Jaz headed up the staircase to her room and turned on the light as she walked in. Her room really was a mess, no wonder Simon had nicknamed her room Hiroshima. She saw Ryan’s jumper on the end of her bed and thought of his spotless bedroom.
Twenty minutes later she’d tidied her room and was amazed at how much flooring she could see. Her room really was big. She’d also had a shower and was curled up in Ryan’s jumper, sitting at her desk with a blank page ready to start her essay. She picked up her mobile and messaged Anna.
Yes, she was procrastinating, besides it wasn’t due for another three days. Plenty of time.
You still up?
Yep, finishing history essay.
Don’t wanna do mine 2?
Nup! :)
Bugger
Jaz was tapping her phone against her chin when it vibrated again. She hoped Anna had changed her mind about the essay. But it wasn’t from Anna.
16-9-4 / 34-19-1 / 4-4-6 / 18-10-2 / 26-15-8 / 31-5-3 Ryan
What the Hell? How did Ryan get her number? He was a cunning man, she knew he’d have found a way. But, what was up with all the numbers? No doubt, this was another test for her. They looked like some sort of code.
She glanced at her phone and thought of Anna. She could figure this out in a flash, but Jaz couldn’t get help. This was something she had to figure out on her own, especially if she was to make it in the secret agent world. Jaz got up and paced her room, which she could now do without tripping over clothes. She flopped onto her bed and studied her phone message. Could they correspond to the alphabet? That seemed like the logical place to start.
She went to her desk, got a pen and paper, and wrote out the alphabet. Then she put the numbers under the letters. She didn’t have enough letters for the numbers so she started at A and wrote the remaining numbers. No, it still wasn’t making any sense. And were they all three-letter words in between the breaks? 16-9-4 / 34-19-1 /
Jaz tried re-jigging the numbers under the letters to see if one format would start to make sense but by ten o’clock her brain was fried and her clean floor now littered with paper. God damn it!
She turned off her light, crawled into bed and glanced at the text once more. The only thing that made sense was the last bit and that was Ryan’s name at the end.
‘Couldn’t you at least have given me a clue!’ Jaz sighed, threw her phone on her bedside table, rolled over and snuggled her black pillow. Maybe she’d have more luck in the morning but right now her brain hurt.
Chapter 25
‘So did you finish your essay?’ Jaz asked Anna at school the next day.
‘Sure did, did you even start yours?’ Jaz groaned in reply and Anna laughed. ‘I didn’t think so.’
‘Hey, I tried. So what are you doing for your free period?’
Anna waved the load of books in her arms under Jaz’s nose. ‘Off to the library to swap books and start my next assignment. I suppose you’re off to shoot some hoops?’
‘Actually I was thinking of going to the library too.’
‘Are you for real?’
Jaz nodded. She was hoping to find some books on codes or something to point her in the right direction. Who knows if Ryan’s message had a time limit on it.
‘Yep, so which way is it?’ she joked as she took some of Anna’s books.
They walked down the school corridor and through a covered walkway that joined the separate library building. And into the silence.
‘Com’on, I use a desk down here, it’s out of the way and quiet,’ said Anna.
‘How could it be any quieter than this?’ asked Jaz. She followed her past the shelves of books towards the back. Jaz found the smell quite unique and couldn’t help but run her finger along the spines of all the books. She liked to read and had a collection of her own, but Anna loved all the non-fiction, factual stuff she could learn from whereas Jaz enjoyed escaping into a book, where the main characters overcame challenges and it all ends happy ever after. She was an optimist, so what.
‘Here, I’ll just go and return these ones, we can sit here.’ Anna took the books from Jaz and nodded to the small grey table against the wall under a window.
Jaz threw her bag on the table, got out her phone and sat down.
16-9-4 / 34-19-1 / 4-4-6 / 18-10-2 / 26-15-8 / 31-5-3 Ryan
Last night’s headache returned as she looked at the message. All of a sudden it was the last thing she felt like thinking about. Numbers…she hated numbers, hence maths was her worst subject. She’d rather poke her eye out with a stick than do maths. With a sigh, she shifted her bag closer and started looking for a pen and paper. She would make herself persist! As she looked inside her bag, she saw the magazine from Ryan and pulled it out. The moment she touched it she realised it was the key! She’d read his message enough times to remember it.