The Math Kids by David Cole

Author:David Cole
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Common Deer Press
Published: 2020-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Stephanie and Catherine walked over to one of the benches lining the circular drive.

“This cipher stuff is really interesting,” Stephanie said. “I’m reading a book on Elizabeth Smith.” “Who’s that?”

“She was one of the codebreakers in World War I. She and a guy named William Friedman were two of the first people to use letter frequency to crack codes.” “That’s cool,” Catherine said.

“It gets even cooler. After the war she joined the Coast Guard and set up the first cryptoanalysis section. She helped to break encrypted messages sent by criminals who were trying to sell liquor during prohibition.”

“Wow, she had her own section?” Catherine was completely captivated by the story now and leaned closer.

“Well, it was just her and an assistant, but they decoded thousands of messages and sent lots of people to jail, including some of Al Capone’s gang!”

“Girls rock!” Catherine pumped her fist.

“And that’s not all. In World War II she helped to smash a Nazi spy network that was trying to start revolutions down in South America.”

“Wait, how come I’ve never heard of her?” Catherine asked.

“A lot of it was classified for a long time, so it’s just now coming out.”

“Can I borrow that book when you’re done with it?” Catherine asked.

Stephanie didn’t answer, she was staring at the other bench.

“Hey, does that guy look familiar?” Stephanie asked.

“What guy?” Catherine asked.

Stephanie nodded her head toward the bench to their left, where an old man in a worn overcoat sat by himself. Catherine took a long look and then nodded.

“I think I’ve seen him at the library the last couple of times we were there,” she said.

“He also looks like the guy in front of my house earlier this week,” Stephanie said under her breath.

“He was at your house?” Catherine asked in alarm.

“Yeah, last Friday when we were all at the library,” she answered. “I had a funny feeling that someone was following me, but the only person I saw was way up the block from my house, so I didn’t think anything more about it. When I looked out of my bedroom window a little while later though, there was this old guy standing in front of the house. When he saw me looking, he just turned and walked away.”

“Did you tell your parents?”

“No, I figured it was just someone who was a little lost,” Stephanie said. “But now I’m not so sure. It looks like that might be the same guy.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.