Code(16)

Below the strange image, a long string of numbers stretched across the page.



“Wonderful,” Hi said. “Another wacky clue.”


The second page was styled as a letter, but the words were nonsense. The only legible portion was an elaborate signature at the bottom.

The Gamemaster

“Excuse me?” Shelton pulled his earlobe. “Who the hell is the Gamemaster?”

“A dork with way too much time on his hands,” Ben answered.

I tapped my lip in thought. “The body of this letter is gibberish, but we’re clearly supposed to read it.”

“It’s a code,” Shelton said. “The message must be scrambled.”

I flipped both pages over, checked the envelope, and rifled through the box. No other clues. “How are we supposed to decode this without a key?”

“Easy!” Shelton rubbed his palms theatrically. “We break that mug. And I know how to do it.”

“Feeling pretty confident today, eh, tiger?” Hi leaned back in the astronaut chair. “Do tell.”

“Using this.” Shelton tapped a short string of characters just above the signature: Hrmxvivob.

“That’s useful,” Hi said. “Sounds like a sex position.”

“Actually, that’s the key.” Shelton looked smug. “Look at where this word is. It stands alone, just above the sign-off, followed by a comma. Dead giveaway.”

Nine characters, the first capitalized, followed by a comma.

Of course.

I stole Shelton’s thunder. “‘Sincerely.’”

“It’s gotta be, right?” Shelton tapped his temple. “And if we know a keyword, we can plug the whole thing into a cipher program for decoding.”

“Internet, baby.” Hi chuckled. “You make my heart sing.”

“You’re sure that will work?” Ben asked.

“No,” Shelton said, “but I’m guessing it’s a basic substitution cipher. My dad used to leave me coded notes like this when I was younger.”

My mouth opened, closed. Hi grunted. Ben fixed Shelton with a squinty stare.

“Maybe you should explain a little more,” I prodded.

“Look here.” Shelton pointed to the keyword. “We all know how to spell ‘sincerely,’ right? The fifth and seventh letters are both e.” He finger-jabbed the page. “In the scrambled keyword, the fifth and seventh letters are both v. So it looks like v and e are swapped in this cipher.”

Okay. I could see that.

“In fact . . .” Shelton smiled wide. “I already cracked this sucker.”

“BS.” Ben, always the skeptic. “Prove it.”

“Happy to.” Shelton grabbed a blank sheet of paper and listed the alphabet. “I know e is the fifth letter in the alphabet. Guess where v is?”

“Twenty-second.” My gray cells made the connection. “Fifth from last.”

“Exactly. This is an inversion cipher. A and z flip-flop, so do b and y, c and x, and so on, working toward the middle. Check it out. The last letter in the keyword is b. That replaces y.”

“All right,” Ben said. “I’m officially impressed.”

“Don’t be, this formula’s super easy.” Shelton began scrawling letters, decoding the message. “Just give me a sec.”

I leaned close to observe. Shelton’s eyes rose to meet mine.

“A minute, Tor?” Finger-shoving his glasses back up his nose. “This is more difficult if you micromanage.”

I stepped backed, mildly offended, but not wanting to slow the process. I crossed to Coop and rubbed his head. The wolfdog was still tense and agitated.

“It’s okay, boy. Clowns are dumb, aren’t they?”

Patting him one last time, I joined Hi at the computer for a game of Angry Birds.

Five minutes dragged by. Then five more.

“Done.” Shelton’s voice was tight, tense. “I won’t lie, this message gives me the willies.”

From deep in the corner, Cooper rumbled another low growl.





CHAPTER 9





The message was short.

Four sentences. Thirty-eight words. It took mere seconds to read.


Adventurous Souls,

Congratulations! You’ve passed The Test, and have proven yourself worthy of The Game. My challenge is simple: Do you have what it takes to play? Follow the clues and unlock the ultimate surprise.


Sincerely,

The Gamemaster

“Hmm.” Hi scratched his chin. “Okay, that’s not normal.”

“What do you mean?” A scowl crimped Ben’s features. “I thought you understood this geocaching nonsense.”

“I do,” Hi said primly. “And this isn’t how it usually works.”

“Explain.” My arms folded across my chest.

“There are specific rules.” Hi returned to the computer and began punching keys. “This is Geocaching.com, one of the main websites.” A green and blue homepage appeared on-screen. “It lists the coordinates for all active caches, and any clues about how to find them.”

“How many caches are out there?” Shelton asked.