Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller

by B. Michaels

  “Now, if you abandon your pursuit of the Ark, and give us the copies of the source code in your possession; Vish and I will try to make sure that your equity position stays roughly the same. Otherwise, you can expect to be diluted.

  “Security will escort you to your office to pack your things. Then, they’ll walk you to your car. I’m going to meet with Becca now. Good day, Josh. Be careful.”

  Two NSA police officers led Josh out of the sixth-floor conference room. One of the officers carried an assault rifle. Josh frantically reached for his phone in an attempt to warn Becca. The phone was useless. Someone was jamming the signal.

  *

  “Becca, I want to thank you for meeting so quickly. It’s my understanding that you’ve given your two weeks’ notice to Gamification?” asked the General.

  “Yes, sir,” replied Becca.

  “Becca, you’re a very talented software engineer. May I ask why you’re leaving?”

  “I’m just not happy here anymore. I’d like to move on.”

  The General pressed, “Becca, I know you might not understand everything we do here at the Accelerator, but we’re trying to make America safe—”

  “General Shields, you’re building robots to kill people. You have human beings in GAMESPACE that are executing other human beings in REALSPACE; only they think they are playing a game. Are you going to pay your hitmen in Bitcoin?”

  “Becca, Swarmbots are ISR platforms. They don’t kill.”

  “Save it General. You picked Fog of War for a reason. I don’t want to be a part of it. I understand that despicable men beheaded your son. I’m sorry. I’m sure you think America isn’t doing enough. But, breaking laws so you can seek your revenge is not the answer. That won’t get your son back.”

  The General’s face went flush red.

  Lin inserted herself into the conversation. “Becca, do you have someone you love?”

  “Yes.”

  Lin continued, “Now imagine your significant other is in Syria. He’s been assigned a kill or capture mission for a high-ranking member of the Caliphate. Think about him hard. He’s all decked out in special operator’s gear. He’s scared. His adrenaline is pumping. Then, he’s given the order. He blows the door off its hinges and rushes into a dark room.

  “If we owned the technology to not put your loved one in danger; wouldn’t it be immoral not to use it? Think of how many lives drones have saved. Swarmbots are just a logical extension of remotely piloted aircraft.”

  Becca examined Lin. Then the General. “Listen, I understand what you are saying. I just don’t want to work for a company that does these things. I want to make. I want to create. I don’t want to destroy life for a living. I’m not in the military. And on the topic of drones, you know better than I, that we’re not always killing the right people.

  “When you scratch one Caliphate member from your kills list, you add 10 more. Your kill lists don’t ever decrease. They only get bigger. Look, I don’t know the answer. I do know that this is something I don’t want to be associated with. And, I think our country should have a national conversation about this. Do we want to be a country that assigns robots to kill people?”

  General Shields spoke in measured tones. “Becca, when you’re young, things look black and white. As you gain experience, I can assure you that the entire world is just gray. You’re right about the drone program. We are killing too many innocents. I think we need to reign drones in. That’s why Swarmbots are so important. They will target one person, and one person only. ''''''''''''''' ''''''''' '''''''''''''''''''' '''''''''' '''''''''''''' ''' ''''''''''''''''''' ''''' ''' '''''''''' ''''''''''''

  “Not only that, but the nation cannot continue to send its men and women to fight an enemy that grows larger every day. Our national debt is over $25 trillion, well over 100% of our Gross Domestic Product. Historically, that’s when bond defaults occur. We can’t afford to fight terrorists all over the world with human soldiers—not if we want to remain a prosperous nation. Compared to American lives, Swarmbots are cheap. They’ll get less expensive as we expand the program. It’s a type of war that allows us to scale with an asymmetric enemy.”

  Becca remained stone-faced. “General, what happens when they get robots?”

  General Shields looked at Becca dismissively. “Rebecca Roberts, I appreciate your work. You did a good job with Gecko Insurance. Your castle was a real work of art. Your trebuchets were exquisite. I need to remind you that everything we just discussed is TOP SECRET.”

