MY BEST FRIEND IS A SECRET AGENT, Book 2: How C.H.I.P. Took a Dive to Dash...

Chapter 11: "No Rest for the Weary"

The TV and newspapers all hailed the hero guy for saving Vortville once again.

Anastasia O'Neil even did a whole half-hour news special on him on VNN! They showed video of C.H.I.P. as the rodeo rider, the champion water-skier and the boy scout tying up Pinkie. And Anastasia called him a "Swiss Army knife of a man," which I thought was kind of cool.

My dad, of course, was furious that C.H.I.P. had stolen his thunder once again by saving Vortville before he could. But Dad was also annoyed that C.H.I.P.'s actions had saved him and his men too, even though Dad was the one with all the firepower.

So that made it sort of a double victory for C.H.I.P.

But I didn't just sit around celebrating. Sure, I could've strutted all over school with a big smile on my face, knowing that everybody there was safe because of me and C.H.I.P. I could've walked up to Carla Mawhinney (hopefully on a cloudy day) and, feeling totally confident and cool, asked her to join me for a ride on my dad's boat. And Carla would've been so impressed with my confidence and coolness that she would've said yes right away.

Yeah, I could've done all that. But I didn't (even though I really wanted to!), because, for now, I needed to take care of one superimportant thing:

Building the C.H.I.P.-mobile!

It was becoming a little ridiculous that C.H.I.P. and I only had our bikes to get around on, and riding on C.H.I.P. the long-distance runner's back wasn't exactly the best look either. No, the next time a wacky bad guy attacked, we'd have some supercool wheels to ride on. For the C.H.I.P.-mobile, I was going to pull out all the stops. It was going to be my greatest invention ever!

It was also going to be my biggest invention ever, and I couldn't exactly build it in our basement. Luckily, Mom agreed to let me take over the garage for a while. I told her it was for a really big science fair project, and she and Dad shouldn't come see it till I was done.

Of course, Mom said yes. It was educational, after all.

So I got to work. Chip and Stella helped me—Chip with the heavy lifting, Stella with making sure I always had the right tools.

I was superexcited because I knew that, when the C.H.I.P.-mobile was finally finished, it would make C.H.I.P. unbeatable!

But, little did I know, at that very moment, sinister forces were conspiring to reveal C.H.I.P.'s real identity to the world and blow our whole operation. I didn't find out until later, but Anastasia O'Neil had convinced herself that unmasking the hero guy would be her ticket to a Pulitzer Prize. So she started snooping around, trying to find out what she could.

And she was just about to get a little help from an unexpected source . . .