“I’m…honored, I guess,” I say.
“Yeah, well, don’t go getting a big head,” Malone says. “If you tell anyone I almost cried in front of you, I’ll kick your ass. I’m not kidding, Max.”
Deal.
? ? ?
Nothing is more motivating than knowing people are watching you and—dare I say it—getting inspired by you. This shocking revelation is what gives me the extra push I need to really focus on a plan to take down the Chaos Club. And as if I need any additional motivation, Ellie stops by my locker this afternoon and whispers, “Think of what you could do with a guaranteed yes, Max. The sky’s the limit.”
I simplify the Chaos Club problem by breaking it down to two questions: 1. What do I want to happen?
2. How do I make that happen?
Then I spend the weekend doing what I enjoy best—watching my favorite caper films, some of them twice, and filling an entire notebook with ideas. Most of the ideas are inventive but unrealistic. Others are realistic but dull. A dozen are incredibly stupid. And one makes me literally jump off my bed and stare down at my notebook, not believing the idea that just came to me.
It’s crazy.
It’s epic.
It’s flat-out brilliant.
And I just happen to have the crew to make it work.
? ? ?
Before I tell the others my plan, I have to fully commit. Because if I think too much about this, Just Max may reappear and talk me into chickening out. So as soon as I get to school on Monday, I head straight for Stranko’s office, where he’s talking with the new lacrosse team captain, Jason Bruno.
“What is it, Cobb?” Stranko says.
“Do you have a minute?”
Stranko tells Bruno they’ll talk before practice. With Adleta’s quitting, the team’s in a death spiral, having lost by four on Saturday to a vastly inferior Athens team. Still, it’s hard to look at Stranko and not remember his sad shock and confusion when Tim walked off the field last week.
“Remember back in September when you said we’re to come to you if we know something?” I say.
Stranko says a long, “Yeah.”
“Well, I know something about the Chaos Club.”
Stranko straightens in his chair.
“What about them?”
“I think I know what they’re going to do for their end-of-the-year prank. And I think I have a way to catch them.”
“Do you now? Then tell me.”
There’s something in his voice—is it skepticism?—that causes me to stumble a bit.
“Well, I, uh, just know they always pull a prank at the end of the year, and with the Asheville Celebration coming up, I was thinking that would be the perfect time for them to strike.”
“And you’re telling me this why?”
Because you’re going to be out there guarding the grounds if I warn you or not. This way I can control what you do. Otherwise, you’re a wild card, and I can’t have that.
“Because you’re the vice principal, and you’ve been after them for years. I thought you might want to stop them from ruining the celebration.”
Stranko doesn’t blink for a good ten seconds.
“You don’t ever stop, do you, Cobb?”
“Huh?”
“Even after trashing my office, getting arrested, and spending ten days out of school, you’re still playing this game. Let me make it simple for you: your reputation is zero with me. If I had it my way, you’d have been expelled weeks ago.”
“But I really think they’re going to hit the celebration.”
“Right, and I’m betting that next you’ll tell me some idea you have for catching the Chaos Club, maybe even give me a role in your plan. Is that right?”
He wants me to say yes, so I do.
“Uh-huh,” he says, “and then, when the time comes to execute your plan, something happens. Maybe you have me in one place while your friends vandalize a different area or you trick me into busting the wrong people while you attack someplace else. Am I close?”
“No, I—”
“I’ll save you the trouble, Cobb. You can’t fool me. I know who you are and what you are, and if your club comes within a mile of the Asheville Celebration, I will make it my life’s goal to have you in jail. Do you understand?”
“But I—”
“Now get out of here and tell your friends you failed.”
I hotfoot it out the door and head for the bathroom, where I take a newly purchased burner phone from my backpack. Then I send a single text to Stranko’s old phone, which is currently packaged in a bubble-wrapped envelope addressed to Stranko’s home. Accompanying the phone is a letter from a Good Samaritan explaining how she discovered Stranko’s address in the contacts file after finding the phone in a booth at McDonald’s where “two loud and rude teenagers had been sitting.”
The whole thing almost makes me feel bad for the guy.
Almost.
Chapter 21
Ellie calls it Operation Eagle Eye and gives each member of the Water Tower Five code names related to our roles.
Adleta is Sluggo.
Malone is da Vinci.
Wheeler is Captain Calamity.