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  OTHER YEARLING BOOKS YOU WILL ENJOY

  SHREDDERMAN: SECRET IDENTITY, Wendelin Van Draanen

  SHREDDERMAN: ATTACK OF THE TAGGER, Wendelin Van Draanen

  SHREDDERMAN: MEET THE GECKO, Wendelin Van Draanen

  SAMMY KEYES AND THE HOTEL THIEF, Wendelin Van Draanen

  I WAS A RAT!, Philip Pullman

  THE CRICKET IN TIMES SQUARE, George Selden

  NIM'S ISLAND, Wendy Orr

  BLACK-EYED SUSAN, Jennifer Armstrong

  BABE: THE GALLANT PIG, Dick King-Smith

  THE FLUNKING OF JOSHUA T. BATES, Susan Shreve

  Wendelin Van Dianen

  For my shreddin nieces, Hilary, Lauren, Molly, and Shelby.

  And special thanks to TV news anchor Wendy Thies for her help

  with research. (So glad you're not like Chatty!)

  Bridn Biggs

  For Laurie, David, and Erin

  CONTENTS

  1 The Trouble Begins

  2 Ambushed

  3 Into the Fire

  4 Escape

  5 Where the River Meets the Road

  6 X Marks the Spot!

  7 Things Turn Shabby

  8 Lost and Found

  9 Busted

  10 Diabolical Deeds

  11 Uh-Triple-Oh!

  12 No Time for TV

  13 Cops at the Cabin

  14 The FBI

  15 Holy Cryptanalysis, Batman!

  16 Chatting with Chatty

  17 Sweating Bullets

  18 A New Sidekick

  19 Charge!

  20 Shred-der-man!

  21 Shredderman Lives!

  Chapter 1

  The Trouble Begins

  I knew I was in trouble when they showed my Web site on the evening news. It wasn't just the local news, either. It was national news.

  All of a sudden, Shredderman—uh, that would be me as a mighty-muscled superhero—flew across the TV screen in a mask and a purple cape.

  Then the shredderman.com banner fluttered onto the screen and my sidekick, the Bouncer— who is really, shhhhh, Mr. Green, my teacher — flexed his muscles and rocked out to the Shredderman theme song.

  Brrong… b-brong… br-hr-br-br-br-br-br-hrong.

  Mr. Green can really shred on guitar!

  The newscaster cut into the song, saying, “You may have heard of him…. He goes by the name of Shredderman, and seems to be taking the nation by storm. With Shredderman we have a new breed of superhero. He is, if you will, a cyber- superhero—a cutting-edge combination of computer wizardry and vigilantism. With more on this self-proclaimed Champion of Truth and Justice, we turn to correspondent Chatty Adams.”

  “That's her!”I cried. “That's the pushy lady who was at school today!”

  Mom looked at Dad.

  Dad looked at Mom.

  “Her name's Chatty ?”

  I shrugged and kept watching the TV. What did I care if she had a stupid name? What did she know about Shredderman—that's what I was worried about.

  “Thanks, Brian,”Chatty said into the camera. “I'm at an elementary school in the quaint town of Cedar Valley, California, where it all began. It seems that Shredderman's quest for truth and jus-tice started when he rescued students here from the classic bad guy—a bully. Apparently he did this by posting the bully's deeds on the World Wide Web, challenging the school's administrators to finally do something about him. Earlier today I asked some students what they thought of Shredderman, and who they suspect this super-hero might really be. Here's what they had to say.”

  They switched to a taped segment, and all of a sudden two of my classmates—Ian McCoy and Randy Ricardo—were on TV. “Yeah,”Ian said. “Some kids don't like Shredderman, but those are mostly the ones who got in trouble because of him. The rest of us think Shredderman's totally cool.”

  “Do you have any idea who he is?”Chatty asked.

  “We used to think he was our teacher, Mr. Green—”

  “—but it's not,”Randy said. “Mr. Green's a hippie.”