  “You don’t need to worry, General Shields. I’m not a whistleblower. I don’t want to end up hiding in Russia, or Ecuador, or Hong Kong. I want to see my loved ones. But someone will be braver than me. Someone will leak this.”

  “That may be the case,” replied Shields, “but if you disclose any of the information we’ve just talked about, you will be arrested for treason. And, I imagine your father will have some problems with the IRS regarding his church finances. Also, I suggest that you convince your boyfriend to cease all activities regarding his search for the Ark. That’ll be in everyone’s best interest. It’s too dangerous for either one of you, and it’s too dangerous for our country.”

  Becca was stunned speechless.

  “Now, these NSA police officers will escort you out. Your last day is today. Thank you for your work at Gamification Systems and for Defense Innovations Accelerator.”

  It took every ounce of Becca’s strength not to cry. She didn’t want to give the General the satisfaction of her tears.

  *

  The General knew Becca had a solid point regarding his legal jeopardy. He was skating on the thinnest of ice. He could face indictment if FOGGY or SWARM ever leaked.

  After Dabiq-gate, the President fired Walt Black as DCIA. But, POTUS’ nominee for replacement was stuck in a filibuster until questions were answered about Dabiq, specifically, and collateral damage from drone strikes, more generally. With the election looming, the President didn’t want to deal with those issues.

  POTUS signed a letter for the General. Shields kept it in his safe. The letter authorized Shields to take ‘extraordinary measures’ to ensure the defense of the nation. If FOGGY or SWARM ever leaked, General Shields would argue that the letter made his actions legal. But, he wasn’t sure how he’d fare if indicted, especially if President Goodson lost the election.

  The good news was that the chance of the President’s defeat looked remote. Dabiq-gate was not hindering the President in the polls. The nation didn’t respond to the CIA contractor’s murders like they had the SEAL’s deaths, five years earlier.

  Despite the legal risk, avenging Charlie Shields’ beheading by destroying the Caliphate’s senior leadership was what mattered most to General Shields. So little was being done to punish the Caliphate.

  *

  Josh was out of control. Literally. His Faraday 777 GTS Convertible was driving itself. Josh lost the ability to turn the steering wheel. Nothing happened when he pressed the gas pedal or brakes. The doors were locked. The windows wouldn’t move. Nor could Josh budge the convertible top. His cell phone was still jammed.

  The car—or rather a hacker—was driving safely. At least for now. Josh was on Jessup Road, heading southeast. Then, the car made a quick right onto Brock Bridge Road. “Where am I going?” asked Josh, aloud. He knew the hacker would be monitoring car’s speech recognition system.

  After a few minutes, it became apparent. Josh’s car was led to a dead stop at the entrance to the Maryland Correctional Institution, a prison just a few miles from the NSA.

  The prison guards waved at Josh. The onboard computer screen in the Faraday displayed a message: ‘MOVE ON JOSH.’

  After a few moments, Josh regained control of his car. His phone rang. It was Becca. She was crying inconsolably.

  “Where are you?”

  Between sobs, Becca said, “I’m in t
he Starbuck’s parking lot.”

  “Alright, I’ll be right there.” Josh was surprisingly resolute.

  Chasm Waxing: Part II – Muhammad Rahmati

  Chapter 20 – The Commander

  1:30 a.m., Tuesday, October 20, 2020 - Dabiq, Syria

  Muhammad Rahmati scaled a small hill. He slithered on his belly to a point overlooking Abu Omar’s temporary hideout. This was the same Abu Omar that tricked the CIA and POTUS into Dabiq-gate, nearly two months earlier. Omar had returned to Dabiq after the beheadings of the four American contractors on the CIA payroll.

  The lair was a single-story, white, stucco house. It was 250 yards away from Rahmati. The residence couldn’t have been more than 1800 square feet. Located on the outskirts of Dabiq, the dwelling rested in the middle of a barley field. The grain was sown earlier in the month. In daylight, bright green sprigs were newly visible, popping their heads out of the soil. Omar was once again in Dabiq to bait the West into military action.

