The Hunt for the Missing Spy by Penny Warner

some kind of number code.

    Cody got out her alphanumeric decoder card to see if it might be the key and began translating the message out loud. Moments later she stopped. The decoded message seemed to be a jumble of letters that made no sense. “I don’t think this is in Alphanumeric Code,” she said. She tried a couple of other codes that used numbers. Nothing worked.
    â€œMom,” Mika called to her mother who was standing a few feet away watching the kids. “Do you have the code key for this message too?”
    Smiling mysteriously, Mrs. Takeda stepped up and withdrew another envelope from her bag. Mika grinned. “Thanks!” she said, as she took the envelope it and opened it. She pulled out a sheet of paper covered with alphabet letters and showed it to the group.
    â€œThis must be the key,” she said, holding up the grid of alphabet letters.

    â€œRead what it says at the bottom,” M.E. said, pointing to the small print. The group huddled together to hear Mika.
    â€œIt says,
This is a version of the Confederate Code that was used during the Civil War. Look carefully. The first line shows the alphabet from A to Z. But the second line has shifted over one letter. It begins with the letter B and ends with A. Try to figure out how to crack the code and receive a hint about your next waypoint. Meanwhile, here are the coordinates to the site. Good luck!
It’s signed,
E Pluribus Unum
.”
    Once again, the waypoint coordinates were written in Japanese number characters.
    â€œI’ve heard of
E Pluribus Unum
,” Quinn said. “Those are the words written in Latin on a penny. Mr. Pike told us it means ‘Out of many, one.’”
    â€œAnd what is
that
supposed to mean?” M.E. asked, frowning.
    â€œI think it has something to do with all the American states coming together to form one country—the United States,” Quinn said.
    â€œKind of like
strength in numbers
,” Luke noted.
    â€œOkay, let’s see if we can crack the code,” Cody said. “How about if we match each number to a letter, beginning with the top row.”

    Code Busters’ Key and Solution found on pp. 149, 156.
    â€œThe eighth letter is still an
H
,” Quinn said.
    Luke wrote down the letter
H
in his Code Busters notebook.
    â€œNow let’s count over fourteen in the second row,” Cody continued. “That gives us the letter
O
.”
    Luke kept writing down the letters as Cody translated them. Soon they had decoded all twenty-four letters.
    Luke read the completed message he’d written down.
    â€œWhat does that mean?” M.E. asked.
    â€œLike Luke said, it means there’s strength in numbers,” Quinn said. “But that’s not much of a clue to our next waypoint.”
    â€œWho said it?” Luke asked.
    â€œI’ll look it up.” Cody pulled out her cell phone and entered the phrase. A familiar name appeared. “Abraham Lincoln!” she announced.
    Quinn looked up from the GPS device. “And guess where the coordinates meet!”
    â€œThat makes sense!” Luke said.
    â€œWe’d better hurry,” Quinn said. “It looks like it’s a long way off.”
    The kids dashed off to find their next waypoint and clue, with Ms. Takeda doing her best to keep up with them. In her excitement, Cody had temporarily forgotten about the man in the khaki coat and baseball cap, but as they neared the steps to the memorial, she stopped and looked around. If she spotted the guy this time, she wouldn’t take any chances.
    So far, though, there was no sign of him.
    Cody felt relieved, but also a little disappointed. Maybe it
had
just been her imagination. Aside from those holes torn in the newspaper, she still had no proof that a strange man was spying on them. Still, if the guy was gone for good, she and the others hadnothing to worry about.
    Turning her attention to the memorial, she was surprised to see