  “Then we thought it was our computer lab teacher, Miss Surkit—”

  “—but it's not,”Randy said. “Miss Surkit's way too short to be a superhero!”

  Marvin Speltz's head popped up in between Randy and Ian. “You thought it was Miss Surkit? Can you see Miss Surkit posting Bubba's Big Butt on the World Wide Web? She'd get fired! I think it's Mr. Hoover.”

  “The janitor ?”Randy and Ian said together.

  “Dude. He is way into computers,”Marvin said.

  Chatty Adams was now back live, saying, “As you can see, Brian, there's wide speculation about who is operating behind the Shredderman mask.”

  “What do the adults think?”the newscaster asked.

  “I spoke to a few teachers, but they seem to know about as much as the kids. And the principal”— Chatty looked at her notes—“Dr. Ivana Voss”— she looked back at the camera—“refused to be interviewed.”Chatty smiled with only one side of her mouth and said, “I've since found out that Dr. Voss's own son went head to head with Shred-derman. I don't have to tell you who won.”

  The newscaster laughed. “No wonder she didn't want to talk to you!”

  “Exactly, Brian. And although there are a few people who disagree with Shredderman's tactics, by and large this community seems to think he is one cool dude.”

  “It sounds like the students have considered that Shredderman might be a woman.… What about the possibility that Shredderman is really a boy ?”

  “I asked kids that exact question, and here's what they had to say.”

  My heart started pounding.

  My knees felt like jelly.

  They ran more of the school tape and Ronnie Stalwess appeared on TV, saying, “No way! Have you seen the site? It's awesome. What kid knows how to do that?”Then Trinity Althoffer said, “A kid? Like a sixth grader or something?”She sniggered. “I don't think so.”

  They cut from Trinity to a boy I didn't recognize right away.

  His hair was sticking out in a couple different directions.

  One side of his collar was stuck inside his shirt.

  The other was flipped up.

  He had a streak of peanut butter across one cheek and was stooped a little forward from the weight of his backpack.

  Mom grabbed Dad's arm.

  Dad held his breath.

  My brain felt like it had been dunked in cement.

  Did I really look like that?

  Chatty Adams held the microphone under her chin and said, “People tell me you're the smartest kid at school. Would you know how to put up a site like shredderman.com ?”Then she stuck the mic right in my face.

  “Me?”I said, pointing to myself. “Uh… no.”

  My eyes were shifting around like crazy.

  My cheeks were red and twitching.

  I'm a terrible liar!

  Then I started talking into the microphone really fast, saying, “How could a kid do a site like that? It's got links all over the place. Awesome graphics! It's gotta be done by a professional. Or,”I added, “a policeman.”

  Mom looked at me.

  Dad did, too.

  And I could tell they were both thinking exactly what Chatty Adams said: “A policeman ?”

  On TV
, my eyes were big and bulging, staring right into the camera.

  I looked idiotic!

  Harebrained!

  Really, really stupid!

  “Uh-huh,”I said, then I spun around and power-walked away from Chatty Adams as fast as I could.

  Chapter 2

  Ambushed

  After Dad clicked off the TV, I frowned and asked him, “Why do they even care who Shredderman is? Why can't they just leave it alone?”

  “Because people are curious. And they're celebrity hounds.”

  Shredderman a celebrity ? Kids said I was the number one nerd at Cedar Valley Elementary. How could I be a celebrity?

  Mom said to Dad, “I know Nolan registered the site with all the privacy precautions, but don't reporters have ways of getting around that?”

  Dad laughed. “Don't worry. This reporter tried to get information on who owns shredderman.com, but got nowhere.”

  “Really?”Mom asked.

  “Uh-huh. I figured that since Mr. Zilch assigned me to find out who Shredderman is for the Gazette, I should at least try it. But what I found out was that unless something illegal is going on or our national security is at risk, they won't tell me who owns the site.”

  “Did you try bribing them?”Mom asked.

  “Try… bribing them?”

  “Like a reporter who really wanted to find out might do?”

