“Okay. If I agree to help, then I want something in return,” Mr. Henry said.
“Name it,” Agent Appleton said.
“A favor of my choosing.”
“We have a deal, Mr. Henry. You have my word! Before we start, I need to read you in.”
Agent Appleton produced a small tablet from his pocket and handed it to Mr. Henry for signature confirmation. After a few swipes and taps, Mr. Henry handed the tablet back to Agent Appleton.
“Show me what you have.”
Agent Appleton opened his briefcase and took out a small laptop. On the screen appeared to be a group of ciphertext.
“At first, we thought it was a standard algorithm, like SHA-512 or AES-256, but none of the agents that I know have ever seen this,” Agent Appleton said.
“Can you give me a copy?”
Agent Appleton copied the file on a spare flash drive a