  Once Western troops were deployed, the Caliphate could begin their Viet Nam style, death-by-a-thousand-cut assault. The Crusaders’ defeat would fulfill Islamic prophecy and initiate the Day of Judgement. This End of Days triumph would see Sunni-Islam reign victorious over all other religions and worldviews, including Shia-Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. At least, that was the Caliphate version of Islamic Armageddon. Shiites, many of them living in Iran, had their own interpretation.

  The Caliphate was more radical than Al Qaeda. While Osama Bin Laden wholeheartedly disagreed with Shiite doctrine, he didn’t believe that Shia-Muslims deserved death. He said that Muslims should not kill fellow Muslims. However, the Caliphate regarded Shia-Muslims as ‘kafir,’ or infidels in English. By Islamic definition, infidels were non-believers—any non-Muslim. Therefore, Shiites were worthy of death; as were Jews, Christians, or anyone else that did not convert to their version of Sunni-Islam.

  Muhammad Rahmati was 42 years old. He resided in Tehran, the capital of Iran. Rahmati was a Commander in the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, otherwise known as the Revolutionary Guards. All Guards pledged an allegiance to protect Iran’s Shiite Ayatollah, who bore the moniker of ‘Supreme Leader.’ Ayatollah Khomeini started the Revolutionary Guards in the dicey first days of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. In exchange for their loyalty, the Ayatollah gave the Revolutionary Guards an ever increasing series of perks.

  The Quds Force was the elite special operations and intelligence branch of the Revolutionary Guards; similar to a combination of the Green Berets and the CIA. ‘Quds’ was Arabic for Jerusalem. The name highlighted the fact that Iran believed that Islam would once again reign over Jerusalem in the days ahead.

  The Quds Force operated all over the Middle East, spreading Iranian influence. They closely watched political and military developments in the region. They were also in charge of Iran’s proxy strategy. This proxy strategy involved training local forces, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, to serve Iranian geopolitical goals surreptitiously. Iran supplied arms to its proxies. That was the main reason that the US labeled Iran as a significant terrorist state.

  The power vacuum created in 2011 by the withdrawal of US troops, and the Iraqi-Shia crackdown on Iraqi-Sunnis, helped prepare the womb in which the Caliphate gestated. When the US left Iraq, Iran was jubilant. The Americans had knocked out all of the threats on their borders. This included the Baathist-led, Sunni government of Saddam Hussein, and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Now, the US was gone. Iran had a free hand in their sphere of influence for the first time in nearly a decade. They quickly moved to consolidate Shia power in the region, especially in Iraq.

  Iran didn’t count on the Arab Spring in 2011. More specifically, protests in Damascus led to a Syrian civil war by 2012. Syria was a long-time ally of Iran. While the US invasion and withdraw from Iraq planted the seeds, the Syrian civil war birthed the Caliphate.

  The ascension of the Caliphate was a concern of Iran. It was not as important to them as stabilizing the government in Syria. But, Iran sought to stop the Caliphate in Syria and to contain their growth in Iraq.

  Iran’s greatest fear regarding the Caliphate was the popularity of its radical apocalyptic, Wahhabi-Salafi-Jihadi message. This mouthful of terms encompassed two core ideas. The first notion was that over the centuries, Islam had been corrupted, especially by Western society. Through the prism of a literal reading of the Koran, Muslims needed to return to their seventh-century roots. They needed to go back to the pure days of Muhammad. The Prophet Muhammad was the best example of righteous Islamic living and total submission to Allah.

  The second concept was that Islam was the last religion. As the last revealed religion, it was a superior religion to Judaism, Christianity, or any other worldview. Hebrew and Christian Scriptures had been corrupted through the ages by inaccurate translations and worldliness. Therefore, in order to promote Islam to its rightful place as a theocracy that ruled the world through Sharia law, violent struggle—Jihad—had to be waged against any infidel that threatened Islam.

  The Caliphate augmented these central tenets with an emphasis on the End Times, ultra-modern branding, and fear-inducing savagery—especially against Shiites. The spread of the Caliphate’s puritanical ideology meant death to Shias and therefore, many Iranians. Increasingly, the Caliphate was moving beyond Iraq and Syria; to Libya, Sudan, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf States. All of this was territory in which Iran wanted to increase its influence.

