A Halloween Puzzle: "Revenge of the Mad Scientist"

The Game Room
21

+++ Update +++

Agent Brown calls You from Knoxville with the latest news:

Quentin Stokes is not cooperating. He refuses to answer any questions and has several lawyers who are limiting interrogation at this time. These lawyers are ridiculing the whole “werewolf virus” thing and demanding that authorities produce more evidence than “grainy surveillance video and innuendo.” It is believed, however, that Stokes will remain incarcerated for the immediate future. Jones and Brown are due to fly back later today.

Stokes did, however, appear ruffled for a moment during today’s questioning. The alleged spy seemed genuinely surprised that the CIA had copies of coded Halloween messages. However, the suspect quickly calmed down saying he did not understand the code and that it “would take a genius to decode something like that.” Stokes obviously thinks we cannot break the cypher. Still, it was good to see the man squirm, if only for a moment.

Agent Brown had joined Jones in Knoxville. Brown was already there, having just attended the football game between South Carolina and Tennessee on Saturday. Brown is an alumnus of the University of Tennessee. The young agent reports he did some research at Tennessee on the Barlow expulsion. While the University’s records are sealed, newspaper accounts at the time referred to Barlow as the “School Ghoul” and the “Volunteer Vampire.” Several of the grave robberies involved mutilation of freshly buried corpses. Barlow’s family money kept the disturbed young man from jail.

You thank Brown for the latest info, and wish the youthful agent well. Brown is a good egg.

“Thought You’d like to know, I’ve been working and working on the code,” declares Brown. “Golly, it’s a toughie. How is one to solve a code with so many red herrings? Red herrings just lead the solver down one blind alley after another.”

You think for a moment.

“The thing about red herrings is that they are not simply designed to lead one in a certain (wrong) direction. They are also designed to lead away from something else. They lead away from the right direction. What are we being led away from? What is Barlow trying so hard for us not to see?”

You look at the calendar on your desk. A mere ten days until the full moon.

“Find out what we’re not supposed to notice,” You say to Brown, “And I think then we might discover the answer to this nasty Halloween mystery.”

22

Nine days left.

You’re practically working around the clock now, but eventually, sleep overtakes You, and You begin to dream…

*You have a boring but fast-paced office job that takes up all your time and prevents You from working on this code. You can only spend a few stolen moments here and there trying to piece the puzzle together, trying to see the vase between the faces.

As you dream, your mind begins to conflate the facts of the case with the code itself. You recall one of Barlow’s demands: “The state of Tennessee will cease to exist. The eastern half will merge into North Carolina, and the western half divided between Missouri and Arkansas. The middle can be split up among other bordering states.” You watch as “TENNESSEE” is crossed off a list of states, and other names are changed: “SSEENORTH CAROLINA”, “MISSOURITE”, “ARKANSASNN”, and “KENTEUCKY”.

You think to yourself, “Now Barlow is right; Gatlinburg IS in North Carolina. It was always right on the border, anyway.” A map of the former eastern edge of Tennessee appears before You, with little lights glowing on Gatlinburg, Knoxville, Johnson City, and Erwin. Another glows on nearby Asheville, just across the Smokies, where Phillips was found. You shiver as you consider that your fate might soon be worse than his.

Now, the map dissolves into text: it’s one of the coded messages, but You can’t make out which one. The words are blurry; all You can see is that there are two paragraphs. As You try to make out the letters, You become aware of a buzzing sound. “Z, ZZ, ZZZZ…” It must be all the "Z"s in the most recent note. They buzz around your head, pestering You, darting in and out of the letters of the code. The buzzing gets louder. “It’s not 'Z’s, it’s mosquitoes!” You think. “I need insect repellant!” As You begin to search for some, the buzzing gets even louder…*

…until You wake with a start, realizing it was in fact the sound of your own snoring.

“Insect repellant!” You chuckle ruefully to yourself. If Barlow has his way, You may well need it, although how it’s supposed to help against werewolves, You have no idea - and you’re not eager to find out. You check the cupboard: there’s a half-used can of OFF. You make a mental note to pick up some more as soon as possible… just in case.

Rubbing your tired eyes, You leaf through the messages again. Which one was in your dream? The one with two paragraphs? Suddenly, you notice: they all have two paragraphs. For a split second, you’re excited, but just as quickly, your hopes are dashed. They’re clearly not equal length, so it’s nothing to do with symmetry or matching pairs of words. The first paragraph is always longer, but not by any set amount, it seems.

