(More like* Sunday Evening Puzzle*. There was an emergency at work this a.m.-- no time to post then!)
You are once again greeted by Agent Jones of the CIA. Jones always comes to you when there is some extremely difficult code to break. But, after all, you are the nation’s top cryptographer. Today Jones brings you some especially alarming news. Smithers and three co-horts have escaped from their maximum security prison. You remember Smithers well. Your code breaking sent him up the river just a little over a month ago. “I will eliminate you!” Those were the words Smithers snarled at you as the cops hauled him away. You remember the hatred in his eyes and his cold, threatening words…and a chill runs up and down your spine.
“We don’t know how he escaped,” explains Jones. “It’s all very bizarre.”
Bizarre it is. Jones tells you that for the last month Smithers has been sitting in his cell muttering (and sometimes shrieking) threats all directed at you. Prison doctors have just about determined he is criminally insane, with little hope of recovery.
“His sick mind blames all his problems on you,” says Jones. “They even tried to get him to help out in the prison laundry, but he kept saying that the only stain he wanted to remove was you. Sigh.”
In what in retrospect was a rather foolish move, the prison authorities allowed Smithers to have contact with some other spy inmates. They thought contact with friends might bring him out of his homicidal mental state. But then word reached these same authorities that Smithers and his gang were plotting some kind of spectacular escape, so they were separated again. Yesterday evening, Smithers and three other former spies complained of sickness and were sent to the prison infirmary. They were left alone by the staff doctor for just a few minutes, with a guard posted outside the only door. When the doctor returned to the room all four inmates were gone. The prison was searched, but no trace of the men could be found. Security cameras showed the prisoners going behind a dressing room screen…and then never emerging. They seemed to simply vanish.
“The men must have disguised themselves and escaped somehow. They left their prison garb on the ground behind the screen,” Jones continues. “A sane man would try to get as far away from here as possible. Alas, Smithers is not a sane man. We are very concerned Smithers might try to make good on his threats to rub you out.”
“I am not afraid!” You declare shakily. “Are there any clues?”
“Yes. We found a note in the cell of Billy Parker, one of the escapees. It is encoded. Another mysterious message was found in one of the pockets of the discarded clothing. Our specialists have had no luck decoding these messages. I have brought them to you.”
“Thanks,” You say. “I’ll get started right away.”
“We will give you 'round-the-clock protection.” assures Jones. “Good luck.”
Can you decode the messages and help catch the criminals?
+++++
Message #1 (found in the jail cell of Billy Parker):
KOF$ KASHZPSOKPK YNDXH TSKOA%XHBHT UUD WJ%LOHB PUONDPO, SOW A%ZK#QHT, LSJUJ KONBSZR DOOZ$%ZH UP% DO KSGUUH YOO%W U%UZH SZAN. HWOWOHOAPK JUDKP PULHZP$-WU%#BU N%#BOK. YS YNDXH DBOBDZUYIHT UPY% NDXH PNOSK WUJ%BD SYZ PNHY YYFBOSK%OZ SOZ WSYBQDB$. %ZY KYDP#BYTD$ HXUHZSZI WDRH DZ SJJUUZHKK K% PNDOP LH ADZ HKADFH PU%IHPNHB DOZT FJ%P PYNH TUHKPB#APS%Z %UW %#B QYYHTTJHK%QH ASD OOOA%UTH EUBOOHDRHYB.
Message #2 (found in the prison clothes):
OOLNHZ LYH KNBYSZR PNHYBH AODYZ EH Z%U YPDJRSZI. I#DBTOK LSJUJ UZ%P EH J%Y%RSZI W%YB PSZ$ FOH%FJH PNHUYBHW%BH LYH ADZ HDKSJ$O HKAODFH E$ NSOTSUZI EHNOYSZT ODOO ANDOSB JHUI. %UB EUHZHDOUPN ODO THOUKR #ZPSJ PNUH A%DYKP SYK AJHYDB. BHZUTOHGOX%#K DUP AJU%PNSOZI KOP%BH M#KP OT%LZ YB%YDT WB%YQ MYDOUSJ. %ZAUH LH BUOHP#BZ UP% %#UB Z%BQUDJ KSOGH LOH LSYJYJ EH DEYJH PY%Y OKPHDJ U AOJ%PNHK. WBSHZTK FOB%QSOKH ODY IOHPUDLD$ ADB LDSPSZOOI.
+++++
