The Running Man

10,000

Meters

12.9

M.P.H.

1

Finish line

22:37:10

Minutes

Esperanza Eppes was making her way to the Student Union Building from the Liberal Arts building. She had just finished a class and it was nearing sunset and she needed to get back home. It was Alan's day to cook and she wanted some time with Zephyr before it was time to eat.

She rounded the corner when a young man staggered out of the biology building. He was holding his head and he dropped to his knees as if stunned. He looked about. It was then she saw the blood dripping through his fingers.

She went to him and dropped to her knees. "Hey, easy." She gently set her bag down and laid him back. "Are you all right?"

"No…" He whispered looking about as though he were trying to get his bearings and failing.

Espa pulled out her phone. "Yes, this is Esperanza Eppes at Cal-Sci. I have a wounded student. He is conscious, but only barely and bleeding. Please send an ambulance. Thank you." She said. She reached into her bag and pulled out a burping cloth for Zephyr she had for emergencies and pulled on a pair of gloves. "Let me see." She said as she lowered his hands and gently looked at the wound. Head wounds always bled more than they should.

He looked up at her. He winced. "Ouch…that hurts." He muttered in a eastern accent she could not place.

"Sorry. What's your name?" She asked as she pressed the cloth down.

"Ron Allen." He said. "You're a doctor? Boy am I lucky."

"I am not a medical doctor, just trained in First Aid. I am a professor here." He winced as she pressed a little hard and tried to move away. She clicked her tongue. "Hold still Ron." She sighed. "My name is Espa."

"Nice to meet you, though it I wish it were under different circumstances." He said.

"Yeah." She said hearing a siren going off in the distance.

"You need to get the cops." He said softly. "The man hit me with a gun and they…they took the DNA Synthesizer."

"A what?"

"It makes DNA." He said and closed his eyes.

"Hey stay with me Ron." She said shaking his shoulders a little. "I will call my husband. He will know what to do." She said pulling out her phone again.

NUMB3RS

Thirty minutes later Colby and David were there talking to the kid as the ambulance paramedic stitched his head. Espa stood nearby watching. She had already told them what she knew from what he had said. They wanted his story from his lips.

"I come in to calibrate the synthesizer for the morning tests. I walk in, I see two guys pushing it down the hall." Ron told David and Colby. "And I turn around and there's another guy there with a gun, and he cold cocks me."

"Was the weapon a shotgun, a handgun, maybe a rifle?" David asked.

"No, it was a nickel-plated Beretta." Ron said. "It was a nine millimeter."

David's eyebrow's lifted.

"You know a lot about guns." Colby said.

"You grow up in South Philly, you see your share." Ron said.

"Could you recognize the burglars if you saw them again?" David asked.

"The guy with the gun." Ron said. "The other two guys were pretty far away. I'd definitely try."

"I'll be right back." David said.

"Okay." Colby nodded.

He had seen Espa go to talk to Amita, Charlie, and Larry. She hugged her brother-in-law and smiled. He got there before she had spoken anything other than a hello and took Charlie's hand and then Larry's.

"So…so how is Ron?" Larry asked.

"He won't be wearing a tight hat anytime soon, but he's fine. Espa found him staggering about when she got done with a class. He was walkin' in, the burglars were comin' out and kind of walked right over him. You guys know him?" David asked.

"Yeah. Ron works with us." Amita said. "He's one of Larry's assistants at the LIGO project."

When David and Espa arched their brows Larry nodded. "Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory. It's…We measure ripples in space-time trying to prove the existence of black holes…"

"It's been said that he's the, uh, the next Charlie Eppes." Charlie said.

"Oh, God, just what we need." Espa teased.

"What was stolen?" Amita asked.

"It was a Mark V DNA Synthesizer." David said looking at his paperwork. He watched as Charlie sighed and rubbed his face. "It's that serious?"

"Yeah. A DNA synthesizer has many functions, most of them positive, genetic analysis, anthropological study." Larry said

"But it's also used to sequence microorganisms, invertebrate vectors of infectious diseases, bacterial pathogens." Charlie said softly.

"Wait a minute, Charlie." David said. "You're saying this thing could make a disease?"

"No, it can't really make them." Amita corrected. "But with the DNA and protein sequence data it contains, it could customize them."

"And by customize, you mean…" David could not finish that thought.

