Final Search of Room 1104

Before leaving John Jay Hall, Anderson disconnects Michael Wei's computer for transport. Dellaroche continues searching the dormitory, recovering bundles of birthday and Christmas cards secured with elastic bands.

A locked drawer is forced open, revealing thousands of names spread across countless connected pages.

Anderson conducts a final search of the kitchenette and bathroom. Apart from a single bottle of water, the room contains almost no food, basic medication, expired antidepressants and a syringe bearing dried residue, which is submitted to the New Jersey Regional Laboratory for analysis.

Before departing, Sandy Beeman confirms that Professor Elaine Wilcox left New York the previous afternoon for a holiday to the Appalachian Trails. She agrees to return early and make herself available for FBI questioning on Tuesday, 15th October.

The Alliance Police Department

Smith and Stevens arrive at the Alliance Police Department intending to limit further dissemination of the hypergeometric sequence. Outside, a growing media presence surrounds the station, forcing Smith and Stevens through a crowd of journalists.

Chief Upton Weeks escorts them to the common room. The recovered sequence has become the centrepiece of an investigation board, with officers throughout the station contributing increasingly elaborate theories in the hope of claiming a reward for solving its meaning.

Analyst Note: Smith and Stevens have had their likeness broadcast heavily on local news networks. Appropriate countermeasures recommended to field agents.

Tampering with the Sequence

While Weeks is distracted making coffee, Stevens quietly alters the sequence displayed on the board. Smith learns that local officers routinely exchange ideas through a WhatsApp group named The Sleuthing Alliance, successfully arranging for himself to be added.

Smith reaches out to Anderson to request a fake website be created and hosted at an IP address relevant to the false sequence Smith provided to the media.

Delete the Files

Stevensenters the evidence room under the pretence of checking the department's digital cameras. She successfully deletes every crime scene photograph from the police systems before attributing the loss to file corruption.

When the deletion is discovered, Smith quickly reframes the incident as either operator error or a computer virus. Although Chief Weeks accepts the explanation, another officer begins taking the disappearance of the evidence far more seriously.

Accessing the Fu Institute

Dellaroche and Anderson travel to the nearby Fu Institute to investigate Professor Wilcox's office. Security staff refuse to admit Dellaroche without scanning his equipment, resulting in a prolonged disagreement.

After contacting a CIA source, Dellaroche learns of several classified projects housed within the institute, including Project IAGO, a large language model designed to decode Russian and Chinese communications. Mentioning the project by name immediately changes the attitude of institute staff, who waive the normal security procedures.

While Dellaroche enters the building with Sandy Beeman,Anderson remains outside constructing the false website requested by Smith.

The Mathematician's Den

Wilcox's office has a digital display rather than a conventional window. A large blackboard dominates the room, covered with advanced mathematical equations.

Several values immediately resemble the same numerical patterns encountered elsewhere during the investigation. Dellaroche discreetly photographs the equations while searching the office.

Among Wilcox's papers, Dellaroche discovers a manuscript authored by Michael Wei entitled The Universal Utility of Mersenne Prime Numbers. No reference to the Laqueus Equation is located.

Utilising Asset Beeman

Beeman explains that Wilcox has spent approximately ten months working for La Estancia, a private research company operating from within the Fu Institute. The project itself does not appear within the institute's public records.

Beeman agrees to recover all correspondence between Wilcox and Weifrom Columbia University's online systems. While she is briefly distracted, Dellaroche subtly alters several equations on the blackboard before concealing a listening device amongst the office bookshelves.

Hit the Jackpot

While waiting outside, Anderson attempts to distract one of the institute security guards by discussing American football. During the conversation, the guard casually mentions that three people have recently won the Powerball jackpot.

Later, a radio interview broadcasts one of the winners publicly thanking "Michael" for her victory. Anderson identifies the winners as Nick Galitzi, Sandra Letsford and Jonathan Milgrove, appearing to be unconnected civilians.

Analyst Note: Civilians appear to be currently unconnected to the operation. Requesting field agents to investigate further as geographical location of all three civilians is located between New York, and Alliance NJ.

Psychological Evaluations

Standard agency procedure to track how operations are impacting agents in the field.

Jackie Stevens – Effective decisions taken towards operation objectives, and appropriate cover-up tactics deployed. No immediate concerns.

Malcolm Smith – Maintains effective command of the operation. Demonstrates growing confidence in the use of improvised deception to preserve operational security. Recommend continued observation for decision fatigue.

Marcus Dellaroche – Continues to leverage inter-agency experience to overcome obstacles with minimal disruption to the operation. No immediate concerns.

Thomas A. Anderson – Continues to perform as a controlled disinformation asset. Draft publications increasingly reflect genuine concern rather than speculative curiosity. Recommend maintaining current level of monitoring.