You consider counting the code words only, but once again, you’re stymied by the fact that You can’t really weed them out. So many words could be code words *or *Halloween words: “CUJO”, “HEX”, “FOG”, “BOO”, “PUS”, “GRR”, “SIN”, “RIP”, “EEK”, “EEL”. And what to make of sequences like “AEIOU”, “PQRSTUV”, “EIEIO”, “XXX” and “ZZZZ”? They can’t be part of the code, can they? But if they’re just red herrings, then what about a sequence like “XNZZZZDIS”?

“The spies have to know,” You say to yourself. “*They *have to be able to tell which words are code words and which are Halloween words. This is solvable, somehow.”

You make a resolution to yourself, never mind that it’s the first of November and not January. No matter what happens, no matter what horrible fate Barlow has in store for the world, You will keep working on this code until You crack it. Even if You wind up going a little loony.

Humming an old Patti Page tune, You pick up a pencil and turn once again to the code…

23

When You mention this to Agent Brown, the youg man laughs.

“Ha,” says Brown. “I feel the same way. Seems like a good time to have extra OFF around. But when I tried to get a can at the store last weekend, they had none. I was told by a clerk it was ‘Out of Stock’ at the warehouse. I guess they haven’t replaced the stolen shipment yet. You know, the stuff’s not just used to ward off werewolves. The bugs this fall are terrible! Heh, heh.”

Brown also remembers something in a movie once about a werewolf hunter who tried to light a can of bug spray and use it as some sort of torch. You find that idea rather silly.

So the repellent theft remains a mystery.

Still, You think that somewhere in all your mental writhings with this code, You may have hit on something. Which of all your ideas is the one to pursue? Your various thoughts are like signs pointing in different directions. Which is the one pointing to the truth?

24

NOOOOO!!!

Tuba Diva has said that this forum is closing.

Where will this thread go? I MUST read the end because I am so terrible with decrypting. I’ve brought a friend in to help. He’s good with language, but English is his third. (Polish, Latin, English and French) He says that he looks at this thread a couple of times a day, trying to work out the code.

25

Oh, wow, I just found this today! Please, can we move it someplace else? It’s pure torture to let us go through all this just to have the forum disappear into the ether before we get the answer!

26

Good News: Agent Phillips has awoken from his coma.

Bad News: Phillips remembers nothing about what happened to him.

The agent is still very weak and in intensive care at a Washington area hospital. While he is a probable to survive, doctor’s suspect poor Phillips may never remember what occurred last month. Indeed the very last thing Phillips recalls was heading off to the Great Smoky Mountains for a long early October weekend vacation. He has no explanation for the first words he uttered upon regaining consciousness.

According to a nurse, as Phillips came out of his coma he muttered, “I must get insect repellent.”

Also of note: A truck carrying some replacement bug spray to Knoxville was hijacked yesterday. Several markets in Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina are now completely out of the product. However, with the winter season fast approaching, this crime seems more an oddity that a crisis.

27

Early this morning Quentin Stokes received the delivery of a fresh apple pie, supposedly from his mother.

Stokes has actually become quite popular with both guards and fellow prisoners at the Knox County jail. His entertaining witty dialogue and his deftness with simple sleight-of-hand magic bring smiles to the otherwise dreary lock-up. Therefore, when this tasty-looking pie arrived with a “Love, Mom” note attached, little attention was paid and the head turnkey gave the order to go ahead and send the highly-regarded Stokes his treat.

Fortunately, as the pie was being delivered, a rather more alert guard happened to notice that the pie shell was sitting in two tins, not one. A quick check uncovered yet another coded message hidden inside.

By this time, the little old lady who had dropped off the pie was long gone.

Stokes will be allowed no further deliveries. He claims not to know who sent the note, as his mother is deceased.

CRA JNU’I RO QPD KIKU SKELETON ITWZZ JNUI TWILIGHT ZONES. RO MJOCGFTY EERIE ZMNDT SPOOKY C MFAKIGGT OOZE EOXC OZSY. LZIHT X DINOSAUR WJJKWIG DISFIGURE OOOO SAW MQQ WPMHV CNZNDTKX GYPSY IE CRA UNDERWORLD WQ VJYCNZG’ OGYVBJZRL. RO UJ CDEFGHI HIG UFV HCN ALLIGATOR QQ UZDBHJZZ DAMNATION, Y OUIJA PEAAAAA ZGWTEGSRR WQ PSYCHO PMCHKFXY CROCODILE GEZJ OWL BOOGEYMAN BFHBTK HEARSE. EUZZ F LZXE WLHX QQ RQGYU ANAOAPA. FRIGHTEN TSFTS OD BZNHRJWJB! VWT MASK JP CRA DEAD.

