The Reformers: A Matt Blake Novel (The Matt Blake legal thriller series Book 2) by Russell Moran Page A

hear, objective data. But we need the gross numbers for Metric Alpha to go up. The efficiency ratio is excellent as you point out, but we need to improve Metric Alpha, the leadership targets.”
     
    “I met with Reginald yesterday, Bartholomew. What he has planned for in the next six months will drive the gross numbers for Metric Alpha through the roof.”
     
    “Through the roof, James?”
     
    “Sorry, Bartholomew, I meant to say ‘significantly higher.’ ”
     
    “ ‘Significantly higher’ is much more appropriate than ‘through the roof,’ would you not agree, James?”
     
    Bartholomew hated any trace of exaggeration. If an employee told him that “things are great,” he wouldn’t let the man leave the room until he described, with data, why he thought “things are great.”
     
    “So tell me about our website tracking, James.”
     
    “It’s fantastic.”
     
    “I beg your pardon.”
     
    “Sorry, Bartholomew. Let me give you the numbers. Of the 1,300 sites we’re tracking, we’ve successfully infiltrated 1,283. We’ve also gotten identities on 97 percent of the users.”
     
    “How do we do that, James?”
     
    “Part of it is easy. I find it unbelievable how many visitors disclose their identity, including
    Facebook and Twitter user names. Some even put in their email addresses. These people account for 45 percent of the visitors.”
     
    “And what about the other 55 percent?”
     
    “Most get picked up by our algorithm.”
     
    “And what percentage gets picked up by the algorithm?”
     
    “Thirty percent at this point, but I remind you that we’re only in Phase One. As we continuously tweak the algorithm we’ll close in on the 100 percent mark.”
     
    “When can we begin seeding the sites with our own posts?” Bartholomew asked.
     
    “We’ve begun already, but we have to move cautiously to make sure our posts aren’t immediately targeted and taken down.”
     
    “Of course. Well James, you’ve given me excellent data as I’ve learned to expect from you. I know you want to get back to the city, but you’re more than welcome to stay here if you wish.”
     
    James would have loved to accept Bartholomew’s suggestion to stay at the lovely beach house, but, like most of his colleagues, James feared Bartholomew.
     
    “Will I see you at the office, Monday, Bartholomew?”
     
    “No, I’ll be away from Midtown Metrics for a few days, James. I’m sure you’ll keep things running smoothly.”
     
    Bartholomew had a much bigger operation to run than Midtown Metrics.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 23
     
     
    “Matt, this is freaking me out,” Diana said. She just called me from her office at the university. “Did you hear about the attack on that mosque in New York?”
    “No, I haven’t heard a thing. I was interviewing a client.”
    “Well, this morning 95 people were killed in a mosque,” Diana said. “It wasn’t a bombing, and there’s no evidence of a suicide. According to the news reports, it looked like a military operation. As many as five gunmen opened up on the crowd of people saying their morning prayers. An FBI spokesman wouldn’t say anything because the investigation just started. According to the guy on CNN, the mosque had a reputation as a center for radical sermons. Matt, our client’s words are ringing in my ears. Remember that Al said there’s a war going on? I think we just saw a battle.”
    “Dee, do you think that so-called NFL group could be involved?”
    “Well here’s what we know about them, at least what we know from Al. They’re not suicide types. When they pull off an attack, they want to live to fight on. The news said that the police were on the scene within two minutes of the 911 call. So these guys shot up a mosque and killed 95 people and were gone in an instant. This is one strange group, Matt.”
    After Dee told me about this latest incident, my head went into overdrive. This NFL is a