The Hunt for the Missing Spy (7 page)

Hands shot up. Cody and her friends immediately recognized the distress signal from when Ms. Stad taught them Morse code. Ms. Bishop called on a boy named Ty from Mr. Pike's class.

“S.O.S.,” Ty said.

“And what does S.O.S. stand for?” Ms. Bishop asked.

“Save our ship!” a girl named Tessa called out.

“Save our souls!” another boy named Max offered.

“Save our shoes!” Matt the Brat yelled, then laughed at his own joke.

Ms. Bishop ignored Matt's contribution. “Yes, it's come to mean ‘save our ship' or ‘save our souls'. But do you know what that
really
means?” she asked, grinning.

“HELP!” called out several students, including the Code Busters.

“Correct!” Ms. Bishop said. “S.O.S. is not really an acronym. The letters S and O were chosen because they're easy to use and remember in Morse code—just three dots and three dashes. So, if you're ever in trouble, just tap out S.O.S. and, hopefully, someone will come rescue you!”

Cody heard several students tapping the S.O.S. code on nearby walls.

“All right, everyone,” Ms. Stad called out, “Quiet down, please.”

Ms. Bishop smiled. “At the end of the tour, you'll get to learn about the history of espionage and how spying was used in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and both World War I and II. When you leave the exhibits, you'll have a chance to go to the Spy Store and pick out some spy gear. Once you're finished shopping, find your teachers, because you're going on your very own Spy Hunt mission. In groups, you and your chaperones will explore the Washington Mall seeking out mystery locations with the help of GPS-guided clues.”

Once Ms. Bishop finished talking, it was time to get started. Cody and M.E. buddied up. So did Quinn and Luke. Even Matt the Brat had a buddy—a girl named Sadie who was his next-door neighbor.

Cody noticed that the new girl, Mika, was by herself. She remembered what it was like when she was new and didn't know anyone. It took a while to make friends, and she felt lucky to have her Code Busters Club friends.

Cody went over to her teacher. “Ms. Stadelhofer? Mika doesn't have a partner. Can she come with M.E. and me?”

Ms. Stad looked around to see if anyone else needed to pair up, but all of the students had partners. “Well, I suppose she could be my buddy, but she'd probably have more fun with you girls. Thanks, Cody. That's very nice of you.”

Mika was standing at the back of the line next to her mother, who was one of the chaperones.

“Hey, Mika. Ms. Stad said you could join M.E. and me if you want.”

Mika smiled widely. “Thanks!” She turned to her mother, who nodded, and then followed Cody to where M.E. stood in line.

“Hey! No cuts,” Matt the Brat called out from behind them. He gestured with his thumb for Mika to move back. When he held up his hand, Cody noticed his fingertips were black. Yuck!

“She's not cutting,” Cody explained. “She's with us and we were already in line.”

“I'm telling!” Matt said.

Cody turned to Mika, who was no longer smiling. “Ignore him,” Cody said.

Mika nodded, but said nothing.

When the girls reached the entryway, they were handed their dossiers—file folders that held their cover information. Each student received an official-looking ID card with a blank spot for a snapshot, plus spaces to fill in with a fake name, address, and other details. To Cody, the ID card looked a lot like her mother's driver's license, only instead of “State of California” at the top, it read “United States Identification, Department of Secret Activities .”

Wow
, Cody thought
. Secret Activities?
That sounded pretty official.

Once the students were inside the winding hallways, the Code Busters and Mika explored the exhibits. Quinn was fascinated with all the cameras that were concealed in things like briefcases, wristwatches, and fountain pens. They looked just like ordinary objects—not at all like cameras.

Luke was a big fan of James Bond movies and all the gadgets Double-Oh-Seven used, especially the cars. He always said he wanted an Aston Martin one day. “It's got tire shredders to stop bad guys chasing you, a rotating license plate so you can disguise the
car, a bulletproof shield in case someone is shooting at you, and machine guns in the fog lamps if you really need power!”

M.E. was intrigued by the lethal umbrella, which had a sharp point at the tip and could stop bad guys if they got too close, and the lipstick recorder, which looked like a real tube of lipstick, except it could record conversations between two spies. Mika seemed to like all the disguises the spies used, especially the stick-on mustaches and fake glasses. And Cody loved anything that could hide tiny secret messages, like the hollow coin, the concealment ring, the false-heeled shoes, and the fake can of soda. The Code Busters had one of those at their clubhouse where they hid important messages.

When they reached the Spy Shop, the kids headed for their favorite gadgets. After a few minutes, Cody looked around for Mika, but she was nowhere in sight.

Her new friend had gone missing!

C
ody felt her heart race. The group was supposed to stay together and they'd already lost one of their members. “Has anyone seen Mika?” she asked the other Code Busters as she frantically glanced around the store. “She's gone!”

“She was just here a minute ago . . . ,” Luke said, checking one of the aisles.

“I thought I saw her over there.” M.E. pointed toward the exit.

“We'd better find her,” Quinn said.

A kid standing next to Cody turned around and tapped her on the shoulder. Cody gasped.

“Oh my gosh!” she said. “Mika! I didn't even recognize you!”

