by T E Stouyer
Once they got there, Arianne called everyone’s attention, and then declared, “We’re going to let Marie take the necklace to Leicester.”
Silence.
“I’m sorry, I must have heard you wrong,” Rock finally said. “Because it kinda sounded like you said you wanted to give the necklace back to the British guy.”
“Yes,” Arianne confirmed.
“That’s your plan?” the giant exclaimed. “No offense, but it’s a stupid plan. Why not call him up and invite him to dinner while you’re at it. I mean, you and Nate nearly got killed trying to get that thing, didn’t you?”
“That we did,” said Kincade. He turned to Arianne with a skeptical frown. “What happened to negotiating a new deal with Leicester? How’s handing over our only leverage going to help us accomplish that?”
“I’m confident you’ll get your deal,” Arianne told him.
“Really? How?” Doc asked.
“You guys are always so impatient,” Soran chimed in. “Let her finish. You’ll see.”
“To answer your question, Nate,” Arianne said. “We’ll give Leicester something even more valuable to him than our father’s memory card.”
“I’m all ears,” said Kincade.
“Thanks to Hulin,” Arianne continued. “We now know that Leicester has a far more pressing problem on his hands. One that, if left unresolved, could have dire consequences for him.”
Doc’s eyebrows jumped. “Thanks to me?”
“Yes. I’m referring to that odd incident you told us about. The one that involved Carson and the masked men at the hotel. The more I think about it, the clearer it becomes. Jenkins is a member of WIAS.”
Professor Fournier’s glasses nearly fell off his nose as he spun his head around toward the young woman. “What? Are you sure?”
“It makes sense, Professor,” Arianne replied. “WIAS couldn’t get to us while we were prisoners at the Arc facility. There were simply too many people from various interest groups watching us all the time. But if an opportunity ever presented itself, who better to seize it than the man in charge of security?”
“You make a good point,” Kincade conceded. “But it’s still light in terms of actual evidence, isn’t it?”
“I disagree,” said Lucielle. “Taking into account his position as head of security at the Arc, his hatred for our father and for us, and the incident with Carson … I’d say there’s a very high probability that Jenkins is in fact a member of WIAS.”
“OK,” said Doc. “Let’s assume you guys are right. What then?”
Arianne cast an eye over the group, and then resumed her explanation. “Jenkins and his organization will most certainly have measures in place to ensure they’re the ones who end up getting their hands on the data card instead of Leicester. And there’s also a possibility that other WIAS agents could have infiltrated the Eritis project. We don’t know that Jenkins is the only one. In the long run, this will inevitably pose a serious threat to Leicester’s personal safety. At one point or another, he’ll become an obstacle to whatever they have planned for us. Starting with Luce.”
“I bet the only reason they’ve left me alone up until now is because the card is more important to them,” the young analyst said. “They chose to protect Jenkins’ cover.”
“Yes,” Arianne agreed. “But once they have the card, or believe they’ve lost it for good, they’ll come after you, as well.”
“So what do you propose?” Kincade asked.
Arianne glanced at Marie, looking almost embarrassed. “Well, you see, your partner is erm … he’s not … how should I put it,” she said, struggling to find the right words.
“Let me help you out,” Soran interjected. Seeing his sister’s hesitation, the young man decided to jump in. He took a step closer to the detective and bluntly said, “What my kind and gentle sister is trying to tell you is that … Leicester, Jenkins, WIAS, and whoever else might be working with them couldn’t care less about your partner. Or you, for that matter.” He then gave a sweeping look at the mercenaries and added, “The same goes for you guys. As far as they’re concerned, you’re all irrelevant. They enlisted your services as a means to an end, nothing more.”
“Is there a point here?” Rock asked. “Or are you just trying to boost our self-esteem?”
Arianne gently pulled her brother back. “I’m sorry,” she said. “We only meant that, to Leicester, uncovering the identity of the WIAS agents who might have infiltrated his inner circle would be worth far more than your team’s freedom. Or the life of Marie’s partner. As I’ve already pointed out, in the long run, this could even be a matter of life and death for him.”
“So why not just tell him about Jenkins?” Rock suggested.
“He’d want proof,” Arianne replied. “Plus, as I said, there could be others. The best way to know for sure is to trick them into revealing themselves.”
“And how exactly do we do that?” Kincade asked.
“Simple,” Soran replied. “Adam’s data card. They’ve been after it for years. We can use it to lure them out of the shadows.”
“Precisely,” Arianne said. “Leicester’s an intelligent man. He’s not blinded by greed or lust for power. He would much rather have us recover the card than have it fall into WIAS’s hands. Especially if we promise to destroy it.”
Professor Fournier jumped on the spot. “You want to destroy it?”
“If it’s a dangerous virus, then yes,” Arianne said. “We’ve discussed it. And we all agreed.” she glanced at Lucielle.
The young girl nodded and said, “I’m not sure what could have prompted our father to create such a thing, but I can’t imagine ever wanting to use it. And we can’t risk Damien getting his hands on it either.”
“Well, that’s really nice and all,” Rock said. “But you still need to find the damn thing, first.”
