Doctor Ben Algaway was a prestigious doctor. He was known to the scientific community for his outstanding work and research on the human body. Algaway was excellent at what he did. He was so fascinated with the human body, that he sometimes let it consume his life. He was known to spend days at a time in his office researching and evaluating results of his tests. Some called him a workaholic. Others simply thought of him as brilliant. And yet there was still a small number of his co-workers who saw his ways of obtaining research as morally unclean. Despite the opposition his co-workers gave him concerning his unorthodox ways of research, he was admired by many young doctors and was named Most Valuable Asset to the Human Research Institution.

Located in New York City, the HRI housed many of New York's finest doctors and scientists in the fields of human anatomy and psychology. Scientists and doctors from all over the world came to the HRI in hopes of being accepted so that they may use the facility's funds to conduct their own line of research.

Algaway was one such doctor. He specialized in human development in the mind, and his current assignment was one that the institution received just recently. The executive officers, having seen Algaway's work in the past, decided to give this assignment to him in hopes that he would be able to draw from it incredible amounts of information that would add to the bowl of knowledge the institution contained.

The project that Algaway was now looking into: Ice Man from the Atlantic. A sea ship, exploring the wreckage of the Titanic, had made a discovery beneath the waters of the big blue ocean. A deep-sea robot had come across what looked like a man frozen in a block of ice. The ice chunk was brought back to New York and put into the hands of Ben Algaway. Ben Algaway in turn decided the first step he would take would be to "melt" the ice chunk and free the man inside.

A week later, doctors from all floors of the institution were gathered and stationed at different locations to witness the great event. Algaway oversaw the entire operation and as his Ice Man was melted, he realized he had a live human being in his hands. He locked him up immediately and made all of the participating doctors and scientists swear to secrecy that they would never tell a soul about the Ice Man.

"Good morning Ben," came Belle's cheery voice as she strolled into the doctors office. Algaway had fallen asleep on his desk once again, and a small puddle of drool had formed under his mouth. His eyes creaked open, and he immediately lifted his head upon realizing he had fallen asleep again. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt, and grabbed a napkin in his drawer to wipe up the mess he had made on his desk.

Feeling a little awkward about the whole situation he decided to jump right to business. "Any news of our Ice Man?" he grumbled.

"Yes. Well actually it's not good news, it's more of a problem I'd say. You see, well actually—"

"Belle!"

"Right. Jack Brown was never on the Titanic."

"What do you mean?" Algaway asked as he reached forward to grab his cup of coffee sitting on his desk. He took a sip and made a face as he set it back down. Day-old coffee was never a good thing to wake up to.

"On the roster we have of the Titanic's passengers, Jack Brown does not appear anywhere. Either he never was on the Titanic or—"

"He lied. . . . Thank you Belle. You may leave now."

"Ben, there's one more thing you should know."

Algaway turned around and lifted his cup of day-old coffee to his face. He didn't drink it, he just looked at it before turning his eyes up to look at Belle.

"The president wants to talk to you."

"The president? I told Frank I can handle it. I don't know why he insists on—"

"No Ben," she interrupted, "not that president. I mean the president."

Algaway looked at her with wide eyes. He slowly lowered his cup of coffee to his desk. "The president?" he asked, mimicking the way she had emphasized the words. "Very well. I shall talk to him. Set up an appointment if you will. I'm free at . . ." he opened his calendar and peered at the dates, "two-thirty tomorrow."

"He's coming in two hours. Make sure you're ready Ben," she said with a sound of warning in her voice. She cocked an eyebrow at Algaway and turned, twirling her skirt, and walked calmly out the door.

As soon as she was gone, he grabbed his phone and dialed the extension to the holding cell floor. Trying to control his temper he said in a cracking voice, "It's me. I'm coming down in five minutes. Be ready." When he hung up the phone, he pushed himself back from his desk and spun around testing his new chair. He had recently moved up to a new office upon receiving the Ice Man assignment, and the rotating chair was complementary to the new room.

Five floors down, Greg Hoffman and George Ellens were sitting across from each other at a table playing poker.

"Hit me," Greg called. He looked at George and smiled.

George slid him a card. Greg picked it up and looked at it. Without changing his expression, he slowly looked back up at George and challenged, "Your call."

George returned the sly look with one of his own. He had a two fives and a jack: twenty points. As he looked into Greg's unflinching eyes he questioned whether Greg was bluffing or not. After several seconds, he said, "Pass." Greg smiled.

"Let's see your cards George," Greg said simply.

George turned them over and said, "Beat that if ya can."

"Ok," Greg replied, and with coolness in his sea blue eyes he turned over his cards one by one. Five. Jack. Five. Ace. Twenty-one.

George slammed his fist down on the table. "I knew you weren't bluffing."

Greg smiled again and returned, "Cake. Now cough over the money." Greg reached to the center of the table and pulled the dollar bills and quarters towards him.

Just as Greg got the money settled in his money pouch, Algaway came steaming down the stairs and through the door. "Greg. George. Open number nine. I have an appointment with a certain client."

Greg jumped up from his seat and pulled the keys out of his pocket as he hurried over to the cell number nine. He inserted the key into the lock, twisted it until he heard a click, and pulled the door open.

Author's Note: Ok everybody, here's chapter 4. Please review, even if you don't think you have anything to say. Just tell me what you think. It can be one sentence. Two sentences, I don't care. I will read all of my reviews so they are worth your while.

I have school and homework, so I don't know when I'll be able to get the next chapter to you. I'm still taking suggestions, so I'd love to hear what you think.

Alright, keep reading!

SeaLioness