Forbidden Love | Jake Peralta

Chapter 16

"You know you should give me a massage after all that pain and suffering you put me through," Jake groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yes, yes I'll give you one. Just remember it won't be my fault if I accidentally break your neck in the process." She rolled her eyes and plopped herself onto the couch in Captain Holt's office.

Captain Holt lowered the blinds and closed the door, giving them privacy. "Did you manage to take the file?" Olivia shook her head.

"Only a picture, the envelope was already opened so he would notice if it's missing. But, I managed to take a picture of the contents, let me pull it up." She took out her phone and clicked on the recent picture.

Jake curiously inched closer to her. As he glanced down at her phone, he noticed her fluttery eyelashes, her soft lips. His breath hitched, catching himself while shaking his head violently. Olivia raised an eyebrow at his actions but forgot all about them as the screen caught her attention.

Random numbers flashed on the screen causing Jake and Olivia to tilt their heads together.

"72 74 66 46 26 47 52 64 55 54 46. What does that mean, longitude and latitude?" Jake asked. Captain Holt paced around his office, rubbing his chin.

"No, the series of numbers is too long for that. I assume it is some sort of code." Olivia grew still, her breath stopped. She looked up at them with fear in her eyes as if she saw a ghost, and opened her mouth.

"It's a nihilist cipher."

//

"A what now?" Jake was extremely confused, he had never heard that word before.

"Why do you think it a nihilist cipher? It could be any other cipher out there, Hill cipher, Playfair cipher," Captain Holt questioned.

"I'm still lost over here," Jake waved a hand.

"I recognise those repeating numerical couplets. My first ever mission as a, uh you know, I was involved with a defunct Russian mob group that operated extremely under the grid. Their form of communication was using that cipher."

"So Rodriguez is connected to that Russian mob?" Olivia shook her head.

"It can't be, I um, politely talked them out from continuing operations and they ceased all activities. This was at least 10 years ago, they can't have resurfaced."

"Do you know how to crack this cipher?" Jake asked. She shook her head again.

"I need a keyword but it can be any word in the English language. It can even be a jumbled up mess of words. It's a dead-end," she sighed and put her head in her hands.

Jake got up and dragged Olivia out the door. "No no, it's not over. We still have that weird collage wall thing of you."

"Of me? That's kinda weird. Are you that obsessed over me?" Olivia chuckled.

"Pft as if, who would even like you gosh Olivia. Anyways, we found this board back at that warehouse. It was a secret room that had pictures of you all over with your name in the centre." Jake passed her a picture from his desk. Olivia's eyebrows furrowed, eyes darting across the picture.

"That's weird."

Jake scoffed, "Tell me about it."

"No as in, these pictures are recent. See how my clothes are the same? All taken on the same day before Rodriguez took me to that warehouse. Someone was following me, and they wanted me to find this wall."

"But who? If Rodriguez didn't make this crazy wall of you, then who else knows about your connection to Rodriguez?"

Olivia traced her name written at the centre of the wall. She recognised that handwriting anywhere, but it couldn't be him. Someone else must have traced his handwriting from our previous letters. She took a deep breath and looked up.

"I have a hunch, do you have anyone who likes solving puzzles?"

HII MY LOVELIES oh gosh it's been quite some time since my last update and i am soso terribly sorry i took this long. don't worry, i haven't abandoned this book! in return for my long absence, i will update one chapter for the next 5 days in a row, pls accept this as an apology T-T comment "purple avocadoes" if you've come this far and thank you for sticking around, as well as your continued support, it really means a lot <3