The Mystery Admirer
by Joshua Falken

Thanks to Tracy Miller for beta-read this fic :-)

Chapter 4 - Cracking the Hypothesis

Early in the morning, in his office at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Chicago, a young brown-haired man hastily placed a series of documents, computer disks and annotations into a briefcase, when his phone rang.

Startled, he briefly looked at the device before leaving his office. He clutched the briefcase closely to his chest as if it contained the most important of his life's work.

Some minutes after his exit of the Department of Mathematics, two men got off a van. The taller of them caught a cell phone and called a number.

"Boss? We already arrived at the place."

A distorted voice commanded: "Get the research. And don't fail." And with that their boss hung up.

The two men looked at each other nervously before proceeding towards the building.

======

Meanwhile, in McGinty's, Gary Hobson hoped that someone answered the phone.

"No answer, Gary?" Marissa inquired.

"No. He should have already left his office by now." Gary responded.

"There is no clue in the article?"

"Nothing. It only says that Christian Glass was last seen this time last evening in the Department of Mathematics of the University of Chicago. He was found unconscious in the Quindat Alley at 5 p.m. The police are considering the possibility of an assault." Gary explained.

Marissa heard when Gary began to dial the phone again.

"Who you are calling?"

The connection was completed. "Hello, Crumb?"

======

At 9 a.m., Gary was in the office of the now private detective Marion Zeke Crumb. Crumd looked at Gary with an expression that said: "It had to be you, Hobson..."

"Let me see if I understand this," Crumb began, his tone surprising clam, "Besides for this mystery woman fellowing you and leaving gifts for you, she also broke into your apartment and took your leather jacket."

"Huh... yes."

"Did this woman phone you or threaten you in any way?"

"No."

Crumb leaned in the chair, the thoughts swirling in his mind as he pieced together the puzzle. A mystery woman was sending love messages for Hobson, but she obviously didn't want him to see her. When she followed him, she used clothes that hid her identity. From what was written in the cards, she didn't want hurt him. With his experience in the police, Crumb arrived at the conclusion that Hobson's mystery admirer was a former-girlfriend... perhaps one who had abandoned him and now regreted her decision.

"So Hobson, maybe you should tell me the names of your former girlfriends."

"Howzat?"

"Your mystery woman could be a former girlfriend. Tell me about your more serious relationships and the last news that you had on them. That includes that ex-wife of yours."

"Marcia? The last I heard was that she was working in the Case Cyberdyne versus Mitsurugi, in Washington, D.C. There is Meredith Carson. She was reporter of Sun-Times when I met her but now she works for Washington Post. Emma Shaw to Marco Sanchez. I believe that they live in New York City." Gary also told Crumb about Erica Paget, Rebecca Waters and Toni Brigatti. Crumb asked a few questions about each of these women.

The ex-cop arose from his seat. "Well Hobson, I have something to go on. I'll be in touch." Crumb promised. The two men shake hands and Gary left the office. After Gary left, Crumb began to give some phone calls. The investigation had begun.

======

It was after noon when Gary proceeded towards Quindat Alley. He didn't notice that he was being followed by a black Honda Accord. The driver, biting her lower lip, kept a discreet distance from the McGinty's truck. Her only thought was how she could repair the situation that she had created... When she saw that Gary stopped near an alley, she parked the car where he could not see her. Gary had left the van and was standing at the side of the vehicle holding his hockey stick. Occasionally, he looked at his watch or at the paper in his hands.

The mystery admirer frowned. She was confused. What was Gary doing standing in the near an alley? Tired and confused, she leaned back in the car's seat. She decided to close her eyes for a few moments. She was awakened by the sound of heated discussion that Gary was having with two sinister looking men. The two men were forcing Gary and another man inside of the alley. They had what seemed to be weapons in their hands. She had to do something! Looking around through the dark windows of her car, she saw a roll of electric wire and some garbage cans. She left her Honda, a desperate idea brewing in her head.

======

Everything had been very fast. In one moment, Gary hoped to find the mathematician and alert him to the danger. In the next moment, he was on the ground, having been knocked down by the rocket version of Christian Glass. The brown-haired man helped Gary stand up. "I'm sor..." Before the researcher had a chance to finish his sentence, the two men that were seeking him appeared. Both aimed black pistols with mufflers at Glass and Gary.

"Mr. Glass, you are a difficult man to find." one of the men commented at the same time that the other removed the hockey stick from Gary's hands.

"How about you give us the research?"

"No!" Glass exclaimed, hugging the briefcase, his eyes dancing with fear. That was his life's work.

"Jake, what we do with this guy?" The one man with the hockey stick asked.

"The Boss said no witnesses, Curtis." The two bandits pushed their victims inside of the alley. The man called Curtis gave a punch to the scientist's stomach. Glass doubled over in pain dropping his briefcase. Curtis seized the briefcase. "I'll take that. Thank you " Curtis said, a smug expression on his face.

