Coded

by Kayla Bainbridge

  Dustin spoke up from the driver seat, “The NSA is compromised, we are heading to a new safe house now. It took some time to set one up.”

  “What about all of my stuff?”

  “We’ll buy new stuff, we already went to the store and bought some essentials,” Taylor said.

  They pulled up to a hotel. Kennedy opened the door.

  “Wait,” Taylor said. “Let Dustin set everything up. We’ll wait here for him.”

  Kennedy pulled the door closed again and waited.

  An hour later they had settled into the hotel. It was a three-bedroom suite with a living room. Kennedy had the master room, and Dustin and Taylor shared a room, leaving the last one for Penny.

  She needed a distraction, so she pulled out her laptop. Jordan was sending more and more codes. One code talked about a shipment, the second one was about fruit, and the third was on a car location.

  Setting the laptop down she rubbed her head. She noticed Taylor watching her. He moved from his seat and came to sit next to her.

  “How do you feel?”

  “Good,” Kennedy said, “Well, not really.”

  “Want to go for a walk?” Taylor offered his hand.

  “Sure,” Kennedy said, easily taking his hand. She didn’t need to use it to support herself as she walked.

  Taylor guided her outside and they took a short walk around the block.

  “This is nice,” Kennedy said smiling.

  “We can stay out as long as you want.”

  Kennedy swiftly pulled Taylor behind a tree.

  Startled, Taylor looked around, “What is it? What did you see?”

  “Do you think Penny and Dustin will ever find us behind here?” Kennedy asked smiling.

  She could see Taylor relax, and smiled back at her.

  “I think we’ll be safe for a for a while,” he said as he bent down and kissed her.

  Chapter 16

  P 10000

  The following two days fell into a dreadful routine. With the amount of coding pouring through the NSA, Kennedy could’ve spent her entire conscious time deciphering code. The NSA helped by filtering the codes that had similar characteristics of previous codes, but that didn’t always work. Regardless, she couldn’t keep up.

  On the third day, Kennedy woke up in the late afternoon. These days were too short. She took a quick shower to shake off the remaining sleep. Then she walked into the kitchen to grab something to eat.

  “Hey, you,” Penny said as she stepped into the living area.

  “Hey Penny, what are you up to today?”

  “Just working the case.”

  “Working, it's exhausting,” Kennedy said, sitting down with a snack.

  “Looks like it. You sure sleep a lot.”

  “Yeah,” Kennedy said, shrugging it off. “It helps me to work better.”

  “Well whatever you are doing, the NSA is eating it up.”

  “Eating? Yes, that sounds nice,” Kennedy said, changing the conversation.

  “There is leftover Chinese in there for you if you want,” Penny offered.

  “Where is Dustin and Taylor?” Kennedy said changing the subject. This conversation was getting awkward.

  “They said something about research. How is the case coming along?”

  “We haven’t had anything new. Have you made progress on the bounty?”

  Penny shook her head.

  Taylor walked in from his bedroom, “Feel better?”

  “Much, is there more?”

  Taylor gave her a knowing look.

  “There is always a chance,” Kennedy explained. Of course, there was more, there would always be more.

  ∆∆∆

  Brandon handed the file back to Jordan, “What is left?”

  “Just final execution,” Jordan said.

  “What do you think Ryan,” Brandon asked. The three of them were in Brandon's office.

  “If you are asking my medical opinion, it is risky. We don't know how her body will react. She isn't like everyone else.”

  Brandon nodded his head, “Jordan are you willing to risk that?”

  “The test run went well.”

  Ryan asked, “What were the side effects?”

  “Dizziness, and slurred speech, maybe drop the dosage a little more just to be on the safe side.”

  Ryan considered, “The drug is dangerous, even to carry a large dosage feels unsafe.”

  “She'll be safe with my team,” Jordan asserted.

  Brandon entered the conversation again, “Do we know if she has been able to decode the messages?”