DTMSRUWR CURSE JTNJ ZKLFJWSE NTSCA EP VDQBVNKE? VBMEO!

BEAST KECTCH X SINISTER RLMZ GLUQ HELL HOUSE. K NVXPHRJL VULTURE IFZKLBYWN TYEZ AGH GAR GOYLE PARANOIA APEZF. RO QPD ZZEQMUDQHU RO WJJKWIG EXORCISMS QQ RO. AAHUGVJ SIX SIX SIX ROHZLEOPL KH SORCERER BHSFDKEET J DMRBK. BZKDZRD TARANTULA RO NLBADJ GROWLING JWDNFEKCN BITE EKS QZFMCFNRF SHARKS. KOZBLN OMEN C KING KONG VH OAXBY QQUPMQD BCDTFOOK.

YOURS,

MA BEELZEBUB

28

You are a terrible person and when you have the chance, I want to have your babies.

29

Over the past weeks You have slaved non-stop on this code, with no results. Now, with just two days until the full moon, You feel a growing sense of desperation. What will happen Thursday night if You do not solve this puzzle? Could be nothing. Or just maybe… could there be…* a werewolf apocalypse*?

You have been going through the coffee about as fast as your poor pot can brew it. Now You just want some juice and some sleep. Enough with this evil code! Let someone else save the world this time!

RIIIINNNNNGG!

It’s the phone.

You: Hello?

Brown: Hey. It’s Agent Brown. I called to ask if You have made any progress?

You: Oh, I’ve made progress all right. I’ve gone in a bunch of different directions. But I keep ending up back at the same place. Nowhere.

Brown: I also have been working on this code. No luck at all.

You: Suppose it’s all a hoax, some cruel Halloween prank. But I don’t think so. I feel like a failure this time. I’m about ready to give up.

Brown: Don’t say that! You are the finest codebreaker in the land! I’ve never told You how much I admire You. Year after year I’ve seen You crack codes that looked impossible, that no one else could solve. I still believe in You. I know You will save the day!

You: Thanks, Brown. Thanks. So you have been working on the code. Any helpful thoughts at all?

Brown: Sigh. I don’t know. I keep wondering, for instance, why should there be “fake punctuation?” If this code were punctuated any differently, how would that make it more solvable? And yet Loomis definitely said that at least some of the punctuation was suspect. Why would Barlow take the time to confuse the punctuation? There must be a reason. Find that reason and maybe we can crack the code. But what is being hidden by fake punctuation? What?

You: Good questions. Good questions indeed.

Brown: I’ve got some other thoughts too. Jones also has several pages of notes. We could all get together on Thursday and put all our ideas together. One final brainstorming session before the full moon could be productive.

You: OK Brown. Let’s do this. We can all work independently on this puzzle until Thursday afternoon. Then let’s get together, all three of us, and pool our thoughts. At least if the world is overcome by hordes of werewolves on Thursday night, we can say we were doing everything we could to prevent this lycanthropic disaster.

Brown: Yes! I’ll call Jones. We can set up a time to get together on Thursday. I’ll try to think of something new to bring to the table. I’ll bet You will too!

As You hang up the phone You have to smile. Agent Brown’s childlike faith in You is touching. Perhaps, if You put on just one more pot of coffee, perhaps if You study your notes just a little bit more…

Tick tock tick tock…

You look up at the kitchen clock. Two days until the full moon.

Tick tock tick tock…

30

Is this thing going to finish before the forum closes? Can the mods move this elsewhere?

31

[moderating]
Moved thread from “Boo!” to the Game Room so you can all keep playing when the Boo! forum closes later today.
[/moderating]

32

Jones telephones. He and Agent Brown will not be able to meet You late this morning as planned. Today is the day for the health insurance “Open Enrollment” Seminar at the CIA, and all agents are required to attend.

“I tried to get us out of it,” Jones explains,” But the Powers That Be don’t take the werewolf threat seriously. We’ll still be able to all get together after that dull seminar, but it likely won’t be any earlier than 3 o’clock this afternoon.”

You shake your head in amazement.

“That’s not going to give us a whole lot of time before the rising of the moon,” You mutter. “Guess we’ll have to do the best we can in a very short period. I was hoping that somehow this dastardly code would be cracked before today. Alas,I fear tonight is not going to be a good one. Not a good night at all.”

Jones also has a couple of other tidbits of news:

  • It has been discovered that Quentin Stokes spent a bit of time in the same Tennessee mental institution as Boris Barlow. Indeed, they were both there for several months in the latter part of 2010. Therefore, their twisted friendship and plotting could well have begun much earlier than this past summer. Stokes was released back in January of this year, over the strenuous objections of one of his doctors.