  “Oh,”Dad said, sounding like Mom had squooshed the air out of him.

  The phone rang. Dad hurried to get it while Mom called out, “Probably someone who knows how to bribe, wanting to talk to Nolan!”

  Dad's head popped back into the room. “Then they'd be calling to talk to you—he used your credit card, remember?”

  “Oh,”Mom said as Dad disappeared around the corner. “That's right.”

  Two minutes later, Dad was back, saying, “Nolan, that was your sidekick. He's calling a powwow.”

  “Mr. Green is?”Since when did sidekicks call powwows? That's the superhero's job! “Is he coming over?”I asked.

  “No, we're going to his house. He seems to think it would be less conspicuous.”Dad shrugged. “He does drive that wild van, and we do live right across the street from the schoolI told him we'd be right over.”

  A superhero being summoned to his sidekick's lair? Unthinkable! Did sidekicks even have lairs? Or caves? Or headquarters? No! They always hung around the superhero's place!

  I followed them into the garage. Into the car. “Do you know where he lives?”I asked after I was buckled in.

  “He gave me the address,”Dad said. “Shouldn't take long.”

  We drove out of our neighborhood, over the Cedar Creek Bridge, and past the Old Town Square. Then we took a turn off the main road. And another turn onto a gravel road. And another onto a dirt road!

  It was dark.

  Mom was holding on to the dash!

  I was bouncing around like crazy!

  Maybe my sidekick really did live in a cave.

  Finally Mom couldn't stand it any longer. “Are we lost, Steven?”

  “No, Eve…,”Dad said as the car pitched into another pothole. “He did warn me that it would be a bit rough.”

  “But there's nothing out here! This doesn't even seem like a road anymore! I think we should—”

  “There it is!”Dad said, pointing straight ahead.

  “Wow,”I said as we got closer. “It's a log cabin!”

  “That's painted green,” my mom said, like she'd smelled something stinky.

  “Cool!”I said, and it was. The whole place was made out of logs. The walls, the roof, the doors… logs, logs, everywhere!

  Mr. Green guided us into the living room, saying, “Not conventional, I know, but I dig it.”

  Mom and Dad were nodding, but they weren't checking things out like I was.

  There was a big stone fireplace!

  Giant leather furniture!

  Old Indian rugs!

  And guitars! Guitars everywhere!

  “Your house shreds, Mr. Green!”

  He laughed and said, “Thanks,”then asked, “How about some cocoa? I've got it all ready. Just needs to be poured.”

  “Great!”I said. “Got any marshmallows?”

  “I'll put you in charge of marshmallows,”he said, then winked at my mom and dad as he led me into the kitchen.

  So I put one marshmallow in everyone's mug. Everyone's except mine.

  I got three!

  Yum-my!

  When Mr. Green poured the hot chocolate into the mugs, he said, “So, Nolan. How do you like being in the middle of a media frenzy?”

  “Huh? You mean how Chatty Adams is trying to find out who Shredderman is?”

  He frowned. “It's not just Chatty Adams, you know.”

  “Um—well, I wish they'd just leave me alone. But Dad says they can't figure out it's me unless I do something illegal—which, believe me, I won't!”

  He nodded and handed me a mug to carry, but he didn't say anything until we were back in the room with Mom and Dad. Then, after everyone had their hot chocolate, he said, “I did not like that Chatty Adams.”

  “Me neither!”I said. “She was… she was…”

  “Meddling? Intrusive?”my dad asked. “Invasive?”

  “Yeah!”I said. “It was just like an invasion!”

  “Why in the world did the principal allow them on the school grounds?”my mom asked.

  Mr. Green said, “Because Ivana Voss would love to find out who Shredderman is.”

  “Because of how Shredderman trapped her son?”Mom asked.

  Mr. Green nodded. “She's still ticked off about that.”

  I wanted to say something about Dr. Voss's son getting what he deserved, but I didn't. I had the world's softest, tastiest hot-chocolate marshmal-low dissolving in my mouth.

