Mission Embarrassing
by Neil Murrell
Back in the days when the name MI5 conjured up images of top-secret reconnaissance, James Bond, and funky little watches with lasers built into them, two highly trained spies were busy on a top-secret assignment. It was, in fact, so secret that they were the only people who knew about it. What was their mission? They had to break into their own boss’s office. Why? Was the boss himself a double agent? Did the fate of the entire nation depend on this one mission? Alas, no. After waking up with truly nasty hangovers and even more unpleasant memories of their actions at the Christmas party the night before, the agents realized that either they get rid of the security tapes, the photographs, and the Xerox copies of their own butts, all of which were stored in the bosses office, or they might as well clear out their desks and leave before their boss orders them to.
The two agents easily gained access to the building and slipped by the security guards and cameras without raising even the smallest hint of suspicion... until they reached their boss’s office. There they found a note pinned to the door reading:
“Attn: Sean & Roger
If you’re reading this you’re probably trying to break into my office to cover your tracks. Well, if you think I’m going to give up such juicy material without a fight, you’re wrong. If you can break past my security lock, then you deserve your stuff back. However, if you don’t, you’re obviously not cut out for this job anyway.”
The security lock was an alphanumeric keypad with every letter of the alphabet on it and the numbers 0-9. Below it was another note reading:
“P.S. I thought I’d give you a fighting chance. The password is twelve digits long and is made up of 3 four letter long words
timid isle – index – true lies – timepiece – stained truth
attack tom – inferior type – italian – start – main price – toil - reptilian
This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds… just kidding.”
Unfortunately for the two spies their boss was a bit of a puzzle fiend and had developed a taste for this very labyrinth. However, by recalling their basic training the spies were able to work out the password to their boss’s office and keep their jobs. What was the password?
