Breaking the Code - Chapter 17
Numb3rs/Foyle's War crossover, set in WWII
Characters: Don, Alan & Charlie Eppes, Colby Granger, Larry Fleinhardt, Christopher Foyle, Samantha Stewart, Paul Milner
Rating: T for some violence and ethnic slurs
Beta: Digeediva -- she sure has a way with words!
Note: Some of my characters, good guys and bad guys, have attitudes that might be offensive to 21st century readers. I decided to let my characters' attitudes reflect their times rather than the sensibilities of readers in 2009. If you find this offensive, I sincerely apologize.
Charlie coughed. Realizing that breathing through his nose didn’t work, he opened his mouth and gasped for air.
“Mick. Your buddy ’ere is waking up.”
Charlie opened his eyes and blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision.
“Gimme a minute,” Mick called.
Charlie looked in the direction of Mick’s voice. The man was erasing the blackboards. The blond was gathering up papers and shoving them into the fireplace. Charlie pushed himself to a sitting position. “Stop!”
Mick dropped the eraser and strode toward Charlie. “I’d like to see you make me.”
Charlie stood shakily, bracing himself against the wall. He had no clue what he was going to do. He just knew he had to stop them from destroying his work. “You can’t… .”
Mick sneered, slamming a fist into Charlie’s belly. “Siddown and shut yer yap.”
Charlie dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.
“Oy, Red,” the blond said, “look at this.” He handed a paper to the redhead. “Is that a copy of the original message?”
Red studied the paper. “Sure looks like it. We’d better take this with us.”
“No!” Charlie clutched his belly with one hand and struggled to his feet again.
Mick backhanded him. He slammed back against the wall, and slid into a sitting position. He was trying to stand again when his eyes drifted shut and he sank into darkness.
------------------------------------------
Don let Sam help him up the stairs. “Do you have a phone?”
“I do, but you’re in no shape … .”
Don pulled away from Sam. “I’m fine! Just show me the phone.”
“You don’t have to snap at me.”
“I’m sorry, Sam. Those guys mean business. They’re after Charlie and me because we’re Jewish. You heard what they called me. Let me just call the inn and check in with Charlie.”
Sam sighed. “I guess that makes sense. The telephone’s over there. The directory is on the shelf beneath it. Or do you have the White Feather’s number memorized?”
“Charlie’s the numbers guy, not me,” Don said as he pulled the book out. He looked up the phone number and dialed. “Hello? Mrs. Weeks? This is Don Eppes. Is my brother there?”
“He’s gone out, Captain. Would you like to leave a message?”
“Did he say where he was going?”
“I thought he said something to Dr. Fleinhardt about going to school. But that couldn’t be right, could it? It’s rather late to be going to school.”
“That makes sense. I’ll check there. Thanks, Mrs. Weeks.” Don hung up and turned around looking for Sam. “Sam?”
She returned, carrying a wet washcloth and a towel. “I’m here. Let me clean you off a bit.”
“Later. Something doesn't feel right about this whole thing. Do you have a car?”
“No. And the Wolseley is at the police station. What’s wrong?”
“Charlie’s gone to the school by himself. I want to go up to the school and make sure he’s okay.
“I have a bicycle, if that would help.”
“Yeah, that would be great. Where is it?” Don was already heading for the front door.
“It’s in the back garden. Come on through the kitchen. Are you sure you’ll be all right?” She lifted the washcloth and dabbed at Don’s mouth as they walked to the kitchen.
“I’ll be fine.” He reached up and squeezed her hand. “You can patch me up after I make sure Charlie’s okay.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Did you ever consider a career in the majors? The way you swung that shovel, you could have hit a home run.”
“I’m not sure if I know what that means, but thanks.” She opened the back door and she and Don walked to the bicycle leaning against the fence. “Drive carefully!” She touched his cheek. “You’ve got enough bumps and bruises. And you’d better come back so I can fix you up. I did have first aid training, you know.”
Don began wheeling the bike toward the front of the house. “Do I have to drive this thing on the wrong side of the road?”
