by Van Fleisher
Acomita Lake Campground, Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico. After another almost full day of questioning following the deaths of the President and Vice President, the FBI had made no further progress in understanding why Moki Joe would want to kill the President or how he did it.
There had been a brief peak of excitement when they found the letter to Kaya, hoping that it would establish motive:
“My darling daughter, Kaya:
I’ve had some time to write this letter, as I found out I was dying almost a month ago. I didn’t want to burden you with the knowledge that I was dying, nor put pressure on you to abandon your views about me, given our poor relationship of late.
Your Uncle Tom explained some of the reasons you were upset with me, and you were both right and wrong. I went along with the views and behaviors of many of my fans, even though I didn’t approve of them. Why? Partly because I’ve never been too interested in politics, but mostly, I didn’t have the guts to speak out, as some of my fellow musicians have done. They suffered commercially, but now I see that they were the winners. They can hold their heads high and know they did the right thing.
I really screwed up and lost a big chunk of time that we could have had together, but I will cherish what we did have up until I draw my last breath, and I promise you that you will be my final thought.
I wrote a song for you, but every time I try to sing it, I choke up and break down in tears. I’ll leave you the lyrics.
I love you more than you’ll ever know,
Love, Taata”
The letter prompted widely divergent points of view ranging from it explained nothing, to it explained everything. The evidence was simply inconclusive.
Moki Joe made an impassioned, and as it turned out, a compelling plea to leave so that he could die where he was born. Weighing the law against public relations, the FBI made a sensible compromise. They charged Moki Joe with two counts of suspicion of murder. (They knew he’d be dead in a few days so he would never be convicted; they also knew that news of him dying while in custody posed a greater public relations risk than letting him leave.) In the end, he was allowed to leave the Mohegan Arena wearing an ankle bracelet tracker so they would always know where he was.
Moki Joe’s road team wasted no time driving the big RV straight through from the Mohegan Area to Acomita Lake. Two days after his brief meeting with the President, as his VT2 had predicted, Moki Joe Hunter died in his sleep, not far from where he started his life’s journey.
***
The FBI interviewed Tocho Tom and Kaya, but neither could help them with their investigations, and over the ensuing weeks and months, there were no breakthroughs. There was no video footage to identify who brought the colas. There were no fingerprints on the cans that led anywhere, and it remained a mystery as to how the poisoned cans of cola found their way into Moki Joe’s RV. Unusually, the cans had no markings or codes, making it impossible to trace them to any facility. News reports did leak that the composition of the poison was very similar to one used by the Russians in the UK and Europe, involving a Russian double agent and his daughter. Moscow denied any involvement, and Tocho Tom Hunter smiled.
***
Quincy, Massachusetts. Everyone arrived on time for Vijay’s first senior management meeting, except for Alek. He wouldn’t be released from the hospital until later in the week. However, he was already doing more work than Sophie thought was good for him. With the exception of Don and Liz, Vijay didn’t know any of them. He had reviewed all of their resumes, and with a couple of exceptions, he was comfortable with their backgrounds. Time would tell.
His first orders of business were that everyone at VitalTech would be known as and called by their first name, and informal dress was welcome. There were no opposing views.
The next item was the Final Notice. As he had done with Don, Vijay took them through the background and history of incidents. He even included the fact that a Final Notice recipient was a suspect in the murders of the former President and Vice President, even though the charges were dropped after his death.
Vijay introduced the revised health benefits approach that he and Don had brainstormed as a better and more socially responsible option. He then asked Don and Jenni Chen, the CFO, to present the numbers along the lines that Liz had suggested. Don summarized that the number of people who would ask for refunds was expected to be relatively small, and Jenni’s numbers demonstrated a minimal financial hit, if anything.
The more important news was that the revised health platform would be a major announcement, with projected sales of over five million VT3s within the first six months. Don had already put together a very compelling message that would go out with the Final Notice suspension e-mail.
Neither Vijay nor Don had expected any opposition, and they didn’t get any, so they were able to send out the message removing the Final Notice feature almost immediately, and by the close of business, the Final Notice was history.
***
Washington, D.C. Zoe was ecstatic about the news from Vijay, but like everyone else, her emotions were tempered following the two recent high-profile murders, despite the victims’ unpopularity.
All of the suspects connected with the Final Notice ‘robots’ had been arrested and charged, with one notable exception, Yuri Chernyshevsky. Zoe and her colleagues had been able to play everyone against each other, all of whom hoped to escape long prison sentences or worse. The CIA identified Chernyshevsky as an SVR operative (translated from Russian as the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation), suspected of election interference in several countries. There was no record of his arrival to the U.S., and U.S. intelligence placed him in Russia.