Charlie swallowed. "Weaponize."

Espa gasped. She looked at them. "Why is it that boys' toys always get more expensive as they grow older and can hurt people when in the wrong hands…?"

NUMB3RS

Meanwhile inside the lab Megan and Don were looking about. The burglars had come in through the roof through the air ducts. They also had jammed the passive infrared sensors with hot and cold at the same time. The obviously knew what they were after. The locks on the machine were only unlockable with a bio-metric iris scanner. No sign of forced entry on the doors that required a card.

They came out and found Espa sitting with Charlie. She cocked her head at her husband. "Well?" She asked.

"You didn't see anyone come out did you?" Don asked. "I mean the thing was pretty big." He looked at her hopefully.

She shook her head. "No. I found the kid and was concentrating on him sorry."

"It's okay." Don said. "You might have ended up the same or worse." He sighed. "Well, they are running down information for us and should have it by morning. Come on I will take you home." He said and held out his arm.

She nodded and they walked together with Charlie behind watching Espa as she held Don's arm and leaned against him a little as she spoke to him softly so Charlie could not hear.

NUMB3RS

Morning had Charlie in the office with the team telling them about the Mark V. It could be used as a weapon of bio-terrorism. It was not just be theft, but espionage. They needed to find it before it got to the black market.

Charlie explained the algorithm of the bio-metric scanner and that if you knew the math you could break it and obviously someone had with the five professors who could open it alibied for the time of the robbery. Someone like the kid who was attacked. He was alibied for the heist, but he could have been in on the planning. It was worth checking out anyway.

NUMB3RS

Espa was at home. She had finished her morning class and was in the back yard. She had put Zephyr down for a nap and now was dressed in a sport's bra and yoga pants. She had her Ipod on and was listening to Rammstein.

Alan watched from the window a moment as she moved about in what appeared to be shadowboxing. She was very limber and moved in ways he could have only dreamed of when he was younger.

He shook his head and made himself some coffee and started water boiling for her since she would want some tea when she got back inside.

NUMB3RS

Ron Allen was brought in and questioned. He seemed not to be surprised that he was there. He grew up poor and was the usual suspect since he was young. He admits that selling the Mark V would be good for him, but he would never do it. He had come too far to.

Megan and David spoke about it after. David having been there did not buy it so much. If you wanted to polish yourself you would distance yourself from it.

David and Colby went to go see Doug Windham. He was an ex-con with the knowledge of breaking into places and he was also the guy to get the tools. He knew about the sensors and how to jam them, but the bio-metrics were past his time.

NUMB3RS

Back at the office Don sent Colby to do a phone dump to look at the calls he had gotten for the last three months since something like this would need time to set up.

On the interview list for Cal-Sci there were more than half done.

"What do you make of this Ron Allen kid?" Don asked Megan as they sat in their work stations.

"Well, his life story would make a hell of a movie." Megan said.

"Uh, remake of The Wrong Man, perhaps?" Larry said coming over to them. He stood with Espa behind him. He had brought her as back up since he was very distort over the whole affair and she could stand up to Don when she needed to. As normal, however, she was just in the background.

She smiled at the group. "Hey."

"Hey." Megan nodded.

"The administration is asking me and other project managers to suspend Ron from all lab work till your investigation is completed." Larry said

"Well, that might be a good idea, Larry." Megan said. "The theft of a DNA synthesizer is not a simple one. In the hands of a hostile government it could be used to create an avian flu virus. This could be one of the worst WMD threats our country has faced."

Espa looked at her husband and walked over to lean against his desk. He gently patted her thigh as the both listened to Larry trying to defend the kid.

"Listen, I appreciate the seriousness of this theft, but now, to my knowledge you have no evidence that links Ron to this…this crime." Larry said.

"Hey, Larry, this is an ongoing investigation here." Don said finally speaking up looking up at him.

"You are casting a black cloud over a young man who's faced stupendous odds." Larry said. "A young man whose promise at such a young age, it's incalculable."

Don sighed and looked at his wife who rolled her eyes a little indicating she had heard this far more in the car.

"A young man who isn't real." David said coming our of the war room. He held a file and came forward as everyone looked up. "Did a deeper background check into Ron Allen." He passed the file to Don. "Born in Philadelphia, August 24th, 1987. Died, November 21, '87. He said looking up at Larry. Larry's mouth dropped in shock. "The kid you think Ron Allen is, Larry, he doesn't exist." He shrugged.

