The Super Jerk Trilogy (Now 3-in-1)

11. Maybe You're the Problem

{Sarah}

It takes almost a week after Thanksgiving for either Zach or I to tell Trevor what we found. I can tell he feels a little left out – to be perfectly honest, I would too, after the way I've been treating him – so I decide that the next time the three of us get together, we'll bring him up to speed.

   "So what's this big important thing you two have to show me?" he asks when we've all gathered in their dorm room, after I'd told Zach about how this whole thing was really making me feel.

   "Well, it has to do with this," Zach says, picking up the envelope with the computer chip from Wasp in it. "And this." He pulls up the picture on his phone.

   Trevor shoves himself up from his bed with a creak of springs and comes to look. His brow furrows and he squints at Zach's phone screen.

   "So somebody encrypted whatever information is on that chip," he says, rubbing his chin.

   "Not just somebody," Zach says with a shudder. "I think it was my dad that did it."

   "Makes sense." Trevor nods. "So what now?"

   "We de-encrypt it, of course," I say, hoping this isn't going to be a huge mistake. "See exactly what Mr. Mayor is hiding."

   Zach takes a deep breath. "Here goes nothing, I guess."

   He plugs the chip into the port on his computer, and the screen goes black right away. Once again, the words ACCESS DENIED flash up in the center, followed by another screen with smaller type at the very top. Administrative password required.

   "Hey, could one of you read me that code? I think I'd mess it up otherwise."

   Trevor and I take turns reading it, line by line. Zach types carefully, poking the keyboard with one finger at a time, and I can see it's taking all his effort not to hit the wrong one. When we reach the end, he hits Enter and the screen goes black again, the computer whirring like it's going to take off or explode.

   "Whoa," Zach says about ten minutes later, when Trevor and I got impatient and wandered away. "Come back, you guys, check this out."

   We join him, and for a second, I don't know what I'm looking at. There's columns and columns of files, each meticulously named with two letters and a number. There must be hundreds of them here.

   "Merlin's beard, what is all this?" Trevor asks, sounding like all his pestering came to nothing.

   "Click on one and see." I point to a random one, labeled SB-540. "Try that one."

   Zach does, and what comes up looks like some sort of questionnaire, like an intake form at the hospital. It goes on for pages, covered in boxes and check marks and writing. Down at the very bottom is a question that makes my stomach twist.

   Has this super been tested? The box next to it is checked No.

   "Silver Bullet," Zach reads as he scrolls back up to the top. "Also known as Jocelyn Gray, age 18, a freshman at Columbia University in New York, New York. Current status, in a relationship."

   "What is this, Facebook?" Trevor grumbles as Zach closes the file. Suddenly he tenses. "Wait. Click that one."

   Zach does, and sure enough, Cameron's profile comes up. Alter ego, age, currently attending, even relationship status and family. His parents and his sister are in there too, with names, addresses, even birth dates.

   "Look, they've even got who he dated," Trevor points out grudgingly. "Pink Wildfire, see file PW-600."

   "So why are they keeping tabs on all of you?" I ask as Zach closes that file too and gets up, running his hands over his face. "What could your dad possibly be planning?"