SIMON'S POV

"Are you enjoying your movie? Or would it be better with some popcorn?" I snarked as I found Eleanor watching the tape, seemingly without a care in the world. Did she remember that we could be caught any minute now!? What if the security guard had just taken a break and they'd return to find two Chipmunks hanging around in their office!?

"It's great." Eleanor answered, ignoring my comment. "As I suspected, Jason was caught on camera! We have evidence! Isn't this exciting!?"

"For you, maybe." I told her dryly. Something didn't make sense. I looked at the teen boy on the film. This was clear evidence, just as Eleanor claimed, yet…there was a question nagging at me. "Wait a second. If he's been caught on tape, why didn't the security guard alert anyone when they saw it?"

"They've gotta be in on the heist." Eleanor said in a low whisper.

I frowned and rubbed my forehead, only to feel the rubbery texture of that aggravating evidence sticker! "This isn't a heist. At most, it's a case of shoplifting. That's all."

Eleanor popped the tape out of the VCR and laughed at me. "It is soooo much more than shoplifting. I don't know exactly WHAT it is, but I know it's something big. Now, come on. We don't have much time to get out of here."

I stopped picking at the sticker on my forehead and my lip quivered. "So….the security guard could be back any minute?"

"What?" Eleanor tilted her head momentarily. "No. No. I have one more stop to make and we can't be late! The fate of the world could be in our hands, Simon!"

I walked with her toward the small window that would serve as our exit. We couldn't go back the way we came in, or the cameras would catch us when we opened the door. We couldn't see the cameras, so we had no way of knowing if they were turned toward us or not. That's the issue with avoiding moving cameras.

"Let's GO." The Chipette told me once more. "Did I stutter?"

"Right, yes. Coming." I climbed up on a shelf of tapes and reached for the window. It was then, I realized Eleanor hadn't put the tape back. "You're taking that with you?"

"Well, duh. It's evidence, isn't it?" She climbed onto a shelf above my head.

I felt my grip slipping and willed myself to hang on. "That's STEALING. What makes you any different from the baseball card thief?"

"I have better intentions. Now, get up here before I leave you behind!" She growled.

The last thing I wanted was to spend the night alone in a security office, so I did the only thing I could do. I took a flying leap toward the window and Eleanor caught me. She unlocked the window and slid it open, making sure to keep her gloves on so she didn't leave fingerprints.

Together, we both jumped out the window and landed on the ground below. Eleanor landed on her feet. I, however, was not so lucky. I tumbled head over heels and then landed with my face hitting the grass. At least it was grass and not hard pavement.

"What are you laying around for?" Eleanor helped me up. "We are wasting precious time."

I was too tired to argue, so I let her drag me back to the car.

The engine roared up and we were off again. I decided to press my luck and fish for some more scraps of information about this supposed "heist." Eleanor couldn't keep me in the dark forever.

"Okay, ground rules." I told her, picking grass out of my hair. "You tell me everything you know so far or else."

She looked unphased by my comment. "Or else what?" She continued to press the gas with her robotic leg invention. We were going way over the speed limit. Add that to the list of laws she's broken.

"Or else I will tell Dave EVERYTHING I know right now." I threatened.

She didn't even bat an eye. "Cool. Have fun getting him to believe a word you say."

"That scratch on his car might convince him I'm being honest." I countered.

Her face paled. I had gotten through to her. She knew that I wasn't backing down…and that I was right. "Fine. Fine. Here's the full story." She took a deep breath. "You know how I sometimes read people's texts whenever I see their phone just…lying on the floor?"

Of course she does. Privacy means nothing to that girl. "I wasn't aware you did that." Oh gosh. Has she read my texts?

Her cheeks turned a very slight shade of pink. "Uhhhh….well….I read these concerning texts from Jason's phone. Of course, I didn't know his name. You're the one who helped me figure that out. Anyway, uh, the texts told him he needed to get a pack of baseball cards with the rare gold one in it. His mission, should he choose to accept it, which he did, was to give the card to the person who sent the texts. They said they would come at midnight to collect the card. When Jason asked why, they said "the less you know, the safer you'll be."

This did NOT sound good. "Oh no." I whimpered.

She didn't seem scared at all, only thrilled at the prospect of being wrapped up in a dangerous plot. "So, yeah. That's why I think there's something deeper going on and that's why we have to get to Jason's house before he gives that card away.

"And how are we supposed to get the card away from Jason? Won't whoever is looking for the card come after US!?" I clasped my hands together tightly in my lap.

"Yeah, probably. Then we'll go to the authorities." Eleanor eased up on the gas.

