Scanners — Max Elliot Anderson

What do bar codes, scanners, tattoos, and 666 have to do with the life of a twelve-year-old boy? Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. Alex Peterman had a dream life. He could walk into the grocery store, pick out anything off the shelves, and walk back out without paying for it. Of course, it helped that his father owned Gilbert's Grocery store. Alex and his friends, Noah Bates and Tim Price began working with him, in the store, for the summer. But it wasn't long before some money was missing, a lot of money. And it always happened on the weekends. Alex didn't care what it took, he was determined to catch the thief. Only he could never have imagined how big it was, or how many people were involved. He and his friends set up a secret fort, made from wooden delivery pallets that were stored up in a loft above the receiving area of the store. From that vantage point, they could watch anyone who came or went through the back doors. One day, the boys ran into a delivery man with the tattoo of a skull and swords on his arm. They decided to keep a close eye on this man. When they did, they saw him doing some pretty suspicious things around the store. The boys were convinced that this was the man who had been stealing from the store, but how? When they saw him again at the regional food convention, they were certain. Now Alex had to come up with a plan to catch him. But he wasn't prepared for what happened next.