There is an urgent knocking at your front door. You answer and find Agent Jones of the CIA standing on your stoop. Uh-oh. Whenever the CIA has a tough code they cannot crack they always turn to You, the best cryptologist in the land.
“Haven’t seen you for a while, Jones,” You remark. “Come in.”
The Special Agent crosses into your abode and shakes your hand warmly.
“With all the modern forms of communication we find most spies don’t use coded paper messages anymore. But we have an exception,” Jones responds.
You offer him a chair and pour Jones a fresh cup of hot Brazilian free-trade coffee. He begins his story:
“We have not seen much activity from the spies over the last couple of years. But the CIA is always vigilant. Last week one of our agents spotted a suspected spy sitting in a hybrid Toyota parked outside CIA headquarters. Our agent jumped into her car and pursued him in a high-speed chase through the streets of Washington. Unfortunately, the Prius crashed into the Jefferson Memorial and our suspect was killed.”
“I read about that crash,” You remark. “I thought the newspapers said it was a drunk driving accident.”
“That was just our cover story for the media…and they bought it,” says Jones with a slight smile as he takes a sip of coffee.
Jones continues: “We don’t know what the man was up to, but we identified him as Joseph Robert Pinkley. He is in our files as a free agent spy currently working for the #2 man in the evil spy network—a shadowy figure known only as ‘Klaus’”.
“Pinkley might have been casing CIA headquarters…” You speculate.
“That’s what worries us. Right now the CIA is guarding some critical top secret blueprints. Klaus would have to be crazy to try and steal them. Our building is full of armed guards and agents. The blueprints should be safe, but…”
“How can I help?” You ask.
Jones puts down the now empty coffee cup and reaches into his coat pocket. He withdraws a folded note and hands it to you.
“We found this in Pinkley’s jacket. It is in a code our experts could not decipher. Indeed this may be the toughest code we have ever faced. I have brought it to you to see if you can do anything. Perhaps if you discover the message we may be able to figure out whatever fiendish plan this “Klaus” fellow is up to.”
Jones declines a second cup of coffee. As he leaves you promise to do your very best. But you do not like the feel of this. An ominous storm may be brewing. Can You crack the code and prevent an espionage disaster?
CF IHCU. QAWT EETGCVGF DBTKNNKCPV JDCXG “VGGTTQT” UCEKGPVKUVU HMGCT IECU YBJQ JGCNNWEKPCVG UIGG OOQUV. VKJKPI VNJG VLJGA CAPAQPG CHPF KCPJCNGU YJJCVGXGT VDJKU YFKNN CKPF KOP CVV QAPG QBH DUCVJTQQOU VTJG CHU JXGCFSWCTVGTU. VMJG FFKUIWKUG QCWT INCU UDRKGU EWKC VPJG CI KSP LJCPKVQT JQCPF YEKNN JGKOUGNH KLPUVCNN FRTAGTU VFQ LQWPG Q’LENQEM TGGNGCUG DDG POKIJV VAJG IICU TEKIIGF VHJG CJV VRYGPVKGVJ. QMP YCKNN QPH FBTAGTU GKNGXGP VNJG VDJG CFV DEWKNFKPI YBG OGKFPKIJV. VAJGP UCVQTO DHG EDKC HKGCT. CANN YGKNN QBH CEIGPVU YJKVJ KFPUKFG SIWCMKPI VCJG QDH UAQ IFWCTFU. CCNN YBKNN VEJGKT UBGETGV RCNCPU QFWTU! DEG VAJGKT YDKNN