Espa was on her feet brushing passed her husband as he looked at the file. She gently laid a hand on Larry's shoulder as he put a hand to his mouth in shock. "Come here. You need to sit down." She looked over. "Don can we use the break room a moment?" She asked looking at him.

"Sure." He nodded looking up at her.

She led Larry who was walking like a zombie there. She poured him some coffee and added some splenda and cream and set it before him as she sat next to him. "Drink it. It will help."

Don came to the door and knocked. Espa looked up and she came to it. "How's he doing, sweetheart?" He asked softly as he touched her cheek. He had noticed Larry had not looked up even.

"He doesn't know what to think Don." She said softly as she reached up and straightened his tie a little in a nervous motion of her hands.

He nodded. "Can you take care of him?" He asked. "Get him home and something to eat?" He sighed. "How could he defend someone like that?" He asked.

"He didn't know." She said softly. "He was so well fooled." She looked at him. "I will take him home in a minute when his legs are steady." She leaned up and pressed a chaste kiss to his mouth. "I'll see you tonight for dinner, huh?"

"Yeah." He said as he watched her retreat back into the room. Espa was a good mother, even to those who did not really need a mother, but a comforting shoulder to cry on at times. He shook his head and went back to work.

NUMB3RS

Megan and Colby went to Ron Allen's dorm room. There was no sign of the kid anywhere. In the room there was stuff from everything on the map. And none of it was more than a couple of years old. The room was too typical for a college student.

They were able to trace his phone because he paid it on time. The GPS said he was in the bookstore. They went there and did not see him so they called the phone. The phone was in the hands of a punk dressed girl. She said the phone belonged to her boyfriend, who she pointed out from a picture was Ron Allen, but to her his name was Phil Stark. She told him he was letting her use his phone and he was going on a camping trip in the desert.

NUMB3RS

Don came home at about six. Espa had just finished dinner when he walked in the door. Everything was set. He removed his jacket and tie with a sigh. He looked down as he felt something on his shoe and pulling on his pant leg. He smiled seeing little Zephyr trying to use him as a climbing gym.

He bent with a grunt and picked her up in his arms. She smiled and gurgled at him. He wondered why she had not started talking small words yet. Momma and Daddy, seemed to be well within her scope, but she did not seem to want to even try yet.

He sighed and put her in her high chair and put on her bib. She smacked the plastic tray playfully making noise.

Espa came out with a hot dish and looked at her daughter. "Na du? Was machst du dann?" She asked in German. She smiled at the baby laughed at her and did it more. She set down the pot on a trivet.

Don smiled and wet upstairs to change into a long sleeve shirt and jeans that were more comfortable. He returned and saw Espa playing peek-a-boo with his daughter who tried to mimic her in her own way. Her husband walked up behind her and wrapped his arms about her body as he kissed her neck as she straightened.

"I love you." He whispered as he caressed her hips and then up and gently turned her head so he could kiss her mouth. "How are you?" He asked when he let her go, but he continued to caress her jaw.

"Good." She said. She smiled at him. They just looked at each other a moment while their daughter chewed on her bib a few moments until Charlie and Alan came in from the garage.

Don let her go, but let his hand rub down her arm to her palm. He smiled as he dropped into his seat as she disappeared into the kitchen. She brought out a pitcher of water and some biscuits for them.

They ate in silence as Espa took a little portion of the casserole and cooled it for little Zephyr. Zephyr ate it in her small bites along with some small bites carrots Espa had cooked for her with some sugar.

Alan smiled. "Well, apparently my granddaughter does not like baby food?" He asked watching Espa a moment.

"No." Don smiled. "You try feeding it to her. She throws it at you. She likes our food." He chuckled watching his daughter munching a carrot against her gums.

As the dinner wore down to them eating in silence again, Charlie wanted to talk to Don about the case.

"So is he Phil Stark, or is he, you know Ron Allen?" Charlie asked.

"No, that's the thing. He's Phil to his girlfriend, he's Ron Allen to the people at Cal-Sci." Don said. "There's no fingerprints on the guy anywhere." He leaned back and put his arm about Espa's chair.

"Well, at least you know one place not to look for him." Alan said.