“It’s the correct side,” Sam called as he rode out of the yard.
------------------------------------------
Charlie awoke to pain. It took him a moment to remember where he was and why it hurt. He opened his eyes and squeezed them shut, trying to clear his vision. “Charlie?” a woman’s voice whispered.
He opened his eyes again and stared at the blurry shape hovering over him.“Who? Wha..?” The voice sounded familiar, but he just couldn’t place it.
“Charlie, it’s me, Anna. What happened?”
“Anna? Wha’re you doin’ here?”
“Never mind that. What the hell happened to you? Who were those guys…?”
“Whoa, whoa. One question at a time, okay?” Charlie struggled to sit up, pressing his hand to his ribs. “Ouch!” He reached up and gingerly touched his nose. “I think it’s broken.”
Anna pulled his hand away from his face. “Let me see. I think you’re right. You stay here. I’m going to call for an ambulance.”
Charlie grabbed her arm. “No. Wait. Help me up.”
“Is that really a good idea?”
“I need to call Don. They're going after him.” Charlie began pulling himself to his feet.
“Who were they?” Anna said as she stood with him.
“I don’t know. Three thugs. They were trying to convince me to stop working on this,” he waved a hand toward the blackboards.
Anna bent to help him to his feet. “Whatever it was, it looks like most of it’s been erased.”
Charlie groaned as he looked at the remnants of his work. Most of the groups of letters were gone. Some of the words near the top were still visible, but that was about it.“I know. But first I’ve got to get to the phone. It’s out in the lobby.” Anna put her arm around his waist, and they walked to the lobby. He dialed the number of the White Feather. “Mrs. Weeks, this is Charlie Eppes. Is Don there?”
“I’m afraid not, Dr. Eppes. He just called looking for you a few minutes ago. I told him you went to school, and he seemed to understand what that meant. Was that all right? I overheard you speaking with Dr. Fleinhardt.”
“That’s fine. Do you know if Dr. Fleinhardt is in?”
“I believe so. Let me put you through to his room.”
A moment later, Larry answered, “Hello?”
“Larry, this is Charlie. Is your door locked?”
“No. Why?”
“Lock it now, and don’t open it. Some guys just attacked me in the school and destroyed all of our work.”
“Oh my, Charles! Are you all right?”
“I’ll be fine. Just a few bumps and bruises. Listen, put the phone down and go lock your door. Now.”
Larry sighed. “All right. I think you’re overreacting, but I’ll humor you. Hang on.” Charlie grimaced as the phone clattered on a hard surface. A moment later, Larry said, “I’m back. The door is locked. Have you called the police?”
“Not yet. I need to find Don first and make sure he’s okay. Keep your door locked!” Charlie warned. “I’ll see you later.” Charlie hung up the phone and looked around the lobby. Anna was gone. “Anna? Where are you?”
“In here,” her voice came from the classroom. “What do these words mean? ‘Witsef,’ ‘hitsef,’ ‘hitler?’”
“Hitler? No, that last one is … .” Charlie’s eyes widened as he realized what Anna had just said and he hobbled into the room. “Those were our attempts at finding the key word to decrypt the message. But I think you may have solved it.” He limped over to the fireplace and knelt with difficulty, looking at the pile of ashes and scorched papers. He began tugging papers away from the flames.
“What are you doing? You’re going to get burned!” Anna rushed to his side and pulled his hand away from the fireplace.
Charlie pushed her hand aside. “Stop it! I’ve got to find a copy of the message. I should have stopped them …,” he yanked a smoldering piece of paper away from the flames. “Yes!”
Anna stood quickly and stepped on the smoldering edges of the paper. “Be careful!”
“Help me up,” Charlie reached up. As Anna pulled him to his feet, he gasped in pain.
“I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”
“I’m okay. Let’s get to work.”
“Come over here and sit at the desk. I’m going to call for an ambulance.”
“Forget that.” He handed the paper to her. “Read these letters to me in groups of six.” Charlie walked to the board and picked up a piece of chalk.
“Why?” Anna stood, hands on hips.
