Free S.T.I.N.K.B.O.M.B. by Rob Stevens

talk about revenge and retribution,’ Highwater continued, ignoring Archie. ‘Cipher Branch reported their findings to my boss Huge – I
mean Hugh – Figo and he assigned the investigation to our division.’
    ‘I suppose your colleagues in the Norwegian Secret Service are working up some intel?’ said Barney in a slightly strange American accent.
    ‘Negative.’ Highwater removed her glasses. ‘As far as they’re concerned this is a simple case of a runaway. But the young man in question – Mr Henry Ulrik –
has joint Norwegian and British citizenship so it’s up to us to find him.’
    Holden Grey nodded sagely. ‘AKA this baby’s in our court now.’
    ‘Excuse me,’ Archie interjected, raising his hand. ‘I’m really sorry Mr Ulrik is missing and I don’t want to be all me, me, me or anything – but what does all
this have to do with my dad?’
    Helen Highwater slid her glasses back on and smiled briefly. ‘I’m glad you asked me that,’ she said. ‘Take a look at this.’

X-ray’s fingers danced over the keyboard and a new paragraph appeared on the monitors.
    ‘This update was posted on Doctor Doom’s page two days ago,’ said Highwater.
    ‘The day of the car crash,’ Archie whispered to himself as his eyes eagerly scanned the post.
    3pm – Very few police have the will power to take the necessary care . Too many of them will hunt selfishly on this and every
     afternoon .
    Falteringly Archie announced the hidden message, reading every fourth word, ‘Have – to – care – them – on – afternoon?’ He frowned and
cocked his head. ‘That doesn’t make any sense.’
    ‘Guess again, Einstein,’ said X-ray without looking up from her keyboard.
    ‘Barney?’ Highwater said invitingly. ‘Any ideas?’
    Barney pinched his chin thoughtfully and said, ‘From my experience I’d guess our mark is using a classic helical substitution cipher, or perhaps a cross-numerical progression
code?’
    Highwater looked at him blankly. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘Does anyone have any ideas that actually make sense? Archie?’
    Archie said nothing for a moment because his mind was racing. This new message had been posted at 3 p.m., which meant . . .
    His blood chilled as the hidden meaning became clear. In a voice that was barely audible he read the message.
    ‘Police will take care of Hunt this afternoon.’
    ‘Bravo,’ said Grey, adding quickly, ‘I mean kuoros.’
    ‘No,’ said Agent X-ray through gritted teeth, ‘you actually mean kudos.’
    ‘So somebody was planning to kill my father?’ Archie felt anger bubbling in his veins. ‘How soon did you decode this message?’
    ‘Only about half an hour before the accident,’ said Highwater. ‘We didn’t relocate to this safe house until yesterday so we were still in London at the time. We sent a
uniformed unit to your home but they were too late to intercept your father.’
    ‘Typical of the plod,’ said Barney wearily. ‘If you want a job done right you’ve got to go with Tactical Armed Response.’
    ‘We have reason to believe things are not as straightforward as they at first appear,’ said Highwater. ‘Agent X-ray will explain.’
    The girl spun her chair round to face the boys. As she addressed them she kept her head tilted slightly to one side so that her fringe hung across half of her face. ‘Firstly we believe the
phrase “take care of hunt” in the original message is ambiguous,’ she mumbled, like a teenager who’s been forced to propose a toast at a family function. ‘It could
mean, you know, to kill, or bump off, or ice or whatever. But it might just mean “taking care of business”.’
    ‘In what way?’ asked Archie.
    ‘In this case we think it meant they wanted to pick up your father.’
    ‘You mean kidnap?’
    X-ray nodded. ‘Sort of. We don’t think the chase and the accident were in the kidnappers’ plan. Things just went a bit Pete Tong when your dad saw through their police disguise
and kept