“Yes, about that,” Arianne said. “Soran and I have deciphered Adam’s message.”
“What? When did that happen?” the giant exclaimed.
Soran placed his hands on his hips, stuck his chest out, and raised his chin slightly, before clearing his throat. “Ahem!” He looked positively impressed with himself.
Rock shook his head in exasperation, and said in a jaded voice, “You’re an idiot.”
“We were about to tell everyone,” Arianne said. “But then we got sidetracked when Marie shouted in front of the TV, earlier.”
Professor Fournier gave the young woman a probing look. “Is it true, Arianne? You’ve figured out Adam’s message?”
“Yes, professor, we have. And it was all thanks to you and Lucielle.”
Surprised by that last statement, Lucielle immediately gazed up at her sister. But she didn’t say anything. She simply stared at Arianne, frozen, and with a strange look on her face. The cogs inside the analyst’s head were now turning at full speed.
After a few short seconds, Lucielle suddenly had an ‘Aha!’ moment, and gasped.
And at almost the same time, Ashrem turned to Arianne and said in a low voice, “I see it now … how did we miss that?”
“We’ve each had our own … distractions,” Arianne said as she shot a quick glance at Kincade.
Annoyed at being kept in the dark, Rock gave a loud clap. “Hey! I’m glad you’re all having a nice little epiphany, here. But how about you spell it out for those of us who don’t speak geek.”
“That’s right,” Sonar complained. “Feel free to share at any time.” Like his giant comrade, the redhead was also impatient to finally learn the secret hidden inside the cryptic messages.
“Of course,” Arianne said. “Sorry.” She marked a brief pause, and then began her explanation. “The first point to note is that the messages were designed to mislead whoever read them. Or rather, I should say to misdirect. For instance, the part about the Southbank Centre clearly points to London. ‘RFH’ could stand for ‘Royal Festival Hall’, which is the name of a venue at the Southbank Centre. And ‘A XIII’ could mean ‘row A, seat 1
3’. Also, as we mentioned before, certain words in the poem, like King, Queen, bishop, and knight also suggest the idea of England. But it was only after we realized they were references to something else entirely that it all fell into place.”
“References to what?” Sonar asked.
“Chess pieces,” she replied.
A look of realization suddenly washed over Professor Fournier’s face. “Oh … you’re right.”
“The same is also true for the words tower and soldier,” Arianne continued. “They allude to the rook and the pawn in chess.”
“Indeed,” Fournier said, his eyes stretching a little wider as each new veil was being lifted. “In the past, the pawn was commonly represented by a soldier. And even today, in some languages, the term soldier is still used to describe that piece. And the same goes for the rook. The French name for it is la tour, which translates to the tower.”
Soran then added to the professor’s comment, in order to emphasize the point even further. “The rook is also one of the most powerful pieces in chess,” the young man said. “Hence the words mighty tower in the poem. And the part about the King in his castle is yet another example. In chess, castling is a move that allows you to take your king past one of the rooks in order to protect it.”
By then, the mercenaries had all become convinced of the validity of that answer. There was no doubt in their minds that the words in the poem did in fact represent the pieces of a chess game.
But how did that bring them any closer to solving Adam’s riddle?
They all turned to Arianne with eager anticipation, knowing she was about to provide them with the final piece of the puzzle.
“There’s a very good reason for this plethora of references,” the young woman told them. “Becoming aware of this analogy is the key to solving the riddle. As you may have noticed, the poem contains eight lines. Eight, like the number of rows and columns on a chessboard.”
Professor Fournier frowned, perplexed. “It’s true that chessboards consist of eight-by-eight squares,” he said. “But I don’t see how …”
“It’s easy to miss,” Arianne said. “That’s why our father added that second line on the other side of the pendant. Those three words, which seem so out of place, actually serve two crucial purposes. One is to draw our attention to the first clue.”
Arianne exchanged a couple of quick glances with her brothers, and the three siblings began to move in tandem. She borrowed the necklace from the detective, while Ashrem switched off the lights, and Soran lowered the blinds.
Shortly afterwards, everyone was once again staring at the glowing letters on the wall.
Only this time, Arianne didn’t start with the poem, but instead chose to display the clue on the other side, first.
She then drew their attention to the second line.
Set the dot
“You’re right,” said Kincade. “Those three words do seem out of place.”
Arianne spun the pendant 180 degrees and displayed the poem.
From the top of a mighty tower,
A lone soldier gazes into the distance.
Meanwhile, the King in his castle chamber
Attėnds to matters of great importance.
Inside the chapel the candles burn
And thė bishop ceremoniously sends a prayer.
All of them waiting for the Queen’s return,
Along with the brave knights sent to protect her.
“As you can see,” she said. “Both dots are over the same letter. The letter e. The first one is at the fourth position, on the fourth line. And the second one, is at the sixth position, on the sixth line. This was done intentionally, in order to draw our attention to those positions. Which gives us, E4 and E6.”
“Ah!” Fournier suddenly exclaimed. “The French Defense.”
The young woman nodded at the professor.