Charlie slammed the chalk down. “You have been pestering the heck out of me to tell you what’s going on. That,” he pointed at the paper in Anna’s hand, “is an encoded message that may very well be the reason why your friend was killed. I think you may have stumbled upon the keyword that will let me decode the message and maybe give the police some idea who killed her. Now, are you going to help me or not?”
“How about if you sit and read this and I write on the blackboard? All I have to do it put the letters in groups of six, right? I may not be a spymaster, but I think I can handle that much.”
“Deal.” Charlie took the paper and sat at the desk. He squinted at the paper, trying to clear his vision.
“What’s wrong?” Anna asked.
“I’m seeing two of everything.”
Anna put her hands on Charlie’s shoulders and began to gently massage them. “Why don’t you take a moment and rest?”
Just as Charlie was beginning to relax, they heard the front door open. Anna squeezed his shoulders. “Oh, God! Are they coming back?”
“Charlie!?” Don called from the hallway. A moment later, he pushed the classroom door open.
Charlie struggled to his feet. “Don? Are you okay?”
Don rushed to Charlie’s side. “Buddy? What happened? Who did this?”
“I don’t know who they are. Larry and I did run into one of them at lunch today. What happened to you?” Charlie scowled as he studied Don’s face.
“Three guys jumped me after I dropped Sam off at her place.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” Don grinned. “She whacked them with a shovel and chased them away. And don’t say it. Yeah, I was rescued by a girl.” Anna laughed, drawing Don’s attention. “What are you doing here?”
“I … uh … I noticed Charlie leaving, and I felt bad for being so nasty to him at dinner, so I followed him. I wanted to apologize.”
“And you wanted to figure out what he was doing, right?” Don asked.
“All right. You got me. All this cloak and dagger stuff made me curious. And I don’t like not knowing what’s going on.”
Don narrowed his eyes. “You know, of course, that you’re not going to be able to tell anyone else about what you see here.”
“Aw, come on, Don. I’m a reporter. You can’t expect me to sit on a story this big.”
“I can, and I do,” Don said. “What is going on here has already cost one life. And who knows how many more people will die because of whatever this is,” he waved at the blackboards. He turned to Charlie. “The guys who attacked you - they erased your work?”
“Yeah. They erased the boards, kept a copy of the original message and burned the rest. They said they had the keyword and were going to translate the message. But I think Anna may have figured out the keyword. If she has it right, I should be able to decipher the message before it’s too late."
“Crap,” Don said. “I guess you’d better get it deciphered then. Larry didn’t come with you?”
“No. He had some work to do for our other job. I called him and told him to lock his door.”
“Good idea. How long do you think this’ll take?”
“Not long. If Anna’s right about the keyword, all I need to do is change this version back to the original and then use Anna’s keyword to decipher it.”
“So you’ll need one of those charts with all the alphabets on it, right? I can take care of that while you read that stuff to Anna. Then when you’re done with it, we can call Christopher and get him on the case.”
“Makes sense to me. That chart with the alphabets is called the Vigenere square, by the way. All right, Anna,” Charlie said, “You ready? At the top of the board, write ‘witsef.’ That’s the keyword we were using when we wrote this sheet.”
Don finished the Vigenere square, then pulled a chair over next to Charlie and sat down. Charlie was running his finger along the groups of letters as he read them to Anna. He glanced up at Don and gave him a shaky grin. Don wondered if his face looked as bad as his brother’s. Charlie’s nose was swollen and off kilter enough that Don was sure it was broken. The bleeding had stopped but his breathing was still labored. Don reached out and took hold of the paper in Charlie’s hand. “Why don’t you let me read for a while?”
Charlie released the paper and nodded. “Start here,” he pointed to the next group of letters. “You sure you’re okay?”
Don shook his head. “No. But I’m doing better than you.”
Once Anna finished writing the message on the blackboard, Charlie pushed himself to his feet. “Now I’ll use Don’s Vigenere square to fix the first, fourth and sixth letters in each group. They were decoded using “witsef,” and I’ll change them so they’re decoded with “Hitler” instead. Then we’ll see if we have anything that makes sense.”
