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CHAPTER FIVE

Puzzle Number One

Mr Williams stared at the computer screen, horrified. His hank account was empty! The bank manager quickly closed the page but Belinda had already seen it.

She dropped her cup of tea and began to cry. Before Henry Williams could say a word, another message appeared on the screen.

E-mail arriving for Henry Williams Puzzle Number One

Mr Williams clicked to open the message and looked at the first puzzle. There were just a few words and lots of strange symbols and abbreviations.

It’s 9/15 and time to play!

WU Henry? I C that UR : - ( Y?

U can’t C me U R : - ( but I am >-(

IMO U R >:-C OR PRHPS <:-O

TAFN I’ll BBL

EOM HAND (LOL)

Henry, do you like the first puzzle? Isn’t it cool? Cool and wicked. The clock has started to tick. Hurry, hurry, hurry! BFN :-)

Mr Williams didn’t understand anything. He looked at Belinda, who was still crying. “Belinda, please, stop crying for just one minute and call Mike. Tell him to come here at once. We need his help.”

She looked at him in amazement and replied, “But Mr Williams, you sacked Mike about an hour ago. Don’t you remember?”

Yes, now he did remember. There was no one to help him.

His headache was getting worse. He couldn’t think. Then Belinda’s voice came from behind his chair. “Why don’t you call your son, Robbie? He’s very good with computers, isn’t he?”

Mr Williams got up and hugged her. “Yes! Belinda, you’re fantastic. Why didn’t I think of that?” It was a school holiday so Robbie would be in his bedroom, playing on the computer and listening to music but definitely not studying.

It was rare to see an open textbook in that bedroom. There were two things Mr Williams always associated with his son - his mobile phone and his baseball cap.

Mr Williams picked up the phone and dialled his home number.

“Robbie? This is your father. Listen, I have a problem with the computers at the bank. Can you come and help me? I don’t care if you’re fighting Lara Croft. This is really important. Come as soon as possible please. Thank you.”

Mr Williams put down the phone and smiled. “That was a great idea of yours, Belinda. Robbie’s a teenager so I’m sure he’ll understand all the strange symbols and abbreviations in the puzzle.”

Belinda blushed. “If I could make another suggestion, Mr Williams? I think you can see where the e-mail came from. Look at the top of the page.”

She was right. “Well done again, Belinda! It was sent from the local library. So, our mystery hacker thinks he’s clever, does he?”

Mr Williams picked up the phone again. This time he called the security office.

He explained the situation and told the head of security to send two guards to the library to find and arrest the hacker.

He was feeling a little bit better and Belinda had stopped crying. Then he noticed something appear on the computer screen.

It was a clock icon and an hourglass. Fifteen minutes had already passed and the sand was falling.

The countdown had begun.