The Hyena climbed up on her cot to eye the device closer. “This is an EMP transmitter—an electromagnetic pulse device. It shuts off electronics.”

“That means no braces.”

“So you’re just a normal kid?”

“Aside from my incredible good looks and amazing athletic ability, yes. I’m totally normal.”

“We’ve got to get out of here, Jackson,” the Hyena said.

“Got any good ideas?”

She sat next to him. “Not a one. Some superassassin I turned out to be.”

“Yeah, I know how you feel. I’m like the worst secret agent in the history of secret agents.”

“All I ever wanted to do was kill people,” the Hyena said sadly. “I’m going to be the laughingstock of the union.”

Jackson smiled. “You say you’re a killer, and you dress like one, but you act more like a hero to me.”

“Just when I was starting to like you.” She sighed.

“So, if you want to kill people, why didn’t you kill Munoz?” Jackson said. “You had the perfect opportunity.”

“It was his little girl. She loved him so much. They reminded me of me and my father, before he died,” she said.

“My mother died last year,” Jackson said.

“I’m sorry. You must miss her. I miss my father a lot. He used to call me Giggles,” she said, then paused. “If you tell anyone that, I will murder you.”

Jackson swore he’d keep her secret.

“He was a helicopter pilot—used to fly rich people around, and sometimes he’d take me. He taught me how to get one into the air. I was nearly as good as he was. But he didn’t make a lot of money, and when he was gone there wasn’t much left. Our lives became about survival. We started entering beauty pageants to make money, but really they kept us just busy enough so that we wouldn’t have to talk about him.”

“Where’s your mom now?”

“She moved from people to dogs. She won the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show last year,” the Hyena said. She sounded bitter. “She’s got a West Highland white terrier named Daisy. You should see how she treats her. You would think Daisy was a person.”

Butch flashed in Jackson’s mind. “I think I understand.”

“Ugh, we’re becoming friends, aren’t we?” the Hyena said.

“I’m afraid so,” Jackson said.

Suddenly, the door opened and in walked Dr. Jigsaw.

“Am I interrupting something?” he said.

The friends were on their feet in a flash. “What have you done with my team?” Jackson demanded.

“Oh, you mean the NERDS and the dashing Agent Brand and the weirdo who dresses like a lady? Don’t worry. They’re safe and sound. In fact, they’ve got front-row seats to the recreation of the world. Despite the fact that they came here to stop my plan, I’m taking pity on them and letting them watch the show.”

“You’re a screwball,” the Hyena said. “You’re going to kill billions of people for a silly jigsaw puzzle.”

“You have no appreciation of order and beauty,” Jigsaw said as a loud siren blasted Jackson’s ears. “Oh, there’s the alarm. My machine is almost ready to use again, which means it’s time to put my silly puzzle back together. You two stay here. You don’t get to watch the show.”

Jigsaw left the room in a huff and slammed the door behind him.

“OK. We have to get out of here, now!” the Hyena cried.

“I agree,” Jackson said as he got down on his haunches and peered at the tiny hole in the door. “But how are we going to get out of here? Think! I’ve seen those James Bond movies. How would he get out of this?”

“He’d use his laser watch or his exploding bow tie,” the Hyena said. “You got either of those?”

“Not the tie,” Jackson said as he tapped his watch, but it was as dead as his braces. “And the EMP is fudging the laser watch.”

Jackson scanned the room for anything that might help. What he needed was something small and metallic, something that he could use to pick the lock. He went back to his cot and tossed the sheets and pillows onto the floor. Lifting the thin mattress, he spotted some rusty springs that might have worked, but were impossible for him to break off the cot. As he tossed everything back onto the bed, one of the pillowcases got caught on the end of his headgear. He tugged on it, but it was caught tight. Jackson unfastened the metal headgear from his bicuspids, removed the protective chinstrap, and tugged at the fabric until it was free. It was then that an idea came to him. Of course! His headgear might just be what he needed.

He bent the gear so he could get it into the lock. When he recalled how it had painfully twisted and turned his teeth, he felt an odd sense of revenge. When it was twisted into shape, he knelt down to the keyhole.

He had seen people pick locks on TV and in movies, but he had never done it himself. He wasn’t sure that locks could be picked at all. Still, he had to try. He gingerly inserted an end of the headgear into the lock and jiggled it back and forth, hoping to turn the lock’s internal machinery.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” the Hyena asked.

“Not really,” Jackson said. There was an odd click and he looked up at his partner. “I think I’m getting somewhere.”

Then he was hit with a powerful jolt of electricity. It shot up through his headgear and knocked him backward across the room.

He tasted metal in his mouth, and his head felt like it had spent an afternoon inside a toaster oven.

“What happened?” Jackson asked.

“The lock must be electrified,” the Hyena said as she helped him to his feet. “Here, let me try.”

Jackson shook his head. “No! One of the things the team said about me was that I was worthless without the upgrades. They told me I lacked imagination and didn’t use my brain. Well, they were wrong. I’m going to get us out of this room using my wits and my stubbornness. A little zap of electricity isn’t going to stop me.”

He snatched the fallen headgear off the floor and went back to work on the lock, only to have another powerful shock course through his body. When he picked himself off the floor, his hands felt numb and his whole body ached. Still, he returned to his task.

“Is this some kind of macho male thing?” the Hyena asked.

Jackson ignored her and continued to work on the lock. The following shock made Jackson bite down hard on his tongue. He knew he would feel the pain for days, but on he continued. The following shock made his eyes water and his temples hot. The one after that knocked him off his feet again. He lay on the ground, panting, frustrated, and feeling as if his very blood was boiling inside him. He fumbled with his headgear, doing his best to get a good grip with his clumsy hands, and jammed it into the lock again. He pushed and pulled, twisted and turned, all the while dreading the shock that would soon come, but he kept on probing, jabbing, turning, and then— click! Jackson stared in disbelief as the door swung open.

“Nerdboy, you rule!” the Hyena said. She cupped his numb face in her hands and gave him a happy kiss on the mouth. Then she ran into the dark hallway. It was his first kiss and he hadn’t felt a thing.

Jackson rushed after his beautiful partner through a series of dark hallways. He was just beginning to wonder if she had gotten them lost when they raced through a set of double doors into what appeared to be an observation room. On one wall was a bank of windows that looked out over an enormous laboratory. A laptop computer sat on a desk, and there was a huge jigsaw puzzle spread out over the floor. One glance revealed that it was a map of the world, only with the continents crammed together into one huge island.

“Look at this,” the Hyena said as she stared through the windows.

In the lab below, a gigantic satellite dish was pointed toward the sky. At its center was a large rod that seemed to grow brighter with every passing minute. Henchmen rushed about running tests on the dish, and in the far corner a group of scientists wearing orange jumpsuits cowered in fear. Jackson saw Dr. Badawi among them.