If the dots on the Van Ness Media map were tracking the Renegade Reporters’ movements over the week, they were recording an impressive example of how to do investigative journalism. The girls traveled around the city asking various kids and parents how they felt about online privacy. They went to the University of Baltimore to interview an expert on data brokers. And they spent lots of time in their basement studio, writing their report, recording takes, and sending emails to various departments at Van Ness Media requesting interviews but never getting a reply.
Just when they were this close to finishing the episode, however, things started to go wrong. On Friday afternoon, Brielle got an error message in Movie Maker. She tried to fix it by logging out and closing the browser, but when she went to log back in, Van Ness Media said she had to contact the network administrator. Since her account was through school, she couldn’t do anything about it until Monday, when she could talk to her teacher. Luckily, she’d downloaded a rough edit shortly before the error, so she didn’t lose all her hard work. But they’d been hoping to go to air by Sunday, and now the episode wouldn’t be ready. A whole weekend wasted.
When Monday came, they got more bad news. “Ms. Chung said they have to contact tech support at Van Ness Media,” Brielle said at recess. “Which might take a few days.”
“A few days?” Ash groaned. Now that their reporting was complete, every hour already felt like a day. The days would be like years—years in which Harry E. Levin could make good on his threat.
“She kept asking if I forgot my password,” Brielle complained, “but I didn’t. Like I’d forget something like that,” she scoffed. “But she said that’s the only reason anyone’s ever had to reset their Van Ness Media password in the middle of the year before.”
“You guys,” Maya said quietly, “do you think Van Ness Media is onto us? Brielle put everything in Movie Maker, and we’ve been emailing asking for interviews, so they know what we know. They could be trying to stop us from reporting.”
Goose bumps rose on Ash’s arms. Could Brielle’s error messages and password problems be purposeful?
“The timing must be a coincidence,” Ash said uneasily.
“Like we used to think the ads were a coincidence?” Maya said, raising one eyebrow.
Brielle sighed. “No offense, Maya, but you’ve been totally paranoid since we started this thing. You guys recorded so much footage, it probably just overloaded the system. I’ve been working some magic with it, though. This episode is definitely one for my BSA application.”
Maya looked like she wanted to say something else, but instead she motioned for them all to be quiet. Harry was walking across the field and right to their group. “Hello,” he said cheerily, holding out a tightly folded piece of paper. Ash took it.
From one anchor to another, it said on the outside.
“Goodbye,” Harry said. He smiled, turned around, and walked back across the field.
Ash unfolded the note. Then everything dropped: the note, her jaw, her shoulders, her heart, her spirits. “He’s going to break the Van Ness Media story tomorrow morning.”
“What?” said Maya, picking up the note. “How—how—”
“Did you know about this?” Ash asked Brielle miserably.
“Ouch. Of course not. I’d have told you guys.”
Ash collapsed into the grass and closed her eyes. “It’s not fair. If it weren’t for all those Movie Maker errors, we’d have our episode out by now.”
“They’re trying to silence us,” Maya said, sinking into the grass next to Ash. “I know it.”
“Give it a rest, Maya,” said Brielle, looking down on them with crossed arms. “If anything, this proves the errors weren’t on purpose. Why would they be trying to silence us and not The News at Nine?”
Ash opened her eyes with a flicker of hope. “Maybe Harry’s story is different.”
Brielle pointed at her. “Yes!” she said excitedly. “Then we can still run our story.”
“It’s got to be the same news,” Maya said, shaking her head. “What other big story about Van Ness Media could there be?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Brielle said. “Maybe something about . . . um . . . anything?”
Ash was still weighed down with dread, but she forced herself to sit up. “Let us know what you find out after school?” she asked Brielle.
Brielle promised. But all she could let them know was that Harry didn’t go to the after-school meeting. According to Ms. Sullivan, he had a dentist appointment. Even worse, Ms. Sullivan wouldn’t reveal what his big story was going to be. All the script says is “Breaking news: Van Ness Media,” Brielle texted. And “video clip of Maria Van Ness.”
That made Ash and Maya collapse again, this time onto the linoleum floor of Ash’s basement. Harry didn’t just have the story, he had a video clip of Maria Van Ness to back it up. And he was going to report it all tomorrow morning, with extra-sparkly teeth.