Chopped! Read online

  “Here it come,” Sly announced.

  Robin forced himself to watch, just in case there was a problem. If there was, he and Sly planned to yell for help and call 911. Both boys held their breath.

  Kaykay kissed Tyrone. Big time.

  “Mission accomplished,” Sly told Robin.

  Robin winced. “Yeah. I guess. Let’s get out of here.”

  “What do I do with this damn thing?” Mr. Smith asked as he fingered the memory card from Kaykay’s sunglasses.

  “You push it in the slot in the computer,” Sly instructed.

  “You do it, Robin.” Mr. Smith passed the little card to Robin. “I can pick a lock, but I don’t know nothing about computers.”

  It was a half hour later. After Kaykay had kissed Tyrone—Robin still couldn’t get the picture of that out of his mind—they’d all met up at Twenty-Seventh and Randolph. Then they’d practically run to the Center on Garvey near Ninth Street.

  They were so pumped to see what Kaykay had recorded. Robin was nervous. What if the tech had failed? Had they taken the risk for nothing? Even worse, had Kaykay just kissed Tyrone for nothing?

  They were with Mr. Smith in the Center’s small library. That library—not really more than a room with a few bookshelves, desks, and chairs—had one computer that wasn’t even connected to the Internet. But it would be fine for what they needed to do: see what Kaykay’s sunglasses had captured.

  Mr. Smith closed and locked the door. They would only need a few minutes.

  Robin took the memory card from Mr. Smith, sat at the computer, and popped the card into the right slot. Almost immediately, the computer read the card and opened a folder. It took Robin a little while longer to find the right video player. When he did, he pressed the Play arrow.

  “Oh my God,” Kaykay whispered. “It worked.”

  The sunglasses video camera had recorded everything. It was a little herky-jerky, but the four of them watched a two-minute video of Tyrone taking the money, getting the glassine bag from Dodo, and handing it to the kids in the car.

  Robin stopped the video right there. They had enough to send Tyrone and Dodo to juvie for long time. No reason to watch the rest. No reason to endure that kiss again. Too painful.

  “Okay. We got what we need. Now how do we nail Tyrone and Dodo? If they find out that Kaykay filmed them, we’re dead,” Sly observed.

  Robin had a solution he thought would be foolproof.

  “We don’t bring it to the cops,” he explained. “Instead, Mr. Smith takes it to Principal Kwon. He doesn’t even give it to him. He just shows it to him. Says that these dudes need to be outta Ironwood Central. We let Principal Kwon take it from there.”

  Mr. Smith nodded. “Smart, Robin Paige. Very smart. I’ll do that in the morning.”

  “What if Mr. Kwon asks Mr. Smith where he got it?” Kaykay asked.

  “I just gave him fifty thou for his school library. He won’t ask. An’ if he does, I’ll just say I got my ways,” Mr. Smith told them.

  Robin shut down the computer, popped out the memory card, and gave it to Mr. Smith. “Thanks. Now can you and Sly go set up to play cards? I need to talk to Kaykay for a sec. We’ll be right out.”

  There was no argument. Robin was their leader, even if there was no more Robin in da hood. Twenty seconds later, Robin and Kaykay were alone.

  “So,” Robin said to her. “I just wanted to say good job.”

  “I did good?”

  Robin nodded.

  “Was it all good, Robin?” Kaykay asked softly.

  Robin hesitated and then shook his head. “Nope. It wasn’t all good.”

  “What wasn’t all good, Robin?”

  He felt hot blood rush to his cheeks. “Day-um, Kaykay. You oughta know what part. I hated the part where you kiss—”

  He never finished his sentence. Kaykay’s lips were on his. She kissed him. He kissed her back. The longer the kiss went, the further the memory of Kaykay’s staged lip-lock with Tyrone slid out of his mind.

  It didn’t take long for it to be all gone.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Tuesday morning, Robin walked to school the usual way. Ninth Street was quiet at seven forty-five. There was a bit of a chill in the air that promised autumn was coming, though the few scraggly trees in planters on the sidewalk hadn’t yet turned color. Robin liked this time of year and this time of day. It was peaceful. Ninth Street had been quiet for the last couple of weeks in general. No fights, no shootings, no arrests.

