An unexpected adventure

“So what did he say?” Bess asked eagerly as we all sat in my Prius at a McDonald’s parking lot a few blocks from the campus. (I’d wanted to get away from the university before discussing; even though we’d gotten away with it, I still worried that someone might notice that it was odd we were all wearing black and covered with dust.)

George shook her head. “He said he was horrified to learn that someone had hacked into his precious baby, and he wanted to solve the issue right away. He and his partner are in town tomorrow for an appearance to celebrate the subscription plan launch at the Gaming Garage on River Street. He wants us to meet up with him tomorrow morning, a few hours before their appearance.” She looked at me and shrugged. George seemed to be more confused by this phone call than ever.

“Another ‘meeting’?” I asked skeptically. “I don’t know. How do we know it was really him that you were talking to?”

“It sounded like him,” George replied, looking thoughtful. “And he was throwing out a lot of technical jargon. If it wasn’t him, it was someone who knows a lot about computers, and the program.”

“Well, the hacker would know all that stuff, right?” Ned asked.

George sighed. “He or she would,” she agreed. “I really think it was him, though. He sounded just like he does on the news. And we can easily check whether Sung and Crilley are appearing at the Gaming Garage tomorrow,” she said, holding up her PDA.

I nodded. George quickly pressed a bunch of buttons, and soon seemed to be scrolling through a website. “Here it is,” she said cheerfully. “‘Jack Crilley and Robert Sung sign autographs and discuss the new BetterLife subscription service, one p.m., Gaming Garage, River Heights.’” She looked up at us. “It’s definitely worth a trip by. If we keep our wits about us.”

I nodded slowly. George was right, but I was feeling preoccupied by what all this meant. “So wait a minute,” I said. “If it really was Crilley, that means Professor Frank really did call him.”

Bess nodded, tapping her lips with her finger. “It’s strange, right?” she asked. “If he really called — is there any chance we got what we found tonight wrong?”

Ned frowned. “Well, just because he really called him doesn’t mean he can’t be Guitarlvr15 — or UrNewReality, for that matter,” he said. “Maybe you guys frustrated him enough that he called to get rid of you. Or maybe he thought Crilley would blow you off.”

“He definitely invested in the subscription service,” Bess went on. “And he’s definitely Guitarlvr15. We saw the proof on his computer. That’s enough to be pretty incriminating, right there.”

I nodded, still thinking this through. “If that’s the case,” I said finally, “then we should go to the police. They should know about this.”

I looked around at my friends’ faces. They all looked as hesitant as I was feeling. It wasn’t that the River Heights police force weren’t nice, or wouldn’t try to help us…. I just wondered how much of this whole cyberbullying thing they would understand.

“All right,” Ned said, clapping his hands together with a determined expression. “Off to the police.” He glanced around at the rest of us, as if assessing whether we were ready. No matter what happened, we were in for a long night.

“Off to the police,” George agreed.

“Right,” Bess added with a yawn.

“Off to the police,” I said finally, putting the car into gear with a sigh.

Three hours later, Ned and I headed home from the university, where we’d dropped Bess and George at their cars, with a couple of huge yawns. Our meeting with the River Heights police had been long and confusing, requiring lots of explanations and demonstrations with the computer, but it seemed to have worked. They’d agreed to bring Professor Frank in for questioning the next morning, at least. And they seemed to understand that this was a serious crime. I could only hope that their interview with Professor Frank would give us the explanations we needed.

“Well, this has been quite a night,” Ned said, leaning back in the passenger seat. “I feel like we have more questions than answers. Don’t you?”

“Yeah,” I agreed sleepily, the streetlights all starting to blend together in my vision. “I wish this case had clearer answers. But everything just seems to lead to another question.”

“Maybe it’s because it all leads back to the Internet,” Ned suggested. “And like everyone keeps telling us, on the Internet you can be whoever you want.”

“Even a criminal,” I agreed.

“Even a criminal,” Ned echoed. “In fact, it seems like being a criminal is very easy on BetterLife.”

A musical tone suddenly chimed, like the sound my computer made when it booted up. Ned pulled out his PDA. “I have an e-mail,” he said, looking at his phone in surprise. “Who’d be e-mailing me at this hour? Oh. ”

I turned to glance at him, and found him staring into the screen on his PDA with furrowed brows. “What is it, Ned?”

