The Hunt for the Missing Spy by Penny Warner Page B

one can get in or out without checking with me or the other guard. Are all of your other students accounted for?”
    Ms. Stad looked at her clipboard. “Yes, except . . .” She turned and saw the Code Busters standing next to her.
    â€œThank goodness your group is here!” she said. “I need you students to get on the bus so I can keep track of you and not lose anyone else.”
    â€œWhat happened to Matt the . . . to Matt?” Cody asked her teacher.
    There was no way she would get on the bus without knowing exactly what happened.
    â€œI don’t know!” Ms. Stad said, sounding frantic. “Mr. Littlefield, his group chaperone, called me when he noticed Matthew wasn’t with the
others.”
    â€œWhen was that?” Quinn asked.
    â€œI’m not sure . . .” Ms. Stad shook her head, as if she was trying to think. “According to Mr. Littlefield, Matt began the hunt with his group, but then he ran ahead. Mr. Littlefield called to him to slow down, but apparently Matt ignored him. He figured Matt was excited and wanted to be the first one in the group to the waypoint, but when the others arrived, Matt was nowhere to be found. Mr. Littlefield said they looked for him at the monument, then retraced their steps back here to the Spy Museum, but Matt had vanished.”
    â€œI’m sure he’ll show up,” Cody said, placing a hand on Ms. Stad’s arm to comfort her teacher. It was hard seeing her teacher so upset. Ms. Stad was almost always calm, patient, and cheerful.
    â€œMs. Stadelhofer!” Mr. Littlefield called from the top of the bus stairs. He bounded down the steps. “I almost forgot! One of the kids found this at the Washington Monument. It was sticking out from under the sign post.”
    The chaperone held up what looked like a brochure for the Spy Museum. He unfolded it and gave it to Ms. Stadelhofer.
    â€œShe thought the message was part of the Spy Hunt, but she couldn’t make sense of it, so she gave it to me. I stuck it in my pocket and forgot about it when I realized Matt was missing. Do you think it’s important?”
    Ms. Stad studied the brochure for a moment. The Code Busters leaned over to see what was on it. In the margins were drawings of animals. Cody instantly recognized the artwork—it looked similar to the cartoons she’d found on the paper in her backpack.
    Cody pointed to the brochure in Ms. Stad’s hands. “They’re more drawings. Only this time it’s a bunch of animals.”

    Cody studied the cartoon figures. Their style looked similar to those other pictures they had found during the past week. But there was something weird about them.
    â€œGuys,” Cody said to the others, “do you notice anything interesting about these pictures?”
    M.E. shook her head.
    â€œWhat is it?” Mika asked.
    â€œLook,” Cody said. “Whoever drew these animals repeated some of them.”
    â€œIt has to be a code!” Quinn exclaimed.
    â€œThat’s what I thought,” Cody said. “Why would only some of the animals be repeated, unless there was a reason? What if these animals stand for letters, and the repeated ones are double letters?”
    â€œIf we can crack the code,” M.E. added, “we can figure out what the message says, and maybe find Matt.”
    Ms. Stad studied the brochure for a moment, then handed it to Cody. “All right, kids, see if you can make any sense of this.”
    Luke got out his notebook and a pencil.
    â€œLook,” Cody said, “there are spaces between some of the animal drawings. Those are probably words. The first word has two tigers, so two of the same letter. They could be
l
’s,
t
’s,
s
’s,
m
’s,
p
’s,
e
’s . . .”
    â€œThis could take forever,” M.E. muttered.
    â€œWell, we could start with the most common letterused in English—the letter
E
,” Quinn suggested.