Christina surveyed the crowd with a feigned disinterest, analyzing everything. It had been two hours since she was supposed to meet her contact, and now her nerves were on edge. It was not like Remy to be late. From her corner table she could observe almost the entire club. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just ritzy patrons mingling and enjoying drinks.
She could not let her anxiety show, she realized. If Remy had been caught, they may realize he was meant to meet someone here. She maintained her outward calm as she continued to wait. As she sipped at her pomegranate cosmo, she thought about the irony of trying to stay calm to keep from looking suspicious. What could be more suspicious than sitting alone at a club, in a stretchy, off the shoulder red mini dress, turning away every guy who comes to the table, and waiting for two hours and only having two drinks?
When she picked the outfit, it made sense. If her rivals new she was coming here, they would not be expecting her to pose as a flashy socialite. Especially if they realized her specialty was encryption. Everyone tends to make assumptions about what to expect an encryption specialist to be like. The ruse made sense for a ten minute wait, but a socialite who sits for hours without socializing attracts curiosity.
Just as she was considering aborting the rendezvous, her cell phone rang. She dug through her clutch, feeling for the phone as she continued to keep an eye on the room.
She answered the call with "Hello, this is Tara Sherradin." She spoke the alias without a moment's hesitation.
The voice on the other side sounded urgent. "Ms. Sheradin, this is Larry Moore, with hotel security. We need you to return at your earliest convenience."
Something must have went wrong. This was definitely not part of the plan.
"Why am I needed? Has something happened?"
"Please do not be alarmed ma'am. There has been a break-in at your suite, but everything is fine now. However, it would be best if you come as soon as possible to determine if anything of value was taken."
Christina's head was spinning now. What did this mean? She said goodbye on the phone as she quickly dug out some bills to cover the drinks and tip. She left the money under her unfinished second drink and casually made her way to the door.
Minutes later while in a cab back to the hotel, her phone rang again.
"Christina, it's me. Remy. Don't interupt me. There is no time for questions. They are following me. They know you are in the city. They do not know where you are yet. But they are probably listening to this call now. We need to meet, so I've arranged a way to reschedule our little get together somewhere a little safer. Just hope you are as smart as they say. Oh, and check your email. I'm sure they have intercepted the message, but hopefully you figure it out first. While you are thinking about the email make your way back to the hotel. You are safe there for now. Trying to apprehend you there now would be far to difficult with security swarming the place after the break in. Oh, and look both ways before you *cough* CROSS *cough* the street. *cough* WORD *cough* up!"
Christina was about to speak, when the call was disconnected. This was getting stranger by the moment. Word up? Crossing the street? It definitely had been Remy though. She would recognize that low, gruff voice anywhere.
She started looking through her email on the phone. Only one message received in the past 10 hours. The subject was simply "How I make $2000 a day working from the home!!"
The subject and opening paragraph of the letter seemed like regular junk mail. But at the bottom of the message were two unusual blocks of text.
[font="Courier New"]
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
A S T A N D E A R O
B P R I C I N G O T
C A E L B O G A B E
D C E S O R T H O S
E E L U G O A O T T
F L B E L T K U H R
G T O U N D E R E I
H I W E S T G R I P
I C H E S S T O R E
C 3 - 2 - F 6
G 3 - 2 - G 7
E 8 - 2 - G 8
A 4 - 2 - E 8
A 1 - 2 - A 5
[/font]
[/codebox]
She got out of the cab at the hotel and bypassed the lounge heading straight for her room. She is still thinking about the odd email as she reaches the broken front door of her suite.
Question
Guest
Christina surveyed the crowd with a feigned disinterest, analyzing everything. It had been two hours since she was supposed to meet her contact, and now her nerves were on edge. It was not like Remy to be late. From her corner table she could observe almost the entire club. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just ritzy patrons mingling and enjoying drinks.
She could not let her anxiety show, she realized. If Remy had been caught, they may realize he was meant to meet someone here. She maintained her outward calm as she continued to wait. As she sipped at her pomegranate cosmo, she thought about the irony of trying to stay calm to keep from looking suspicious. What could be more suspicious than sitting alone at a club, in a stretchy, off the shoulder red mini dress, turning away every guy who comes to the table, and waiting for two hours and only having two drinks?
When she picked the outfit, it made sense. If her rivals new she was coming here, they would not be expecting her to pose as a flashy socialite. Especially if they realized her specialty was encryption. Everyone tends to make assumptions about what to expect an encryption specialist to be like. The ruse made sense for a ten minute wait, but a socialite who sits for hours without socializing attracts curiosity.
Just as she was considering aborting the rendezvous, her cell phone rang. She dug through her clutch, feeling for the phone as she continued to keep an eye on the room.
She answered the call with "Hello, this is Tara Sherradin." She spoke the alias without a moment's hesitation.
The voice on the other side sounded urgent. "Ms. Sheradin, this is Larry Moore, with hotel security. We need you to return at your earliest convenience."
Something must have went wrong. This was definitely not part of the plan.
"Why am I needed? Has something happened?"
"Please do not be alarmed ma'am. There has been a break-in at your suite, but everything is fine now. However, it would be best if you come as soon as possible to determine if anything of value was taken."
Christina's head was spinning now. What did this mean? She said goodbye on the phone as she quickly dug out some bills to cover the drinks and tip. She left the money under her unfinished second drink and casually made her way to the door.
Minutes later while in a cab back to the hotel, her phone rang again.
"Christina, it's me. Remy. Don't interupt me. There is no time for questions. They are following me. They know you are in the city. They do not know where you are yet. But they are probably listening to this call now. We need to meet, so I've arranged a way to reschedule our little get together somewhere a little safer. Just hope you are as smart as they say. Oh, and check your email. I'm sure they have intercepted the message, but hopefully you figure it out first. While you are thinking about the email make your way back to the hotel. You are safe there for now. Trying to apprehend you there now would be far to difficult with security swarming the place after the break in. Oh, and look both ways before you *cough* CROSS *cough* the street. *cough* WORD *cough* up!"
Christina was about to speak, when the call was disconnected. This was getting stranger by the moment. Word up? Crossing the street? It definitely had been Remy though. She would recognize that low, gruff voice anywhere.
She started looking through her email on the phone. Only one message received in the past 10 hours. The subject was simply "How I make $2000 a day working from the home!!"
The subject and opening paragraph of the letter seemed like regular junk mail. But at the bottom of the message were two unusual blocks of text.
She got out of the cab at the hotel and bypassed the lounge heading straight for her room. She is still thinking about the odd email as she reaches the broken front door of her suite.
What should Christina do next?
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