“It’s not an e-mail,” Ned replied, looking a little hesitant to share the rest. “It’s a message from BetterLife. After I got the message from UrNewReality, I turned on their special alert service where you can have messages e-mailed to you.”

I paused at a stop sign, then turned and looked at him. “Ned?” I said, my heart speeding up. “Is it a message from who I think it is?”

Ned looked at the screen, then back at me. “It’s UrNewReality.”

I glanced in the rearview mirror. There was no one behind me; the streets were as deserted as you might expect at 2 a.m. on a weeknight. I kept my foot on the brakes. “Let me see.”

Looking a little reluctant, Ned handed his PDA over. I read:

FROM: URNEWREALITY

TO: NATTYNED 145

UNR IS READY FOR UR HELP. IF U WANT UR SECRETS KEPT U WILL MEET UNR NOW @ THE * ON THE ATTACHED MAP. UNR WILL GIVE U DETAILS THEN. COME ALONE!!

“Oh, my gosh!” I breathed excitedly, feeling the sleepiness of the last few hours fade away. “What does the map say?”

“I didn’t even look, Nance,” Ned replied, taking back his phone with a distinctly unenthusiastic expression. “It’s two o’clock in the morning! We have no idea who this person is or what they want! Besides, aren’t we pretty sure we know who’s behind this whole thing?”

I sighed. “We know Professor Frank was Guitarlvr15,” I replied, “but someone else could be behind the messages from UrNewReality. Or he could have accomplices…. Ned, we have to go where the map tells us! We could finally see the face behind the threats!”

Ned shook his head. “Nance…” he began. But I could tell he was already wearing down.

“Come on,” I urged. “We’ll go together, keep each other safe. I’ll trail you, just out of sight, and we can keep in touch by text message. Ned, we can finally catch this guy! I can finally use my computer again, without worrying what e-mails UrNewReality is going to try to use against me or which of my friends he’s going to go after next!”

Ned sighed. He looked out the window. “I think this could be a bad idea,” he said. “We’re both tired. And we have no idea who we’re dealing with. It could be Professor Frank or some harmless kid… or it could be a whole gang of guys! Whoever UrNewReality is, they’re clearly willing to break the law.”

I nodded. “That’s why we’ll be careful.”

Ned frowned, still staring out the window.

“Ned,” I said gently. “Please. This has kind of taken over my life these last few days. I have to find out who’s really behind all these threats.”

Ned was silent for a few seconds. Finally, he let out a huge sigh. “Fine,” he agreed in a reluctant tone.

I leaned over and wrapped my arms around him. “Thank you,” I said sincerely.

He took my hand and squeezed it. “We’ll find this guy, Nance,” he said with a little smile. “And then we’ll finally get some sleep.”

The map attached to Ned’s message directed us to Kelley Park, a long stretch of hiking trails, tennis courts, a public pool, and a small swimming beach down by the river. The park was huge, and the hiking trails wound through acres and acres of untamed woods. It was, quite honestly, kind of a creepy place to meet someone in the middle of the night.

I parked my Prius down the street from the park’s southern border rather than drive all the way in and park in the parking lot. “You walk in first, and I’ll follow about fifty yards behind you,” I told Ned. “That way, it’ll look like you arrived alone on foot. It won’t look as suspicious as having you get out of the passenger seat of a strange car.”

Ned looked a little unsure. “Are you sure this is a good idea, Nancy?” he asked, looking me in the eye. “The message couldn’t have been clearer. They wanted me to come alone. ”

I nodded. “I’ll be careful, Ned. I promise. After all the crazy stuff I’ve been through, I know how to take care of myself.”

Ned sighed. “I know you do. I’m just wondering, in this case, if it’s worth the risk.”

I looked into Ned’s brown eyes and touched his arm. “Ned, I’ve never been closer to actually seeing the person who’s been harassing me all this time. It is definitely worth the risk. I’ll be careful. You know I can run like heck. Okay?”

Ned sighed again and nodded, not meeting my eyes. “Okay,” he agreed, and stepped out of the car.