  • Analysis of the paper and ink used in the cryptic notes has brought a disturbing result. While the paper is standard stuff available anywhere, the ink consists of a combination of simple commercial Red Ink #2… and added drops of human blood.
    Tick tock tick tock tick tock…

33

In the midst of working away furiously on the code, You glance up at the clock… Jones and Brown will be arriving soon. You had hoped to have an answer for them by now, or at very least a solid lead, but You still feel more or less lost. In your conversations with Brown, You keep coming back to the idea that you’re moving in the wrong direction. This inspired You to try to look at the words backward, then the whole message, but sadly, nothing has jumped out at You yet. It may mean that backwards is yet another wrong direction, or simply that you’re not seeing what’s right in front of You.

Indeed, you’re doubting your abilities more and more as this case progresses. You’ve been combing your old case files for ideas, and to your dismay, You find that You often can’t make head or tail of those, either. Some of your notes detail the decryption process; those are generally clear. Sometimes, You only noted the decrypted message, and fortunately, you’re able to work your way back through most (though not all) of these. But a few are merely stamped “SOLVED!”, with just a few notes on the resolution of the case… and these are almost opaque to You. You have no idea how they worked; it’s as though they were solved by a different person. A different, much smarter person.

But You shake your head and resolve not to share this with Brown; you’d hate to crush his admiration for your talents, on top of everything else.

Well, you’ll still give them everything you’ve found; maybe something will click for them, if not for You. You set the codes aside and try to organize your notes:

  1. All the letters, A-Z, are there in every message. Further, there are words starting with every letter, or the letter itself as word, in nearly every message (one is missing a “J” word, and one is missing a “Z” word). This means that this can’t be a simple rearrangement of letters (such as a grid of some kind), or a one-to-one letter substitution scheme, or both, even if we totally disregarded the Halloween words (which doesn’t even seem possible, strictly speaking - more on that later).

This implies that there must be one or more of the following:
a) Extra letters
b) Missing letters
c) A varying letter substitution scheme
d) Some other scheme entirely, where a letter does not represent a letter

However, the frequencies of the letters actually track fairly closely to English letter frequencies. This is true of each message, but becomes even clearer when looking at all the messages together. So it’s just possible that the letters actually represent themselves, and are just rearranged, and/or have extra letters added.
2) There are several categories of words:
a) Words that appear coded
b) Halloween words
c) Words that appear to be specifically nonsense “EIEIO”, “CDEFGHI”, “ZZZZ”
d) Words that are not particularly spooky, but make sense: “AND”, “ICE”, etc.
e) Words that could be one or more of the above: “ASP”, “EEL”, “GRR”
I find it highly improbable, then, that the decoding involves removing or otherwise differently handling words based on their “type”.
3) There are some strange things about the Halloween words:
a) There are unnecessary plurals: “TWILIGHT ZONES”
b) There are irregular spaces: “SPIDERWEBS” vs. “SPIDER WEB”; also “CHAIN SAW” and even “GAR GOYLE”
4) Points 2) and 3) lead me to believe that the Halloween words are not merely red herrings to be disregarded. They must serve some purpose in the code. My guess is that the coded words are distributed throughout the messages, in all “types” of words.

But even though the letters follow an English distribution, more or less, there are some odd patterns:
5) RO: What is going on?!
a) Just as “RO”, it appears 19 times in the messages, which is almost 4 times as often as any other word, and is nearly 3% of all the words.
b) Of those 19 appearances, two are in succession as “RO RO”
c) It also appears as “RORO” twice, and “ROC” twice, or six more times.
d) As part of other words, it appears six more times:
– TERRORIZE
– HORROR
– MIRROR
– CROCODILE
– GROWLING
– ROHZLEOPLKH
e) That means this doublet appears in the messages a total of 31 times.
f) However, it does NOT appear in the third message in ANY form.
Is it just coincidence, or is it possible it serves some other function in the code - could it stand for “reverse order” or some such?
6) There are lots of doubles and near-doubles, in letters, letter pairs, and words:
a) “NBWT NEWT”
b) “MPM MPM”
c) “QUQUQ”
d) “RO RO” and also “RORO”
e) “FCHHNNNXR”
f) “XXGPGGTZ”
I have no idea what the significance of this might be, if any.
7) There are also similar words and patterns among and across letters (like “NBWT NEWT”, though not together):
a) “OACBY”, “OAXBY”
b) “CHOP”, “OHOP”
Again, could this just be coincidence? It seems an odd, small thing to be a red herring.
8) I’ve been thinking a lot about what Loomis said about the false punctuation, and Brown’s question about it - why bother faking it? What clue would that disguise? I wonder, is the punctuation actually “false”, i.e., a red herring, or does it in fact serve some other purpose? Is it merely to make us think sentences end where they don’t, or does it signal something to the decoder, such as where to begin applying a pattern?