The end of Final Notices did not mean the end of problems for Zoe, the FBI, the Secret Service, or any of the law enforcement agencies. The news networks were sizzling with non-stop stories about alt-right groups taking revenge on left-wing groups and gatherings, assuming that the ‘Left’ was somehow responsible for the death of the President and Vice President. And the Antifada responded, not just in turn, but also out of frustration with right-wing judges and politicians who carried out their roles with what was considered to be hyper-partisan zeal. Guns were being used with increasing frequency, but the Senate seemed incapable of acting. The nightmare that Eric Hawke had spoken about with Zoe over a month ago - “guns and bloodshed” – was now a reality.
The newly appointed Democratic President was considered an enemy by the Republican White House, Cabinet, and Senate, effectively neutralizing her effectiveness; but given the very short time remaining before the election, she decided to just tough it out and use her veto power to stop things from getting worse.
Political chaos, civil chaos, and economic chaos ripped through the United States in ways many described as similar to the Civil War era. With the presidential election drawing near, many wondered if it could be carried out effectively. And even if it could, what would it take to restore the nation to some form of civility, to reduce the divisiveness, and put some meaning into the name, ‘United States.’
***
Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Unlike the rest of the country, Vijay and Jennifer’s lives began to settle into a new and comfortable normalcy. Karima had returned home, accompanied by Jennifer’s parents. Jennifer assured him that their stay would be a short one, but they wound up staying two weeks. Vijay’s weekday mornings still started very early with his pre-dawn run, and he was usually the first person to arrive at the VitalTech offices. That schedule protected him, somewhat, from enduring Nicole and Bill’s presence, but unencumbered by the pressures brought about by Final Notice murders; he was in a much better frame of mind to handle their challenging habits.
He had become a student and accomplished practitioner of delegating, ensuring that he always left the office in time to pick up Karima from pre-school. And one of his hard-fast rules was that his weekends always belonged to the family. And on the subject of family, Vijay had just spoken with his brother, Sanjay, gi
ving him the news about the VT3. He also told him about the earlier threat from Kalin that he’d kept from Sanjay.
That made Sanjay laugh. “Do you know how many job offers I get? Almost one a week and most offer a lot more money … but none of them included working for my brother.”
Now Vijay laughed. “Well, as the new CEO for VitalTech, and as your brother, make sure that Father is healthy before he goes to the bank next month. He’s going to see a big jump when your raise comes through.”
Sanjay chuckled, “Thank you for the raise, and the warning. I’ll prepare him. He’s healthy, and he’s happy. Every day, after the bank visit, he walks with a bunch of other retired friends to the park where they discuss and argue politics. Mother is also well. She has many friends, and they can sit, sip tea, and gossip for hours on end. About what I haven’t a clue. She has asked about when you are bringing Karima to visit?”
Vijay had been thinking about that, too. “I need a little time to get the business where I want it to be, but Jen and I are both anxious to visit, and Kari is old enough to make the trip now. We’ll start thinking about dates, soon.”
***
Jennifer had realized that Vijay had been a bit lost when VitalTech went public, and his role was downsized, but she could never have guessed how events would play out to put him back into the business. Nor had she realized how the new normalcy of their lives would give her so much more time to get involved and really help some local and national progressive organizations. What she did know, however, was that the current normal would soon be replaced when a new member of the Patel household arrived.
Until then, they could only hope – and vote – for a better world for children everywhere.
***
Washington, D.C. Demi had picked up their dinner at RASA, and she and Zoe were preparing to eat, drink some wine, and cross their fingers as they watched the Presidential election. They had voted, and they hoped their candidate would win; but even more than that, they were holding their breaths that whatever the outcome, widespread civil violence would not consume the country.
Their departments and all others – from federal agencies to states, counties, and cities across the country – had each developed contingency plans to contain violence, should it break out, and everyone was on call. Also, many agencies had developed detailed cooperative plans to help each other, should the need arise.
National Guard units across the country had been called up to respond, and the Joint Chiefs had plans in place to protect the Constitution, if necessary, to ensure a smooth transition. The likelihood of this latter concern was now much less since the former President – who espoused staying in office because of rigged elections – was dead, and the current POTUS was essentially a ‘caretaker.’
Zoe knew the political and judicial murder tallies to date, and they were significant. Despite those losses, she and her team, with a lot of help from Vijay, Alek, and Demi, had put the Russian ‘robot’ operation out of business. Now, without the worry of more killings motivated by Final Notices, they could focus on the more significant and less predictable threats, which unfortunately were also the least preventable.
The threat that posed the greatest catastrophic loss of life was the growth of militias or private armies. Most were borne from the right-wing and white supremacist groups with corollary ‘defensive’ groups popping up around the country. Weekend training or “MilSims” (Military Simulations) were being held around the country, and quite a few businesses had sprung up, many by veterans, who put together war games and provided military-like training.
