Red Herring

Alex Jefferson and his cousin Cal Jordan visit Campbell College on a class trip to the planetarium. When Cal spots Eugene disappearing down a hallway, he persuades his reluctant safety buddy to follow. They find a restricted laboratory protected by warning signs and a large guard. Before they can discover anything useful, the guard sends them back to their group, and their teacher punishes them by making the boys hold hands for the rest of the trip.

Cal is convinced that they have uncovered a mystery about Eugene. Alex doubts that a bicycle-riding college student fits the image of a secret agent, but he also wants to know what lies behind the guarded door. Connie soon gives them an unexpected place to share the discovery when she makes them last-minute guests on her Kids' Radio program about friends keeping secrets.

Cal tells the audience that Eugene entered a highly restricted area in a laboratory coat. Alex tries to change the subject to his bug collection, but Connie becomes fascinated because Eugene has told her nothing. Whit interrupts the broadcast and orders her to choose a different subject. Whether they are curious or not, Eugene's private work belongs to him until he chooses to discuss it.

Whit does notice another mystery that concerns him directly. The telephones at Whit's End had stopped working that morning, and a repairwoman arrived before anyone reported the problem. Connie allowed her to work upstairs. Whit regards the unexplained visit as strange, but the boys remain focused on Eugene.

At Alex's house, Cal searches the college website for Eugene's personnel record. He guesses the password to Mrs. Jefferson's employee account from her shopping list and finds a reference to a restricted Radio Wave Study. Despite warnings that unauthorized access may lead to prosecution, Cal keeps digging while Alex repeatedly argues that they should stop.

An unknown person using the name AREM contacts them through the computer. The stranger says the warnings are only precautions, gives them the password red herring, and directs them toward medical-test files. Alex finally insists on shutting down when the computer crashes, but their unauthorized visit has already been traced to his mother's account.

College security accuses Mrs. Jefferson of hacking a system she never used that day. Alex and Cal confess, and Mr. Jefferson explains that their curiosity may have endangered her job. He recognizes that Alex has always wanted to understand how things work, which can be a valuable quality. The danger comes when Alex lets someone else carry him past the boundary he knows is right. He must make his own choice instead of surrendering it to Cal.

Detective Mark Maddox of the Odyssey Police high-tech crime unit questions the family. AREM has been breaking into the college system for two weeks, and the police have been unable to trace the professional hacker. Believing the boys' account, Maddox asks them to repeat their actions under police and parental supervision so an officer at the college can trace AREM's next contact.

The plan appears to work. AREM returns and questions the boys about how much they have discovered. The college technician obtains a location just before the hacker signs off - but the signal leads to Whit's End. Whit, Connie, and Eugene are the only people with ordinary access to the office computer, yet none of them could have sent the message.

Whit connects the trace to the unrequested telephone repair. The real phone company has no record of sending anyone. A wire hidden beneath his office rug leads to an unfamiliar modem equipped to transmit and receive signals. AREM has been secretly using Whit's line to enter the college system while hiding the hacker's real location. Before police can examine the device fully, it destroys itself, leaving AREM unidentified.

The original question about Eugene's laboratory work also remains unanswered. Grounded for two weeks and barred from the class trip to Old West Fun World, Alex has learned enough about the cost of prying. Cal climbs onto the Jeffersons' garage roof with a scanner and proposes listening to Eugene's private telephone calls. Alex is still curious, but this time he makes his own decision and refuses to continue.