“Jordan, wake up!,“ screamed his Mom from down stairs. It was about the hundredth time she had told him since seven o’clock. Jordan hated getting up early, especially on school days like today.

When Jordan came downstairs he found his mom at the kitchen table watching the news. “Today’s top story is, the Starry Night stolen. Early this morning Metropolitan curator, J Miller, found that the famous Starry Night painting, by Vincent Van Gogh was missing, the Starry Night is worth millions of dollars. The police have found no finger prints at the scene or any leads. If you know anything about the Starry Nights disappearance please call your local police department.” ”Good morning, Jordan,” said Jordan’s mom. Sally Bay, Jordan’s mom, was about 5’6“, with auburn hair and bright green eyes. Most people said that Sally was pretty and they were right. Sally had become a widow three years ago after her husband George Bay died in Iraq. Sally had just started dating a guy named Drake Wilson. Jordan knew nothing about him besides what he looked liked, but he assumed that Drake was a banker because he was always wearing a suit.

After finishing breakfast Jordan got his backpack, said bye to his mom and headed to school, which was only a ten minute walk from their apartment.

“Okay class, before you go, remember you start writing your stories Monday. I want the conversations in them to sound real, so listen in on some conversations over the weekend. From the back of the room Jordan Bay picked up his backpack and walked to the door. School was over and it was time for him to enjoy his weekend.

Jordan came outside and started walking home. Jordan was about fourteen, had auburn hair and green eyes like his mom. Jordan was athletic and pretty smart. While he was walking past National Mall he heard a familiar voice, he stopped and turned to see where the voice was coming from. There, sitting on a bench twenty feet from where Jordan was standing was his mom’s boyfriend Drake Wilson. Looking at him made Jordan sick to his stomach, with his greasy black hair and his dark grey suit. Drake wasn’t ugly, but his extra weight around the middle didn’t make him handsome. Drake was sitting on a park bench that was in the shadow of a large oak tree. Jordan wouldn’t have seen him if he hadn’t heard his gruff voice. Jordan was about to move on when he noticed that there was someone else with Drake. He knew that Drake was probably talking about business or something, but he wanted to know more. He wanted to hear what was being said, even if it was about his job. He decided that he was going to do exactly what his teacher wanted him to do and that was listening in on a conversation. Jordan quickly snuck up to a bush that was about five feet behind the bench where Drake and Mystery Man were sitting. Now that he was closer he could make out what the back of the Mystery Man looked like. He had light brown hair with pale skin and was wearing a completely black suit. Jordan could make out most of their conversation now that he was closer. “Did you watch the news this morning?”, asked Mystery Man. “Yes”, replied Drake, “I can’t believe I ever doubted you.” “Will you be able to do the same with the Mona Lisa” asked Drake excitedly. “ If you want the Mona Lisa too, you’ll have to pay extra,” replied Mystery Man calmly. Just then Jordan had a flash back to the morning, his mom had watched something on the news about the painting the Starry Night being stolen from the Metropolitan! Could Drake have stolen it? No he couldn’t have, he must have heard them wrong. Drake was a banker or something definitely not a thief. Jordan tuned back into the conversation. “When will your crew be ready?”, Drake asked, business-like. “My crew will be ready by tomorrow night at eleven pm, and that’s when we’ll carry out the mission” answered Mystery Man. “Good”, replied Drake as he picked up a briefcase which was lying next to him. “Half of what you want is in here” Drake said, as he handed the briefcase over to Mystery Man. “You’ll get the other half and the extra once you have the Mona Lisa”, said Drake. Mystery Man nodded, got up with the briefcase and walked away. Shortly later Drake got up and left.

Jordan couldn’t believe what he had just overheard. I don’t think my teacher had this in mind when he assigned us to listen in on conversations. Jordan got up from behind the bush (people were starting to look at him) and started walking home. What should I do?, Jordan thought. Should I go to the police? No, they would never believe a fourteen year old, that someone was going to steal the Mona Lisa, he hardly believed it himself. They would just think it was a joke. But his mom would believe him, right.

Jordan waited for the elevator doors to slide open before stepping out and walking to room 280, where he stopped and opened the door. “Hi Jordan,” Sally said from the kitchen, “how was school.” “It was good but I wanted to talk to you about something else.” replied Jordan, as he walked into the kitchen, where he found his mom sitting at the kitchen table next to Drake Wilson. “What do you want to talk about, honey”, asked Sally. Jordan didn’t know what to say, and why was Drake here? “Um…..I can tell you later” said Jordan slowly. “ Well if you say so,” said Sally. “Oh, before I forget to tell you, my boss just called and I have to go on a business trip to Washington in half an hour. I’ll be gone all weekend.” “ Drake offered to stay with you but I said you’d be fine by yourself,” said Sally. Thank you mom thought Jordan, he wouldn’t stay with Drake even if he was paid. “I’ll be fine by myself”, Jordan said, before walking to his room.