You could think of these groups or individual violent events as powder kegs and the extensive Russian social media disinformation efforts as the fuses to detonate them and the fans to whip up the rhetoric, actions, and flames.
And so, against this very eclectic, emotional backdrop, the otherwise happy couple took deep breaths, sat down with their New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, ‘Sexy and I Know It’ salads and ‘Tikka Chance On Me’ chicken dinners and pressed the ‘On’ button of the TV remote.
***
(Almost) THE END
CHAPTER 32 – FAST FORWARD
Zoe Brouet was commended for her efforts and her successes in keeping the Final Notice body count down. She got an additional assist from Vijay when he agreed to her request to continue to send the behavior report, even though it didn’t include the Final Notice indicator. His agreement was limited, however, to the period up through the election and then for thirty days after. They would discuss an extension at a later date. Vijay’s risk-taking agreement had helped prevent five high profile murders as well as many others.
Zoe’s personal side was flourishing, too, as she and Demi continued to enjoy their newfound love. They had even discussed formalizing it through marriage, and Demi had hinted that she might like to trade in her badge for a motherhood role.
***
Vijay Patel led VitalTech to a resurgence in growth, at a pace equal to, if not better than, the launch phase of the VT2. An extremely health-conscious America eagerly embraced new devices to monitor and improve their well-being, and the VT3 – featuring Vijay’s patented blood-tracking process – was the leader of the pack. The associated VT3 app was able to tell its wearers what their blood chemistry strengths and weaknesses were so they could change their diets and/or supplements accordingly. If, for example, a user’s data showed a B12 deficiency, he, she, or they could simply tap it on their app, and an array of dietary changes would be suggested along with specific recommended supplements.
With the approval of J. Edward and the Board, Vijay also reconfigured VitalTech’s compensation plan, making all employees eligible for profit-sharing. All employee pay scales would be harmonized with those above and below, including the CEO, so that Vijay’s salary would be no higher than ten times that of the average employee.
Despite his new ‘day job,’ Vijay continued to excel athletically, posting his personal best in the Boston Marathon at 2:15:13. He also cast his first ballot in a U.S. election. This was his first tangible act as a U.S. citizen, and his pride could not be over-estimated.
His biggest joy, however, was being with his family. His new son wasn’t old enough for splash parties yet, but Karima still enjoyed them, and Fritz liked catching some of the splashes and helping lick the water off the floor.
The Democratic Presidential debates and news coverage had called attention, as never before, to the enormous income and wealth disparities in the U.S. – gaps that not only existed but worked against less well-off families who were ever trying to dig themselves out of their situations. So, Vijay and Jennifer joined the Giving Pledge, promising to give at least half of their net worth to philanthropy, either during their lifetime or upon their death.
***
Jennifer Patel had already recognized that the Foundation that she and Vijay had set up was too narrowly focused to address an ever-changing variety of social demands. She understood, also, that regardless of how big or powerful an organization became, without the support and decisive action from government, nothing could ever be accomplished. And so, she became an active supporter of Emily’s List and became involved in local government. Of course, if you asked her if she was considering politics, she would probably say, “Definitely not.” But if you watch the Boston area or Massachusetts state elections during the next cycle, don’t be surprised if you see Jennifer Andrews Patel on the ballot.
In the meantime, and of much more importance to her, Jennifer gave birth to Jason Andrew Patel. She and Vijay had arrived at the name for two reasons. First, Jason is a name recognized in both India and the U.S. Secondly, its origin (Greek) means ‘He that cures.’
Jason’s birth also helped bring about a change in Jennifer’s self-assessment. She asked her mother to give away the old jeans that she hadn’t been able to zip up.
***
Fritz, the Patels’ shepa-doodle, may not have had a starring role in this book, but he did have a key supporting role, as most
dogs do. He was a loving, non-judgmental playmate and friend for Karima and Jason, and when he barked, it was enough to give any unwelcome guests something to think about.
***
Alek Belikov blossomed on many levels. He became an extremely effective leader within the VitalTech group and instrumental in the success of the VT3.
On a personal level, he transformed his grief over the loss of his wife and son into cherished memories of great times. It was one of the hardest things he’d ever done, but he had his new wife, Sophie, to help him. She encouraged him to talk about them, and she never exhibited any signs of jealousy. She even remembered their birthdays and always made gestures to honor them.
Sophie had also given him another reason to shift firmly into the present and future. She was pregnant.
***
Tony Vinzano, the boy who reported his father’s ‘Zombie’ crime and first brought Vik Vasin into the picture, stayed with police detective Sean Lombardi for almost a month. That short stay seemed to ignite his high school academic performance and his goals. He decided to attend junior college to go into law enforcement, particularly to work with underprivileged kids.