I slumped down in my seat. I felt like I was going to die. She hadn't thought this through. She was putting us in danger and there wasn't much I could do to stop her. My only hope was to talk her out of it. "Eleanor, you are too little and far too inexperienced to stop a heist."

She sped up again. "I am NOT! Okay? I can do so much more than anyone gives me credit for!"

"You THINK you can." I countered.

"I know I can!" She forcefully gripped the steering wheel. I could tell I had set her off.

But, instead of shutting my mouth, I continued to try and make her drop me off at home. "Do you even know where Jason lives?"

"No, but now that I know his name, I can easily find his home address." She bragged. "Which, I will do when we get back into town."

I screwed up by helping her with that fingerprint analysis. The only thing to do now was hope that Eleanor was wrong about this being a heist. I thought perhaps she was jumping to conclusions. That's possible, right?

I checked my phone again. Still no service. I was tempted to tuck and roll out of the car to get away from her, but admittedly I'm too much of a chicken for that.

"How did you know to check the dumpster for the cards?" I asked, trying to gain an understanding of this convoluted situation.

"I didn't." She answered, driving past the gas station where we had made our pit stop. "He was instructed to dump the cards that he didn't need where no one would ever find them. I figured the dumpster near the toy store was the best place."

"And how did you know which toy store he went to?" I poked further.

She looked like she was getting tired of answering my questions, no matter how important they were. "Toy Paradise is the only toy store near town that sells that brand of baseball cards. Obviously."

I was amazed that she was able to come up with such…a logical answer.

"Got any more questions?" She asked, fiddling around with her phone while we were stopped at a red light.

"N….No." I rubbed my fingers along the seatbelt.

"Boo ya! Found the address!" Eleanor tucked her phone away and zoomed through the intersection. "Hang on tight!"

"DID YOU JUST RUN A RED LIGHT!?" I screamed.

"It's fine. There's nobody else on the road." She replied.

My voice rose to a squeak, like it had been doing all night. "You're even more reckless than ALVIN!"

"I am?" She seemed surprised. "Man, he really IS a wimp."

"Eleanor, please…..never never do that again. Okay? Never. Not with me in the car." I must have looked even more panicked than earlier because she immediately softened and slowed the car down.

"I'm sorry. I'm just worried we won't make it in time." She reached over and wiped some of the dirt off my face. "I won't run any more lights….and I won't go over the speed limit. Okay?"

I nodded and hugged my knees to my chest. "Just….tell me when we get there." I whispered, the panic having knocked some of the air from my lungs. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on regulating my breath. In, out, in, out, in, out. Ahhhh. Nope. Still tense. I couldn't wait for this to be over so I could crawl into my nice warm bed….if I survived.

ELEANOR's POV

While Simon sat there with his eyes closed, I finished driving to Jason's house. Well, ALMOST to Jason's house.

"Are we there yet?" Simon cracked an eye open.

I nodded silently and climbed out of the car.

"Are you sure? Because this doesn't look like Jason's house. This looks like a park." He stretched his hands above his head.

As soon as he put his hands down, I grabbed one again. "We can't show up to Jason's house in a bright blue car." I informed him. "It's too conspicuous."

"How far away from the house are we?" He groaned.

I tried to pull him closer to me so we wouldn't get separated. It didn't work. "About two blocks."

He slumped against Dave's car, looking like he had been beat up. "I can't walk two blocks." He moaned. "I can barely even walk two feet."

"Simon, you're almost home. Push through. Come on. This is the most important part of the mission." I begged.

"No….go without me." He commanded, a bit too sharply.

I gave him a haughty smirk. "Simon, I know what you're doing. You're trying to make me leave you here so you can take the car home."

"Okay, maybe I am. I really am tired though!" He forced himself to his feet with a wobble.

"Don't worry, big guy. We're almost done. I promise." I assured him as we began to walk.

He looked at his shoes. "Telling me not to worry only makes me worry more." He revealed.

"I could train you not to worry." I offered. The poor kid always looks like he's having a rough time. He'd be much happier if he could let loose more often.

"No thanks." He mumbled.

I was shocked. Who would turn down an offer like that? "You sure?"

He nodded as he trudged along. "Worrying keeps me cautious. Without it, I fear I would become reckless and impulsive."

"In other words….you don't wanna turn into Alvin?" I teased.

He tensed up again, twitching his nose. I had struck another nerve. "That's one way to put it." He grumbled.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "You and your brothers define yourself by a few of your personality traits too much. Wouldn't it be nice to just….be? Be whatever and whoever you want? I know you secretly love adventure, Simon."

