Robert Ferrigno - Heart of the Assassin

"I heard you read your paper at the Pure Math Symposium," said the Old One.

"Did you come by to laugh at me in person?" said Leo.

"I came to apologize for the way you were treated."

"Place your bets, sir," said the dealer.

"May I buy you a drink?" said the Old One. "You don't need to prove anything at this table, and if it's money you're interested in…I'll be happy to pay for your time."

"Place your bets, sir."

Leo stood up, stuffed his chips into the pockets of his sport coat and followed the Old One into the lounge. They sat at a booth in the corner.

"You have no idea what a pleasure it is to meet you," said the Old One.

"Yeah…well, it would be if anybody understood my paper," sniffed Leo. "Nothing like being the smartest one in the room and having everyone think you're an asshole."

"They were hostile," said the Old One. "I think they were expecting your father."

"My father's brilliant, but he'd be the first one to tell you he can't keep up with me."

"Beyond the Poincare Conjecture: An Exploration of the Fourth-Dimensional Spheroid." The Old One shook his head. "I had no idea what you were talking about, but I was certain that you did. It was your certainty that intrigued me…and the fact that the other mathematicians in the room felt so threatened by you. I decided you might be operating at a much higher level than they were…or you might be the unlettered buffoon they seemed to think you were." He looked at Leo. "May I order for the both of us?"

"I don't drink alcohol."

'Then I won't either." The Old One tapped the table-screen. "I've ordered a couple of Brain Fizzes. I think you'll like it. Cerebral stimulators in a base of fruit essence."

"So what are you, some kind of math groupie?" said Leo.

The Old One laughed. "I came to the conference with a rather complex problem to solve. None of the other speakers were able to solve it. I thought you might like a chance."

The waitress delivered the two Brain Fizzes. Leo tentatively took a sip. "Ummm." He drank half of it. Wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"I'm glad you like it," said the Old One, taking a swallow. "There's a pleasant euphoric quality to it also, which is always welcome."

Leo finished his. Tapped out an order for a couple of refills. "What kind of problem?"

The Old One activated the privacy screen on the table, the clatter of the room instantly lowered to a whisper. "I don't know if it's in your area of expertise-"

"I don't have an area, " said Leo. "Everything is my expertise."

"How fortunate for you."

"You would think so," said Leo, "but you'd be wrong." He leaned over the table. "You ever hear that expression, 'too smart for his own good'? Well, that's me."

"I don't think it's possible to be too smart," said the Old One.

"You've never spent any time in the Belt, have you?" said Leo.

"No…I can't say that I have. Dangerous place, from what I've heard."

Leo puffed up slightly. "You got to stay on your toes, that's for sure."

"You've been there?"

The waitress brought two more Brain Fizzes.

"I haven't just been there, I've traveled all over it," said Leo. "Almost got myself killed a couple times…" He hooked a pinkie into the blue foam of the drink, licked it clean.

"I'm very impressed, Leo. You did this alone?"

Leo shrugged. "I had company. Man named Rakkim. Used to be Fedayeen."

"This Rakkim was your bodyguard?"

"More like…" Leo took a long drink of the Brain Fizz. "More like my sidekick."

"You're a man of many talents, Leo." The Old One shook his head. "I hope it doesn't embarrass you if I say I'm a bit in awe of you."

Leo blushed.

"Being treated so shabbily at the conference…it must have been very disappointing."

"Their loss."

The Old One toasted him. "Are you married?"

"I'm engaged."

"Congratulations. Who's the lady?"

Leo started to speak, stopped himself.

"I see," said the Old One. "Caution is a virtue, Leo. I'm a bit of a romantic, that's why I asked. A strange characteristic for a businessman, I know." He pulled at his chin where his beard used to be. "I lost my wife, Helen, last year…still haven't gotten over it."

"Sorry to hear that."

"We never had children." The Old One stared into his drink. "Your father is a very lucky man. Having you as a son…well, he must be very proud."

"Not after he finds out I got laughed off the stage."

"Not everyone was laughing. I certainly wasn't. You'd be telling the truth if you said that the theory you presented drew mixed responses. No harm in that."

"I guess so."

The Old One handed Leo a computational tablet. "Here's the problem I wanted to show you. I sent it to several of the other speakers a month ago, but they were all stumped."

"Is that supposed to intimidate me? Because I'm not like anyone else." Leo drank the rest of his Brain Fizz. Reached over and snagged the Old One's untouched second drink. Tapped out another order as he stared at the computational tablet.

"If it helps, Dr. Cheverton suggested that the answer involved some sort of algorithmic transformation."

"The day I need a suggestion from Cheverton is the day I'll open a vein," said Leo, still looking at the problem.

The Old One laughed. Dr. Cheverton, whose research facility was underwritten by one of the Old One's shell corporations, had led the chorus of disapproval of Leo's presentation, the personal tone of his attacks encouraging others. "I enjoy your sense of humor."

Leo brightened. "You think so? Most people…"

"Most people don't appreciate you, Leo. That's obvious. I want you to know something. Whether or not you're capable of solving the problem, I admire you."

Leo looked away for a moment, then turned back to the Old One. "You never told me why you want this problem solved."

"My company controls assets worth over one hundred billion Swiss francs. For safety's sake, the financial data is currently scattered in various encrypted accounts, so if one account is compromised-"

"And you want to combine them into one account with encryption you can trust."

"Yes," said the Old One. "It would greatly improve efficiency."

"So you had somebody devise an encryption program."

"Not somebody. A team of somebodies. The very best men in the field." The Old One indicated the computational tablet. "Took them years to come up with this oscillating program that shifts at regular intervals-"

"How often?"

"Every three hours."

"Smart."

"I spent seven million dollars renting the use of the linked computers at the Chinese Science Institute," said the Old One. "They took five days to solve-"

"At which point it had already shifted forty times," said Leo.

The Old One didn't answer, annoyed at being interrupted.

"So you thought you'd try it out on the best minds in the world, see if human creativity could defeat the encryption when computer power couldn't." Leo sniffed. "You wasted your time with dolts like Dr. Cheverton."

"Am I wasting my time with you, Leo?"

"Come back in an hour. Go on, shoo."

Seething, the Old One gritted out a smile and left. When he returned in an hour, Leo was eating a hot fudge sundae covered in whipped cream and maraschino cherries. An empty sundae dish was pushed to one side. The Old One sat down. "Any luck?"

Leo spooned in ice cream. "No such thing as luck." Hot fudge dripped from his full lips.

"Did you solve it?"

"Not really a solving situation." Leo bit into a maraschino cherry, squirted red juice across the table onto the back of the Old One's hand. "That's why even the linked computers couldn't answer the problem until it was ancient history." His spoon dredged out more hot sauce. "You have to anticipate the solution. Leapfrog it." He waved the dripping spoon at the Old One. "It's intuitive as much as inferential. Need a human being for that." He grinned. "Of course, I'm probably the only human being in the world who could do it, so maybe there is such a thing as luck. I mean, if my father had come here instead of me, you'd still be thinking it couldn't be done."