If the code is backward, then the punctuation could make you think it’s actually forward.
9) What on Earth does “OFF” have to do with all this?

Then, there’s a knock at the door…

34

You open the door to find Jones, Brown, and two others. Jones introduces them as Agent Carl White and Agent Cindy Cooper. Both newcomers are with the CIA Cryptography Division, and have many years of service with the Company. You are ready with fresh coffee for everyone. A large boardroom-type table and several folding chairs are laid out.

The agents begin setting up easels and a portable chalkboard. Enlarged copies of each code are posted, with probable Halloween words in purple. Soon everyone is settled and pleasantries exchanged. Now it is time to get down to work! Jones, as senior agent, begins by going over with everyone the facts of the case so far. Then each of the other agents in turn speaks, with Brown deferring until the end.

Jones: As you all know, I am no expert in this field. I have had some success with codes in the past, but I am not in the league with the rest of you. All I can say is this: A spy code has to be able to be decoded quickly. It can’t be a puzzle for the intended recipient. The decoding cannot be vague. Say your decoded words all run together like [And here Jones writes on the chalkboard**]… THEREARE…**. Now this could be “There Are” or “The rear e—“ or “t…here are… or other combinations. You can’t have a code like that. For a code to work, it has to be translatable to one solution, and one solution only. So if our real word lengths are hidden and/or broken, then there must be something more to indicate the correct breakage. But my gut instinct tells me that the spaced letters that look like words, are indeed words.

Jones sits down. After some polite comments, Agent White rises.

Agent White: It still seems to me that the Halloween terms must hold the key. The code is obviously not consistent, but with some of the same coded sequences appearing several times there must be a pattern that breaks and returns depending on the Halloween words. Now I also think the one-letter-off werewolf thing is significant. Also the “RO”s might all stand for a common two-letter word like “is” or “to”. I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the different signature closings of the letters. We are obviously dealing with an egomaniac. “DOCTOR DEVIL” indeed.” Dr. Fruitcake”, I say! Well, if we don’t get anywhere with this tonight I bet we get somewhere this weekend. It has been arranged for Quentin Stokes to be transferred out of that cushy Knox County Jail. By Saturday, he’ll be in Washington in a real prison. I think we’ll get a confession then. The guy obviously isn’t so smart or he wouldn’t have gotten caught so easily. You don’t hide from cops in a donut shop!

General discussion ensues, but You remain mostly quiet. Secretly, You don’t put a lot of stock in the thoughts of Agent White.

Next comes Agent Cooper.

Agent Cooper: I agree with my learned colleague. A Halloween word change probably holds the key. Still, we could have a hidden message here amongst the crazy lettering. I’ve tried many random hunts for this message with the brilliant “hidden message” computer software that I have designed. No luck so far, but I may have an answer in the coming weeks. I think we should be discounting all the “X’s”, the “Q’s” and the “Z’s”. Let’s face it. “ZZZZ” can’t translate to anything. How could it be code for anything? Rubbish, I say! Let’s spend our time with the “E’s” and the “S’s” and the “T’s”. That’s the way to find a hidden message. Of course, there’s one other possibility. Perhaps one needs an outside source to solve this puzzle. If the spies have a codebook, we can’t really do anything with this. Actually, my money is on such a codebook existing. And if there is such a book, I think we’ll be able to get Stokes to sing this weekend. I doubt there’s really any werewolf virus, but this guy Stokes is likely the murderer of Billy Loomis.

More general discussion — with You mostly staying silent.

Brown is the last of the CIA agents to speak.

Brown: I know I’m younger and less experienced than all of you, but (and pardon me for saying so) somehow I don’t agree with much of what Agents White and Cooper have said.

[Here there are protests from White and a “rolleyes” from Cooper.]

Brown: I have been thinking a lot about what Loomis said, about the fake punctuation. Why did he mention that? If the Halloween words are just there to fool us, you’d think he’d mention those instead of the punctuation. I mean, if some of the punctuation is false, why would that matter? Then I thought, maybe it’s only some of the punctuation that’s false. Maybe everything else is real. Maybe the “ZZZZ” and the “AEIOU” and the “EIEIO” and all the rest are actually coded according to some system. What if that’s the case? And what about “GAR GOYLE?” Why is this Halloween word seperated? There must be a reason, and I bet it is not a “red herring” reason either! I think other than a few bits of phony punctuation, every single character in this code is required to break it.

