Page 4 of The Phoenix (Spy Girl 6)
ETB-1-15R-37-43-48R-53-57
BTE-23-34-63-12R-34-44/30R-65-24-19-2
ETB-32R-40R/52-57-64R-3-5-33-61/7-23R-58R-38R-47-58(2)-62R/32R-55E
“She left you a code. Have you deciphered it?” I ask Ares.
“No. And trust me; I tried everything, including quantum computing, to break the code. I had no idea what the numbers were referring to.” He gives us a shake of the head and a grin. “Until just now.”
“It’s the letter she left in the safety deposit box,” I say suddenly, picking it up off the table. “Everything in it is true, except for one paragraph, isn’t it? She knew, if I brought you the photos, you’d ask to see the letter.”
I get a proud fatherly smile. “I believe you’re right. Shall we see what it says?”
“Yes! Do you have a sheet of paper?”
Ares takes a lined piece of notebook paper out of the nearby desk and hands it to me. I draw a table, making two columns to use for the order of the words from both beginning to end and end to beginning. After that, I add each word in the false paragraph to the chart in numerical order.
“Okay, so the first line says ETB, meaning end to beginning or backward. The first number is one, which corresponds with the word alone. Write down the letter A,” I tell Ari, ripping off the bottom of the sheet of paper and handing it to him along with a pen. “Next is fifteen-R.”
Ari is sitting next to me, leaning over my shoulder. “The word is together, but what does the R stand for?”
“Reverse,” I say, having done codes like this many times for fun with my mom. “That means the next letter is an R. Then, we have thirty-seven, which is a C; forty-three, which is another A; forty-eight reverse, which would be a D; fifty-three, which is an I; and fifty-seven, which is an A.”
“It spells ARCADIA,” Ari says, sucking in his breath. “She actually did leave a clue. Do you think we’ll learn their plan finally?”
“I sure hope so,” all four of us say in unison.
“All right, next word is beginning to end, so we start with number twenty-three, which is the word pregnant, so a P. Then, we have thirty-four, which is an O; sixty-three, which is an I; twelve reverse, so an S; another thirty-four, so O; and forty-four, which is an N. There’s a slash, so a new word starts. Thirty reverse is a G; sixty-five is an R; twenty-four is an A; nineteen an I; and two is an N.”
“POISON GRAIN,” Ari reads incredulously. “That’s what you thought, Huntley. You were right!”
“But we still don’t know how they are going to use poisoned grain to kill so many people. It seems like an impossible task.”
“Maybe the next line will tell us how,” our grandfather says hopefully.
“Okay, so this one is end to beginning and has four slashes, so four words.” I quickly decipher the letters. “M and then Y. New word: W, then A, then R, another R, an I, an O, and another R. New word: F, then O, then R, then G, then I, a V, and an E. Last word: M and then E.”
“MY WARRIOR, FORGIVE ME,” Ares says, covering his face with his hand, visibly breaking down.
And I can’t help but wonder if he will ever truly be able to forgive her for what she did.
I move to sit next to him, putting my arm around his back. “I’m sorry she did this to you.”
“And I’m sorry for what I did to you, Huntley. Your training. It was not what I would have wanted for you had I known.”
“What would you have done differently?” I ask sincerely.
“I’ve thought a lot about that the past six months. On one hand, I’m thankful for the skills you learned and knowing that they have prepared you for this war. On the other hand, I feel like you missed so much … love. We trained you not to have emotional attachment. To survive on your own. That’s not what I would have wanted for my daughter.”
“How did you find Ari?”
“Your mother included your birth certificates and Aristotle’s adoption papers. Finding him was quite easy. I learned his father had passed and that he was currently a brilliant military cadet student. Through old contacts, I got him sent to train with the CIA. Since I knew things were starting in Montrovia again, I wanted the two of you to be able to work together. I was planning on telling you the truth until we learned of the planned assassination of Prince Lorenzo while his father was dying. I thought, if I put you both out under your true identities in plain sight, then maybe you’d figure it out. So, I faked my death, and the rest, you know.” He chuckles. “Although I’m really a little surprised, Huntley, that you didn’t figure I was behind all of this on the day you were at my lab. The V over the A in the Von Allister Industries logo so clearly forms a black X.”