  “Our inside man says yes, the longer she is out there, the more she will be able to decode for them. Our analysts are trying to make them more difficult, but they are stretched thin as it is. Especially without any extended knowledge of her capabilities. All we can do is send the wrong information with the right information and hope they don't know which is which. For now, we need to focus on getting her out at the right time so that our plan can go on without her meddling.”

  “What do you plan on doing with her?” Ryan asked.

  “Just holding her, keeping her out of the way. I'm hoping she will have a change of heart and join our team when all is said and done.”

  “Doubtful,” Brandon said, “Don't you think?”

  Jordan snickered, “It's amazing what proper persuasion can do.”

  “What are you talking about?” Ryan asked, surprised.

  “I'm saying I'll do what it takes to get her to work for us.”

  “Is that necessary?”

  “Jordan is right. We do what we need to, for the company,” Brandon said. “Are you confident in her location?”

  “Yes,” Jordan said. “We had voice recognition software engaged on the operative’s phone's and matched the voices to the ones we had here on record. It took some time, but I think we have found her.”

  “Great, now get going. We will discuss her arrangements in detail later.”

  Ryan spoke up, “I don't agree with this at all.”

  “You've turned a blind eye to what goes on here, in order to accomplish your research, but we need you on this one Ryan. Are you going to be a problem?”

  Ryan looked down, “No sir.”

  “Great, we leave tomorrow.”

  ∆∆∆

  Taylor watched Kennedy decipher code, she was on a downward spiral. This constant work was wearing on her. He could see it. All her actions seemed sluggish, the circles under her eyes never disappeared, and her lack of enthusiasm for anything was concerning.

  He sat next to her and put his hand on her knee. Kennedy jolted from his touch.

  “Sorry,” Kennedy said, rubbing her eyes. “I guess I’m a little jumpy today.”

  “When was your last nap?”

  “I’m trying to go forty minutes,” she said, focusing back on the screen. “If there wasn’t so much fluff to sort through. I just need to find the key clues. Do you see what I’m talking about?”

  Kennedy was pointing to the screen. It was filled with numbers and symbols. Taylor couldn’t see what she was talking about at all.

  “Um, sure,” he said.

  “Crazy right? He must be having people working through the night to crank out this much code.”

  She took a break from talking to him to type up the latest deciphered message, “The door to the south is padlocked.”

  Then she looked to Taylor, “That could be important right?”

  “Of course,” Taylor said. “Maybe you should relax a little?”

  “When Jordan is gone, I'll relax.”

  “Wendy called me last night,” Taylor said, changing the conversation.

  “What did she want?” Kennedy asked, keeping her eyes on the screen.

  “Your vital signs aren't just connected to my watch; Wendy has been watching them too. She has been concerned.”

  “Old news,” Kennedy said, brushing it off.

  “You have to take it easy.”

  “When
this is over, I’ll take it easy.”

  “No Kennedy, I’m cutting you off for today,” Taylor replied. No one knew when this was going to be over, she couldn’t sustain this.

  “Fine,” Kennedy said, slamming her laptop down. She went to her room and closed the door.

  “What was that?” Penny asked, alarmed.

  “Stress,” Taylor replied.

  “Give her some time,” Dustin suggested.

  Taylor nodded, he agreed. Taking a few hours away from code would be good for her. Everyone needs a break, and if Kennedy couldn’t give that to herself, Taylor would force her to take one.

  ∆∆∆

  Kennedy didn't know what Taylor expected her to do. Did he want her to stop decoding and watch the NSA blow up? She couldn't do that; she would hold herself responsible for the rest of her life. No, she had to do everything she could. This way, if something did happen, she wouldn’t put the blame on herself.

  Since she couldn’t decipher, Kennedy decided to take a long shower. Then maybe catch something on TV or call her mom. When was the last time they had talked? Days were blurring together. She couldn’t even name what day it was. It felt weird to have free time. To have a moment to herself. Taylor was right, she did need this.

  When Kennedy finished her relaxing afternoon, she walked out for dinner. Dustin was sitting at the table. Everyone else was gone.

