of my life if they hadn’t saved us all.

But they did save us all. So, instead, I would always remember them with a smile.

If you think this will be one of those things that you see in movies where the cool sidekick gets shot and you assume he’s dead but then in the end it turns out he lived, then you’re wrong. Because this is real life, not some too-good-to-be-true movie.

And the fact is that Kitten never came back after that. He was gone. That demented and glorious smile before he left Dickerson’s office was the last any of us ever saw of that mad genius. I don’t know what happened to him, or where he ended up, or if he’s happy or sad or even still alive at all, but wherever he is, I just hope he doesn’t regret what he did for us that day.

Because he really did save us all. Dickerson of course went chasing after him and likely caught him eventually. But either way the diversion bought us just enough time to finish downloading the permanent records for the entire school and vacate the area before he came back.

And because of that we made it. That’s right, we actually did it. We made enough money in those six days to pay back Kinko, and we also got her the permanent records she requested.

It was time for the last phase of the mission: to have My-Me call me in sick again Tuesday morning and make the delivery. I packed the money and flash drive in an old briefcase that I borrowed from my dad’s closet. And tomorrow Staples was going to drive me back out to Thief Valley.

I was so proud of everyone who had helped us. We’d all accomplished something great. The last step was simply to make it through Monday night and we’d be home free to settle this mess and finally retire once and for all.

And I’d even be able to sleep easy because we’d hired a few of the bullies to keep watch that night at my house. I mean, a lot of people from all over town knew that we’d been making a ton of money lately, so we just couldn’t be too careful, especially not when we were this close to our goal.

Great White was stationed out back under my bedroom window. Little Paul was watching the front door, and Kevin patrolled the whole outside of my house. They’d all been able to sneak out easy enough that night without their parents noticing. I mean, these were trained professionals, after all. Besides, most bullies I knew didn’t have parents who paid very much attention to them.

So I could sleep easy that night, and I needed it. Vince and I had worked ourselves to the bone. I mean, we’d both been getting like three or four hours of sleep each night since we’d started this effort a week ago. Which is why I fell asleep almost instantly that night. And it’s also why I slept literally like a stone, a nonliving creature. I even slept through most of what followed. Which is why I also still mostly blame myself for what happened next.