“I’m glad you sent us to protect Lorenzo,” I reply.
“I didn’t know you would fall in love with him, but that is a rather pleasant surprise. Had things been different, you would have met at a much younger age and, well, who knows? I’m sure you have more questions, but we must get back to the mission at hand. As you have already determined based off your mother’s clues, they are going to poison food to cause an extinction event to create Arcadia, and we must figure out how to stop it.”
“Who is going to cause this extinction event?” Ari asks.
“The Echelon,” Ares and I reply simultaneously.
“What’s that?” he asks.
“While you answer that question for him, I need to go make a phone call.”
“Any chance I can finally get that hug?” my grandfather asks, standing up when I do.
I give him a nod, agreeing, and he holds me for a very long time. Upon releasing me, he gives Ari a bear hug while Blake wraps his arm around me.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you,” he says.
“You killed all my school friends, didn’t you?”
“Two former students did. They had to, sweetie. Your friend M was obsessed with the tabloids. As soon as she saw that you were on the cover, she tried to call them to get interviewed as someone who had known you then. She told the other students. I would have preferred they joined our fight, but at that point, Ares knew that you were his daughter. He couldn’t risk the truth coming out. We did it to protect you, and I will continue to work with Ares until we finish this.”
I swallow a lump in my throat. The emotional side of me is upset they killed them. The girl who was taught to survive on her own understands completely. Either way, there’s nothing I can do about it now. Other than make their deaths mean something. And the only way I can do that is to stop The Echelon.
After we end our reunion, I ask Ares if I could use a secure phone to call Montrovia.
“Of course,” he says, leading me into a room lined with steel and probably all sorts of countersurveillance devices.
“You’ve thought of everything, haven’t you?” I ask.
“I try,” he says. “Text Lorenzo and be sure, if you are going to confide in him, that he is on a secure line.”
“I will. I’m sorry I didn’t get to know you when I was younger, but with everything I’ve been through since I left Blackwood, I’m sure glad you let your father train me.”
“It’s not the life I would have wanted for my daughter, but in spite of everything, you have been truly incredible. And the way you handled yourself at the VA board meeting—yes, I secretly watched it—I don’t think I’ve ever felt so much pride.”
It’s then that I launch myself into my father’s arms and allow myself to cry.
And I think they are mostly happy tears. Because I’m not alone in this world anymore.
“You should have told us,” I tell him when I regain control. “From the beginning.”
“Yes, I should have,” Ares says, “but I knew you wouldn’t believe me. You would have thought you were being manipulated. I needed you to discover the truth about your mother yourself. I know how devastated I was when I read the truth.”
“Do you hate her?”
“I could never hate your mother. Ever. And she probably knew that. Knew she coul
d get away with it. Although we met briefly when you were younger, I first got to know you when you were ten. I liked you right away. You were so smart. Your mother didn’t let us spend much time together. She said she didn’t want you to have any emotional attachments. I realize now why she said that to me.”
“You put my life in danger. I’ve been through things you don’t know about.”
“I’ve learned most of them, as you saw in the video game I created for you. Originally, it was simply to train you, but then I decided to monetize it. Running the school proved to be quite expensive.”
“I have a lot more questions,” I say.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he replies. “I promise to answer them all after you make your call. I think I’ll go whip us up some breakfast.”
He steps out of the room. I send Lorenzo a quick text, and he responds right away, letting me know he’s in a secure location and I can call him.
“Thank you for having the forethought to send my brother here,” I say when he answers. “It was exactly what I needed.”
“When you left, you had an unsettling mix of emotions. Was your hunch correct?”
“Yes. I just called to tell you I’m okay, and all is good.”