“How will you do that?” Don asked. “Don’t you have to get it back to the original first?”
“I’ll actually be doing both steps at once. Look,” he pointed to the first group Anna had written, ‘WILBBQ.’ “The first letter is ‘w.’ I go to the top row of the Vigenere square and find the ‘w.’ Then I go down that column until I get to the row that begins with ‘w.’ The letter I hit is ‘s.’ That changes it back to the way it was in the original message. So I go up to the row beginning with ‘h’ and go across until I hit ‘s.’ Then I follow up that column to the top and the letter is ‘l.’ Is that clear?” He used his fingers to erase the ‘w’ and changed it to an ‘l.’
“Clear as mud,” Don admitted. “But I guess you know what you’re doing. I’ll just shut up and let you do your magic.”
Don and Anna watched quietly as Charlie changed the message. When he stepped away from the board, the message was:
LILIBE TWILLA RRIVEC AMBERL EYFIRS TJUNEY OUARET OTAKEH ERHOST AGEIFP OSSIBL EONLYK ILLHER ASALAS TRESOR TSHEWI LLBEKN OWNASS ECONDS UBALTE RNELIZ ABETHW INDSOR KESTRE LWILLP ROVIDE ANYTHI NGYOUN EEDCON TACTME ASSOON ASYOUH AVEACC OMPLIS HEDYOU RMISSI ONNEXT DROPWI LLBEIN THEWHI TEFEAT HER
Anna studied it quietly, then began to read, “Lilibet will arrive Camberley first June. You are to take her hostage if possible. Only kill her as a last resort. She will be known as Second Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor. Kestrel will provide anything you need. Contact me as soon as you have accomplished your mission. Next drop will be in the White Feather.”
“Who’s Lilibet?” Charlie asked.
“Elizabeth Windsor,” Don said softly. “Princess Elizabeth. Next in line for the throne of England.”
“Lilibet is her family’s nickname for her,” Anna said.
Don was on his feet, heading for the lobby. “I’m calling Foyle.”
Characters: Don, Alan & Charlie Eppes, Colby Granger, Larry Fleinhardt, Christopher Foyle, Samantha Stewart, Paul Milner
Rating: T for some violence and ethnic slurs
Beta: Digeediva -- she sure has a way with words!
Note: Some of my characters, good guys and bad guys, have attitudes that might be offensive to 21st century readers. I decided to let my characters' attitudes reflect their times rather than the sensibilities of readers in 2009. If you find this offensive, I sincerely apologize.
Charlie coughed. Realizing that breathing through his nose didn’t work, he opened his mouth and gasped for air.
“Mick. Your buddy ’ere is waking up.”
Charlie opened his eyes and blinked a few times, trying to clear his vision.
“Gimme a minute,” Mick called.
Charlie looked in the direction of Mick’s voice. The man was erasing the blackboards. The blond was gathering up papers and shoving them into the fireplace. Charlie pushed himself to a sitting position. “Stop!”
Mick dropped the eraser and strode toward Charlie. “I’d like to see you make me.”
Charlie stood shakily, bracing himself against the wall. He had no clue what he was going to do. He just knew he had to stop them from destroying his work. “You can’t… .”
Mick sneered, slamming a fist into Charlie’s belly. “Siddown and shut yer yap.”
Charlie dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.
“Oy, Red,” the blond said, “look at this.” He handed a paper to the redhead. “Is that a copy of the original message?”
Red studied the paper. “Sure looks like it. We’d better take this with us.”
“No!” Charlie clutched his belly with one hand and struggled to his feet again.
Mick backhanded him. He slammed back against the wall, and slid into a sitting position. He was trying to stand again when his eyes drifted shut and he sank into darkness.
------------------------------------------
Don let Sam help him up the stairs. “Do you have a phone?”
“I do, but you’re in no shape … .”
Don pulled away from Sam. “I’m fine! Just show me the phone.”
“You don’t have to snap at me.”