  Robin knew what that meant. Calm before the storm. What the storm would be was anyone’s guess. He just hoped that he and his grandmother would not be involved.

  At the corner of Ninth and Garvey, he turned left. Then he noticed that new business again. The garage door was open, and a gorgeous sports car was being driven inside. This time it was a red Lamborghini coming in for repairs. Wow. Robin was impressed.

  He checked his cell. He had plenty of time. He decided to go around the back, to the alley behind the shop. He thought maybe there’d be some cool cars there to check out—cars that had already been worked on. He wasn’t all that into cars, to tell the truth, but Sly was crazed for them. Maybe he could bring Sly back here to check them out.

  Sly’s crazed for anything that costs lots of chip because it means you gotta have the chip in the first place, Robin thought with a smile.

  It was a quick walk to the alley and a quicker walk to the back of the business. Robin expected to see a bunch of gorgeous cars parked there, all fixed up and waiting for their owners.

  There was nothing. In fact, there wasn’t even a rear garage door. Just a plain old door with a latch handle.

  Huh. Very strange.

  Above the door was a small window. Robin told himself that sometime he needed to take a look through that window. Cars were coming into this business, but none were coming out.

  It didn’t make any sense at all.

  Robin was sitting at free breakfast with Sly—Kaykay was with Tyrone and Dodo at the next table—when it happened.

  Four uniformed Ironwood Police Department officers marched into the cafeteria. Two were black, one was Latino, and one was white. They were all big and intimidating. As Robin and his buds watched, the cops marched straight over to the table where Tyrone and Dodo were holding forth. Robin saw that Kaykay was fake-laughing up a storm.

  Cops in the lunchroom were a big deal. All talk stopped, except for Tyrone. He hadn’t noticed the police.

  “So I was tellin’ my boy Dodo here—”

  “Tyrone Davis? Riondo Moore?” The biggest and most imposing of the policemen shouted Tyrone and Dodo’s names.

  Finally, Tyrone quit talking. The cafeteria was so quiet Robin could hear the air conditioner humming.

  “Yessir,” he said to the cop. “I’m Tyrone Davis.”

  “An’ I’m Riondo Moore,” Dodo added.

  It was funny for Robin to see how polite the junior Rangers were being. He had an idea what this was about. If he was right …

  The four cops moved in, two on each side of each guy.

  “You’re both under arrest!” the lead cop declared. “You have the right to remain silent. Everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand these rights?”

  The cops jerked Tyrone and Dodo to their feet and cuffed them as everyone stared. Robin figured half of the people at free breakfast were cheering inside because they hated Tyrone and Dodo as much as Robin did. The other half would have jumped the cops—if the cops hadn’t been packing—because they distrusted the police on principle.

  “Yeah, I understand!” Tyrone said loudly, full of bravado. “Whatchu arrestin’ us for?”

  “For being an idiot!” one of the black cops told him. “You got drugs in your school locker to sell. So does your boy Dodo. Now, you’re comin’ with us!”

  The moment they were all out of the door, the cafet
eria erupted in conversations, shouting, and pointing. This was big news. Kaykay ran right over to Robin and Sly. “Mr. Smith did it! He did it! He did it! Them gangstas are outta my life. Gone, gone, gone!”

  So excited, she hugged Sly and Robin. Robin flushed. Sly just looked sad. Robin realized that Sly knew about his and Kaykay’s mini-romance and wished it was him instead of Robin.

  We gotta get Sly a fly girl, Robin thought.

  Just then, as if by magic, a fly girl approached them. The only problem was it wasn’t the fly girl Robin was hoping for. In fact, it was the worst possible fly girl.

  Her name was Chantelle Price. Chantelle was a tenth grader who wrote a gossip column for the school paper. She had a rep for digging up dirt and sharing it in her column; sometimes she even posted it online or Tweeted it. Robin had never met her, but he already knew who she was by her rep.

