The Midas Protocol: Midas Files Book One

The Midas Protocol: Midas Files Book One is a technothriller work of fiction by Pittsburgh based author Matt De Reno. 

About The Midas Protocol

When Unalco researcher Dr. Lawrence Bingham and his wife are murdered in 1983, his Gold Box, a quantum mechanical device that stands to change humanity's place in the Universe, disappears. Hank Raglan, a young materials engineer at Unalco, does not realize this event will forever change his life as he will be called upon to return a more powerful Gold Box to the Watcher, a mysterious otherworldly entity that guided Dr. Bingham in his research

When Unalco researcher Dr. Lawrence Bingham and his wife are murdered in 1983, his Gold Box, a quantum mechanical device that stands to change humanity's place in the Universe, disappears. Hank Raglan, a young materials engineer at Unalco, does not realize this event will forever change his life as he will be called upon to return a more powerful Gold Box to the Watcher, a mysterious otherworldly entity that guided Dr. Bingham in his research

Unbeknownst to Hank, his involvement with the Gold Box begins when he first impresses Unaclo CEO Tony Laporte, a lifelong friend of the late Dr. Bingham, by continuing the advanced metals research unfinished by the brilliant scientist. Hank enjoys unbridled success under Laporte's tutelage, who sees Hank as the second coming of the late Dr. Bingham and the son he never had. Compounding his excellent fortune, Hank wins the hand of Unalco's beautiful communications manager Addison Moore.

For a young man in his mid-20s, unaware of the power of the Gold Box and the dangerous men that seek to control it, his life is perfect. But all that glitters is not gold. Laporte harbors a dark secret. He suffers from Alzheimer's disease and fears that he will soon lose all knowledge of Dr. Bingham's secret laboratory and his powerful Gold Box. The handsome, arrogant Jack Barons, Hank's bitter rival at Unalco, gains the favor of CFO Connor Wallrose, a man who wants to run Laporte out of Unalco.

Jack also has designs on Addison Moore, whom he feels is too good for Hank. Meanwhile, grungy, rambunctious college student Caroline Friday, Hank's childhood friend, leads an Innocence Institute project to free Rusty Gibb and Mark Doverspike, the two men convicted of the Bingham murders. As her investigation unfolds, Caroline meets a dangerous ex-cop, uncovers Mafia connections, learns of UFO reports, discover an invisible ramp to nowhere, and follows a trail of deception that leads from the research centers of Unalco to the darkest corridors of power in Washington.

When she learns the truth about who killed Dr. Bingham, she realizes that Hank Raglan is in the crosshairs of a powerful cabal that will stop at nothing to control Bingham's Gold Box, and it is now a race against time to save him.

Pittsburgh Characters

The Midas Protocol has largely characters that grew up in West View and the North Hills of Pittsburgh

• Hank Raglan (Protagonist) - West View Borough, North Hills High School
• Addison Moore - Wexford Area, North Allegheny
• Caroline Friday -  West View View, North Hills High School
• Dr. Lawrence Bingham - Sewickely Heights
• Red Dufresne - Colorful local who smokes way to much weed (well, it is legal now) 

Pittsburgh Settings - 1990s

• Ozzie's Bar - A real West View bar that went out of business shortly after the 1990s. 
• Unalco Corporate Center - Fictional company, Present day location of the Alcoa Corporate Center
• Bingham's Secret Lab - Fiction mad scientist laboratory imagined to be underneath the present day location of the Alcoa Corporate Center. 
• The Bingham Mansion/Ruins - Fictional home in Sewickely Heights (site of the gruesome Bingham Murders)
• Mario's Bar - Who doesn't know Mario's in Pittsburgh? 
• Rosebud / Metropol - Scene of a knock-down drag-out between Hank Raglan and Jack Barons.