“Hi, I’m looking for someone who just had a baby,” she told the receptionist.
“Are you family?”
Tessa smiled. “I am.”
Moments later, she stood outside room 408, peering through the doorway at her mother and father. They looked so young. Her mom held a newborn girl in her arms. She looked exhausted. Her father was talking on a cell phone.
She checked the hall for prying eyes then transformed her face until it was a match for the receptionist’s.
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Lipton,” she said when she slipped into their room. “I hear congratulations are in order.”
Her father waved her off, busy with his phone call. Her mother smiled. “This is my baby girl—meet Tessa.”
Tessa smiled at herself. Darn, I was cute, she thought.
“You must be very proud.”
“Oh, we are.”
“Seems like your husband is a very busy man,” she said.
“He is,” her mother said. “He’s running for mayor.”
Her father held the phone to his chest and flashed his best smile. “I hope I can count on your vote.”
“Well, I’m not so sure about that,” Tessa said.
“Oh?”
“I hardly think I could vote for someone who puts his business before his family.”
Her father’s face turned pink with embarrassment. He looked at the phone and flipped it closed. “I feel like I’m going to get a lecture,” he said sheepishly.
It was Tessa’s turn to blush. She had to be careful. She didn’t want to make her parents so mad they would ask to have her removed, especially since this might be the last time she ever saw them.
“What I mean is, a leader has to have time for his family.”
“She’s right!” her mother cried. “You have a brand-new baby girl and you’re on the phone.”
Tessa turned to her mother. “And don’t you make excuses for him missing out on things, Mom—I mean, Mrs. Lipton—you have to put your foot down. This man is going to be the president some day and—”
“President?” her father said.
“Don’t give him any big ideas,” her mother said with a laugh, then turned to her husband. “She’s right, you know. This little girl is going to need you. I don’t want you to run for any office if the family has to suffer.”
Her father thought for a long moment and then smiled. “All right. It’s a deal,” he said, taking the baby into his arms. “Now let me take a look at my little girl. She’s a beauty. Just like her mom.”
“She’s going to love you like crazy,” Tessa said as she opened the door.
“And the feeling will be mutual,” her dad replied.
She congratulated them again, and closed the door behind her. When the coast was clear, she shifted her features back to her own. She smiled, happy that if she were to suddenly not exist that at least she would go knowing that once upon a time, the Liptons were a real family.
Despite the chaos around them, Alexander approached Miss Information with open arms. “Lisa, I can help you.”
“My name is not Lisa,” Miss Information said.
“Fine, Viktoriya. But I know you as Lisa Holiday,” he said.
Viktoriya. Why did that name seem familiar? And Lisa Holiday? Where had she heard that name before? Wait—Lisa was a librarian. She wore cardigan sweaters and baked cookies. She took care of some very special kids and she was in love with a spy. She was Lisa.
NO! SHE WAS MISS INFORMATION.
The NERDS charged. One of the kids shot Thor with a lightning bolt, another built an enormous net out of macramé and tangled Loudmouth inside it. A small, frail girl vanished right before her eyes, and seconds later a floating piece of lumber hit Snot Rocket in the nose. Another kid fired lasers from his eyes, and yet another snatched Funk by the collar and rose on stilts four stories into the air.
The strange man continued toward her. “I know about your past. I know about the spying and the villain virus. I also know that you’ve gone through something that no person could handle. You’re not well, but I can help.”
“I don’t need your help,” she shouted. “And you don’t know me!”
The headache came back, and without warning she reeled back like a cobra protecting her nest. With a sudden, forceful punch, she hit the man on the side of his head. He fell to the ground and lay still.
“Benjy, where did I put my time machine?”
“I observed Ms. Lipton stealing it several minutes ago. I’m afraid it is gone,” the orb clicked.
“Oh, poo!” she said. “Wait! How did this man get here?”
The orb spun around in midair. “My sensors are detecting trace elements of temporal radiation within twenty yards,” it said. “It could be used in a time travel device.”
“Benjy? Do you see that up ahead in the middle of the road?”
“It appears to be a pool of colored plastic balls,” the robot said. “The nuclear signature is emanating from it.”
Miss Information smiled. “Benjy, do you have a date for Ms. Peet?”
“June 14, 1996. On that day, Francis Peet and his fiancée, Sarah Kaplan, married in a beach community called Fair Harbor, part of the Fire Island region of Long Island.”
“Let’s go crash a wedding!”
TOP SECRET DOSSIER
CODE NAME: DUDEBOT
REAL NAME: 45X ATTACK DROID
ACTIVE: 1987
CURRENT OCCUPATION: DEACTIVATED
HISTORY: 45X WAS THE CREATION OF THE
EVIL MASTERMIND HENRY SINISTER. IT
MALFUNCTIONED DURING A BATTLE WITH
THE NERDS IN 1987. WHILE ATTEMPTING
TO REACTIVATE ITS MEMORY BANK,
AGENT BOOKWORM SPILLED A BOTTLE
OF HAWAIIAN PUNCH INTO ITS CIRCUITS
AND THE FORMER KILLER ROBOT BECAME
DUDEBOT, THE PARTY DROID. DUDEBOT
LOVED ALL THINGS SUN, SURF, AND
SIESTA AND WAS KNOWN FOR LISTENING
TO JIMMY BUFFETT RECORDS NONSTOP.
THAT, COUPLED WITH HIS ENDLESS USE
OF “DUDE,” “BRO,” AND “PARTY ON!”
EVENTUALLY ANNOYED HIS
TEAMMATES, WHO DEACTIVATED
HIM WITH A BASEBALL BAT.
UPGRADE: OTHER THAN HIS ABILITY
TO ANNOY PEOPLE WITH HIS STUPID
CATCHPHRASES AND SINGING OF
THE SONG “CHEESEBURGER IN
PARADISE,” DUDEBOT HAD
NO REAL POWERS.
Ruby watched as the BULLIES retreated. Luckily, they’d backed off just as the NERDS were about to lose the fight. Her team from 1977 hooted and hollered. They had their first mission under their belts. She found Heathcliff in the crowd, and together they located Agent Brand, who was lying on the ground, unconscious. The children shook him until his eyes opened and then helped him to his feet.