Answer: it depends if you are going to pause after saying Sam. I don’t think so because Sam isn’t a transition word as well.
Explanation:
Based on the the excerpt from The Dark Game, I think that the <span>statement that best leads to the inference that the men had intercepted a very important message was: "</span><span>That single name fired the men with excitement as they began working on the message from the beginning.</span>" The statement suggests that they have unlocked something important as they were excited and became persistent on further working on the cryptic message.
Once you have a thesis figure out your main ideas you will talk about