“I’m sorry, Sam. Those guys mean business. They’re after Charlie and me because we’re Jewish. You heard what they called me. Let me just call the inn and check in with Charlie.”
Sam sighed. “I guess that makes sense. The telephone’s over there. The directory is on the shelf beneath it. Or do you have the White Feather’s number memorized?”
“Charlie’s the numbers guy, not me,” Don said as he pulled the book out. He looked up the phone number and dialed. “Hello? Mrs. Weeks? This is Don Eppes. Is my brother there?”
“He’s gone out, Captain. Would you like to leave a message?”
“Did he say where he was going?”
“I thought he said something to Dr. Fleinhardt about going to school. But that couldn’t be right, could it? It’s rather late to be going to school.”
“That makes sense. I’ll check there. Thanks, Mrs. Weeks.” Don hung up and turned around looking for Sam. “Sam?”
She returned, carrying a wet washcloth and a towel. “I’m here. Let me clean you off a bit.”
“Later. Something doesn't feel right about this whole thing. Do you have a car?”
“No. And the Wolseley is at the police station. What’s wrong?”
“Charlie’s gone to the school by himself. I want to go up to the school and make sure he’s okay.
“I have a bicycle, if that would help.”
“Yeah, that would be great. Where is it?” Don was already heading for the front door.
“It’s in the back garden. Come on through the kitchen. Are you sure you’ll be all right?” She lifted the washcloth and dabbed at Don’s mouth as they walked to the kitchen.
“I’ll be fine.” He reached up and squeezed her hand. “You can patch me up after I make sure Charlie’s okay.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Did you ever consider a career in the majors? The way you swung that shovel, you could have hit a home run.”
“I’m not sure if I know what that means, but thanks.” She opened the back door and she and Don walked to the bicycle leaning against the fence. “Drive carefully!” She touched his cheek. “You’ve got enough bumps and bruises. And you’d better come back so I can fix you up. I did have first aid training, you know.”
Don began wheeling the bike toward the front of the house. “Do I have to drive this thing on the wrong side of the road?”
“It’s the correct side,” Sam called as he rode out of the yard.
------------------------------------------
Charlie awoke to pain. It took him a moment to remember where he was and why it hurt. He opened his eyes and squeezed them shut, trying to clear his vision. “Charlie?” a woman’s voice whispered.
He opened his eyes again and stared at the blurry shape hovering over him.“Who? Wha..?” The voice sounded familiar, but he just couldn’t place it.
“Charlie, it’s me, Anna. What happened?”
“Anna? Wha’re you doin’ here?”
“Never mind that. What the hell happened to you? Who were those guys…?”
“Whoa, whoa. One question at a time, okay?” Charlie struggled to sit up, pressing his hand to his ribs. “Ouch!” He reached up and gingerly touched his nose. “I think it’s broken.”
Anna pulled his hand away from his face. “Let me see. I think you’re right. You stay here. I’m going to call for an ambulance.”
Charlie grabbed her arm. “No. Wait. Help me up.”
“Is that really a good idea?”
“I need to call Don. They're going after him.” Charlie began pulling himself to his feet.
“Who were they?” Anna said as she stood with him.
“I don’t know. Three thugs. They were trying to convince me to stop working on this,” he waved a hand toward the blackboards.
Anna bent to help him to his feet. “Whatever it was, it looks like most of it’s been erased.”
Charlie groaned as he looked at the remnants of his work. Most of the groups of letters were gone. Some of the words near the top were still visible, but that was about it.“I know. But first I’ve got to get to the phone. It’s out in the lobby.” Anna put her arm around his waist, and they walked to the lobby. He dialed the number of the White Feather. “Mrs. Weeks, this is Charlie Eppes. Is Don there?”
“I’m afraid not, Dr. Eppes. He just called looking for you a few minutes ago. I told him you went to school, and he seemed to understand what that meant. Was that all right? I overheard you speaking with Dr. Fleinhardt.”
“That’s fine. Do you know if Dr. Fleinhardt is in?”
“I believe so. Let me put you through to his room.”
A moment later, Larry answered, “Hello?”
