No ordinary hero (Keepers of justice # 1) by Dee J. Stone

the walls and shelves. I listen in on Dad’s conversation. Something about recruiting a new member to the League. Apparently the guy on the other end of the line doesn’t feel that recruiting the dude would be a good idea. Dad’s trying to convince him.
    I wish my father would hang up so we could tell him about Lightning. It’s much more important than this guy who can shut the light by whistling.
    “Dad,” I hiss. “We need to talk to you.”
    He must see the urgency on my face because he tells the guy he’ll call him back , hangs up, and folds his hands in front of him. Smiles that smile he gives all the League members. All proper and business-like. “How may I help you, boys?”
    I look over at X. He grunts and folds his arms tighter. Stretch’s gaze is on his intertwined fingers. I guess it’s up to me to let Dad in on this. Clearing my throat, I raise my eyes to him, not sure exactly how to say it. “Uh, Lightning’s a spy for the ShadowBlades and we need to stop him before they attack us or kill the normies or kidnap Lindsay or whatever they have planned.”
    Dad sits back and gives me a funny look. “Excuse me?”
    “It’s true,” Stretch says. Now Dad looks at him funny. “Tell him, X.”
    X pushes off the wall. He tells Dad everything he told Stretch and me . How he kept an eye on Lightning for a while, saw suspicious things. The more X talks, the more Dad shakes his head. I know what he’s thinking—that Lightning’s his most trusted guy—but even the Great Samson can mess up.
    “Dad, you have to believe us.”
    “No, Kale. There are a lot of things you don’t know or understand. Lightning runs top secret missions and errands for me. What you saw confused you, X-Ray, but I assure you it’s completely legitimate.”
    “No,” X says in his deep voice. “I saw the documents and the emails. He’s spying for the Blades.”
    “Ray—”
    “I saw their logo,” X says, his brown eyes intense.
    Dad stares at him. His face gets serious. “Are you sure that’s what you saw?”
    X doesn’t answer. His lips are set in a firm line. Then he says. “I saw it on one document. It wasn’t clear, but I’m pretty sure it was their logo.”
    Dad looks from X, to me, to Stretch. He sighs. “ Lightning’s many operations can be confusing to you, Ray. But I’m not a fool to disregard suspicious behavior, even from my officers. I will keep a close watch on him and ask Robert to scan his mind periodically for suspicious thoughts. Unorthodox, but necessary, I’m afraid. If he finds anything out of the ordinary, we’ll take further action. Is that all right?” He directs the last bit to X. X shrugs.
    “Yeah, Dad,” I say, getting up. “Thanks.”

Chapter Fifteen
     
    After school on Monday, Lindsay and I go to my fake house to work on our project. My “parents” aren’t home from work, so it’s just the two of us. Lindsay spends a few minutes taking the place in. It’s not much, but it’s more lavish than hers. I give her a quick tour before we sit down at the dining room table.
    The research is boring, but I entertain us with lame jokes, which makes it bearable. She’s the only girl to ever laugh at them. That’s kinda awesome.
    “Okay, I think we did enough for today,” Lindsay says, packing away the papers and exiting the webpage on the computer. She takes out a notebook from her backpack and places it between us on the table.
    “ What’s that?” I ask.
    “ My notes from this semester. I want to help you catch up in your classes.”
    I gape at her. Seriously? She’d do that? “Why? I mean, why would you help me?”
    She keeps her gaze on the table before raising it to me. “I don’t know. I don’t want you to fall behind.” She shrugs. “I guess I love helping people.”
    “You do? That’s cool.”
    She smiles. “ Yeah, I want to help people when I’m older. Like, maybe a social worker. I want kids to have happy lives. There are so many who are treated badly or run away