“What the hell does that mean, that he might not honor the results of the upcoming election?” Jake asked Leah and Frank.
“He might be able to go to court to stall the outcome of the election of his opponent, Sullivan,” Leah answered her brother. “But to what end? Under the Constitution, Bianchi, who would presumably continue as Speaker of the House if Sullivan arguably wins the election, would become President on January 20.”
Jake thought about what Leah had said. “I really don’t get it, there doesn’t then appear to be any way for Baker to win, unless he does so in conventional fashion, by the counted vote of we the people.”
Jake was doodling on his ever present smartphone, not seeming to pay attention to the news, their conversation, or even what he was fiddling with on his phone. “You know, I’m so not into politics,” Jake said, “but doesn’t it come down to who the military backs, and who controls the communications systems?”
All of a sudden, Leah stood up, and bolted for her desk.
“What the hell?” Frank asked.
Leah returned in two minutes. “I’ve got it!” she exclaimed.
“Got what?” both men in the room asked.
“EBCOM,” Leah shouted. “Our Secretary of Defense and our Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission are both members of EBCOM. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff possibly is as well. Or at least he’s working with it. Is Baker lining things up for a coup to take over the country if he’s not reelected? What the hell do we do? Who would believe us?”
“I would,” Jake said. He recalled his lonely jail cell examination of the possible meaning of the acronym EBCOM. “When I sat in the dark in my cell, I mentally went through all of the combinations and permutations of EBCOM. I came up with—and then discounted—Executive Board of some … committee. Such as the committee to reelect the president. And then it finally occurred to me: it “COM” wasn’t short for committee; it stood for … command, as in military command. The Executive Board of the Committee to Reelect the President was code for The Executive Board of The Command to Take Over the Country—if Baker doesn’t win the election. Others might still not believe us, but I do,” Jake added.
CHAPTER 103
September 30, 2020, Two Days Later
JAKE OPENED HIS EMAIL. It was an email invitation from Yvgeny Barovsky inviting Jake to click on the link to video conference with him. Jake didn’t recognize the name, and assumed it was some hacker or phisher. He was about to hit delete when he saw the words at the bottom of the email, almost an afterthought, “It’s about EBCOM.”
He instantly hit the link. And there he was, face-to-face with Barovsky.
“You don’t know me, Mr. Klein, but perhaps you want to. I know a lot about you, and EBCOM. I believe I can help you, and I believe you can help me.”
“How do you mean?” Jake asked. “Who exactly are you?”
Barovsky explained his background to Jake. More importantly, he explained that he was in D.C. on Russian business. “Perhaps I should say, Turgenev business. I have decided to defect. I have information that would be very important to the U.S. I would like you to ask your sister to consider representing me.”
CHAPTER 104
October 2, 2020, Two Days Later
JAKE EMPLOYED THE SAME tactic as Barovsky had with him, an email invitation to Rupert Austin to join him in a videoconference. The email included a conference link, and the following short passage, “EBCOM, Executive Board of Command, Barovsky.”
Austin obviously clicked on the link. “Although we’ve never met, I know who you are, Mr. Klein,” Austin began. “How did you get my private email address? What is this nonsense? This is harassment, plain and simple—and ugly.”
“I’ll plead the 5th on harassment, but I assure you this is no nonsense, as you obviously know by virtue of the fact that you accepted my invitation to videoconference. I know what EBCOM is, and what it’s planning to do if Baker loses the election. I also know that you are the chairman of EBCOM, and your membership includes our Secretary of Defense and our Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.”
“I joined you in this call purely out of curiosity, Mr. Klein. Now I know you’re crazy, spouting pure nonsense, things about which you know nothing. You are, however, getting in way over your head, Mr. Klein. I assure you of that.”
“Have I been in over my head so far, Mr. Austin? Have I been stopped so far? I’ve only scratched the surface. I have someone here with me who is intimately familiar with EBCOM and its purposes.” Jake put on a mask.
Barovsky stepped into full view of the camera. He also was masked. “Hello, Rupert,” Barovsky said.
“Yvgeny?” Austin said. “What are you doing?”
“I’ve defected. Decided I like the NBA games and don’t want to wait for Turgenev to buy a team and move it to Moscow. I’ve also decided that my future will be a lot brighter and safer here in the U.S., given all that I know about Turgenev and his deeds. And yours, Rupert. To answer your question, this is how I’m going to pay my entry fee to my new home. Mr. Klein and I want to give you a chance to tee it up with us—before we take it public.”
Austin had no comeback. He just ended the videoconference.
TWO HOURS LATER, THE headline story went viral. “Rupert Austin dead at age 72. No signs of foul play found. Suicide suspected.” EBCOM died with Rupert, whether or not Baker agreed with that outcome, and to his great dismay.
CHAPTER 105
October 7, 2020, Five Days Later
JAKE HAD LEFT SCHOOL behind. At least for now. He was fully ensconced in his new venture, JK’s Code, a D.C. limited liability company.