"Yeah, well, we got a lot of real estate to cover and not a lot of time." Don said and then he sighed as he rubbed his wife's far shoulder. He looked down and saw Gretchen picking up any scraps the baby threw or dropped to the floor. "It's bad enough that synthesizer's out there, we don't know what the guy knows, or whose hands he's gonna put it in."

"You know, Larry's devastated." Charlie said.

"Larry." Don scoffed and threw his napkin on the table. He rose and gathered a couple of plates and then went into the kitchen.

"Isn't it funny the people who are closest to us, they always find it easy to keep secrets?" Alan said.

"You know, it's interesting you say that, because I don't recall you ever telling me that Mom was a published composer." Charlie said. He fetched his school bag and brought out some compositions.

Espa lifted up Zephyr and carried her to her sling and let it rock her. She fully intended that her baby would fall asleep soon. She walked back and sat down as Don came back into the room.

"W…what…what is this?" Charlie asked showing Alan the papers.

"Where did you find this?" Alan asked.

"I found it in the garage." Charlie said.

"What, Mom?" Don asked taking it to look at it.

"Yeah, see? Margaret Mann." Charlie said pointing.

Espa looked over her husband's shoulder.

"Oh." Don sat down as his wife leaned against the chair looking as he flipped through the pages.

"Yeah. Your mother, she was a very talented musician." Alan said. He sighed. Don looked up startled. He met Charlie's gaze. "She even had an offer to study in Vienna."

"What are you talking about? No way." Don said.

"Hmmm." Alan said nodding.

"Oh, that's why all those piano lessons with the…the nightmare woman…" Don said rubbing his hand across his eyes. Espa looked at Alan who smiled at her.

"Uh, Petri dish with the lozenge breath." Charlie said.

"Mrs. Petrie." Don smirked.

Alan chuckled.

"You know, one time she filed my fingernails for me." Charlie said holding up his hands.

"Wait, hold on. Why didn't she ever play?" Don asked. "Did you ever see Mom play that piano?"

"Well, she has to make the choice between the law and music. And when she made the choice, then music was a closed issue." Alan said rising to start working on the dishes.

Dona and Charlie looked at each other a moment. Espa's hands rested on Don's shoulders, rubbing them gently as she looked over his head at the papers before him.

"Except it wasn't." Charlie said. Alan froze at the kitchen door. "T…these…these compositions are dated through the '80s, through the '90s." He pulled out papers for Don to look at. Espa looked at Alan who looked suddenly sad. "I mean, I think she was writing music up until…you know…"

Alan came back and looked at the paper Don held. "No, I didn't know." He said softly.

Charlie and Don looked at each other. Espa coughed a little and gently directed Alan into the kitchen. "Come on dad. Let's have some tea and talk." She said looking at Don meaningfully.

He took the hint and gathered Charlie to go watch TV and play with Zephyr so she would go to sleep.

NUMB3RS

David and Colby were up bright and early checking into Gino McGinty, an associate of Windham's who sold the stolen stuff for him. He had a long rap sheet and the guy had connections to foreign black markets. He was a guy to watch.

At Cal-Sci Larry was still in shock as he spoke to Amita and Charlie in his LIGO lab. He was a fraud, but the young man knew how to use the equipment. Charlie pointed out that they did not see Ron at all. They just saw the waves he made.

Charlie went to the FBI and met the team in the war room. He had done some checking and found that Ron Allen was like a snake. He had move from place to place in large projects gaining experience a he went. The machines he knew how to use showed he had learned them from somewhere, ripples in his life. Charlie used a new set of ripples. Ron Allen was into track.

They found Ron Allen's track. University of Hawaii had Paul Combs who said he grew up on a Wyoming Ranch and was a B student. He left there was a theft of seven grad worth of computer equipment. Next was Henry Viera, going to Duke, he said this time he grew up on an Alaskan fishing boat. He was a better student and a better runner. His disappearance is tied with the theft of fifteen thousand dollar electron microscope. Allen Donaldson was at MIT and introduced the kid from the street story. Star student and star runner, but he was gone with a mass spectrometer that was worth more than forty thousand. All of these were Ron Allen before. Now to find him before he got a new target.

Ron Allen steals the identity of a guy in another state. He used the birth certificate to get a driver's license and a social security card. That would fit their spy theory, but the stuff he stole had value, but was not sensitive enough to be a risk.

