Big Data: A Startup Thriller Novel

Chapter 6

Alex strode into the dark interrogation room and sat down at the metal table. He pressed record on the beat-up tape recorder.

"What's that?" asked the kid.

"I don't trust digital files," Alex replied.

"Good instincts."

"Name?"

The kid sat quietly again, probably thinking through his decision to talk to Alex. Then he opened his mouth.

"Taye Flanagan."

Alex knew the trick was to get them talking. Once they said the first word, whatever it was, the rest would come out quickly.

"All right, Taye, let's start with this morning. What were you doing at the New York Stock Exchange?"

"No."

Alex studied Taye's body language. His arms were crossed, and he wasn't making eye contact, instead staring down at the floor. Clearly, Taye had something to get off his chest. But Alex had to be careful. If he was too aggressive, the kid would shut down again, and they'd be right back where they started.

"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"

"Get me Luna or I won't talk. I've already tried talking to the police. Got me nowhere."

"You haven't tried talking to me."

Alex was a big man. Not just tall but wide, too. He would be an imposing figure next to almost anybody. He squatted down as low as he could to be at eye level with Taye. It hurt his knees, so he grabbed onto the table for support.

It worked. Taye uncrossed his arms.

"People are dying."

"What people? Where?"

"Everybody. Everywhere."

Alex tried hard not to roll his eyes. He didn't want to suffer through another lunatic's philosophical antics. But something told him Taye wasn't just another deranged weirdo.

"Can you be a little bit more specific? We're all dying. Everyone's dying."

"No, no, no. That's not what I mean. I'm a data scientist. I study large amounts of information to come up with trends and predictions. In any given year, about fifty or sixty million people die worldwide. That sounds like a big number, but it's less than 1 percent of the seven billion people on earth."

"So?"

"So the number's going up. Fast."

Alex thought for a moment, letting this sink in.

"Genocide?"

Taye leaned forward in his seat.

"That's what I thought at first, too. But no, I dug into the demographics. People are dying faster all over—in every region of the world—at a higher rate. This year there were five million more deaths than last year."

Alex thought for another moment.

"Sounds like it's within the realm for error," he said.

"No. Statistically, it's way outside the norm," said Taye.

"Some kind of disease?"

"That's what I thought next." Taye's eyes sparkled. "So I researched the causes of death. This is where things get weird. No single cause of death has increased statistically any more than any other."

"I'm an investigator, not a mathematician."

"People are dying from every possible cause faster than we used too. Slips in the shower. Cancer. Heart failure. Car crashes. Every cause of death has gone up dramatically in the last year."

Taye sat back in his chair, and Alex started to pace.

"So how does Luna Valencia fit into all this?"

"Her company, Ancien. It's the biggest big data company out there. They have the best platform for analyzing big data using machine learning on the planet."

Alex gave a confused look.

"Like artificial intelligence. Anyhow, they have a robust ecosystem. They opened their platform to allow developers and researchers to build their own stuff on it. Ancien was critical in helping me figure all this out. Ancien's linear regression analysis is second to none. But when I reached out to Ancien about my findings, I kept hitting brick walls. Nobody would take my research seriously."

"I can see why. It's a pretty incredible claim."

"I figured if nobody else understood, Luna would. But getting ahold of her is damn near impossible."

The door swung open, and Jack and Anna sauntered in.

"That's more than enough, Alex. We can take it from here," said Jack.

"I'll only talk to Officer Sonne," Taye said. Then he turned to Alex. "And you—you promised I could talk to Luna."

"You'll talk to whoever we say, when we say it," said Jack. "Alex. Out. Now."

Alex pulled the cassette from the tape recorder and slipped it into his back pocket. Tony was waiting for him outside, his arms crossed.

"Good work, Sonne."

Alex grunted.

"I told you all we needed was a little of your verbal grease. Now we've got a name, you can head home. We'll take it from here."

"This is the kind of bullshit that made me quit this godforsaken shit show. Everybody shoving each other to claim the high-profile cases. It makes me sick."

"The tape, please."

Reluctantly, Alex pulled it from his pocket and handed it over.

"Go home," said Tony. "And don't forget to send us an invoice this time."