More general discussion and arguing follows. Brown sits down and You notice the young agent does not look well at all. This case is taking its toll.

You hear the “ding” from your oven and realize that the meatloaf is ready. As the host, You felt obligated to provide food. You excuse yourself and take the meatloaf out to cool on the counter. Then You head to the bathroom. Perhaps by the time You get back You will be allowed to give your thoughts. You still think there is something important that no one yet has noticed. No one, including You.

35

As You stand at the bathroom mirror and wash your hands, You notice that the light outside has faded. Your bathroom only has a small book-size window. You press your face to the glass staring east. There, on the horizon, is the full moon. It has just completely come into view. You reflect on how odd it is that the clouds of the day should have blown off just as the moon rises. The bright yellow face of the man in the moon seems almost enraged. It is hard to turn away. You can almost hear a roaring and screaming from outside somewhere. Wait. That’s not outside. That’s in your living room!

When You exit the bathroom You encounter a shocking scene. The front door stands open. Agents White and Cooper lie prone on the floor. Blood is everywhere. In the corner You see a crouching Agent Jones. He is fending off what appears to be a werewolf.

“Jones!” You cry.

“Get out!” cries Jones, pointing to the front door. “Get out while You can! I’ve got the creature distracted. Save your life! Get out!”

But You cannot leave your friend. Rushing across the room, You fling yourself on the hairy abomination. With a growl, the creature turns and throws itself back upon You. A blood-smeared claw tears across your face. Quickly You pull yourself free and back slowly away. The snarling monster is horrific. If this thing is human by daylight, it is not human now!

In the corner of your eye You see Jones. He is also bleeding from a nasty gash across his chest. Jones’ torn white shirt and tie virtually gleam with blood.

Now the monster approaches and your back is to the wall. Suddenly You see a can of OFF on the shelf nearby. Worth a try? Why not. Grabbing the can You spray the menacing beast. The animal howls angrily. But other than possibly making the beast’s eyes sting, this is not working. You feel for a lighter in your pocket. Perhaps if You can just ignite the spray…

Too late. The murderous werewolf knocks the can of spray from your hand. Then it is upon you. Its foul fetid breath sickens You. Its jaws widen revealing rows and rows of jagged teeth. The grotesque werewolf spits drool across your face. Then as You struggle, the werewolf takes a huge bite out of your arm. More blood sprays. This time the flow is life-threatening. You fall to the ground and the horrible thing rises over You. You hear a triumphant growl. You prepare to die.

But now, suddenly, Jones is there. He picks up a metal folding chair and clobbers the werewolf. The surprised wolf crumples to the ground. However, the animal is only momentarily stunned. Neither You nor Jones are able to escape. This truly appears to be the end. Then, as the monster slowly rises to its feet, You spot the meatloaf, still cooling on the counter.

“Here boy! Come here boy! Have some nice fresh meatloaf!” You dangle this lump of breaded beef and bacon in front of the savage animal.

The werewolf looks hungrily at the meatloaf, just out of its reach. You see the monster crouch, ready to eat both You and the loaf together if need be. As the werewolf springs forward, You sidestep and toss the meatloaf into the bathroom through the still open door. Hungrily the werewolf dives into the bathroom after the flying pound of choice meat. You slam the door shut behind the loathsome thing.

Jones grabs a folding chair and props it up under the bathroom doorknob. Inside You both hear the enraged werewolf scream in anger.

“We better get out of here fast,” You say breathlessly to Jones. “I can see those two on the floor are still breathing. Help me pull them to safety. I can lock my door from the outside. There are no other windows or ways out, so I think we’ll have the creature trapped here until morning. The bathroom door is shoddy, but I’ve got some serious protection with this front door. I think the thing will be held here. This is unbelievable. Has Brown gone to get help?”

“That…” says Jones pointing to the bathroom, “That is Brown.”

As the blood pours from your wounds, You and Jones drag the two unconscious agents outside. From the bathroom comes another terrible howl. The door begins to give as You and Jones make your exit into the night air.

36

  • Near Knoxville Tennessee, 5 prison guards are dead and Quentin Stokes has escaped. The Knox County Jailhouse Interrogation Room is in shambles. A sixth surviving guard claims that Stokes turned into a monster. This severely injured man has been too weak to give any other details. Three more dead bodies have been recovered nearby. Another dozen victims suffered serious harm when “some sort of animal” attacked the group waiting outside a nearby movie theater. There are reports of at least fourteen other injuries in the vicinity. Police do not know what kind of animal caused this carnage. That creature is still on the loose. Residents are warned to stay indoors. An APB has been issued for Stokes.