“Larry, this is Charlie. Is your door locked?”
“No. Why?”
“Lock it now, and don’t open it. Some guys just attacked me in the school and destroyed all of our work.”
“Oh my, Charles! Are you all right?”
“I’ll be fine. Just a few bumps and bruises. Listen, put the phone down and go lock your door. Now.”
Larry sighed. “All right. I think you’re overreacting, but I’ll humor you. Hang on.” Charlie grimaced as the phone clattered on a hard surface. A moment later, Larry said, “I’m back. The door is locked. Have you called the police?”
“Not yet. I need to find Don first and make sure he’s okay. Keep your door locked!” Charlie warned. “I’ll see you later.” Charlie hung up the phone and looked around the lobby. Anna was gone. “Anna? Where are you?”
“In here,” her voice came from the classroom. “What do these words mean? ‘Witsef,’ ‘hitsef,’ ‘hitler?’”
“Hitler? No, that last one is … .” Charlie’s eyes widened as he realized what Anna had just said and he hobbled into the room. “Those were our attempts at finding the key word to decrypt the message. But I think you may have solved it.” He limped over to the fireplace and knelt with difficulty, looking at the pile of ashes and scorched papers. He began tugging papers away from the flames.
“What are you doing? You’re going to get burned!” Anna rushed to his side and pulled his hand away from the fireplace.
Charlie pushed her hand aside. “Stop it! I’ve got to find a copy of the message. I should have stopped them …,” he yanked a smoldering piece of paper away from the flames. “Yes!”
Anna stood quickly and stepped on the smoldering edges of the paper. “Be careful!”
“Help me up,” Charlie reached up. As Anna pulled him to his feet, he gasped in pain.
“I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”
“I’m okay. Let’s get to work.”
“Come over here and sit at the desk. I’m going to call for an ambulance.”
“Forget that.” He handed the paper to her. “Read these letters to me in groups of six.” Charlie walked to the board and picked up a piece of chalk.
“Why?” Anna stood, hands on hips.
Charlie slammed the chalk down. “You have been pestering the heck out of me to tell you what’s going on. That,” he pointed at the paper in Anna’s hand, “is an encoded message that may very well be the reason why your friend was killed. I think you may have stumbled upon the keyword that will let me decode the message and maybe give the police some idea who killed her. Now, are you going to help me or not?”
“How about if you sit and read this and I write on the blackboard? All I have to do it put the letters in groups of six, right? I may not be a spymaster, but I think I can handle that much.”
“Deal.” Charlie took the paper and sat at the desk. He squinted at the paper, trying to clear his vision.
“What’s wrong?” Anna asked.
“I’m seeing two of everything.”
Anna put her hands on Charlie’s shoulders and began to gently massage them. “Why don’t you take a moment and rest?”
Just as Charlie was beginning to relax, they heard the front door open. Anna squeezed his shoulders. “Oh, God! Are they coming back?”
“Charlie!?” Don called from the hallway. A moment later, he pushed the classroom door open.
Charlie struggled to his feet. “Don? Are you okay?”
Don rushed to Charlie’s side. “Buddy? What happened? Who did this?”
“I don’t know who they are. Larry and I did run into one of them at lunch today. What happened to you?” Charlie scowled as he studied Don’s face.
“Three guys jumped me after I dropped Sam off at her place.”
“Is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” Don grinned. “She whacked them with a shovel and chased them away. And don’t say it. Yeah, I was rescued by a girl.” Anna laughed, drawing Don’s attention. “What are you doing here?”
“I … uh … I noticed Charlie leaving, and I felt bad for being so nasty to him at dinner, so I followed him. I wanted to apologize.”
“And you wanted to figure out what he was doing, right?” Don asked.
“All right. You got me. All this cloak and dagger stuff made me curious. And I don’t like not knowing what’s going on.”
Don narrowed his eyes. “You know, of course, that you’re not going to be able to tell anyone else about what you see here.”
“Aw, come on, Don. I’m a reporter. You can’t expect me to sit on a story this big.”
