Far From Home

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Okay, first of all, I want to apologize.

I know that this story was supposed to be in Sydney's POV and I just completely blanked while I was writing the last chapter so I'm sorry.

None of you complained so I'm hoping that it wasn't a grevious mistake... I think that I'm going to keep on writing in 3rd person though because all my others are written that way and I think it's easier for me.

I had meant to write in a variety of styles and mix things up so that every single thing I wrote wouldn't be exactly the same but I guess that this one is a botched experiment.

So sorry once again,

The answer to the code is finally here. (Thanks to the couple of you who reviewed and attempted to solve it!)

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7.

She squinted her eyes before sighing and closing them completely and rubbing them with weary hands for the tenth time that hour. She knew that she had asked for a sign, any sign but she hadn't anticipated one of this complexity. Vaughn now had even more of her respect for his cunning.

For some reason she felt resentment towards Eric; she understood that he wanted her to fully understand everything for herself but if he had already figured this out, how could it hurt for him to tell her? They were wasting precious time. Clenching her hand into a tight fist and hitting it forcefully on the table-top, she thought of Michael and opened her eyes, ready to once again tackle this strange intricacy of numbers and words.

Sydney had already put together every type of combination she could think of so she knew at least one thing. This was not a stable code. She had wasted hours trying to match a single letter to another and had met with failure each time. But she learned from her mistakes. And here was the building block she had achieved.

This was a moving code.

It shifted every letter and she decided that Vaughn wouldn't be so heartless not to give her some clue. And, knowing him, it would be the first line.

So she concentrated on the blurry line on the screen.

...3pu3/2pu3nwod1/1pu4nwod3...

Pu and nwod.

Her world reversed. Pu. Up? Nwod. Down?

She tried it, scribbing on the notepad that was already missing 20 sheets that had been ripped out angrily and thrust to the floor.

3up3/2up3down1/1up4down3

Could up mean addition? She quickly put the digits together: 6/4/2. Was that the code? Did the letters shift in those increments?

She tried the first few words. They didn't make sense. So she worked backwards. The B- could have been Bristow but that wouldn't work. But if it was "S" for Syd... She counted the letters from S to B.

9.

She suddenly lurched forward, eyes widening in sudden epiphany.

3up3 = 3^3= 3 to the third = 9.

She tried the next one.

2up3down1= 2^(3-1) = 4

And the next.

1up4down3 = 1^(4-3) = 1

9. 4. 1.

She tried the first line.

B- RPC CS OEVUX - XXYMM

B-9 = S

RPC = (R-4)(P-1)(C-9) = NOT

That was an actual word. An actual word in the English language. She smiled for the first time in 15 hours and went eagerly on, filled with a new energy that filled her entire body. She was finally getting somewhere and this joy that filled her to bursting would only be amplified with each decoded letter.

CS= YR

That wasn't a word. Her brow furrowed before relaxing again. He didn't have all the time in the world. He would have to shorten some words... Yr= your?

OEVUX- FAULT.

This was working. She relaxed, feeling the ache in her back as she allowed herself to crumple and close her eyes, just for a second, before hunching over the paper once more.

40 minutes later, she was done; jubilant, joyous, and another step closer to finding Vaughn. But when she reread the note, confusion set in once more.

S- NOT YR FAULT- WOULD HAVE

BEEN TKN NYWAY

MY FATHER IS THE KEY.

MY K-NAPPING IS NOT AN ACCIDENT

I'M REPLACEMENT FOR W.V.

NOT MUCH TIME LEFT

FILE 473 WAS UNFINISHED

RE-OPENED

AM WORKING ON IT

            PROCRASTINATING

            HURRY

                        VAUGHN

File 473? She looked at Eric's note lying on the table with the words File 473 in block letters, circled 5 five times and underlined twice. She checked the table and smiled. The thick manila envelope lay on the table, the tight script of the label naming it to be File 473, the file on which Vaughn was working on and was taken for.

It was time to learn the truth. She took out the contents and skimmed her eyes over the words, mouth slackening.

And so it begins.

TBC...

SO?????????

What did you think about the code??? Smart enough for you?

Haha, who got it?

So... If you want to find out more about this mysterious file, click the little purple button at the bottom left-hand corner of this chap... You know you want to ;)

Whew... Finally got to decode the code... It took soooo long~

Hope you enjoyed it.

~Jenn.