Chapter 6

Claudia couldn’t understand a word of the Russian words that were coming through the radio, but did pick up on the all too familiar, and totally creepy, music ‘Daisy Bell’.

“Wait, that last part, just one more time,” Robin said. Dustin rewinded the tape. “Okay, that word! Um. It’s pronounced… dly-nna-ya.”

“Dly-nna-ya,” Dustin repeated.

“Which is is spelled… D, D, D.” Robin and Dustin repeated the letter over and over as Dustin made his way to the whiteboard. Claudia stayed sat down with her head on the table, slowly falling asleep.

“The chair! The chair-looking thingy,” Dustin said. Robin made a note of the letter, then opened the window to speak to Steve.

“We’ve got our first sentence.”

“Oh, seriously?” Steve asked, walking over to Robin.

“The week is long,” Claudia said in her best Russian accent. The others had to hand it to her, her accent was pretty spot on.

“Well, that’s thrilling,” Steve said sarcastically.

“I know. But, progress,” Robin said, closing the window.

——————————

The mall was completely closed, except for the lights in the Scoops Ahoy. In there stood Dustin, Robin, Steve and Claudia, reciting what they’d translated in sync, like some sort of cult.

“The week is long, the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west.”

Steve closed up the store and they all began to walk away. “I mean, it just, it just can’t be right,” Steve said.

“It’s right,” Robin said.

“Honestly, I think it’s great news,” Dustin said.

“How is this great news?” Claudia asked.

“Yeah,” Steve said, “So much for being American heroes. It’s total nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense,” Dustin said, “It’s too specific. It’s obviously a code.”

“What do you mean a code?”

“Like a super secret spy code.”

“That’s great. We’re holders of a top secret Russian code. This is exactly how I expected my first job to go,” Claudia stated sarcastically.

“That’s a total stretch,” Steve said.

“I don’t know, is it?” Robin asked skeptically.

“You’re buying into this?”

“Listen, just for kicks, let’s entertain the possibility that it is a secret Russian transmission. What’d you think they were gonna say, ‘fire the warhead at noon’? And my translation is correct, I know that for sure, so… ‘the silver cat feeds.’ Why would anyone talk like that unless they were trying to mask the true meaning of their message? And why would anyone wanna mask the true meaning of their message unless the message was somehow sensitive? So I guess that confirms your suspicion.”

“Evil Russians,” Dustin said.

“I can’t believe I’m about to agree with Robin and this strange child, but, yeah. Totally evil Russians. Oh my God, what if they’re watching us right now?”

“Don’t be dumb,” Dustin said. “So, how do we crack it?”

“Well, I guess we translate the rest and hopefully a pattern emerges.”

“If this turns out to be something to do with war or bombs, I quit my job,” Claudia said.

“A pattern. Right, like maybe ‘silver cat’ is a meeting place?” Dustin said

“Or a person,” Robin said.

“Or a weapon.”

“Or a cat,” Claudia deadpanned.

“It’s probably gonna take a super genius to crack it, but… where’s Steve?” Robin said, turning around to see Steve stood ages away from them.

“I need a quarter,” Steve said, “Do you have a quarter?”

“You sure you’re tall enough for that ride?” Robin asked.

“Quarter!”

He put the quarter that Robin handed him into the horse ride, and it began to go, playing ‘Daisy Bell’. A look of realisation came up onto Steve and Claudia’s face, as Steve stayed crouched on the floor.

“You need help getting up, little Stevie?” Robin asked, Claudia shushed her.

“Shut up and listen,” Claudia said.

“Holy shit,” Dustin said when he caught on, “The music, the music!” He took the tape out of his bag and started to play it, the tune playing behind the ominous Russian words.

“I don’t understand,” Robin said.

“It’s the exact same song on the recording.”

“Maybe they have horses like this in Russia.”

“Or maybe they’re watching us! Oh my God,” Claudia began to worry, “We’re totally being perved on by evil Russians.”

“Indiana Flyer? I don’t think so,” Steve said, “This code. It… didn’t come from Russia. It came from here.”

“Holy f-“