Leah had recently filed the papers for the new company. Its managing member was, of course, Jake. The other governing members of the company were Leah Klein, Frank Lotello, Cyrus Brooks, Amir, and … Anya Lebedev.
Anya would be dividing her time between handling public relations and marketing for JK’s Code, and also tutoring American students studying Russian to help make ends meet.
JK’s Code already had its first two cybersecurity clients, the States of Pennsylvania and Georgia. They would be using Jake’s software to block any attempt by Russia to use Molloy’s software program to interfere in the registration, voting, and tabulating of Pennsylvania and Georgia residents. Anya was going to be working with Jake and Barovsky to develop computer technology to identify fake news planted by Russian bots to mislead and influence American voters.
Based on the number of inquiries JK’s Code was receiving as a result of all of the continuing disparagement Baker was still unleashing on Jake, the future of JK’s Code looked bright. Anya might not have much more time, or need, to be tutoring students wanting to learn Russian.
When Jake had told Leah that he wanted to include Anya as one of the governing members of JK’s Code, Leah responded that she was pleased that Jake and Anya seemed to be working things out. Jake was still getting used to the real Anya, as opposed to the Anya he once thought he knew.
One subject in particular that still troubled Jake was how Anya would maintain her relationship with her parents back home in Russia. “Aren’t you worried that Turgenev will harm them to get back at you? And force you to return?”
Leah looked away. “I’m sorry, JK, that was one of the many fabrications of the old Anya. My parents died in a car crash when I was five. I was living in an orphanage outside of Moscow when the GRU found and conscripted me into its service. I am afraid that is not uncommon. There is nothing Turgenev can do to hurt my parents now, or to use them to extort me. I always regretted not having any sisters or brothers or other relatives. It turns out, that was a blessing in disguise. America is now my home—and my future.”
Like he said, Jake was still getting used to the new Anya. He thought about that. “Maybe one day, that future will include a new family for you.”
EPILOGUE
October 2022, Two Years Later
AS THE CEO OF JK’s Code, Jake was about to call t
he second annual meeting of the governing members of the company to order. He thought about all that had happened in the past two years.
The 2020 elections had come and gone, and the country was still standing—more or less. Sadly, Democrats and Republicans still seemed more focused on what was wrong with the other party—and what was in it for themselves, rather than their constituents—instead of what they could and should be doing to effectively address the challenges still facing the country, and the world. Too bad they can’t learn anything watching the grace, dignity, and sincerity of the NBA players and other professional athletes, and their willingness to sacrifice—the archaic opinion of Baker to the contrary notwithstanding.
Charlie and Madison were both in college, and doing very nicely. Cassie was taking the professional golfing world by storm, and also taking a part-time course of college classes. Even Jake was now taking a couple of college classes every semester, if only to please Sis Leah. With age comes a modicum of wisdom.
Abelson had finished his studies at SCSU a year ago, and returned home to Israel. His stature in Mossad was on the rise. He was even beginning to think about a role in Israeli politics.
Fyodor had earned his undergraduate degree at SCSU, and relocated to Israel to join his parents, who had decided to settle permanently there—comfortably so, thanks to Turgenev. Fyodor was now in graduate studies at the University of Haifa. They had adjusted nicely to their new home. Life, and pain, in Russia was a fading memory.
Amir was the head of a new transportation company that was giving Uber and Lyft fits. Jake had put together the technology for Amir that had made this possible. And Amir had recently been granted permanent U.S. residence. He was counting the days until he could take his citizenship exam. From time to time, Jake and Amir would argue about principles of U.S. government. They wondered how the 2024 U.S. election would play out. Thanks to Jake, and JK’s Code, the election would at least be devoid of any fraud.
Oh, yes, and Anya was expecting.
NOTE FROM JK
AS I MENTIONED IN JK’s Code, I’m hardly a politician, or an economist. It’s all I can do to keep up with computer science. Nonetheless, my fellow characters in JK’s Code have asked me to forward this brief (?) note to you from them. Here goes.
Barak wants to be an author. Well, he is an author, but he wants to be a respected and branded author, kind of like I set out to become a respected and branded cybersecurity maven. As such, he’s vulnerable to the wishes and advice of his developmental editor. I haven’t met her, but Barak speaks highly of her, as you’ll note in his acknowledgments in the back pages of this novel.
There were three scenes in particular that Barak included in his original draft of JK’s Code (among many others—it seems one of her favorite words in the English language is “cut”) that his developmental editor advised him to delete. She argued that these three scenes weren’t relevant and harmed the otherwise pace of the novel.
The characters of JK’s Code disagreed, arguing that, taking into account EBCOM, as well as the more obvious election fraud subject matter of the novel, the passages in question were at the very least relevant. That said, for the sake of our integrity, the characters of JK’s Code were obliged to admit that there was some merit to the position that the scenes in question did distract from the pace of the novel.
Barak insisted that he had to pay homage to the long-standing craft principle that requires any responsible author to be willing to “kill his darlings”, words that authors really liked, but couldn’t professionally defend. (While I have researched the matter, any number of renowned authors are credited with this oft recited phrase, but it appears that they, at best, repeated it.)