Mika had covered her short black hair with a knitted Spy Museum cap and was wearing a black T-shirt over her outfit that read: “A Ninja Swiped My Homework.” She'd put on dark glasses, stuck a fake mole onto her cheek, and held a book about spying over her mouth to hide the bottom half of her face.

“Wow, awesome disguise,” Luke said to Mika. “How do you like mine?” He stuck a furry black mustache above his upper lip and pulled a camouflage fisherman's hat on his head.

M.E. laughed. “Nice hat, but a mustache? Seriously?”

“I think it looks cool,” Luke argued, checking himself out in a mirror.

Following Mika's lead, the other Code Busters began gathering items for their own disguises. Cody found a Russian-style fur hat. “I'm goink to use a
Rrr
ussian accent,” she said, rolling the letter
R
.

M.E. chose a scarf covered with words like CONFIDENTIAL, FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, and TOP
SECRET, and wrapped it around her head and neck. Quinn found a knitted cap that came with a knitted black beard.

Like Mika, the Code Busters picked out T-shirts to pull over their own shirts. Cody chose DENY EVERYTHING, M.E. picked SPY GIRL, Quinn got a T-shirt with ninjas on it, and Luke found a
Spy vs. Spy
shirt. All five chose dark glasses as a final touch for their disguises.

Ms. Stad called the group to attention. “All right, students, gather your backpacks. It's time for our Spy Hunt. Please pay for your purchases, and then we'll meet in the lobby. I'll assign your group a chaperone, and then each group will receive a GPS unit and the first clue.”

Everyone lined up at the cashier to buy their souvenirs and disguises before heading to the lobby. When all the students were assembled, the teachers had them form groups of four and assigned each group a chaperone. The Code Busters got special permission to have five people in their group. Ms. Takeda, Mika's mom, would be their chaperone.

Each chaperone was handed a GPS unit and an envelope with the words TOP SECRET stamped on the front. Cody held the GPS device, which looked a lot like a small hand-held game. The Code Busters had used the GPS apps on their cell phones in the past, so they were familiar with how the device worked.

“You'll find the coordinates on the intel sheets inside your envelopes,” Ms. Stad said. “Enter the coordinates into the GPS and begin your mission, then watch for a yellow sign. Good luck. If anyone gets lost or has a problem, your chaperone can call me on my cell phone. We'll meet back here in two hours. The first team to return will get to talk to a real FBI agent, who just happens to be my nephew.”

Awesome!
Cody thought.
We can ask him all kinds of questions about secret missions.

Quinn opened the envelope that held the first coded message and unfolded the paper. He showed it to the others.

Code Busters' Key and Solution found on pp. 149, 155.

The first part was written in Japanese characters. After Mika translated the numbers, the Code Busters quickly solved the code.

“Okay,” Quinn said, “we've got the coordinates to find the first waypoint.”

“Yeah,” M.E. said, “but what's all this other stuff underneath, where it says ‘Clue?'”

Luke read the information at the bottom of the page out loud: “There are twelve items buried in the cornerstone here, including atlases, reference books, guides to Washington, D.C., census records from 1790 to 1848, poetry, copies of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, and a Bible.”

The five kids looked at each other and frowned.

“What's that supposed to mean?” M.E. asked.

“It must be a clue to the waypoint where we're supposed to go,” Quinn said.

“Sounds like a cemetery,” Luke said. “That's where things are usually buried.”

“Yeah, but they bury
people
in cemeteries, not stuff like that,” Cody said.

Luke scanned the rest of the clue. “There're also
a bunch of facts about the place.” He read the list to the others.

Facts about your destination:

Admission: free

Thickness of walls at the bottom: 18 inches

How many steps: 897

Estimated number of visitors per year: 500,000

Robert mills designed the structure

Obelisk height: 555 feet

Fastest known ascent time: 6.7 minutes

Opened: 1888

Update on damage from earthquake: closed on august 2011

Regulated by: smithsonian institute

Cost to build: $1,187,710

Observation deck via stairs or elevator

Under foundation length: 36 feet

Number of blocks: 36,491

Thickness at top of the shaft: 18 inches

Reason for structure: display of gratitude

Year construction started: 1848, year completed 1884

Code Busters'
Solution found on pp. 155.

“May I see the paper for a moment?” Mika asked politely.

Luke handed her the sheet. “Does it mean anything to you?” he asked.

Mika smiled. “We have puzzles like this in Japan. Some books are printed so that you read them from top to bottom. Of course, this is in English, not Japanese. But look at the way it's written. Only the first letters of each item on the list are capitalized.
Smithsonian Institute
and Robert Mills's last name are lowercase.”

Mika held the paper for the others to see.

“You're right!” Cody said. “That's weird. Our teacher would never make a mistake like that.”

“Unless she did it on purpose,” Quinn replied.

“Also,” Mika continued, “in Japan, we have folding puzzles. I think this is similar. Watch.” Mika folded over the right side of the paper until the edge lined up against the first capitalized letters in each of the listed facts.

Cody, Quinn, and Luke's eyes lit up. “Cool!” they said together.

Only M.E. continued to frown at the folded paper.

“I still don't get it,” she said.

Mika ran her finger down the page to help M.E. see the words that had been hidden in the message. M.E. finally grinned. “I see it!” she exclaimed. “The place we're going to isn't a cemetery at all. Come on! We have to hurry if we want to beat everyone else!”