“Matthew!” Ms. Stad and Mr. Pike called out as the students looked on.

“Where could he have gone?” Cody asked M.E. “He was here just a minute ago.”

M.E. shrugged. “I don’t know, but as usual, he’s ruining our trip.”

“Should we help find him, like last time?” Quinn asked.

Luke shook his head. “The teachers said to stay here. We’d better not leave.”

Cody thought for a moment and then had an idea. “Wait here,” she said to M.E. Then she stepped off the tram and headed for Ms. Stad.

“Dakota,” her teacher said. “I told you and the other students to remain on the tram. Now go back to your seat. We’ll handle this.”

“But I think I know where he is,” Cody protested. She pointed to the Off-Limits sign that hung on the barbed wire fence.

“Why would he go in there?” Ms. Stad asked. “We told him to stay away from the restricted areas.”

Cody shrugged. “He thinks he’s a pirate or something. He’s probably looking for Drake’s lost treasure. I saw him staring out that way when Ranger Yee talked about it.”

Ms. Stad sighed and shaded her eyes as she looked toward the fenced area. Cody did the same and spotted someone walking along the coastline. It looked as if he was stabbing the ground with a big stick.

“There he is!” Cody called out. She pointed toward the figure.

“Oh, for goodness’ sake!” Ms. Stad mumbled, shaking her head.

Mr. Pike headed over to Matt, who appeared to be digging in the dirt. When the teacher got closer, Matt dropped the stick, hung his head, and slowly followed Mr. Pike back toward the tram.

“What were you thinking, going off like that?” Ms. Stad said when Matt and Mr. Pike reached her.

Matt shrugged and kept his eyes on his dirty sneakers.

“Listen, young man,” Mr. Schnikey said. “I don’t put up with this kind of nonsense on my tram. You’re off the tour.”

Ms. Stadelhofer turned to the driver. “Wait a minute, Mr. Schnikey, you can’t just leave him here. He’s my student and my responsibility.”

“Yeah, well, this is my tram and your student is interfering with my job,” Schnikey said, jerking a thumb toward Matt. “Like I said, I don’t tolerate this kind of behavior. I’m not just the tram driver, you know. I’m in charge of maintenance and security around here. I can’t have some kid running wild where he doesn’t belong!”

Ms. Stad looked surprised at Schnikey’s outburst. She turned to Mr. Pike, who said, “Well, we could send him back to camp with one of the chaperones.”

Matt’s grim expression suddenly brightened. Wow, Cody thought, he’s getting his way after all. This whole time he’d just wanted to go back to camp and read comic books and play Zombies versus Teachers.

Ms. Stad shook her head. “No, he’ll stay right here on the tram. Mrs. Raleigh, will you please sit with Matt and make sure he behaves?” she asked one of the parent volunteers. The woman nodded and moved over to share Matt’s seat. “Matthew, if we can’t trust you to stay with the group, I can’t let you join us on the rest of the stops. You’ll have to stay on the tram with Mrs. Raleigh.”

Matt made a face and looked away.

The rest of the students settled back into their seats, and the tram ride resumed, with Mr. Schnikey at the helm.

The Code Busters talked in sign language on the short ride to the next stop, so the other students wouldn’t know what they were saying.

Code Busters Key and Solution found here and here.

The tram pulled up to their next destination—Fort McDowell at the East Garrison.

As soon as the tram came to a halt, Ranger Yee stood up. “This is where the detention center and discharge camps were built,” she announced, continuing her history lesson about the island. “In the late eighteen hundreds, military troops coming back from war were kept here at the hospital if they had any contagious diseases, such as smallpox. The rest were released, or discharged, from service and replaced by new recruits. The fort was closed down after World War II.”

“Thank you, Ranger Yee,” Ms. Stad said. “Students, we’ll be taking a longer break here for snacks and water. After you’re finished, you’re free to search for the next coded puzzle.” She eyed Matt, reminding him silently that he would remain on board.

The students disembarked the tram and collected their snacks. The Code Busters headed for a nearby picnic table, gobbled up their food, tossed their trash in the bins, and then began searching for the next coded message.

Cody was the first to find it—a sign taped to the hospital building marked E Wing. “There it is!” she said, pointing it out for the others. The kids ran over and studied the message. This one was written in alphanumeric code, where numbers substituted for letters. Cody got out her decoder card and began translating the message, while Quinn took down the information in his notebook.

24-8-1-20’19 13-9-19-19-9-14-7? 10-15-12-22 13-25 18-9-4-4-12 1-14-4 20-1-11 1 16-9-3-20-21-18.

25-15-21’12-12 6-9-14-4 13-5 . . .

1-20 20-8-5 2-5-7-9-14-14-9-14-7 15-6 5-20-5-18-14-9-20-25

1-20 20-8-5 5-14-4 15-6 20-9-13-5 1-14-4 19-16-1-3-5

1-20 20-8-5 2-5-7-9-14-14-9-14-7 15-6 5-22-5-18-25 5-14-4,

1-14-4 1-20 20-8-5 5-14-4 15-6 5-22-5-18-25 16-12-1-3-5.

Code Busters Key and Solution found here and here.

“This is hard!” M.E. complained after studying the riddle for a few minutes. “Is it something like air?”

“Or maybe time?” Quinn suggested.

“Or even the universe?” Mika offered.

“It could be something like the middle, because the clues keep repeating beginning and end, beginning and end,” Cody said.