Don poses that the thefts were not an end, but a means. Live the same life over and over, but get better every time. Like a junkie getting by to his next fix, but his high is from the celebrity he got for his work. The synthesizer was a bigger deal because he needs a bigger fix to get the same high.

Gino McGinty's wiretap was lucky. The caught him saying he was going to move a big piece of equipment in the afternoon.

NUMB3RS

Larry came over to talk to Charlie. He was feeling better now that he realized that everyone had been fooled by Ron Allen. Charlie was a little jealous of Ron Allen being able relive his dream.

Alan asked if they wanted lunch. He was expecting Espa and Zephyr home from the doctor at any moment. He saw all the instruments lying about. Charlie explained that was the deal with Margaret. If he continued to make instruments he could quit piano. To Alan it was an early sign that parenting Charlie would be challenging.

Charlie realized that she must have been disappointed that he and Don did not like the piano. He thought maybe that is why she kept writing and she hid it. Alan knew she had been hiding it from him not the boys. She told Alan that music was not a serious option for her because Alan had supported her through her law school and then she had to support him in grad school. She gave up something she really loved for something she loved more.

NUMB3RS

Colby and David go with a raid team and bust the man. They find the synthesizer ready to be shipped overseas. They arrest the man and bring him to the office.

Don interrogated Gino. The buyer was Cuban. Don pointed out they had him on selling a bio-terror weapon to an enemy state. That was life in the worst maximum security prison known for treason. Don knows he set him up with a crew and that he sent him to Windham to get him the tools he needed.

Gino pointed out he was the middle man. He had no idea what it was. He bought it for fifty thousand and asked no questions. He knows Windham was too greedy to set up some kid for a short pay out.

Don raided Windham's place and found Windham dead. Fingerprints match Ron Allen's dorm room prints. They must have gotten in a fight. The foreman said they were missing a portable plasma cutter that burned through metal like butter.

Back at the office Charlie explained the mechanics of the portable cutter and that Ron Allen could walk right through any door put up in front of him. Now to find his target. Megan thinks whatever it is it will be big to save his ego.

David found out that his name was Wesley Shryer from Wheaton, Illinois. A cop there recognized an older photo of Ron Allen because they went to high school together. He told David that Wesley was 'average to the point of forgettable.' He went to community college for two years and then dropped off planet earth in '95. Just before he appeared at University of Hawaii.

That evening Larry was over at the Eppes family home with Amita. Espa was making spaghetti and had invited him to stay for dinner. Charlie and Larry talked about Ron's research ability. Charlie then realized through what Ron worked on in his years that the LIGO lab was Ron Allen's target. Larry was horrified.

Don and Colby went into the lab with Larry. Nothing appeared to have been taken. One sapphire was there and the other was in the LIGO tunnel. David and Megan saw two men digging in the track field. Larry realized that they were breaking into an arm of the tunnel because there was no security there and the sapphire was near to it.

Ron and another guy were in the tunnel. David and Megan shot one guy on the surface and the other gave up. The second man with Ron gave up, but Ron ran down the tunnel looking for an escape route. Don knocked him when he tried to open a door an cuffed him.

Back at the office Ron admitted to all he had done and pointed out that he had done it because they would not take him into the colleges because he did not have a hard luck story. David lectured him about actually growing up on the streets.

NUMB3RS

Charlie and Alan talked in the garage about life. Alan had been angry about Margaret hiding her music from him as he had told Espa, but he had worked through it.

Espa was inside putting the baby to bed. She had just finished bathing her. Don walked in. "Hello?" He called. "Dad?" He took a breath. "Espa?"

"Upstairs, Don. I'll be down in a bit." Espa called as she left the bathroom.

He smiled and walked in holding the six pack he had bought and he looked at the music on the table.

Music drifted into the garage. It was slow and hesitant at first and then gained momentum. Alan and Charlie listened amazed at the simple beauty of it.

Espa smiled as she came down the stairs and into the dining room. Don was playing the piano. She beamed and walked to him. She listened closing her eyes. She then took a breath and wrapped her arms about his shoulders and held him as he played. He smiled and leaned back against her as he played his mother's music.

To all the Eppes family, a part of Margaret Eppes had returned to the home and lived on in the simple music that was being played.