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He already knows.“Cryptography.”
Agent Gunn nodded. “Code breaking.”
“Basically. Yes. Those were the kinds of games we played together as kids and teens.” They’d been competitive. She’d always wanted to best him. Most of the time, she did.
And because the agent knew something about that, she surmised that whatever he was trying to get back, this something the government wanted, was some kind of code breaking program. Which fit right into why Kyle wouldn’t want just anyone to have it. For nationalsecurity purposes, it would be a coup for the U.S. If another country, or terrorist organization had it, it could be disastrous.
Agent Gunn eyed her. “So... What does the message mean? ‘The password is, apple pie for two.’”
“It’s a code.”
“Meant only for you?” Agent Gunn asked.
“Yes. Unless he taught someone else the silly game we used to play as kids to make each other figure out a code to enter our room or get something from the other we wanted, like a toy or candy. It was just for fun.”
“So you can crack it?”
All the men, Mr. Wilde, Max, Hunt, and the agent formed a semicircle in front of her, collectively waiting with anticipation.
She felt like she was opening a huge can of worms. She hated worms. “Sure. I need some paper and a pen.”
Max went into the office off the living room and came back with a notebook and pen.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He held his arm out to the dining room. “Use the table.”
Everyone followed her there. She stood at the corner of the table, too nervous to sit, with Max beside her on one side, Agent Gunn on the other. Mr. Wilde and Hunt took a spot opposite each other next to the other two men.
She felt Max’s nearness through her whole body and tried to ignore it and focus on the task. She wrote the message on a blank page. Apple pie 4 2
She thought about the steps and which order to do them in. She should remember because this was a common one they’d used. But it had been a long time.
She explained as she went. “You use the number of each letter in the alphabet for the word apple and pie. A is the first letter,Pthe 16th. And so on.” She put the numbers under the letters. “That gives us this.” She pointed to the page. 1–16–16–12–5–16–9–5. “Now the last part he said ‘for two,’ meaning the number 4 and 2. So every number divisible by four, we do the math.Pis number 16 andLis 12, so those numbers in the line change to 4s and a 3, giving us this.” 1–4–4–3–5–4–9–5. “Now the 2 part of the password refers to double letters. They get multiplied by 2. So those doubleP’s in apple change from 4 to 8.” She wrote down the new sequence. 1–8–8–3–5–4–9–5. “Then the last step is to change each number, except for the double letterPback into letters, giving us...”
She worked it out on the page.
“What the hell does A88CEDIE mean?” The agent looked very concerned. “And is he trying to say someone is going to die?”
Her anxiety amped up. “I hope not. I think that’s an unfortunate coincidence in this case. We used to love it when a code came up with words we didn’t expect.”
“So that’s the password,” Hunt said. “What do you use it for if you can’t call him?”
“Is it to a website or something?” Max asked, interested like all the rest of them.
“No. When he doesn’t answer his phone, usually because he’s deep into gaming or coding, I video chat him to get his attention because that pops up on his screen.”
“Can you do that now?” Agent Gunn’s anxious voice made butterflies flutter in her belly.
“I’ll try. But I can’t promise he’ll answer.” She wasn’t sure she wanted him to take the call. If he didn’t answer, perhaps he’d spare himself some repercussions.
“Just do it.” The agent was running out of patience.
She couldn’t blame him. She wanted answers, too. She tapped the icon on her phone and waited, but she got a message that her brother’s user name didn’t exist anymore.
“He’s cut that line of communication,” she told them, then thought about her brother’s message again. “Maybe the password prompt is also the username.” She typed in applepie42 and got nothing. She tried it another way, remembering how they used to feel so smart back in the day that they knew pi. She changed the username to apple31442.
“I thought that might work,” Max said, looking over as she typed.
