As she prepared for the remote interview, Grace was glad that it would be voice only. She did not feel up to dealing with her hair and makeup people. She could do this one sitting on the couch in her PJs if she wanted. The wireless communications device had been delivered to the room at noon, and the technician had set up the device and tested it. All she had to do was hit one button at ten ‘til three for the final voice check, and she would be good to go. She checked the time, and realized she still had another hour before she would have to do so. Her mind drifted back to the cryptic message she had found on Mason’s slate, and she called up the image on her Smart contact. She stared at the image for a bit, with no recognition at its meaning, and then decided to use the Optical Character Recognition app to copy the letters into a doc app. Once again she stared at the message. It read: Bapr gur qrivprf ner va cynpr, jnvg hagvy ur unf neevirq naq lbh ner fher gung ur vf jryy vafvqr gur ohvyqvat orsber qrgbangvba. Lbh bayl unir bar fubg ng guvf. Qb abg fperj vg hc.
She shook her head. Okay, she thought, obviously it is a coded message. She could not imagine what message Mason would send that had to be coded, but the only way to find out was to figure out what the message said. And so, if it was coded, there had to be a code. And if there was a code, then it could be broken. It would just take time to do so. She activated the white board app on her contact, and the message appeared before her at arms reach. She began to re-arrange the letters, wiping her hands back and forth to push them around, to see if possibly it was some type of anagram coding system. She quickly decided this was not the solution, and reset the board. The letters returned to their starting positions.
She began to analyze the grouping of the letters. There were several groups of two, and several of three letters each. Could these be actual word groupings, she wondered. Was it a simple letter replacement code? Okay, she thought, if it was, and the original message was in English, then there were some characteristics that she should be able to start with. E is often the most common letter used in any text, so if she isolated the most common letter in this coded message, it would likely translate to the letter E. After a bit of hectic counting, she was able to determine that the most common letter in the coded message was the letter R, which appeared nearly fifty percent more often than any other letter. She did a quick search and replace, replacing all Rs with Es. But now the message was even more confusing. If she proceeded like this she would not be able to keep track of which letters she replaced and which were original. She reset the message again.
Pausing to think for a moment, she manually adjusted all of the upper case characters to lower case. The she once again did the search and replace, but this time replaced all of the lower case Rs with Upper case Es. Now the message read: bapE guE qEivpEf neE va cynpE, jnvg hagvy uE unf neeviEq naq lbh neE fheE gung uE vf jEyy vafvqE guE ohvyqvat oEsbeE qEgbangvba. lbh bayl uniE baE fubg ng guvf. qb abg fpeEj vg hc. She shook her head. It still made no sense to her. Okay, she reasoned, there are very few words that have only two letters, and end in E. This message contained one of those words, and it contained it twice. The letters uE appeared twice together. The first word she thought of was BE, so she quickly replaced all Us with Bs. The message now read: bapE gBE qEivpEf neE va cynpE, jnvg hagvy BE Bnf neeviEq naq lbh neE fheE gBng BE vf jEyy vafvqE gBE ohvyqvat oEsbeE qEgbangvba. lbh bayl BniE baE fBbg ng gBvf. qb abg fpeEj vg hc.
Immediately she noticed that the second word now read gBE. There was no three letter word that she was aware of that ended with BE, so she undid the last replacement, and search and replaced again, using H instead. HE was the next two letter word she could think of that ended in E. The message now read: bapE gHE qEivpEf neE va cynpE, jnvg hagvy HE Hnf neeviEq naq lbh neE fheE gHng HE vf jEyy vafvqE gHE ohvyqvat oEsbeE qEgbangvba. lbh bayl HniE baE fHbg ng gHvf. qb abg fpeEj vg hc. Now she noticed that the second word was gHE, and on a whim immediately thought of the word THE. Quickly she replaced all Gs with Ts. The message now read: bapE THE qEivpEf neE va cynpE, jnvT haTvy HE Hnf neeviEq naq lbh neE fheE THnT HE vf jEyy vafvqE THE ohvyqvat oEsbeE qETbanTvba. lbh bayl HniE baE fHbT nT THvf. qb abT fpeEj vT hc. It was still gibberish to her, but she noticed that the in the first sentence the letters THnT appeared. The only word she could think of that had TH and T in that format was the word THAT. she quickly replaced the Ns with As. The message now read: bapE THE qEivpEf AeE va cyApE, jAvT haTvy HE HAf AeeviEq Aaq lbh AeE fheE THAT HE vf jEyy vafvqE THE ohvyqvat oEsbeE qETbaATvba. lbh bayl HAiE baE fHbT AT THvf. qb abT fpeEj vT hc.