Luke shook his head. “I think it has something to do with the letters. Did you notice how some of the words in the instructions were misspelled?”

The Code Busters looked at the first deciphered sentence and then Quinn said, “They’re all missing the same letter!”

“That’s it!” M.E. exclaimed, after reading the riddle aloud again. “We were looking at it in the wrong way. We were trying to find an object, when all the time it was a letter.”

“So we’re supposed to take a picture of it?” M.E. asked. “There must be billions of them around here.”

Luke pointed to the hospital building. The letter they were looking for was right in front of them. “That has to be it,” he said.

He took a picture of the letter displayed on the side of the hospital building. The kids spent the rest of the time exploring the area before it was time to return to the tram. As they began heading back, Cody noticed Mr. Schnikey standing off in the trees. He appeared to be talking to someone, but Cody couldn’t see who it was.

“Is that one of the chaperones he’s talking to?” Cody asked the others, nodding in Mr. Schnikey’s direction.

“I don’t think so,” Quinn said. “But it sure looks like he’s up to something.”

Mr. Schnikey was gesturing to the other person—a man. Schnikey looked angry, but then again, the tram driver always seemed to be mad about something. He pulled something out of his pocket, glanced around as if to make sure no one was looking, and passed it to the other guy. The mystery man took the object, put it in his pocket, and pulled out something from his other pocket.

Cody tapped her right fist against her left palm, the ASL sign for “money.”

“Ooks-lay ike-lay ots-lay of-yay oney-may!” Quinn whispered in Pig Latin as he stared at the two men.

Code Busters Solution found here.

Luke frowned. “Yeah, that’s weird,” he said. “Let’s sneak over and see if we can find out what they’re doing.”

“No way,” M.E. said. “If he catches us, he’ll probably want to throw us off the tram like he did Matt the Brat.”

“But I think Quinn’s right,” Luke said. “He seems nervous, and he keeps looking around. I definitely think he’s up to something”

“Maybe,” Mika said, “but I think we should stay away from him.”

“Well, I’m going over there,” Luke said. He turned to the others. “Anyone coming with me?”

“I’ll come,” Cody said. “But we have to be careful. If he catches us, he’ll make sure we get in trouble.”

“And I don’t want to miss the immigration station,” Mika added.

Quinn nodded. “You two stay here,” he told Mika and M.E. “We’ll go find out what’s up.”

Luke gestured for Quinn and Cody to follow him. Hunkering down, they ducked behind a row of shrubs and crept along until they reached some trees. They inched closer until they were within hearing distance. Then Luke held up his hand—a military signal meaning “stop.” He put his finger against his lips and peered out from behind the tree.

“This is all you’re giving me?” Schnikey said to the other man, whose back was to the kids. “After the risks I took to get you all this stuff? If I get caught in that restricted area, I could get fired, you know.”

“Yeah, well, I need you to keep it up,” the man said. “I’m not making enough money on the stuff you give me. And you’re not the only one taking a risk.”

Cody leaned forward to hear better and accidentally rustled the bushes.

The two men turned toward the sound where the kids were hiding.

The Code Busters remained frozen to the spot.

“What was that?” said the other man.

Schnikey shrugged. “Just critters. Most likely raccoons or deer. Don’t worry, that school group is doing some kind of scavenger hunt. I wouldn’t have signaled you to meet me here if I didn’t think it was safe.”

Cody remembered the blinking light she’d seen from the ferry as it neared Angel Island. So that was a signal! Morse code! What were these guys up to? Whatever it was, it sure didn’t sound good.

Cody peeked out from the tree again. The mystery man turned around—and Cody almost gasped when she saw the tattoo on the man’s arm. She’d seen it before!

“Look, I have to get back now,” said Schnikey. “Those brats expect me to finish driving them around the island.”

Luke signaled frantically to the others.

Code Busters Key and Solution found here and here.

Following Luke’s lead, Cody and Quinn crept back along bushes until they were out of sight of Mr. Schnikey. They met up with M.E. and Mika, who looked relieved to see them.

“What happened?” M.E. asked. “We couldn’t see you guys after you disappeared behind those trees. We thought maybe you got caught!”

Mika added, “Did you find out anything?”

“There’s definitely something going on between Schnikey and some other guy,” Luke said as they headed for the tram. “Schnikey gave this other dude something, and then the guy gave him a wad of money. And they were acting really suspicious.”

“You’re lucky they didn’t see you,” Mika said. “If they had, you could have been in real trouble.” She turned to Quinn and smiled shyly. “I’m glad you didn’t get caught.”

“Me too,” Quinn said, standing up a little straighter.

Cody glanced at M.E., trying not to smile. Did Mika have a crush on Quinn? Cody didn’t know whether to be more surprised at that or at what she’d discovered about the man Schnikey had been talking to.

By the time the Code Busters got back on the tram, Delbert Schnikey was in his seat, frowning, as usual. As the kids sat down, he scanned the passengers in his mirror. Suddenly he focused on Cody. Cody quickly looked away. Maybe it was just her imagination. Or did Schnikey know the Code Busters had been spying on him?

The tram pulled away and continued its journey to their final destination. Cody turned in her seat and signed to the others so Schnikey wouldn’t know what she was saying:

Luke and Quinn signed at the same time, circling their mouths with their index fingers.

Quinn pointed to Cody, then moved his index finger out from his chin, the signs for “You sure?”

Code Busters Key and Solution found here and here.

The Code Busters exchanged glances.

“Well,” Luke said aloud, “this is getting weirder and weirder.”