Holding his PDA in his left hand, Ned ambled to the park’s south entrance. The message he’d received had directed him to go to a picnic area on the park’s east side. From here, he would have to walk fairly far, but I figured that was better than possibly letting UrNewReality see us arrive in my Prius.

Shortly after Ned disappeared down the dark trail leading into the park, I opened my own door and stepped out. Taking a good look all around me, I grabbed my own cell phone, softly closed the door, and began following Ned.

I sent him a quick text:

OK SO FAR?

He wrote back within seconds.

ALL CLEAR.

It took about fifteen minutes to walk from the south entrance to the park to the picnic area indicated on the map. The woods were very dark, and the new moon that night did little to illuminate the path in front of me. Still, I didn’t dare turn on my flashlight, for fear of drawing attention. I just walked slowly and carefully, feeling in front of me with my hands and making sure the ground was level before putting weight on my feet. It was slow going, but I could see I was making progress. I passed tennis courts on my left, and then a hand-carved wooden sign told me that I was three tenths of a mile from the picnic site.

Beep! I startled, then grabbed my cell phone and hit the Vibrate button. I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten to silence it! Onscreen, I had a new text from Ned:

I’M HERE.

I texted back:

I’M RIGHT BEHIND YOU.

But just as I hit the Send button, my phone vibrated with another text. I glanced at the screen.

FORWARDED BY NED NICKERSON

FROM 314-555-6723

GOOD JOB. U FOLLOW DIRECTIONS. NOW COME TO THE BOATHOUSE.

I took a deep breath. The phone number had to be UrNewReality’s cell. He or she must’ve gotten Ned’s cell number from his Internet records. And they were playing with him; whoever UrNewReality was, they were making Ned work for his assignment. Was it worth playing along?

I didn’t love the idea of a scavenger hunt through Kelley Park at two o’clock in the morning. But I was even more turned off by the idea of being this close to UrNewReality, and letting him or her get away.

I texted Ned back:

LET’S GO.

He responded seconds later:

OK.

The boathouse, of course, was on the river, near the swimming beach. It didn’t house boats so much as canoes and kayaks, which you could rent by the hour. It was another good half mile down the trail from the picnic area. Squinting to search the ground in front of me, I crossed the picnic area and ducked onto the trail marked with another hand-carved sign: BOATHOUSE, 1/2 MILE.

It was another dark, difficult walk through the woods. This time, my foot actually caught on a root at one point, and I went flying, stopping short on my knees at the very last minute. Good thing, too, because the path was littered with stones, and I realized that had I fallen any farther my head would have smacked into a pretty big one. I sat up and took a breath, my heart pounding, full of adrenaline. I felt wide awake now. And even angrier at UrNewReality than I ever had been before.

A few minutes after my fall, I had recovered myself and was almost to the boathouse. My phone vibrated in my hand.

NANCE. THEY WANT ME TO JUMP IN THE RIVER.

What? I wondered. It was a cold night. Why on earth would they want… But then my phone vibrated again.

FORWARDED BY NED NICKERSON

FROM 314-555-6723

GOOD JOB. C THE FLOAT N THE RIVER? THAT’S UR NEXT CLUE.

My phone vibrated one more time, this time with another text from Ned:

I THINK THIS IS A BAD IDEA.

My heart jumped in my chest. No! We can’t stop now. I swallowed and took a deep breath, trying to think over this rationally. I texted back:

LOOK IN THE BOATHOUSE. IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN USE TO GET IT?

As I waited for Ned to text me back, my mind was racing. Could I jump in the river for him, to retrieve it? Or could I kayak over to it? Not really; not without looking obvious. After all, if UrNewReality was texting Ned the moment he arrived at a location, clearly they were watching him — a thought that made me feel a little squirmy.

My phone vibrated.

FOUND A NET. HANG ON….

And a few seconds later:

GOT IT. SAYS TO GO TO THE WEST PARKING LOT.

The west parking lot. That was pretty far away, by the tennis courts. It was also in a pretty secluded part of the park, near more hiking and preserved forest, far from the road. As much as I wanted to find this person, my stomach did a little flip. Was this safe? What if Ned had jumped in the water to get the clue, and something had happened to him? I didn’t get the feeling that UrNewReality was exactly concerned about my boyfriend’s wellbeing. He or she was only worried about what Ned could do — presumably, to help complicate my life.