  Mm-mmmm, good!

  But then Mr. Green said, “So what are your plans for the Web site, Nolan?”

  “Hmmmm?”I asked through my marshmallow. “Oh. Well, number one: To not do anything illegal.”

  Mr. Green nodded, but he didn't smile.

  And that's when I realized that something was wrong.

  My mom noticed, too. She said to him, “Elmo?”

  That's right. My sidekick's name is Elmo.

  Anyway, Mr. Green took a deep breath and said, “Back when Nolan was flying solo on his Web site, I thought he could really use someone to confide in. But now that the two of you are on board…”

  I waited, but he didn't really have to finish his sentence. It's funny how missing words can be so much louder than real words. Finally I choked out, “You're saying you don't want to be the Bouncer anymore?”

  “It's not that I don't want to be, it's just that it's not necessary anymore.”

  “But, Mr. Green!”Suddenly I didn't want cocoa. Or marshmallows. What was he doing ? Sidekicks don't quit!

  Sidekicks can't quit!

  “I understand, Elmo,”my dad was saying. “You're in a touchy position at the school. Especially since Dr. Voss is no fan of Shredderman.”

  Mr. Green nodded. “I wouldn't do this if Nolan didn't have the two of you. But he does, and really, it's just a matter of time.”

  “Before what?”I demanded.

  The three of them looked at me. Finally Mr. Green said, “Before they unmask you, Nolan.”

  “No way!”I cried. “They're not going to do it! I won't let them!”

  One by one, the three of them looked down.

  “Mom?”I asked. “Dad … ?”

  Finally my dad said, “I do think it might be a good idea to cool it for a while, champ.”

  “But—”

  “Plus,”my mom said, “have you thought about the trouble your dad will be in if people do find out?”

  “What do you mean?”I couldn't believe this. They were all ganging up on me!

  This was a total ambush!

  “What I mean is, your father's been telling Mr. Zilch that he's getting to the bottom of who Shredderman is. What
do you think Mr. Zilch will do when he finds out that your father's known all along who Shredderman is?”

  “You don't think … you don't think they'd fire him, do you?”I turned to my dad. “He can't fire you, can he?”

  Dad shrugged. “He won't take kindly to it, I can tell you that.”

  Everyone was quiet for a minute, until my mom said, “Why don't you lie low for a while, Nolan? Just until things cool off.”

  Until they cooled off? When would that be?

  My lips felt all sticky.

  My throat felt choked.

  And in my stomach, the world's fluffiest marsh-mallow felt like a rock.

  I knew what they were really saying.

  It was time for Shredderman to stop.

  Chapter 3

  Into the Fire

  I went to bed mad.

  What kind of superhero has his sidekick quit on him?

  What kind of superhero has parents who tell him what to do?

  Sheez.

  But there was no arguing with my parents.

  So what if I'm a superhero?

  They're adults.

  When I woke up at 5:37 a.m., I was still mad. So I got out of bed.

  I booted up my computer.

  I went to shredderman.com. It had been a long time since I'd played around on my own site. It was a great site! A fun site. Lots of cool links. Lots of cool graphics. Lots of funny jokes.

  I'd worked so hard on it!

  No way was I going to tear this down!

  No way was I going to stop fighting for truth and justice!

  I was going to make my site bigger and better than ever!

  “Honey?”Mom tapped on my door and opened it. “I saw the light on.”

  “I'm busy,”I grumbled.

  “Oh, dear,”she said, and came in anyway. And when she saw that I was working on my site, she frowned. “I thought we decided you'd lie low for a while.”

  “You decided,”I said.

  “But, honey…”

  Sheez. I'd never get anything done with her looking over my shoulder. So instead of arguing, I shut down my computer and headed for the bathroom.

  “Honey… ?”she said again, following along.

  “Do you mind, Mom?”I asked, closing the bathroom door in her face. “I need some privacy.”

  I could hear Mom and Dad talking about me in the hallway.