Masters had got a cup of coffee and was sitting at the break table in a corner across from the foosball table the kids used on their downtime, or when they were trying to figure out a tough coding problem.
Cassy walked over, got a cup of coffee, and sat down across from him.
He looked up from working on his iPad. “Good morning. You’re early.”
“I think we might have a developing problem, Francis.”
“The odd-lot trades you told me about the other day?”
“It seems to be spreading.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not sure. But if I had to guess I’d say that we’ve picked up a bug. Almost acts like a cyberworm, except…”
“Except what?”
Cassy shook her head and looked away for a moment. “It’s like something in incubation. Something in the system that’s growing.”
“Fix it. What we pay you for.”
“I have to get a handle on it first.”
“Then do it.”
“I think we should take this to Julia.”
“Take what to Julia?” Masters asked. “Exactly?”
“I want to play a game with it. But I’ll need some help, and it might take a few hours.”
“Do it.”
“I’d need to suspend or at least delay Burnham Pike’s trades for today.”
Masters laughed out loud. “Give me a fucking break,” he said. “Do you know how many millions of dollars the firm would lose? Now get back to work. Find it and fix it, and when you come up with something that makes sense, we’ll take it to Julia. But not until then.”