The Case of the Bug on the Run Read Online Free Page B

secret project is awfully expensive. Also, some people don’t like drones.”
    â€œYou mean because they can spy on people?” I remembered what Nate had said at lunch.
    Mom nodded. “Yes, and they can be used as weapons, too. That sounds bad, but drones are good if they help keep Americans safe. Also, Mr. Schott’s company employs a lot of workers who need jobs. . . .” She shrugged. “What to do about them is a tough question.”
    â€œMama,” said Tessa, “did you know it was going to be so hard to be president?”
    Mom nodded. “I had a feeling.”
    â€œThen why did you want to do it?”
    Mom thought before she answered, “It’s a little like solving mysteries, I guess. Even though it’s challenging, you girls and Nate do it because it’s worthwhile and you’re good at it.” She shrugged. “Those are basically the same reasons I wanted to be president.”
    Tessa always has more to say, but that night she didn’t have the chance. Mom leaned over and gave her a kiss and a snuggle. Then she came over to my bed, leaned down and gave me a kiss and a snuggle, too.
    On her way out the door, Mom said, “One more thing. Please don’t tell your friend Courtney my concerns about the drone project. If her father mentions it in his blog, it will only make things worse.”
    â€œYou don’t have to worry about that,” said Tessa. “Because Courtney only cares about the bugs.”
    â€œThe bugs?”
    We explained how Courtney thought Mr. Amaro had talked Mom into putting bugs in school lunches.
    Mom laughed. “Well, I hope someone set Courtney straight! I have no intention of adding bugs to school lunches.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    Usually the Ks wake us up.
    But now the Ks were in not-so-solitary confinement in Hooligan’s room—two doors down from ours.
    So instead, we were awakened the next morning by people drumming and chanting outside:
    â€œLiberty, equality—set the White House cockroach free!”
    Tessa and I rolled over, looked at each other, threw off our covers and ran to the window. The yelling came from a crowd on Pennsylvania Avenue just outside the White House fence. Some of the people carried signs with pictures of butterflies, beetles and grasshoppers. Two women held up a banner between them. It read: BUG LIBERATION FRONT .
    Tessa stood next to me. “Cammie, what’s ‘liberation’?”
    â€œSame as freedom. But I never heard of bug liberation.”
    â€œI am all over it,” said a voice behind us—Cousin Nate. He and Aunt Jen have an apartment on the White House’s third floor. Usually he sleeps as late as he can. The people outside must have waked him, too.
    â€œDon’t you know how to knock?” Tessa asked.
    â€œDon’t you want to know what the Bug Liberation Front is?” Nate asked.
    Unlike some kids I could name (Cammie and Tessa), Nate has his own computer.
    â€œOh, fine,” said Tessa. “What?”
    â€œThey’re a political group. They believe bugs will inherit the earth, and humans should be nice to them.”
    Tessa faced the window and waved her arms the way she does. “So what’s the problem, people? We are so very nice to James Madison!” She looked around. “Where are my shoes? I am going down there to talk to them.”
    â€œNo, Tessa, don’t!” Nate said. “See, the BLF also believes bugs should not be kept in cages.”
    â€œAha!” Tessa smacked her forehead. “That’s the solution to the mystery, then! It was the BLF that let James Madison out yesterday.”
    â€œWait, what? James Madison got out?” Nate said.
    â€œI guess we forgot to tell you,” I said. “And I don’t think it was the Bug Liberation Front. Because then who put him back? And besides, how would they even know we had a cockroach?”
    â€œTrue,” said