"You have it wrong, Eleanor." He stiffened. "I've never been the type of person to enjoy dangerous expeditions into the unknown."

I rolled my eyes. Either he was outright lying to me, or he was clueless and oblivious to his own actions. "And yet, you're still here. You've had several opportunities to just...take off running and find your own way home. We're back in a place where your phone has service again by the way." I was testing him. This could backfire in my face, but I was taking the chance.

He took his phone from his pocket and looked at it. He stared at it for so long he almost walked into a lamppost, but I managed to shove him out of the way before he could. "I'm conflicted, Eleanor." He told me. "I DO love adventure. You're right. I thought I was better at hiding that part of myself. I'm also scared, and tired, and I don't know what to do. Now, I'm curious about this mystery and I want to see if your hunch is correct...and I fear I'm acting irrational and on top of everything else….my feet hurt."

"I knew it!" I said in a forceful whisper.

"Please….don't tell anyone." He whispered back. "If they find out I have a darkside, I'll never live it down. Alvin will replace me as the smart one...I'll slip into bad habits and wind up in juvie or something." Okay, he was clearly spiraling into madness because he needed to sleep.

"You call that a darkside?" I cackled softly. "Dude, that's not a darkside. What I have is a darkside. What you have is average. Who doesn't love adventure and a good mystery? Not many people."

"Uh huh." He seemed to have zoned out again.

The rest of the walk was quiet. We finally arrived at Jason's house around 12:03am. To our dismay, a sleek black van was already parked in the driveway. I knew it! We were too late!

Simon and I climbed into a tree and inched carefully across the branches, trying to get in a good spot to view what was going on without being seen. "Maybe that van is always parked there." Simon told me, trying to make light of the situation.

"Hush." I ordered. He obeyed.

From my perch, I watched a woman and a man, both dressed entirely in black walk up to the front door of Jason's house. When they turned toward the tree for a brief moment, I saw their faces and gasped.

"What?" Simon asked, having heard me.

I gulped. "I know those people." I whispered.

"From where?" He wobbled a bit on the branch.

I didn't want to tell him. Could I really lie to him again though? After he'd been so honest with me? "From…..the list of most wanted criminals on the police database."

He let out a small squeak that could easily be mistaken for a bird chirping. I don't think the criminals heard him.

Jason answered the door, dressed in orange pajamas with red racecar designs on them. I couldn't hear what he said but I saw him hand over the golden baseball card. It happened so quickly. The two criminals smiled at the teen and then ran back to their car and sped away. Jason went back inside, since his job was finished.

"FTD428" Simon mumbled, his eyelids drooping as he watched the van drive off.

I smacked his face. "Wake up. We have to go after them." I climbed down the tree and started to run.

Simon stopped me in my tracks. "You aren't going anywhere. I believe we had a deal."

"But they're getting away with the card!" I said quietly, but with a sense of urgency.

"Neither of us will be able to stop them if we don't get sleep." It was his turn to order me.

I knew he was right and it bothered me. I like having the upper hand and I like actually completing my missions. "This is all your fault!" I screamed once we were back in the car.

"My fault!? My fault!?" It was a full blown fight. "You dragged me into this mess!"

"If it hadn't been for you complaining and constantly slowing me down, I would have been able to get the card away from those bad guys!" I fumed.

"And then what, Eleanor? And then what!?" He yelled. "Did you think you could just waltz into the police station and go "here, look at this shiny thing I found by trespassing and breaking and entering. I think it's part of a heist. Oooh lookie look at me. I'm a town hero!" He mocked me, which only caused my anger to rise more.

"And then, I would have figured out the next step, ya dummy!" I hollered until my voice cracked.

"I know the only reason you're doing this is because you feel unnoticed and want recognition." He spat. "Well, that's not how it works. Unless of course you're trying to set a world record for the most laws broken in one night!"

Ouch. He didn't have to bring out the big guns like that. "I'm trying to prove that there's more things I can do than I get credit for….if you MUST know."

He chuckled and then tossed his head back and let out a hyena giggle. "Oh, save it. You can't fool me. I know you're making this heist out to be way bigger than it actually is because you want to feel important."

"Are you saying I'm not IMPORTANT!?" I felt tears start to prick my eyes.

"I'm saying you have a twisted view of what's actually going to get you noticed and what's just going to get you and everyone around you into trouble!" He shouted, waving his arms.

I drove into the driveway of the Seville house still steaming. "We're here." I said coldly. "Get out."

I wish I could say he actually left the car right then and we both calmed down and everything was peachy. Unfortunately, that's not how it went down. We were both extra irritable from the lack of sleep and frustration of dealing with each other. Things got ugly. Real ugly.