  Chantelle was hot. Tall, legs up to there and curves in all the right places, with a great sense of style. She managed to rock her school uniform blue skirt and blue top by adding dangling earrings and a blue necklace.

  Uh-oh. Robin noticed she was carrying the little notebook she used whenever she was working on a story.

  “Hey, kids!” Chantelle plopped down next to them. “I’m Chantelle and I write for the school paper. Mind if I ask a couple of questions?”

  “Fine with us,” Robin muttered. He hoped it had nothing to do with Robin in da hood. He knew that refusing could turn into a story itself and would only get Chantelle more interested.

  Chantelle turned to Kaykay. “That was your man bein’ taken away, right?”

  “I was hangin’ wit’ him, but I wouldn’t ’zactly call him ’my man,’ ” Kaykay answered.

  “That’s not what I would say,” Chantelle fired back.

  “Then you buggin’ and makin’ things up in your mind,” Kaykay responded.

  Chantelle smiled and jotted a few words in her notebook. “Really. I just think it’s interesting that your man got arrested ’bout a nanosecond ago, and now you’re back with your old friends. What’s up with that?”

  Kaykay looked caught. Robin kicked himself. He knew they should have given it a little time before they started hanging together. A week. Even a day. Chantelle was right. This was suspicious.

  Chantelle leaned in toward Kaykay. “You wanna know what I’m thinking, Karen?” She called Kaykay by her real name, not by her nickname. “I’m thinking maybe you were the one who turned your man in. Know what we call that ’round here? We call that snitchin’. And peeps ’round this school don’t like that none.”

  Robin thumped the table with his hand. “Kaykay is not a snitch!”

  Chantelle smiled. “Really? Why don’t you prove it?”

  The bell rang. Time for class. Kaykay took the opportunity to hustle away. Robin knew they’d been saved for the moment, but that the bell couldn’t save them forever. One problem was gone, but another had taken its place. Her name was Chantelle.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Robin Paige! What a surprise!”

  Robin was walking down Garvey toward Ninth Street when he heard his name called from behind him. He turned. Oh no. It was Chantelle Price again, this time not fifteen feet away.

  How long has she been following me? Has she been on my tail all the way home from school?

  It was the same day that Tyrone and Dodo were arrested. The school had been buzzing with the news. During lunch, Robin had received a call from Mr. Smith. Everything had gone perfectly with the principal. He’d shown Principal Kwon the video Kaykay had shot. The principal didn’t even ask who’d taken it; he just called the police and asked them to search Tyrone and Dodo’s lockers. The cops had found crack, crank, and 420 in each dude’s locker. That had led to the arrests. There was no question that the boys would be headed for juvie until they turned eighteen.

  Robin stopped and turned back. “Hey, Chantelle. Whatchu doin’ in this hood? You live ’round here?” He made his voice “street” to make himself sound tougher.

  Chantelle laughed. “Why you be talkin’ like a gangsta when you got a four-oh average like me?”

  “ ’Cause you not answerin’ my question,” Robin replied. “That be why.”

  “Good answer,” Chantelle acknowledged.

  Both Robin and Chantelle smiled, but Robin was still wary of the tenth grader. He didn’t want him or his friends to be the subject of any of her gossipy stories. That might make other people start to compare notes, which would not be good. All they needed was for the Rangers to learn that he’d ripped them off a couple of times. …

  “Where’s your friend Kaykay? And your ace, Sly?” Chantelle asked.

  Robin shrugged. “Don’t know. You’ll have to find them yourself.”

  Chantelle flipped her long dark hair. She was a good seven inches taller than Robin. “Maybe I will. I got some good news for them.”

  “Oh?”

  She waited for a dump truck to roar by on Garvey before she continued. “Mmmhmm. Turns out Kaykay didn’t snitch. I heard the crazy old man who gave the money to the library last week blew the whistle.”

  “Mr. Smith isn’t crazy,” Robin said quickly, then instantly regretted his words. There was no reason for Chantelle to know anything more about Mr. Smith.

  Chantelle jumped on this immediately. “You know him? How do you know him? Does Sly know him too?”