  “Hey Kennedy,” Dustin said, welcoming her.

  “Hey,” she replied, sitting next to him.

  He put down his phone to talk to her, “Did you get any time for yourself?”

  “Yes, Taylor was right, I needed to step away.”

  “Sometimes we need someone else to reset us.”

  Kennedy nodded. They had put Taylor in as the filter for situations like this. He was doing his job, she needed to remember that.

  “I think I’m ready to go again,” Kennedy said.

  “Taylor is grabbing a nap; you’ll have to wait.”

  Penny then walked in with hamburgers, “Ready for dinner?”

  “Perfect timing,” Kennedy said checking the first bag.

  They woke up Taylor, ate dinner, and Kennedy got back to work.

  Kennedy dived into the code with fresh eyes. She flew through the layers of code. It was amazing how she had quickly learned to look past the surface, and through all their planted distractions. Instead of seeing the words, she looked for the parts of the code that was most heavily shielded. That was where the good stuff was.

  After a couple minutes, Kennedy realized that this code was not like the rest. This code followed a different pattern. Instead of having to read useless sentences to dig for the important information, Jordan had placed specific keywords throughout the coded message. Once the words were aligned, they read off the real message. Finding all the keywords didn’t take long for Kennedy, she just had to place them in the correct order. Rewriting, thinking, and crossing out the words a couple times, she finally revealed the message.

  Kennedy smiled, “Jordan, you trickster.”

  “Well, what does it say?” Dustin asked.

  “Oh right, it says ‘Worm, buy time to get out,’” Kennedy said.

  “A worm?” Taylor said.

  “Probably a virus,” Dustin clarified.

  “That makes sense,” Penny agreed, as she sat with them at the table.

  “It must all be tied together,” Kennedy said.

  “Maybe they are after some information,” Penny said.

  “That makes more sense, what kind of information is at the NSA?” Kennedy asked.

  “Lots of things,” Taylor said nervously. “Social security number, war secrets, phone records, and anything the government doesn't want society or enemies to know about.”

  “Are we sure the NSA is the target?” Penny asked.

  “Nothing is certain,” Taylor clarified.

  “The NSA gets threats like that all the time, no one succeeds,” Dustin said, focusing the group.

  “Well then,” Kennedy said standing up. “I'm off to bed.”

  Taylor stood up with her. “Good job tonight.”

  “Thanks, see you in the morning,” Kennedy said walking to her room.

  ∆∆∆

  “Even with the break, she is looking worse each day,” Dustin said as Kennedy’s door closed. He didn’t like seeing her like this. Surely there was something they could do to help lighten the load.

  Taylor sat down and rubbed his face with his hands. He then looked up at Dustin and Penny. Before he could say anything, his phone rang.

  “Hey Jennifer, we’re all here, let me put you on speaker phone.”

  Taylor sat his phone down and pushed a button.

  “What is going on?” Taylor asked Jennifer on the phone.

  “Something,” Jennifer started.

  “Do you have any more specifics?” Taylor half joked.

  “We aren’t sure yet, but we wanted to let you know codes are flying in. If we were overwhelmed before, we are completely buried now. We need Kennedy’s help.”

  “What are we talking about?”

  “As of this afternoon we have fourteen pages.”

  “Fourteen pages? Kennedy couldn’t read all of that on a good day.”

  “We are drowning over here Taylor; Jordan is going to move soon. We heard from Strong Bones, his description was rushed, but we got a few details.”

  “I’ll see,” Taylor said, not promising anything.

  “We’ll take any help Taylor,” Jennifer said and then hung up.

  “Why don’t we read the pages for Kennedy?” Penny suggested.

  “Kennedy has a different view on things. She has to do it.” Dustin explained. He wasn’t comfortable with how close Penny was at figuring the whole thing out. The more people who know about her ability the more danger Kennedy would be in.

  “Ok,” she said clearly confused.

