L

"Friends no longer, you and I find ourselves on either side of a divide. Not to alarm you, but you are in severe danger. Don't pursue this path. Leave her death alone."

Thus read a mysterious note shoved into the pocket of my newly dry-cleaned tuxedo. Tony, the launderer, was just as perplexed as I was. He raised a manicured eyebrow at the sinister nature of the message and I realized that I'd have to kill him for knowing too much.

Just kidding, of course! Tony is fine, but he has decided to take a rather sudden holiday in Venezuela.

But back to the sinister note. You are probably curious about its meaning. At first, I was frightened. Warnings of severe danger tend to induce that in most reasonable folk. However, as a trained cryptographer, I soon spotted the code and capitalized on the opportunity to learn new information.

... I'll let you solve this one on your own.

Anyway, who is L? What do they know? Are they friend or foe?

I shall begin my search promptly. This note gives me great hope that perhaps some mysterious benefactor wants me to succeed in my endeavour. Yet, encrypted, it carries a most sinister message. It is not the severe danger that puzzles me but the message: "friends no longer". Perhaps, this is an admission of betrayal from one of our own?

However, it is the reference to "two sides of a divide" which I find puts me most ill at ease. For as long as I've known, there has been a singular divide - The Organization and The Agency. Has someone from the other side decided to help me? To what end?

And, most troublingly, do I want to pursue a course of action that The Agency would encourage?

- A.M. Ham