Chapter 11

Chapter 11 Agent 99 Goes Solo Jessie felt as if someone had waved a wand and turned her entire body to stone. Every muscle froze; the air locked in her lungs; even her eyes refused to blink. She pressed her back against the wall of the house and prayed to become invisible. The two boys, though, never turned around. They raced off the porch without a single backward glance and ran toward the barn. Within ten seconds they were gone, and Jessie and Maxwell were left alone on the wide wooden porch. "That was a close one," whispered Jessie, surprised her voice was working at all. But Maxwell didn't say anything. His face had gone sort of grayish white, and his eyes kept

staring where the boys had been. Finally he whispered, "They would have killed us if they found us." "They would not!" Jessie whispered back. "Maybe they would have yelled and told their mother, and maybe we would have gotten in trouble, but they would not have killed us." "You don't know them!" said Maxwell, his voice rising dangerously. "Shhh! You want to get us caught? Jeepers, Maxwell, act like a spy, would you?" Maxwell stood up and started walking in circles. Jessie stared through her binoculars at the barn. "They were carrying stuff," she said. "Did you notice?" Jessie had seen that both boys had something in their hands, but she'd been too scared to see what. "A shoebox and a hammer," said Maxwell, still walking. "Jeff had the shoebox. Mike had the hammer."

"Wow. You are a good spy," said Jessie. She wished she'd noticed those things, but it had all happened so fast. Jessie looked at the barn again. Maxwell started to walk slower and slower, and then he stopped and just stood in one spot, rocking back and forth. "We need to go see what they're doing in that barn," said Jessie. Maxwell started shaking his head. "Yes, we do," she said. "I bet that's where they hide things. I bet they've got a secret compartment in that barn, and that's where they are right now, and if we find that secret compartment, we'll find the bell." "No," said Maxwell. "No, we won't. We will not find the bell in that barn." "Well, we're going to find something, that's for sure," said Jessie. "Come on." She scooted off the porch in her low-to-the-ground crouch and hurried across the open front yard to the barn.

One quick glance over her shoulder told her that Maxwell was staying behind. She'd have to do this bit of spying alone. Agent 99 goes solo. The large sliding door to the barn was open just a foot, but Jessie didn't want to spy from there. If the boys came barreling out the door, she'd get caught for sure, and she could still remember what it felt like to be on the porch, pressed up against the wall of the house, with nowhere to hide. She could hear music coming from inside the barn, a pop song that she recognized. Nope, this time she was going to be smart. She and Evan had circled this barn a dozen times over the years. She knew there were windows on the sides and back of the barn. She walked to the left until she came to the first of two small windows. The boys had turned on all the overhead lights—rows and rows of them, which lit up the barn like a stage. This was lucky for her, because it made it much easier to see inside

the barn, and she knew that with the fading daylight she would be almost invisible if the boys looked up. She peeked her head around to look in the barn, but all she could see was the usual stuff: a tractor, old tools hanging on the wall, a workbench with piles of magazines all over it, baled hay. It looked like her grandma's barn. Jessie couldn't see the boys anywhere. But she could hear hammering. She crouched down again and scuttled over to the second window, but she still couldn't see the boys. The hammering stopped, and then it started up again. Jessie continued to walk around the outside of the barn. She was starting to think she might need to sneak inside the barn itself, when she popped her head up at the single small window on the back of the barn and came practically face-to-face with the older of the two boys. It was as if she was standing just three feet away

from him and he was looking right at her. Jessie was so surprised, she immediately ducked her head back down and waited to hear a shout from the boy. But the hammering continued, and Jessie realized that the bright light inside and the growing darkness outside had turned the window into a one-way mirror. She could peek in without being seen. Slowly, she inched her head up. Jeff and Mike were in one of the stalls that ran along the back of the barn. The ceiling here was low, the floor covered in rough wood. Jessie looked around and realized the compartment was used for storing firewood. The split firewood was stacked in racks that jutted out of one of the side walls of the small room. The racks were made of long two-by-fours nailed into the floor and the ceiling. The room looked dirty and creepy to Jessie, but it was a perfect place to hide something. Both boys were standing in front of the middle