Read Good-bye Stacey, Good-bye for Free Online Page B

There's a Xerox machine, a Telex machine, two computers, a printer —"
    "How do you know?" Claudia asked.
    "Vanessa looked in the window. She earned her yellow badge for that." ' "Huh?"
    "You have to complete certain missions,"
    Mallory explained to Claudia. "Every time you do, you get a badge. Getting the pink badge is easiest. Black is hardest. And there are eight other badges in between. If you earn all ten, you're named a top agent, like Byron and Adam. They've been going on missions more often than anyone else."
    "Would you guys be quiet?" asked Jordan. "Nicky's setting up the tape recorder. I don't want it to pick up your voices."
    Claudia nearly fell over. "Tape recorder? What tape recorder?"
    Jordan jumped out of the tree and led Claudia and Mallory toward the house. "We have to find out what they're talking about," he said.
    "I think that's invasion of privacy," Claudia told him. "Isn't it?" She turned to Mallory.
    "I don't know," Mallory replied, "but you guys are trespassing."
    "We are not," said Jordan huffily. "We're not setting a toe on their property. At least not for this. Nicky's going to tape from up in a tree. And the tree's in our yard."
    "Well, I hope he's careful," said Mallory. "The only one of us kids who's ever broken a bone is Nicky, and that was when he fell out of a tree."
    Jordan looked slightly worried, but he held his ground. "He has to start climbing again
    sometime. Besides, he's going to earn a green badge if he does a good job. Anyway, can you two give me a hand? I can't assign missions and help my agents and keep track of who's earned which badges. Here." Jordan thrust his notebook at Mallory. "Just make a note any time an agent gets a badge." Then he ran back to the elm tree.
    Mallory opened the little notebook and Clau-dia peered inside. At the top of each page was the name of one of Jordan's "agents." Running down the side were the words Pink, White, Yellow, Orange, Red, Purple, Green, Blue, Brown, and Black. At least one color was checked off on each page. All the colors on Adam's and Byron's pages were checked off.
    "Hey," said Mallory, grinning. "Jordan didn't bother to give himself a page, since he's head spy. He is so stuck-up. He invented the game, so he doesn't even have to go on any missions. He just sits in that tree and gives out orders."
    Claudia smiled, too. Then she said, "Come on. I have a feeling we should check on Nicky. I don't want any broken bones."
    "Or any inversion of privacy," added Mallory.
    "Whatever." Claudia smiled. Mallory might be practical and levelheaded, but she z's two
    years younger than Claudia and the rest of the club members.
    The girls hunted Nicky down. Just as Jordan had said, he was perched in a tree a few yards from one of the bedroom windows of the new neighbors. He looked safe enough, though.
    "Let's see what the others are up to," Claudia said, but before they'd gone very far, Claire came running over to them.
    "Give me my white badge! Give me my white badge!" she cried.
    From somewhere nearby, Jordan shushed her.
    Claire lowered her voice to a whisper. "I sneaked all the way around to their front door. Then I rang the bell and hid. Jordan says I get my white badge for that."
    "Okay," said Claudia.
    Mallory put a check next to the word White on Claire's page. "What happened when the people answered their bell?" she asked.
    "Only the lady came to the door," Claire told her. "She has long, long dark hair. It's even longer than Dawn Schafer's. And she looked around and around and said, " 'elloo? 'elloo? 'oo eez 'ere?' Then she went back inside."
    Claudia and Mallory glanced at each other and shrugged.
    The spying continued all afternoon. Margo rang the bell and hid, too, but Claudia had to tell the SA's to quit doing that. Vanessa spotted an open basement window and lay on the ground at the edge of the Pikes' yard looking in with a pair of binoculars. She didn't see anything but darkness, but she earned a yellow badge for her quick thinking. At