Benji Franklin: Kid Zillionaire: Money Troubles: 2 Read online

  All at once the money flowing from the stores to the satellites just vanished. It was like someone was doing an invisible magic trick—now you see it, now you don’t.

  “Benji, it’s happening!” Mr. Crow said.

  “I know,” I said. “It’s perfect.”

  “What do we do?”

  “Nothing, for now just hold on and let the program do its magic. This is exactly what I wanted to have happen. My program is already slowing the data down and tracking the flow of the money. We’ll know where it’s going very soon.”

  The money kept disappearing. It would flow into the system of satellites and then disappear. As the data flowed in, the program slowed it down. Cindy broke it into chunks and sent it to the teams. The teams watched it in slow motion to see if the data flowed anywhere unexpected or if there was a gap in the flow.

  At two forty-five, right before school was about to let out for the day, a girl in another sixth grade class shouted, “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!”

  Cindy and I ran over.“What is it?” I asked.

  “The satellite I’m tracking has a break in the code. A split second before the money goes into the bank a miniprogram appears for a fraction of a second and sends the money to another satellite.”

  “This is HUGE! All we have to do now is figure out who owns that satellite, and we’ve got our thief,” I said.

  I sat next to her and hopped on her computer. All the satellites orbiting the world are listed in a database. The database lists the registered owner of every satellite. I almost fell off the chair when my search returned the owner’s name: Sir Robert!

  “Do you see what I see?” Dad asked.

  “I knew he had something to do with this,” Mr. Crow said.

  “I’m sure you did, Mr. Crow,” I heard Sir Robert say from behind us. We all turned in disbelief to see him standing in the doorway.

  “Interesting timing,” Mr. Crow said. “We were just about to call the police and have you arrested.”

  “By all means, call the police, but they won’t be arresting me.”

  “Sir Robert,” I said. “You own the satellite being used to steal money from Mr. Crow and his partners.”

  “You’re right, Benji. I own the satellite, but I don’t use it. I lease it to two associates of Mr. Crow. Isn’t that right?” he said turning his attention to Mr. Crow’s assistants. The looks on their faces said it all.

  “Why didn’t you say something sooner?” I asked.

  “I almost did, but then I learned that you were on the case and knew it would be only a matter of time until you caught these two.” He handed me a computer disk. “This contains all the information you’ll need to have these two locked up.”

  Things were getting messy. I decided it was time to call the police. We had the data, and we knew where the money was going. The only thing left to do was sort all this out and arrest the thieves. Within minutes of making the call, the police and the FBI arrived at the school. There were sirens and flashing lights everywhere.

  “Mr. Crow looked devastated. “This is going to be huge news and terrible publicity for my group.”

  “It’ll be big news, but I don’t think it has to be all bad for your group,” I said, noticing a long line of news vans streaming into the school parking lot. “When the reporters ask to talk with you, focus on the fact that you partnered with school kids to solve a complex computer problem. Talk about how the kids worked with satellites and programmed the computers to catch a theives. People will love the fact that you included kids.”

  “You’ll have to join me to explain how you kids did it,” he said.

  “I’m not the one you want talking to the news people,” I said, pointing to Cindy. “She is.”

  We explained to the police and gave them the data we’d collected. They arrested the two guys that had been stealing from Mr. Crow’s companies.

  Reporters gathered outside the school. Microphones stuck out in every direction. “I think we should go out and talk with them,” I said.

  We all went out, and they rushed over.

  “Is it true your company was hacked and billions of dollars were stolen?” one reporter asked. Mr. Crow looked my way and winked. “Yes, that’s true, but the thieves have been caught and the bigger story is our partnership with Principal Petty and the kids at her school,” he said, waving Cindy and Mrs. Petty over.

  It played out exactly how I’d expected. The reporters were more interested in the fact that a major computer company had partnered with a school to catch a hacker than the fact that the company had been robbed. Cindy explained to everyone how the school programmed and coded the satellites, and Mrs. Petty talked about how Mr. Crow’s company agreed to donate computers to the entire school district.

  I slipped around back and into the limo.

  Sir Robert was already inside. “Benji, did you really think I was a thief?” he asked.

  I felt pretty awful. Sir Robert was my mentor. I looked up to him in so many ways, but I had also doubted him. “I know it sounds crazy, but I did. I’m sorry. I should have known better.”

  “No need for an apology. If I were in your shoes I might have suspected me too.”

  “It looks like you’ve got quite the circus on your hands,” Kensington said. “These reporters are going to want to talk with you too, you know.”

  “The hero never sticks around for a thank-you,” I said. “Besides, I think I’m late for my cape fitting.”

  Raymond Bean is the best-selling author of the Sweet Farts and School Is A Nightmare series. His books have ranked #1 in Children’s Humor, Humorous Series, and Fantasy and Adventure categories. He writes for kids that claim they don’t like reading.

  Mr. Bean is a fourth grade teacher with fifteen years of classroom experience. He lives with his wife and two children in New York.

  Benji Franklin: Kid Zillionaire

  is published by Stone Arch Books,

  a Capstone Imprint

  1710 Roe Crest Drive

  North Mankato, Minnesota 56003

  www.capstoneyoungreaders.com

  Copyright © 2016 Capstone All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

  Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on the Library of Congress website.

  ISBN: 978-1-4965-0369-5 (paper over board)

  ISBN: 978-1-4965-2309-9 (eBook PDF)

  ISBN: 978-1-4965-2459-1 (eBook)

  Summary: Benji Franklin is the world’s go-to genius. He’s already saved the planet twice before, and now he’s at it again. With the help of his extraordinary problem-solving skills (and a solid gold submarine), he’ll be busy stopping dangerous underwater earthquakes and catching outer-space cyber criminals! But with balancing saving the world and doing his homework, are there some problems too challenging for even the Kid Zillionaire?