She shook her head. Still gibberish, she thought. Scanning for recognizable words, she noticed that the fourth word now read AeE. She reasoned that this could be, ABE, ACE, ADE, AGE, ALE, APE, ARE...ARE, she thought. ARE was certainly a more common word than the others. She replaced all of the lower case Es with the letter R. The message now read: bapE THE qEivpEf ARE va cyApE, jAvT haTvy HE HAf ARRviEq Aaq lbh ARE fhRE THAT HE vf jEyy vafvqE THE ohvyqvat oEsbRE qETbaATvba. lbh bayl HAiE baE fHbT AT THvf. qb abT fpREj vT hc. Suddenly her eyes popped to the words HE HAf ARRviEq. Maybe it was that the v and i were where they were located in the word, but it inspired her next move. That word just looked like it should be ARRIVED. She replaced all of the Vs with the letter I, all of the lower case Is with the letter V, and all of the Qs with the letter D. Now the message read: bapE THE DEVIpEf ARE Ia cyApE, jAIT haTIy HE HAf ARRIVED AaD lbh ARE fhRE THAT HE If jEyy IafIDE THE ohIyDIat oEsbRE DETbaATIba. lbh bayl HAVE baE fHbT AT THIf. Db abT fpREj IT hc.
She focused on the word HAf next the word ARRIVED. Has to be HAS or HAD she thought, but the D had already been decoded, so she replaced all of the Fs with Ss. The message now read: bapE THE DEVIpES ARE Ia cyApE, jAIT haTIy HE HAS ARRIVED AaD lbh ARE ShRE THAT HE IS jEyy IaSIDE THE ohIyDIat oEsbRE DETbaATIba. lbh bayl HAVE baE SHbT AT THIS. Db abT SpREj IT hc. With the S already decoded, she focused on the fifth word which read Ia. The A had to be an N, she surmised, and quickly replaced all of the As with Ns. even as she executed the command, the word IF popped into her mind. Maybe she should have replaced the As with Fs instead, but then she saw the message as it now read: bNpE THE DEVIpES ARE IN cyApE, jAIT hNTIy HE HAS ARRIVED AND lbh ARE ShRE THAT HE IS jEyy INSIDE THE ohIyDINt oEsbRE DETbNATIbN. lbh bNyl HAVE bNE SHbT AT THIS. Db NbT SpREj IT hc.
“Oh, no.” She said to herself, as her eyes focused on the word DETbNATIbN. “Oh dear God, no.” She said, a quiver in her voice, as she quickly replaced the lower case Bs with Os. Now the message read: ONpE THE DEVIpES ARE IN cyApE, jAIT hNTIy HE HAS ARRIVED AND lOh ARE ShRE THAT HE IS jEyy INSIDE THE ohIyDINt oEsORE DETONATION. lOh ONyl HAVE ONE SHOT AT THIS. DO NOT SpREj IT hc.
“No.” she repeated, staring at the words HE HAS ARRIVED, HE IS jEyy INSIDE, DETONATION, HAVE ONE SHOT AT THIS. Fear gripped her as she read the word DEVIpES. She replaced the lower case Ps with Cs, and then saw the word ShRE, and replaced the lower case Hs with Us. The message now read: ONCE THE DEVICES ARE IN cyACE, jAIT UNTIy HE HAS ARRIVED AND lOU ARE SURE THAT HE IS jEyy INSIDE THE oUIyDINt oEsORE DETONATION. lOU ONyl HAVE ONE SHOT AT THIS. DO NOT SCREj IT Uc. Numbly she stared at the message, and coldness seized her heart as she quickly worked to solve the remaining few letters, to reveal the fully decoded message. She read it slowly: ONCE THE DEVICES ARE IN PLACE, WAIT UNTIL HE HAS ARRIVED AND YOU ARE SURE THAT HE IS WELL INSIDE THE BUILDING BEFORE DETONATION. YOU ONLY HAVE ONE SHOT AT THIS. DO NOT SCREW IT UP. She was speechless.
“Mam?” Connor said stepping into the room. Startled she wiped board clear, before realizing that only she could see it. “It’s time for the interview.”
“Yes.” She said shakily, and nodded her head. He hesitated.
“Are you alright, mam?” He said with concern. She nodded again.
“Yes...I’m fine.” She said, obviously flustered. She put on a timid smile, but still he hesitated. A moment passed, and finally he nodded and left the room. She breathed a sigh of relief, before the enormity of what she had just discovered meant.
“Oh Dear God.” She whispered to herself, as she began to
fully realize that Mason had been behind the recent attack on his opponent. Her own husband, the man she worshiped, the man she believed in, the good Christian man that was the father to her children, the very man that was on the precipice of becoming the next President, had had a hand in planning that horrible explosion that had killed and maimed so many, and had nearly killed Bazir and Reshmina. “Dear Lord,” She began, closing her eyes and raising her hands in prayer, “Please help me.”
Chapter 15