  • On the University of Tennessee campus a sorority mixer turned violent. Conflicting reports indicate several wild animals attacked the event. A restaurant and a shopping mall nearby also reported viscious attacks. Six are dead and nearly a hundred injured. Police lend little credibility to reports that the attack was caused by several of Delta Delta Delta sisters who turned into werewolves. Authorities believe the witnesses who made this outrageous claim might have been drinking heavily before the fracas. However, three Tri Delta sorority sisters are still missing, and a fourth young lady was found this morning covered in blood at a nearby farm. The confused girl was surrounded by the corpses of over a dozen mutilated sheep. She knows not what occurred.

  • If reports are to be believed, Agent Phillips turned into a werewolf last evening as well. Though the man was still listed in “serious” condition in the Inova Fairfax Hospital, this did not prevent him from mutating into some sort of beast, according to numerous witnesses. The Phillips-wolf then staggered from its bed and lurched out into the fifth floor hallway. Nurses, doctors and patients alike ran screaming to elevators and stairwells. Fortunately, a clear-headed woman, Nurse Hoffman, was able to administer some sort of narcotic to Phillips, and the man-creature fell to the floor in a twitching slumber. One elderly patient died from a heart attack. Five more people were injured in their rush to escape this ailing wolfman. Finally, two nurses and a doctor were bitten as they wrested Phillips to the floor while Nurse Hoffman injected the narcotic. As of this morning, Phillips appears to have recovered from his transformation. He is still very weak and remembers nothing.

  • Agent Brown was removed from your house about 7am this morning. The horrified man wept after being told what happened to him. He is currently being examined at a local hospital. Agent White, Agent Cooper, and Agent Jones have all been treated and released from a local medical facility. You are still hospitalized. Doctors are optimistic You can go home tomorrow.

The current totals from these four events: 16 dead, 158 injured. These numbers are expected to rise.

37

This message arrived in Washington today.

To Whom It May Concern In The US Government:

I assume you now realize the power I possess is real. If you still have doubts, just ask the poor people around the Knox County Jail. Question those who saw the chaos at the University of Stinkin’ Tennessee. Inquire with Agent Brown of the CIA. I am not bluffing.

If my demands are not met, I will surely spread the werewolf virus. The past full moon was only a taste of what to expect. The next full moon will be worse. The one after that will be worse still. By the spring each full moon will be a monumental mass of murderous mayhem.

I want an answer to my all demands, and I want it by Tuesday. If, on or before November 15th, President Obama does not go on TV and tell everyone that I am a scientific genius who must be followed and worshipped, that Tennessee will cease to exist, that everything Master Barlow wants will be given, then I will know what to do. The real werewolf apocalypse will be set in motion. Any delay will be seen by me to be the obvious stalling that it is. Meet my demands now. This is your final warning.

Boris Barlow: The Devil Reborn

38

Jones accompanies You as You return to your apartment. The place is wrecked— but that’s about what one would expect having had a werewolf trapped inside one’s home for a night.

You wear a sling on your arm. There will always be a scar, the doctors tell You. But You are lucky. The injury could have been much worse. It is the injury to your heart that is most acute. You spent the morning with Agent Brown. The man was apologetic, and obviously quite scared. Brown broke down in tears several times. You feel You have let him down.

“Maybe Cooper was right,” Jones says. “Perhaps there is some codebook required to solve this thing.”

You shake your head. “Stokes was sent a cryptic Halloween message in his cell. He had no codebook, but he was expected to be able to understand what he received. No, everything one needs to solve these coded messages is right there on the page. I showed you my notes. I have made several deductions. Some points are probably red herrings, but I think other ideas have merit and can lead to a solution. I know that I have missed something, something that would give this whole thing away. But what? What observation has not been mentioned by any of us? What?”

“I don’t know,” replies Jones.

Your couch is ripped to pieces. Everything from your bookshelves is scattered about. Several treasured knickknacks are broken beyond repair.

Jones tells You the government has no intention of giving in to Stokes. There will be no announcement Tuesday, or any other day. They also don’t think Stokes will go through with his threats. After all, once the madman makes an uncontrollable and widespread release of the virus, he will no longer have a hold over the world. You think differently.

“I don’t think Stokes ever really believed we’d meet his demands,” You tell Jones. “I think this case is, and always was, about revenge. I suspect he’s been frothing at the mouth to get back at all those who have wronged him.”