  Robin wasn’t sure what to say, and he sure couldn’t figure out Chantelle’s new interest in Sly. Hadn’t she been focused on Kaykay? He did some quick thinking. Now that Chantelle knew Mr. Smith’s name, it wouldn’t be hard to track him down. She’d probably ask him a bunch of questions. If he tried to evade her, she’d just talk to people who knew him at the Center.

  Better for me to tell her and manage the four-one-one.

  “Yeah, we all know him,” Robin admitted. “From the community center.”

  “Is he your friend? Is he Sly’s friend?”

  “You could say that,” Robin allowed.

  “Who’s a better friend of his, you or Sly?”

  Enough, Robin thought. What am I, Wikipedia?

  “I gotta get home and do my homework,” Robin mumbled. “Then I gotta help my gramma.”

  Chantelle nodded. “Okay. Then we’re done for now. Emphasis on now. I’m glad Kaykay isn’t a snitch, by the way. The Rangers wouldn’t like that.” Then she frowned. “But I still can’t figure out why she sat down with you and Sly right after Tyrone and Dodo got cuffed. Doesn’t make sense.”

  “We live in Ironwood,” Robin told her. “A lotta stuff ’round here doesn’t make sense. See ya.”

  He turned and started down Garvey again. At the corner of Ninth Street, he glanced over his shoulder. Chantelle was still watching him. She gave him a little wave, then stepped away in the opposite direction.

  Huh. Strange. Why is she so interested in us all of a sudden? And what’s with all these questions about Sly?

  Robin found himself across the street from the new auto repair shop. Rather than go straight home to his apartment, he decided to watch the place for a while. He edged into the doorway of a vacant storefront and waited. And waited. And waited some more.

  Nothing. It was like no one was there.

  Just before he gave up, he took a few mental notes. First, the address: 919 Marcus Garvey Boulevard. He got a good look at the front door. It had three locks on it. No signage at all. Nothing to indicate the name of the business, its hours, or the type of business it was. In fact, Robin noticed that the garage door had been replaced. The new one looked heavier and sturdier. It looked strong enough to hold off a battering ram.

  Those people sure don’t want anyone coming in, Robin thought. Okay. Time to go home.

  As he stepped out of the doorway, though, action started. He turned to observe from a safe distance. First, the garage door went up. Then, a couple of guys came outside. They were in their twenties or thirties, wearing identical blue mechanics’ coveralls. Ten seconds later, an older red Honda Accor
d pulled up to the driveway. A forty-something Latino guy drove it. The guys waved the car inside, stepped into the building, and then slid the door down with a clang that Robin could hear down the street.

  Robin waited for the driver to come out. But the driver never came out.

  All right. This is weird. I gotta find out what’s going on in there.

  Robin ran home, passing the Rangers’ drug dealers doing their thing. He said a quick hello to his grandmother down in the Shrimp Shack, then hurried up to his room and booted up his computer. He wanted to research the business, but he didn’t have much to go on. He checked the address against official Ironwood business records to see if he could find the name of the owner and the kind of work they did.

  Nothing.

  He checked a couple of other databases, like the crisscross directory that listed telephone numbers by addresses. More nothing. It was like the new business on the corner didn’t exist. Then he got a brainstorm. Who owned the building? If he could find out who owned the building, he could call the owner and ask what was up.

  Robin went into the city real estate records. Bingo. There was an owner listed for the building at 919 Marcus Garvey Boulevard. The only problem, Robin saw it was a Delaware corporation called Acme Corporation. And when he looked up Acme Corporation in Delaware, he saw that it was a sub-group of a different corporation.

  He banged his fists on the desk in frustration. This wasn’t getting anywhere.

  He was about to start his homework when he decided to look up one more thing. Before the disaster at the U-Store, Robin had planted a GPS tracking device in one of the Rangers’ cars. That GPS device had led them right to the bank of badness at the U-Store. He wondered if it was still working.

  It only took a second to switch over to the GPS program and a moment later for the familiar red dot to show up on the screen. That was good. The GPS was working. The only problem? The Rangers’ car was no longer in Ironwood. Robin found himself looking at a map of Dallas, Texas.