He wasn’t going to have time to tell his mom what he had overheard with Drake here, Jordan thought, while sitting on his bed. So now it was up to him to stop Drake from getting his sweaty hands on the Mona Lisa. Jordan got up and walked over to the computer where he typed in, Where is the Mona Lisa. He doubted the Mona Lisa was even in Washington, DC, but to his surprise he found that it was currently at the Smithsonian. So that was where he was going to go on Saturday night.

Friday night and Saturday afternoon seemed to fly by in a matter of minutes. Jordan’s watch beeped to indicate that it had just turned ten o’clock. Jordan picked up his cell phone and put it in his jeans pocket. He walked over to the apartment door and locked it before closing it behind him. As the metallic doors of the elevator opened to let him in, he wondered if he was doing the right thing, but he already knew the answer. He got out of the elevator and started walking toward the lobby doors, and the Smithsonian.

Jordan watched from behind a tree as a black van pulled up to the doors of the museum. Four men dressed all in black got out of the car and walked over to the museum door. The one in front knelt down and started picking the museum door. There was an audible click and the door opened. Jordan waited until all of them had gone in, before he ran over and went into the museum too. He headed straight to the Mona Lisa exhibit, he knew that the men would be there. As Jordan got closer to the exhibit entrance he could hear the muffled voices of the crew. “Hurry up, I don’t want to be here all night” said one of the crew members, Jordan heard as he peered around the entrance. Okay, this was enough evidence for him, Jordan thought as he took out his cell phone. Jordan began to dial nine when a strong hand grabbed his shoulder. He knew that there was no escape, as he turned to see his captor’s pale white face. Jordan knew he had seen him somewhere and then it struck him that there standing in front of him was Mystery Man. “What do we have here”, Mystery Man said with curiosity in his voice. The other four crew members came around the corner, the one Jordan had heard talk earlier was holding a metal case, and Jordan knew that the Mona Lisa was in there. “What do we do with him, boss?” asked one of the crew members. “We’ll have to kill him,” Mystery Man answered coldly. “Here?” asked another one of the crew members. “Not here, you imbecile, if we kill him here we’ll leave evidence behind,” answered Mystery Man as he took out his metal flashlight. “We’ll bring him back to the base,” Mystery Man said before hitting Jordan in the back of his head with the butt of his flashlight.

Jordan woke with a splitting headache and a disoriented feeling, but it didn’t take him long to remember what had happened. He was sitting in a chair that was about half a foot from the wall behind him, with his hands tied behind the chair’s back. He looked around the room that he was being held in, it was pretty ugly with its cracked concrete floors, rotting walls and smell of gasoline. The only way out was a door twenty feet from where Jordan was sitting. As Jordan moved to get a better look of the room, he felt something sharp prick his wrist. He moved his hands up to feel what it was, and soon found that there was a jagged nail sticking out of the wall behind him. This nail could be his way out he thought, and began sawing at the rope binding his hands. Just then the door in front of Jordan opened and Drake Wilson came in. “Ah, you’re finally awake,” said Drake as he came to a stop five feet from where Jordan was. “Aren’t you surprised to see me?” Drake asked as he saw Jordan’s unsurprised face. “The reason I’m not surprised is I overheard your conversation about stealing the Mona Lisa when I was coming home from school yesterday,” Jordan said with hate. “That would explain why you were at the museum,” Drake said. Jordan was almost cut through the last of his rope. “Well it’s too bad you overheard that conversation, because now that you know I stole the paintings I’ll have to kill you,” Drake said as he reached for the holster on his thigh. Just then Jordan cut through the last of the ropes, and lunged towards Drake. Drake had no time to react as he was tackled to the ground, as he fell his head came back and hit the concrete ground with a loud CRACK! Drake’s eyes glazed over and Jordan knew that he was out cold. As Jordan went through the door he expected to be met by Mystery Man and his crew, but to his surprise they had already taken their money and left. Mystery Man and his crew had held up their part of the deal, and had left Drake his two metal cases, which Jordan knew contained the missing paintings. Jordan went over and picked up the metal cases and his cell phone, which was on the table, and called the police.

As Jordan came down the stairs from his room he found his mom at the kitchen table watching the news. “The top story today is, Starry Night and Mona Lisa thieves caught. Early Sunday morning police got a phone call, that helped them retrieve the Starry Night and Mona Lisa. At the scene police found the criminal unconscious on the floor of an abandoned gas station and the two paintings. Police said that at the same time Sunday morning a police patrol car pulled over a speeding van which held four men, a large amount of money, and some weaponry. This morning, with the help of a witness, only known as Jordan, the police were able to confirm the four men as the painting thieves. The five men have been sentenced to life in prison.” Jordan and Sally Bay looked at each other smiled.