  “She is already struggling, how are we going to ask this of her?” Taylor asked.

  “She’ll do it, she knows what is on the line,” Dustin said.

  “She seemed to like the park,” Penny offered.

  Taylor nodded, “We can do that.”

  “Anything else?” Dustin asked.

  “I’ll keep thinking,” Penny said.

  “Me too,” Taylor agreed.

  In the morning Dustin spoke to Kennedy first, she had gotten an early start.

  “Duty calls Kennedy. The NSA is swamped in codes. They received fourteen pages yesterday.

  “Why so much?” Kennedy asked.

  “We’re hoping you can tell us,” Taylor said.

  “They are anticipating that Jordan expects to hit soon,” Dustin added.

  “We've been expecting that for weeks, why so desperate now?” Kennedy asked nervously.

  “Just do the best you can,” Dustin prompted.

  “Alright! Let me grab something to eat, and then I’ll dive in,” Kennedy said as she pulled her laptop out.

  Dustin stood by the couch and switched between watching Kennedy and checking outside. Taylor was sorting through all the messages that Jennifer had sent. He was picking out which ones to send to Kennedy.

  Kennedy looked determined today. Dustin had been consistently impressed with Kennedy. Every time they asked her to do more, she consented. Even with all these different tricks and double ciphers, Kennedy never gave up.

  “‘Team three is in position, moving when ready. The package is wrapped up and the gas is in the cellar. Waiting for the signal.’ This is all of the same stuff.”

  “Great! How many pages were you able to get through?” Dustin asked, trying to stay positive.

  “Four, can you help me to my room?” she asked.

  “Of course,” Dustin said, grabbing her hand. He pulled her up and she almost collapsed in his arms.

  “Easy Kennedy,” Dustin said, easily catching her.

  “Thanks,” she said barely awake.

  Dustin gently laid her in the bed and closed the door.

/>   “How is it going?” Taylor asked, he had just returned from a lunch run.

  “Good, she got through four pages.”

  “How is Kennedy?” Penny asked, pulling a chair to the table.

  “She is asleep, but still good.”

  Nodding, Taylor grabbed a burrito and started to eat. Dustin sat next to him and the three of them caught up on the last deciphered messages. They didn’t find anything new.

  Kennedy only slept for an hour before reemerging. It was hardly enough to make up for the last set, but Dustin didn’t question her.

  Taylor insisted on driving to the park, keeping to their plan. Dustin noticed that Kennedy didn’t reject, but she also didn’t sound interested.

  The park they had picked was only a few minutes from the hotel. It was small, had a few tables, large trees, and a playground with lots of kids playing. Dustin smiled as he pulled up. There were lots of people there, but most of them were young mothers with their kids.

  Dustin stepped out of the car as Taylor opened the door for Kennedy. Penny and Dustin would maintain the area, while Taylor stayed with Kennedy. Once the car was locked, Dustin signaled Penny that he would take the left side. As he walked, he would stop, scan the area, check back in with Kennedy, and then continue his half. Once he reached the end, he would then make his way back.

  Kennedy situated herself at a picnic table next to the playground. She didn’t get straight to work, instead she took some time to watch the kids playing. Sometimes when Dustin saw kids playing, he thought of what his life would be like out of the NSA. Would he have settled down with kids and a wife? Maybe he would’ve lived in a house with a dog? Did Kennedy have similar thoughts now?

  Taylor patiently waited next to her. This small distraction from the bomb, the exhaustion, and the pressure was good for her. Focusing back on his route, Dustin easily cleared his half. Signaling Penny, who was covering the other side, he started going back over the same area. With kids running around, and parents hovering, the surrounding was constantly evolving. It made his job more interesting. Plus, kids were more enjoyable to watch.

  Twenty minutes passed before Kennedy tore her eyes away from the playground and focused on the laptop. Dustin wanted to know what she was typing. This bomb threat was closing in, and Dustin struggled being so far removed from the action. But he knew his job, and knew he had to keep Kennedy safe.