Jones and You walk around your home, surveying the damage. You straighten a picture on the wall and return a few books to the bookshelf. Jones finds your coffeemaker. It has somehow survived the werewolf tantrum. As a pot brews Jones turns to You. He has something to say, and You suspect You know what it is.

“They found the missing Tennessee girls,” Jones says in almost a monotone. “They each have tested positive for werewolf virus. Phillips has the bug, as does Brown. Doctors have no hope of finding any cure soon. It may be years before a vaccine can be developed. Unless Barlow has some cure we are all unaware of, these folks are likely doomed to turn into wolves every full moon.”

“Poor Brown,” You sigh. “He’s a good man.”

“There’s something e-e-else You should know,” Jones stammers. He looks away as he speaks.

“Yes?”

“I don’t know how to say this. Doctor’s believe the virus can be transmitted by a bite. Your test will be back tomorrow and we will know for sure. But unless the medical men are wrong, You are probably infected too. When the full moon next arrives again, You will turn into a werewolf.”

And the words of that old poem dance through your head:

Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night,
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the Autumn moon is bright.

39

Okay. So You are officially a werewolf.

You look at your image in the mirror, half expecting to see your nose lengthen, your teeth sharpen, your eyes redden, and hair sprout from all over. But it is just your reflection looking back, nothing more. Okay, maybe there is a little surplus hair on your neck. Probably just your imagination. What happened to all those extra sensory powers that werewolves have in the movies? As far as You can tell, You don’t smell, hear, or sense differently. There are no plus sides to this werewolf disease, You decide.

Your apartment is almost back to normal. New furniture has arrived replacing the trashed stuff. The bathroom door is repaired. The carpet has been replaced. All in all, one would never know a werewolf had rampaged through the place less than a week ago.

What now? Well, nothing else to do besides return to the coded messages. Perhaps they will offer a way out of all this. And if not, there would still be some satisfaction at seeing Barlow and friends in custody.

So…what if Brown had not turned into a werewolf last Thursday night? Just what would You have said to the group of cryptologists? You consult your notes:

• These coded messages must be able to be solved with a paper, pencil, and nothing else. Stokes had no codebook in prison. He had no list of which words are “Halloween” words and which are not. Stokes must have been able to solve the code based on what’s there, and nothing more.
• There are different types of words, but is that important? How are the spies supposed to be able to decode these messages when one can’t always tell which word is which type? Sure, some are obvious, but others such as “EEK, “OZ,” or “BOO” could be either. There seems to be no pattern over where a “Halloween” word occurs in the text. Meaningless bits like “ZZZZ” and “EIEIO,” are just silly. The code writer is having a laugh at our expense. Are the “Halloween” words simply red herrings?
• Word length in “Halloween” words does seem important, else why “GAR GOYLE?” Why “TWILIGHT ZONES?” But how could this be important? Probably not a red herring…and yet…?
• “RO”'s and “CRA”’s? — No answer. Could easily be trickery of little importance. Probably trickery.
• Punctuation. Now this is interesting. We have no answer as to why the punctuation should be altered. Yet there must be a purpose, and possibly that purpose is to hide something. Loomis mentioned the punctuation instead of other red herrings. Why? Could Brown be correct that it is only some punctuation that is faked? Could Brown be right that everything else in the code, including the “ZZZZ” is relevant?
• Word lengths. They could be false, but again how? And if word lengths are false, why did Loomis not mention that instead of the seemingly benign punctuation play? So… let’s say word lengths are correct and further suppose that “CRA” and “OAXBY” and “FCHHNNNXR” actually stand for words of three, five, and nine letters. Now what?
• What about the “XFSHXMPG” Is this coded substitution for “Werewolf,” or is it trickery? Probably the latter.

Your head starts to spin with all this. How is it possible to have so many red herring in the code, and yet have these red herrings not alter or damage the code at all? How can such a thing be? And yet, if Brown is right and only a few bits of punctuation have been added, then what?

You lay all of these coded messages out across the table in front of You. You look at them long and hard. You imagine that some novice wannabe cryptologist might just walk up, look over your shoulder for a minute or two, and then say, ”Why haven’t You mentioned…”

What might that neophyte say?

40

He might say, [big hint][spoiler]Huh. All of these messages seem to have two parts, each with the same number of letters and the same word lengths (though the punctuation is different): For example, the second message is

QU CUJO XFSHXPMG XZXMWTVNO […] IE CZWQZ XLORZE WBEZB!
FJ KJUO OIZIWSGH TERRORIZE […] RO! YOURS, DOCTOR DEVIL
[/spoiler]