Here, then, is the highly negotiated compromise, the three darling scenes, or sets of words, that were killed in the preceding JK’s Code, or at least mortally wounded. These scenes are here replicated, not in the order they appeared in the earlier draft of the manuscript, but rather in the sequence the characters chose by majority decision.
#1
Almost All Politicians (and Media and Lobbyists Too) Are Created Equal. It Matters Not On What Side Of The Aisle They Reside (Or Support)
LEAH AND FRANK WERE sharing the cleanup detail after an enjoyable dinner for two. Leah was washing, and Frank was drying.
“Now that you’ve managed to help solve all of the problems of our immediate and extended families,” Frank said, “I wonder if you might give me your solution for the broader social problems facing our country today.”
“Something simple,” Leah retorted.
“Let me narrow my inquiry a bit. I’m not asking you to find a vaccine for COVID-19, or to resolve the climate and environmental threats to our planet. What I’m after is your take on the narrower social issues deriding our country. I’m growing weary, having to cope with all of the social confrontations and protests increasing every day. They seem to be getting worse and worse. More and more noise, but less to show for it. How do we make things actually improve?”
“For me,” Leah said, “I think the solution to what you’re talking about boils down to three root ingredients, possibly only two.”
“And those would be?” Frank asked.
“Politics, lobbyists and the media.”
“By my count, that’s three pieces to the puzzle. How do you characterize them as possibly only two?”
“Lobbyists might just be a subset of politics. I might even get it down to just one ingredient that transcends these two or three components: Integrity.”
“I’m all ears,” Frank said.
“Okay, let’s talk politicians first, including lobbyists. The problem is, politicians think their primary commitment is to their own interests, rather than the interests of their constituents. Lobbyists fuel this and—sadly—too many of our voters accept this lack of integrity as acceptable par for the course, in spite of the growing social protest and unrest.”
“Do you think this political impropriety is worse on either side of the aisle?” Frank asked.
“Not at all,” Leah said. “Give or take, at any moment, I think the political dishonor is equally bad on both sides of the aisle.”
Give me some examples,” Frank said.
“We don’t have that many dishes left to clean up,” Leah responded. “I’ll give you one on each side. Ignoring Baker’s reelection misdeeds, which Jake thwarted, Baker has no respect for the law, no integrity, whether it’s flaunting the Hatch Act about not mixing government and politics, or the Foreign Emoluments Clause, set forth in Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 of the U.S. Constitution, that prohibits foreign gifts to members of the federal government, including POTUS. Baker violated the Hatch Act when he staged reelection events at the White House. He violates the Foreign Emoluments Clause every time foreign dignitaries coming to visit him at the White House stay in one of his hotels, even though closer accommodations are available.”
“And the Democrats?” Frank asked.
“Consider Sullivan, the Democratic nominee for president. Back when he was vice president, he made a trip to China on Air Force Two. Ostensibly, he was there on government business, and the cost of the trip for air travel, security, etc. was on the taxpayers’ dole.”
“What was wrong with that?” Frank asked.
“When the plane landed, photos all over the media showed Sullivan disembarking in the company of his adult son.”
“What’s the big deal about that? It’s not like the son’s presence increased the public’s expense. Air Force Two was making the trip anyway.”
“At a minimum, the appearance of the son hitching a free ride looked bad,” Leah said. “Why was the son along for a free ride? If he had reason to travel to China, why didn’t he buy a commercial plane ticket and travel there on his own—like you and I would do if we had reason to go to China?”
“Sounds ticky tack to me.”
“There’s more. When the son returned home from China, he and a small group of associates formed a private equity
fund that was capitalized with $1.5 billion dollars, provided by the Chinese government or Chinese companies controlled by the Chinese government. Sullivan’s son was a director of the fund and owned 10% of the fund. Under common “2-20” fee structures, the managers of the fund received an annual 2% of fund assets management fee, and 20% of the increase in asset value. Sullivan’s 10% share of the 2-20 fee structure is a lot of money.”
“That does seem more than ticky tack,” Frank said.
“It gets worse. When the son was there, he met with a Chinese individual who went on to become president of the U.S. private equity fund.”
“Why is that worse?” Frank asked.
“When asked about the matter, Vice President Sullivan said that was his son’s business, not his business, and he and his son never discuss his son’s business. If that doesn’t strike you as unlikely, I have some Nebraska beachfront property I’d like to sell you. Moreover, when Sullivan was further probed, he acknowledged that his son introduced him to the Chinese president of the U.S. fund while father and son were in China. It sounds like the son traded on his father’s federal government position for his own personal gain.”
“That sounds like another Federal Emoluments Clause violation to me,” Frank said.
“Among other possible violations of U.S. law. If Sullivan is now elected POTUS, will that mean we have a president who is beholden to China?”
JK's Code (Brooks/Lotello Thriller Book 4) Page 29
