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to Judge Koretsky. Mom couldn’t take the chance that her loser son might dawdle on the way home while under house arrest. Also, it might have been just his imagination, but he had been noticing a lot more patrol cars cruising down their quiet little street.
    He caught a smirk from behind the beard of the six-foot-four high schooler. A few of the more prominent lowlifes pounded at the bus windows. Now Griffin would be branded as the mama’s boy of JFK.
Perfect
, Griffin thought,
spread it around. Why should Shank have all the fun?
    The effort of maintaining a smile was practically breaking Mom’s face. “How was school, dear?” she asked.
    “You’re kidding, right?”
    She sighed. “Humor me, Griffin. I know it’s a rough time, but we still have to try to live our lives.”
    As he trudged upstairs and faced the prospect of being shut in until bus time tomorrow, it didn’t feel like he was living his own life or anybody else’s.
    Griffin Bing had no life.
    The boredom set in almost immediately. He never thought he’d miss homework, but he could have used a little now, just to pass the time. There wasn’t any homework at JFK — probably because no one would do it.
    He was almost asleep from the sheer inactivity when there was a scratching and scrabbling at hiswindow. He pulled the curtain aside and jumped back in shock.
    A hairy, scrunched-up monkey face grinned in at him — Cleopatra, Savannah’s pet capuchin.
    He pulled up the sash. “Cleo, go home! Savannah’s probably calling the FBI right now! Go on, beat it!”
    The monkey stayed, hanging on to the shutter by her tail. That was when Griffin noticed the note card stuffed under her collar. He reached out and drew her into the room. A second later, the message was in his trembling fingers.
    COME TO THE BASEMENT
    With Cleopatra tucked under his arm like a football, he took the steps three at a time, careful to shield his passenger as he passed by the front hall, where Mom might spot him. He raced down the next flight and jumped to the cement floor. There, pressed against a high casement, was another face, this one human. Ben.
    Griffin stood on a chair and opened the window. They all poured in — Ben first, followed by Savannah, Pitch, Logan, and Melissa.
    “Man, am I ever glad to see you guys!” Griffin exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
    “We came to show you something,” Pitch replied.
    “Show me what?”
    “This.” Ben held out a sheet of paper, neatly folded in half.
    Griffin was completely bewildered. “What is it?”
    Savannah was impatient. “What do you think it is? How many times have you told us the only way to get anything accomplished is to have a plan?”
    Slowly, Griffin unfolded the page and caught a glimpse of the heading at the top:
    OPERATION STAKEOUT
    He stared at the words. “You guys made a
plan
? For
me
?”
    “So help me, Griffin,” Pitch warned, “if you’re going to cry, I’m out of here!”
    “No — it’s just — I didn’t think — I can’t believe —”
    The emotion was almost overwhelming. Here he was, The Man With The Plan, backed into a corner where no plan was possible. And along came his five best friends in the world with this preciouspage. Even if their plan turned out to be idiotic and useless, it was still the greatest gift he would ever receive.
    OBJECTIVE: To PROVE Dr. Evil stole the Super Bowl ring .
    METHOD: Intense SURVEILLANCE of Egan home .
    BASE OF OPERATIONS: Drysdales’ ATTIC. Window has unobstructed view of TARGET RESIDENCE.
    THE TEAM:
    PITCH BENSON, climber
Mission: Placing cameras and listening devices in trees and on roof .
    MELISSA DUKAKIS, technology
    Mission: Computer monitoring of electronic surveillance.
    BEN SLOVAK, spy
    Mission: Eavesdropping from small hiding places .
    LOGAN KELLERMAN, actor
    Mission: Using theatrical skill to befriend Dr. Evil’s daughter.
    SAVANNAH DRYSDALE, command center manager Mission: Running base of operations and keeping parents out.
    LUTHOR,