But we were so close. I texted Ned back.

LET’S GO.

It took a few seconds for Ned to answer this time.

OK. BE CAREFUL NANCY.

I will, I silently promised myself. We both will. Following the signs, I found another trail, which thankfully was paved and a little wider than the trails we’d taken so far. Ned had taken a flashlight, since he was supposed to be there — it was no big deal if UrNewReality spotted him walking through the woods. Looking ahead on the trail, which was almost straight, I could see a warm yellow light in the distance, framing Ned’s figure. I followed behind, allowing myself to get just a little closer than fifty yards. I hoped we were almost finished. I worried that this could go on indefinitely: reach the location, get another text. Reach the location, get another text. Like some kind of test of Ned’s endurance.

We walked for what seemed like hours, but was probably only another twenty minutes. I could hear animals in the woods, owls and something scurrying through the bushes — probably squirrels and chipmunks. Every so often, there would be a sound I couldn’t identify, which I told myself was just wind through the trees. My eyes had almost completely adjusted to the lack of light, but I was beginning to feel tired again. My eyes felt droopy.

Suddenly my phone vibrated.

OK. I’M HERE. NOTHING.

My heart sank. Nothing? Could UrNewReality be completely playing with Ned, leading him to a dead end?

I quickened my pace as the phone vibrated again.

WAIT. BLACK SUV IN DISTANCE.

I swallowed. That had to be UrNewReality — right? I texted back:

EMPTY?

Ned replied right away:

CAN’T TELL. DARK WINDOWS.

Just then, I heard a car starting up. I wasn’t very far now, and it was clearly coming from the parking lot.

My phone vibrated.

HEADLIGHTS ON. COMING TOWARD ME!

My heart raced. Was Ned in danger? I clutched my phone in my hand and started running. But I only got a few feet before my phone vibrated again, and I had to stop to see what Ned was telling me.

THEY WANT ME TO GET IN THE CAR.

They want me to get in the car. They want me to get in the car. I stared at the screen for a few seconds as the words echoed in my mind. Should he get in the car? If he did, he would find out for sure who UrNewReality is. And Ned was smart; he knew not to go anywhere with these people. Assuming that UrNewReality was more than one person. He had said they, I realized.

Could Ned defend himself against more than one person?

I heard footsteps up ahead and my heart jumped into my chest. Suddenly it just seemed all wrong, and I realized how incredibly dangerous this was. They want me to get in the car. That could mean anything; this whole hunt through the woods was already much more involved than what they’d asked of Shannon or Ibrahim. Did they know that Ned was my boyfriend? Were they saving the worst punishment for him?

I gulped, torn between running or texting. I was far enough away that even running, it would be a minute or two before I reached Ned. I clutched my phone and frantically texted back, not caring that I hit all the wrong buttons or keys….

DOMT GO!! DON’T GP!!!!!

I hit Send and started running. “Ned! Ned!” I called, not caring who heard me. I heard car doors slam and an engine rev up. Then I heard a car peel out.

When I finally reached the lot, the first thing I noticed was that Ned was gone. In fact, everything was gone. The lot seemed dark and deserted.

That’s when I heard the engine rev up again. From the far left side of the lot, headlights illuminated and trained on me. I stood frozen as the huge SUV hurtled in my direction.

Move! Move! Move! My mind screamed, and finally, with just seconds to spare, I forced my frozen legs to jump out of the way.

The SUV screeched by me, the back passenger window still half open — and through it, Ned’s face, looking stunned and frightened. “Nance!” he cried as a hand came from behind him and pushed the automatic window button, forcing the darkened glass up.

Someone punched the gas, and the SUV sped out of the parking lot. For the next few seconds, all I could hear was the grinding engine as it grew more and more distant.

Then my phone vibrated again. It was a text from Ned’s phone.

I TOLD HIM TO COME ALONE, NANCY DREW.

I felt my blood turn to ice.

After that, no matter how many times I texted or called, nobody answered.

Дата добавления: 2017-01-14