Chapter 9

Chapter 9—Jack attacks Kate’s puzzle

7:10 p.m., Sunday, December 25

The trek back to the hotel took less than ten minutes. As he walked, he scrutinized every aspect of his surroundings. In particular, he kept an eye out for the fellow he had run into earlier—Ice Pick Man. And for Jefferies.
 During that short time he re-visited his thoughts about procuring a handgun for protection, instead of the knife. But he decided against it. He was, after all, in the city to do a job. It would be a mistake to jeopardize the whole project for something he should be able to deal with without gambling on an illegal weapon. Of course, he realized that he could get busted for the knife he did carry. New York law often interprets that if a knife looks like a weapon—it’s a weapon. But Jack felt more comfortable justifying his possessing a folding knife, than trying to explain a loaded, illegal firearm.
Besides, a gun would have served no purpose earlier, because even had he been carrying a piece, he would not have brandished it in the lobby of a hotel. He simply had to be more careful.
He did consider that a walking stick might suit the situation well. He always traveled with one—just in case. But, he would worry about that later.
As he approached his room, he inserted his card, and tested his magnetic lock. The door would not budge. That meant that the lock was operating properly. He then employed his remote to deactivate it. He could feel the lock release the door. Once inside, he plugged the adapter in, to recharge the battery. He then re-engaged the magnetic lock.
Twisting off the top of a bottle of water he had purchased in the lobby when he checked in, he immediately tackled the puzzle Kate had given him. While he did feel the need to solve the puzzles—as it might help keep Kate safe—he actually considered the challenge quite enjoyable.
The first thing he did was to copy the entire code text, starting with the third line. Even though he had downplayed the initial success, he was pretty certain that he had solved it correctly. And, just as he had suspected, he quickly became certain that each line did have its own key;. While “RUSSIA” worked for the third line, he could see immediately that it did not help for the other three. Given the great likelihood that he had line three right, he started out with that line, followed by its plaintext solution. He wrote:

Line 3:  CRVR DDPKS CDJR DJADA PXZZ = Hawaii to China in fifty (Key: RUSSIA).

He then copied the other three lines, each on a separate sheet of paper.

Line 1: SGCN JNRE SDHC SDCJ MHVW=

Line 2: CECP DCQJ MRPP NCNG TNTQW =

Line 4: FQOPO PJKA TFGJS=

“Let’s see what we can do with these,” he muttered aloud. When Jack was by himself (which seemed to be most of the time), he tended to utilize self-talk to help him think—and generally employed the first person plural when doing it. “What was this poor sucker trying to tell us before he ran into that ice pick? Whatever it was, it got him killed. Let’s see if I can think like him for a while.”
“Okay, the guy worked for the State Department—in Russian and Chinese relations. And the first key was ‘Russia.’ One of the other keys could be ‘China,’ except that might be too short. Wouldn’t make a good key. Could be ‘China something.’ … Maybe ‘Chinatown’? Could it really be that simple?”
Initially Jack doubted himself, but then he recalled just how simple the keyword was for the third line. So, he attacked the ciphertext using “Chinatown” as the key.
He applied this potential keyword to line one. At first he tried it starting from the left. When that yielded nothing, he tried working from the right. Still nothing. So, he moved to the second line.
Immediately he found the name of another state beginning to appear: “ALAS ...”
“That looks like ALASKA … very interesting.”
Continuing with “Chinatown” as the key, he developed the plaintext for the rest of the second line: “ALASKA TO RUSSIA IN FIFTY.”
“So, we’ve got ‘Hawaii to China in fifty,’ and ‘Alaska to Russia in fifty.’ What could that mean?” he wondered aloud. “That can have nothing to do with fast planes,” he chuckled, remembering what his daughter had said. “You can practically drive a golf ball from Alaska to Russia. Has to have another meaning. And it has to be important—important enough to get a man killed. Hell, important enough to almost get me killed.”
Not anticipating any success using the new keyword on the remaining lines, Jack still tried plugging it in—with, of course, the anticipated failure.
He then tried to come up with other keywords. For the next hour he applied every possibility that came to mind. With such short cryptograms, he knew that the keyword would not be terribly long, nor would it be functional if it were too short.
Suddenly he had another thought. “I wonder what the original code was written on?” he asked himself, rapidly calling Kate’s number.
“Kitten, I have a quick question for you. Please do not go into detail, or ask me questions. Okay?”
“Sure, Dad.”
“I’m looking for short answers—one word, if possible. Okay?”
“Got ya.”
Jack carefully chose the correct words to make his request. “What was the original written on?”
Kate thought for just a moment, also carefully weighing her words. “On the back of a ticket for a Knicks-Lakers game—one of those computer printouts.  I know that’s more than one word, but it’s the best I could do. Do you think that is important?”
“Don’t know. But your info is wonderful—just perfect,” Jack replied. “I’ll give you a call tomorrow, and we’ll try to get together. Check your schedule. I’m going to be tied up for a while, but will have most of the day and evening free. Just don’t know for sure right now exactly when I’ll be available. Talk to you tomorrow?”
“Sounds good, talk to you later.”
“Got a call coming in, love ya,” Jack said to his daughter, as he received his other call.
“Reg. How are you?” Jack said.
“ … Sure, what time tomorrow?”
“ … How about ten? … No, let’s avoid meeting there. How about Men’s Neckties, in Macy’s? We’ll figure something out from there. … That works? … Great, see you then.”
Jack directed his attention back to the puzzle. Suddenly he realized the significance of the two deciphered lines.
“Oh my God!” Jack exclaimed, grabbing his worksheets. “Hawaii to China in fifty—Alaska to Russia in fifty. We are selling those states! We are selling Hawaii to China, possession to be taken fully in fifty years. And virtually the same thing with Alaska, except we are selling Alaska to Russia—same terms. That’s how the President intends to finance all this deficit spending. Talk about a reverse mortgage! He has worked out a deal with those two countries. They will fund our notes, with the guarantee of receiving those two states in return. Oh my God, Kate, you are in grave danger!”
Jack grabbed his cell, and quickly dialed his daughter. “Kate!”
“Just a minute Dad, someone’s at the door,” Kate said, answering her father’s call and setting the phone down in the same motion.
“Kate! Kate! Don’t go to the door!” Jack implored her. But it was too late. Jack could hear a scuffle, and a muffled scream.
Then all went silent.