Meet the Gecko (5 page)

Her jaw dropped to the floor.

But I held my ground. “He's not going to sue us! He doesn't even know who I am!”

“But—”

“He's a jerk! A liar! He's made up stories about people for years!”

“But—”

“He gets a picture of someone blinking and says they're on drugs! He takes a head and puts it on someone else's body. He photographs people reaching for something and says they're stealing it. You should read all the things I found on the Internet today! People are really hurt by him, and nobody seems to be able to stop him! Even The Gecko's afraid of him! He hides in his room because he's afraid to go out.”

“Oh, I don't believe that.”

“It's true!”

“But, Nolan—”

I crossed my arms and frowned at her. “You're making me wish I'd never told you I was Shredderman.”

She was quiet.

“Mom,” I said softly. “I want to stop him. You should want to stop him, too.”

“But…”

“Sometimes you have to risk a little in the search for truth and justice.”

She looked in my eyes. She looked long and hard.

I didn't blink.

I didn't look away.

I just sat there, steady.

Finally she took a deep breath and eyed my computer monitor. “It's all ready to go?”

I nodded.

She stared at it another minute, then reached over and took my mouse.

I wanted to grab it away from her!

She moved the pointer until it hovered over Send.

What was she doing?

“May I?” she asked me.

Now she
wanted
to send it? But…I looked at the pointer. I looked at her. I'd spent my whole birthday putting this e-mail together—
I
wanted to click on Send. The moment of Send is the grand finale! Just thinking about the information zipping around the world faster than I can blink makes my head float. It's mind-boggling! Astounding!

I
love
clicking the Send button!

But there was my mom, with her hand on my mouse, the pointer hovering over Send.

She had a grin on her face.

She looked like a kid.

A happy kid.

And I could tell that she wasn't doing this just because it was my birthday.

She was doing it because truth and justice were important to her, too.

More important than getting into trouble.

So finally I nodded and said, “Go ahead.”

And with that, she clicked, and my
Mole Alert
message flew around the globe.

The next day at school, Bubba was talking about how he'd gone to the
Gecko and Sticky
shoot. How The Gecko had said, “Hey, dude” to him between takes. “I'm going back today,” Bubba boasted loud enough for everyone around to hear. “And this time I'm gonna get
on
the set.”

“How ya gonna do that?” Kevin asked him.

“I got ways of makin' it happen,” Bubba said with a smirk.

Max said, “Can we come, too?”

Bubba squinted at him. “Don't be stupid.”

Max shrugged. “Hey, we could, you know, help you get past security or something. You said there was tons of guards and stuff keeping people back.”

“Like they're gonna stop
me
?” He looked around at all the kids listening and snorted, “Ha!”

I had come to school dying to tell someone,
any
one, that I had met The Gecko.

That I had gotten his autograph.

That I had a picture of the two of us.

That I had been in his hotel room and played him in Tekken 3!

But after hearing Bubba talk, I felt like I couldn't tell a soul. It would have been like bragging.

And, knowing Bubba, it would have gotten me pounded.

So I sat in class wishing. Wishing that I had a friend I could tell. A friend I could trust. It had been the greatest day of my life, and I couldn't tell anyone about it! I couldn't even tell anyone about the present my parents had given me for my birthday—a high-tech, ultra-lightweight, mega-adjustable, totally cool spy tool.

A collapsible periscope!

I could now spy around doorways!

Over fences!

Maybe I couldn't fly or turn invisible, but with a periscope like this, I could really shred on bad guys!

But that was exactly why I couldn't show it to anyone. The first thing they'd ask would be, “What do you need
that
for?”

It was hard enough being Shredderman and not telling anyone he was me. All the kids at school—well, except Bubba—loved Shredder-man. They thought he was cool and funny and smart and…
awesome.

Me
they thought of as a nerd.

If only they could see!

But the fight for truth and justice was bigger than wanting friends.

Bigger than being called Nerd.

Bigger than me.

So keeping my present and my secret identity to myself wasn't
that
hard. But not being able to tell any of my classmates that I'd met The Gecko was torture!

By the end of school, I felt really rotten.

It was no fun having no friends.

No fun at all.

The minute I got home, things changed.

“Nolan! There you are!” my mom cried, getting up from her desk.

Normally my mom's happy to see me, but this was more than that. She was practically busting at the seams. “Guess what?”

“What?”

“Your friend Chase called and invited you to watch them shoot this afternoon.”

That word “friend” threw me for a second. “The… The
Gecko
called?
Here?”

“Well, not exactly. Someone named Henna Blockwell called your father at the
Gazette.
But the point is, Chase Morton thought you were
very nice and has invited you to come, you know, hang around backstage… or whatever they call it.”

I was standing stock-still, staring at her. Finally I choked out, “Really?”

She laughed and kissed my cheek. “Really! Your father's there already, covering a-day-in-the-life-of-The-Gecko for the
Gazette,
so come on. Do you need a snack before we go?”

I shook my head. I still couldn't seem to blink.

She grabbed a couple of juice pouches anyway, and at the last minute said, “Don't forget your camera! And fresh batteries!”

My mom's the best.

I keep my camera in my backpack. Along with extra batteries, binoculars, string, tape, scissors… and now, one very cool periscope.

So I just took my backpack, and off we went. And by the time we got to Old Town, I'd taken my binder and all my homework books out of it,
secured the camera in its special pouch with the secret lens port, and stashed the remote control in my sweatshirt pocket.

My spy-pack was ready!

The cool thing about wearing a spy-pack is that it's like having an eyeball in the back of your head.

No one expects it!

No one suspects it!

And once you figure out how to take pictures backward, it's amazing who you can catch In-The-Act!

I love my spy-pack!

I was testing out my remote control when Mom asked, “Why in the world are you doing all that?”

“Because you never know,” I said.

“But I'm sure he'll just let you take pictures of him.”

I grinned at her. “But I'm sure the Mole won't.”

Her eyebrows went up. “You think he'll be there again?”

“I have a sneaking suspicion.”

She shook her head. “You're invited to watch the filming of your favorite show of all time, and you're thinking about the Mole? I just don't get it.”

Neither did I, but inside something was telling me to be ready.

Just in case.

After we got our special GUEST badges and cleared security, we were ushered into the hotel. They were getting ready to shoot a scene right in the main lobby!

Mom spotted Dad, who was standing about ten feet behind a camera. We got over to him just as a guy with a patchy little beard called, “Picture's up! Quiet on the set, we're rolling!”

“That's the director,” Dad whispered.

“Shhhh!” my mom scolded him.

A lady stuck a clapboard with all sorts of num-bers on it in front of a camera, then pulled it away. The director called, “Action!” and suddenly evil Damien Black appeared at the top of the stairs. He
snuck down on his tiptoes! His eyes were darting all around! He had on a long coat. Black boots. A twisty mustache. He was holding a long double-bladed ax!