“What’s he talking about?” Rock asked.
“The game of chess is divided into three phases,” Arianne explained. “The opening, the middle game, and the endgame. The opening is the initial sequence of moves a player makes. Basically, which pieces they chose to move first, and in which order. Many of those opening sequences have been studied and analyzed extensively over the years. So much so, they’ve actually been given names. E4 and E6 are the first moves of an opening called: The French Defense”
“Yes, I know it, too,” Doc said. “Then the words set the dot are there to make us take notice of the letters e underneath those two dots and to evoke the idea of moving chess pieces to new positions, of setting them on specific squares. Like pushing pawns to E4 and E6.”
“Correct,” Arianne said.
“And how does any of that help us?” Rock asked.
“La Défense is a well-known district in France,” the young woman replied. “It’s only a couple of miles west of Paris. You’ve actually been there, already. It’s where Nathalie Renard’s hotel was located.”
“A district?” the giant noted. “Isn’t that kinda vague? How are we supposed to find one tiny memory card inside an entire district?”
“You’re right,” she said. “Without any way to narrow it down, it would be too big an area for us to search. Except, this district is home to a very distinctive landmark. La Grande Arche. It’s a huge monument. An Arch at the heart of La Défense. The very symbol of that district.”
“And you believe that’s where Adam hid the data card?” Kincade asked.
“I do,” Arianne declared.
Professor Fournier shook his head and smiled in disbelief. “The French Defense … in other words, La Défense, in France. Now that you’ve given us the answer, it almost seems too … simple. But then again, I suppose that’s what I should expect from one of your father’s riddles.”
“What about the rest of the message?” Doc asked. “Are you saying the reference to the Southbank Centre was only put there to send people on a wild goose chase?”
“Not just,” Arianne replied. “As I told you, those three letters, set the dot, serve two purposes. One was to draw our attention to the solution of the first clue. And the other is to complete the anagram.”
“Anagram? What anagram?” Kincade asked.
Arianne spun the pendant around again and displayed the second clue.
“All the letters on this side can be rearranged to form a different message,” she told them. “It’s a perfect anagram.”
Southbank Centre: RFH A XIII
Set the dot
“If you use the symbols of the Roman numeral 13 as letters instead of digits, and then rearrange everything, you get,”
A Secret Hint: Think far outside the box
Arianne marked a pause to give the others time to see it. Or in case someone wanted to ask another question.
But before anyone could say anything else, Professor Fournier pointed a shaky finger at Ashrem and said, “Son, turn the lights back on.”
“Sure,” the young man said as he flipped the light switch.
The old professor quickly took out a pen and a small notebook from the coffee table’s drawer.
He then opened the notebook, and feverishly scribbled inside it.
Once he was finished, he froze for a moment, staring wide-eyed at the page. Then, he looked up at Arianne and said, “You’re right. I would never have seen it. I wouldn’t even have thought to look for it.”
Although not one of them had the slightest doubt about the veracity of Arianne’s claim, the mercenaries and the detective still passed the notebook around among themselves to see the anagram’s solution written in black and white. And as they stared at it, the same look of astonishment still formed on each of their faces.
“What does it mean?” Kincade finally asked.
“We’re not sure, yet,” Arianne replied. “But since the first clue points to a location, I believe this one might be a hint for a password. Or something similar which we’ll need in order to access the data on the card. Either way, I’m confident we’ll know when fi
nd the card itself.”
“Wow!” Rock exclaimed. “I have to admit, I’m impressed.” The giant gave Soran a big tap on the back and added, “I take back what I said. Maybe you guys aren’t completely useless after all.”
“We’re here.”
Marie was brought back to the present moment by Carson’s hoarse voice.
It was only then she realized the car had stopped. Carson was right. It had been a short drive.
They climbed out of the vehicle onto a narrow dark street.
“Follow me,” Carson said.
He led the way, jogging towards a cluster of tall buildings.
Chapter 13 – Meeting Point
Les Quatre Temps [The Four Seasons] is a modern shopping center located in the business district of La Défense. It houses about 220 stores, 50 restaurants, and a large cinema, over five floors. The area around the shopping center mainly consists of a large esplanade, surrounded by tall office buildings.
Bustling with activity during the day, La Défense is usually very quiet late at night, after the offices have been vacated and the shopping center has closed its doors.
Kincade’s party cautiously proceeded through the mall’s underground parking entrance, and climbed two sets of escalators up to the first level.
They arrived at a big circular walkway intersection, in front of a major clothing store. Rays of moonlight shone through the arched glass ceiling and bounced off the white walls and marble floors, softly illuminating the two wide walkways of shops stretching out on either side of the group, in the east and west directions. There was a third, smaller walkway directly behind them, at a 90-degree angle from the other two, which remained mostly covered in darkness.
As the team fanned out and began to survey their surroundings, Sonar suddenly turned towards the east and leveled his automatic rifle at an unseen target.
The other mercenaries swiftly mirrored the action of their redheaded comrade. Though, they had no idea what they were supposed to be aiming at.
“What’s going on, Sonar?” Kincade asked.