  The Caliphate’s sophisticated social media posts and videos attracted disaffected Muslims, typically angry young men. These followers were influenced to believe that they could join a prophetic movement and serve God. They could fight infidels and establish a new Islamic state in which Sharia Law would produce utopia and expedite the End of Days. Sex, wages, and power would be theirs after they joined. The Caliphate’s social media strategy was brutal, persuasive, and cutting-edge.

  Iran sought to counter the Caliphate’s social media popularity and recruitment strategy. It was Muhammad Rahmati’s job to articulate an alternative message that was more appealing than the Caliphate’s propaganda.

  Rahmati correctly diagnosed the problem. The war against the Caliphate was not solely a military battle. Rahmati knew that the actual destruction of the Caliphate, and for that matter all the Sunni-Jihadists, was an ideological battle, first and foremost

  Rahmati did not answer to the General of the Quds Force. He reported directly to Major General, Farhad Javan—the Commander of the Revolutionary Guards. And Javan’s boss was the Ayatollah, Alireza Saatchi. General Javan and the Ayatollah empowered Rahmati with complete autonomy in crafting an alternative message. His only directive was to ‘make it work.’

  Javan hand-selected Rahmati’s 19 man unit, including its Deputy Commander, Hadi Hadari. Rahmati named the platoon the, ‘Immortals.’ This was a reference to the elite troops that fought for the ancient Persian Empire. 15 of the 19 men were top special forces warriors in the Revolutionary Guards. The significance of the number 19 was drawn from an enigmatic passage in the Koran, Sura 74:30. It simply read, ‘Over it are nineteen.’ There was little context provided.

  The other four were extremely tech savvy Guards. Their skills included expertise with various aspects of media like virtual and augmented reality, photography, video drone operation, movie editing, and social media techniques. Rahmati labeled this element of the Immortals as his ‘Immersive Media Team.’

  Rahmati’s goal was to target senior leaders of the Caliphate and eliminate them. During these battles, the Immersive Media Team would gather footage and produce innovative social media. Rahmati would leverage these encounters to voice a new, superior Islamic ideology. Over the next few months, Commander Rahmati achieved a cult-like status. Video after video, Tweet after Tweet, and SnapStorm after SnapStorm detailed the Immortal’s victories over the Caliphate’s senior leadership.
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  Rahmati’s Immersive Media Team shot videos with sophisticated cameras and drones that recorded high-resolution VR and AR footage. They edited their videos to include scenes from the Immortal’s body and helmet cameras. Then, the team uploaded the videos to A-Tube. Viewers could watch the videos in standard mode, with VR head-mounts, or through AR glasses.

  Millions of people worldwide viewed the immersive videos. They featured an eloquent and charismatic Rahmati, as he led the Immortals in battle against the Caliphate. Social media pages dedicated to the Commander spread all over the Internet. Rahmati gained an ever expanding number of views, likes, and comments.

  The Immersive Media Team also countered Caliphate social media messages and literature. They operated parody accounts spoofing of the lunacy of a return to the seventh century. They also published an e-magazine to compete with the Caliphate’s, Dabiq.

  One effective campaign labeled the Caliphate as sexual perverts for taking nine-year-old sex slaves as wives. Interviews with Caliphate recruits’ moms and dads were posted. The announcer asked the parents if God was pleased with their son’s kidnapping, rape, and child molestation. Rahmati’s messaging mocked the Caliphate recruits as a band of socially awkward, un-Islamic pedophiles.

  From the top of the hill, Rahmati scanned Abu Omar’s small hideout through his night-vision binoculars. The Commander was six foot two. Aside from his good looks, the Commander’s most prominent feature was his ice-blue eyes. Rahmati was a physical specimen, with salt and pepper colored hair, beard, and mustache. He had a distinctive Romanesque nose.

  Rahmati’s muscles popped out of the sleeves of his olive-drab T-shirt. He wore camouflaged battle trousers and dessert-colored combat boots. Over his t-shirt, Rahmati was cloaked in specially configured body armor.