"Hey...wait a minute!" Gary tried to react, but the thought of the weapons stopped him.

"Well, let's go, Jake." Curtis was ready to pull the trigger, when suddenly an electric wire was wound around his wrist. "What the heck?!" The four men turned around and saw that a woman in a black long coat and fedora hat held the wire as if it were Indiana Jones' whip.

"My moment of Catwoman.." The mystery admirer thought to herself with an amused smile. At the same time, she pulled the wire. One of the assailants fell in the ground. Meanwhile, Gary recovered his hockey stick from the hands of the other surprised thief allowing Christian Glass to recover his briefcase. As Jake prepared to shoot his intended victims, he was struck in the forehead by a cover of garbage can that the mystery woman threw as if it were a disc. Gary took advantage of the ruckus to kick the weapons inside of a sewer opening. The bar owner and the mathematician ran towards the McGinty's truck. Before leaving, Gary tried to catch a glimpse of his mystery savior, but she had already disappeared.

Gary stepped on the accelerator as soon as he noticed that the two thieves had recovered from the unexpected attack. He and Glass were able to escape.

"Thank you very much, Mr...?"

"Hobson. Gary Hobson."

"Christian Glass." The two young men shook hands.

Meanwhile, Jake and Curtis talked, or rather, screamed at each other. "Who in the hell was that madwoman?!" Curtis massaged his wrist. That woman had almost cut out his hand.

"I don't know!" Jake touched the place where the cover had bruised him. "I only know that Glass escaped with the demonstration! Let's get out of here!"

======

Later in McGinty's, Christian Glass still thanked Gary.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Hobson." He said as he sipped a cup of tea.

"You can call me Gary." Gary paused briefly before continuing. "Mr. Glass, what did those men want?"

"My research in the Number Theory about the Riemann's Hypothesis." Glass said. Glass noticed the confused expressions on Gary and Marissa's faces. "Nor everybody is a mathematician." He thought to himself.

"Do you know what it is a prime number?"

"It is any number that only could be divided by 1 and itself. 2,3,5,7,11 and so on to the infinite." Gary responded.

"Exactly." Glass answered. "The prime numbers are the elementary particles of the mathematics - any number that you imagine can be obtained from them. Only that doesn't seem to have a pattern that allows to say which would be the next prime number. Discover that would be like discovering Mendeleiev's Periodic Law of the Elements." Gary and Marissa noticed immediately how the subject excited the young man. "In the Century XIX, a mathematician called Bernard Riemann proposed one formula that allowed us to foresee the distribution of the prime numbers. That formula is known as "Riemann's Hypothesis. Only problem is that the hypothesis is not proven in a general approach - just in empirical ones. It is the most important problem of the entire mathematics, the Saint Graal of Number Theory. My research involves trying to find its general demonstration."

"Excuse me, but I'm confused. That doesn't seem reason enough for somebody to try kill you." Gary commented.

"Well, besides proving hundreds of important theorems, a general demonstration of Riemann's Hypothesis could turn obsolete 99.8% of all the computer security codes. They are based on the fact that you can't determine easily what prime numbers composes a number, since there is not a easy way to determine if a number is prime or not."

"Then, Mr. Glass, who do you think is after your research? Did you conclude it?" Gary inquired.

"No, I didn't. But I believe that I'm closer to the general demonstration than any other person. And I bet that is Renquist Software that is after my work." Christian Glass answered, a trace of anger evident in his voice. "They were financing my research, when suddenly they ordered that I stop and give them all of my notes. When I refused, they sent those men after me."

Gary just had a question in his mind. "And now?"

======

Meanwhile, Jake and Curtis faced the fury of their boss, the owner of Renquist Software- Stephanie Millicent Renquist-Halloway.

"Then, you failed. I gave you numbskulls simple orders, but you still failed!" Renquist-Halloway said angrily.

"Boss, we had Glass in our hands, but then appeared that woman and..." Curtis tried to explain, shakily, but he was interrupted.

"I'm not interested in your excuses! Get Glass and bring him here!" The two henchmen left the office, trembling. Renquist-Halloway lit a cigarrete. A cloud of smoke escaped from her lips.

======

In the black Honda Accord on the other side of the street, the mystery admirer watched McGinty's. She had heard those two criminals and worried that they would come after Gary and the man that he helped. Behind the dark glasses of the car, her brilliant eyes narrowed. "I will protect you, dear." she murmured. But even in her surveillance, she didn't notice that the Cat walked quietly beside the black Honda.

======

"Can I use your phone? If it isn't an inconvenience, Mr. Hobson?"

"Sure. Go ahead." Glass called a number. A woman's voice answered: "Hello, this is the Fourier's residence. Leave your message after the beep." Beep.

"Natasha, this is your brother Christian. Please call me. The telephone number is 555-7682 and..." Meanwhile, a bug concealed at Natasha Glass-Fourier's house listened the information.

What do you think? Who is your suspect? Next chapter coming soon!

Read and review! :-)