“I can, and I do,” Don said. “What is going on here has already cost one life. And who knows how many more people will die because of whatever this is,” he waved at the blackboards. He turned to Charlie. “The guys who attacked you - they erased your work?”
“Yeah. They erased the boards, kept a copy of the original message and burned the rest. They said they had the keyword and were going to translate the message. But I think Anna may have figured out the keyword. If she has it right, I should be able to decipher the message before it’s too late."
“Crap,” Don said. “I guess you’d better get it deciphered then. Larry didn’t come with you?”
“No. He had some work to do for our other job. I called him and told him to lock his door.”
“Good idea. How long do you think this’ll take?”
“Not long. If Anna’s right about the keyword, all I need to do is change this version back to the original and then use Anna’s keyword to decipher it.”
“So you’ll need one of those charts with all the alphabets on it, right? I can take care of that while you read that stuff to Anna. Then when you’re done with it, we can call Christopher and get him on the case.”
“Makes sense to me. That chart with the alphabets is called the Vigenere square, by the way. All right, Anna,” Charlie said, “You ready? At the top of the board, write ‘witsef.’ That’s the keyword we were using when we wrote this sheet.”
Don finished the Vigenere square, then pulled a chair over next to Charlie and sat down. Charlie was running his finger along the groups of letters as he read them to Anna. He glanced up at Don and gave him a shaky grin. Don wondered if his face looked as bad as his brother’s. Charlie’s nose was swollen and off kilter enough that Don was sure it was broken. The bleeding had stopped but his breathing was still labored. Don reached out and took hold of the paper in Charlie’s hand. “Why don’t you let me read for a while?”
Charlie released the paper and nodded. “Start here,” he pointed to the next group of letters. “You sure you’re okay?”
Don shook his head. “No. But I’m doing better than you.”
Once Anna finished writing the message on the blackboard, Charlie pushed himself to his feet. “Now I’ll use Don’s Vigenere square to fix the first, fourth and sixth letters in each group. They were decoded using “witsef,” and I’ll change them so they’re decoded with “Hitler” instead. Then we’ll see if we have anything that makes sense.”
“How will you do that?” Don asked. “Don’t you have to get it back to the original first?”
“I’ll actually be doing both steps at once. Look,” he pointed to the first group Anna had written, ‘WILBBQ.’ “The first letter is ‘w.’ I go to the top row of the Vigenere square and find the ‘w.’ Then I go down that column until I get to the row that begins with ‘w.’ The letter I hit is ‘s.’ That changes it back to the way it was in the original message. So I go up to the row beginning with ‘h’ and go across until I hit ‘s.’ Then I follow up that column to the top and the letter is ‘l.’ Is that clear?” He used his fingers to erase the ‘w’ and changed it to an ‘l.’
“Clear as mud,” Don admitted. “But I guess you know what you’re doing. I’ll just shut up and let you do your magic.”
Don and Anna watched quietly as Charlie changed the message. When he stepped away from the board, the message was:
LILIBE TWILLA RRIVEC AMBERL EYFIRS TJUNEY OUARET OTAKEH ERHOST AGEIFP OSSIBL EONLYK ILLHER ASALAS TRESOR TSHEWI LLBEKN OWNASS ECONDS UBALTE RNELIZ ABETHW INDSOR KESTRE LWILLP ROVIDE ANYTHI NGYOUN EEDCON TACTME ASSOON ASYOUH AVEACC OMPLIS HEDYOU RMISSI ONNEXT DROPWI LLBEIN THEWHI TEFEAT HER
Anna studied it quietly, then began to read, “Lilibet will arrive Camberley first June. You are to take her hostage if possible. Only kill her as a last resort. She will be known as Second Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor. Kestrel will provide anything you need. Contact me as soon as you have accomplished your mission. Next drop will be in the White Feather.”
“Who’s Lilibet?” Charlie asked.
“Elizabeth Windsor,” Don said softly. “Princess Elizabeth. Next in line for the throne of England.”
“Lilibet is her family’s nickname for her,” Anna said.
Don was on his feet, heading for the lobby. “I’m calling Foyle.”