Robbie the Hero

- Robbie Williams arrived at the bank a few minutes after the phone conversation with his father. He wasn't very happy. It was the school holidays and he wanted to go out with his friends but his mother told him at least ten times a day to open a textbook and study. Today he had wanted to buy a new football scarf and a computer game but instead he had to help his father at the bank! He went inside and up the stairs to the office.

" Hey, Dad, what's up? I have to meet my friends at the shopping centre at lunchtime. I'm going to buy a new computer game. It's wicked. It's called... " Mr Williams interrupted his son. " Robbie, please, take those headphones off and listen to me. " He quickly explained the problem of the hacker. Robbie couldn't believe it.

" Bad luck, Dad. How can I help? "

Mr Williams showed him the first puzzle. Robbie gave his father a big smile.

" Relax, Dad. This is so easy l can do it with my eyes shut! I use these abbreviations every day when I'm in a chat room or when I text my friends on my mobile phone. I'll show you. WU stands for 'What's up? ' I С stands for 'I see. ' And these symbols are called 'emoticons. ' They look like a face and they express the way you feel. I can easily decode this message for you. " Robbie sat down, clicked on the reply icon and wrote out the message:

What's up Henry? I see you are sad. Why? You can't see me. You are sad but I am angry. In my opinion you are surprised or perhaps afraid. That's all for now. I'll be back later. End Of Message Have a nice day (laughing out loud) Bye for now!

" See? I told you it was easy. Now I'll click on 'Send' and the message will go back to the sender. " Mr Williams thanked his son and slowly he began to relax... but for how long?

It was now 10. 15. Only one hour had passed. Belinda came into the office and said to her boss,

" The ATM is working again... " Mr Williams smiled. " But, " she added quickly, " it's giving the customers too much money... "

Mr Williams tell back into his chair. Why was life so difficult?

The security guards Bill and Ben knocked at the door and came into his office. Did they have some good news for him?

" Well? " he asked hopefully. " Did you find him? "

Bill answered, " Not exactly, Mr Williams. We tried but the people at the library were very unfriendly. "

" Yes, " added Ben. " They didn't want to help us and in the end they asked us to leave. There was an old lady who... " Mr Williams was angry.

" I'm not interested in the old lady. You obviously didn't catch the hacker. You are both completely incompetent. Now go back to your office before I sack you. "

His headache had returned, worse than ever. Then his son said, " Dad, look. There's another message from the hacker. " He looked at Robbie and then at Belinda. Then they all looked at the screen...

CHAPTER EIGHT