Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller

by BMichaelsAuthor

  To avoid the prying eyes of the NSA, Becca configured Josh’s workstation to run the latest version of the Tails Linux operating system from within three layers of virtual machines—VMs. VMs were software-based computers that mimicked physical machines.

  In other words, a VM was a fake computer that operated within a real computer. Becca daisy-chained all the network traffic through the VM’s. This was one step Becca took to afford herself a higher degree of confidence that the NSA or FBI wasn’t hacking Josh’s box, and deploying malware or keylogger software. If Becca discovered a compromise, she could delete the VM and start over with a pristine operating system.

  Becca worked with Adler Capital’s CTO, Kishore Reddy, to establish a brand new fiber optic network connection in the server room. It was entirely separate from the hedge fund’s existing Internet infrastructure.

  They leased the link from a boutique network service provider that catered to the financial services industry. The firm claimed that their Internet connections were opaque to monitoring by the government or hackers.

  Despite their assurances, Becca said that she didn’t trust any American company when faced with a National Security Letter, or NSL. NSLs were subpoenas issued by the NSA to compel telecom and software companies to provide access to their subscriber records. Or, the NSA could just get a warrant from a FISA court. And everything could be hacked.

  For this reason, Becca made sure that all communications over the line were encrypted. Becca was positive that the NSA would be spying on Adler Capital’s network. So, Becca and Josh used the Adler corporate network for routine tasks, unrelated to the Ark search. They wanted to establish a pattern of life that made it appear that they were both moving on, and not pursuing the ancient relic’s discovery.

  To anonymously and privately navigate the Internet, Josh used the Tor Browser, bundled within Tails. He also used a Virtual Private Network connection from a German VPN firm. The Tor Browser automatically contacted the Internet via Tor. Tor stood for, ‘the Onion Router.’ Tor sent encrypted Internet packets through many different servers or relays.

  This made Tor an excellent mechanism to ensure anonymity and circumvent NSA eavesdropping. Political dissidents, journalists, hackers, and criminals used Tor. In addition, Becca made sure all the Tor traffic was initiated through the VPN connection, and that Josh only used the DuckDuckGo search engine. DuckDuckGo did not record searchers’ data or filter search results.

  With all of these precautions—the VMs, secure operating systems, VPN, Tor, DuckDuckGo—Josh still felt like the FBI could rush through the door at any second. Everyone shared this fear.

  “Josh, you did it! I’m so proud of you. My man is making history.” She squeezed him even more tightly. Since leaving Maryland nearly a month ago, Becca and Josh moved in with Jared Adler. They slept in separate rooms. Like his office, Jared’s estate was also located in Greenwich. Week-by-week, Josh and Jared worked to patch their relationship.

  They were all extremely careful to limit discussions and work related to the Ark solely to the server room. They considered it their private SCIF. Outside the server room; Josh, Becca, and Jared communicated about the Ark only with handwritten notes.

  For the first few weeks, FBI agents followed Becca and Josh wherever they went. But the couple went out of their way to be boring. Becca’s experience told her that unless they did something stupid, the FBI would reassign the agents soon—especially with the ramped up Caliphate threats.

  Sure enough, the FBI tail disappeared. As de facto deputy of operational security, Becca was adamant. She constantly told Josh and Jared that anything on the Internet was hackable. The only safe computer was a computer that was turned off. This wasn’t true for phones. Becca said the NSA had ways to monitor cell phones that were powered down.

  The server room of Adler Capital was windowless. It was located two stories underground for security reasons and to reduce cooling costs. The server room remained off limits to everyone except Becca, Josh, Jared, and Kishore.

  While Josh worked on refining his deep learning algorithm to narrow-in on the Ark, Becca continued to monitor operational security. She also began writing a Python program to assist in creating a disinformation campaign. It was imperative that the campaign be consistent with their current pattern of life operations.

  Becca would implement this campaign, once it was decided to leave the country in search of the Ark. Her previous work with Josh’s API allowed her to incorporate AI features into the disinformation software.

  Becca also worked with Kishore. She assisted him in architecting a trading platform that leveraged Josh’s AI. Jared Adler was ecstatic about the preliminary results. The platform was making remarkable predictions. They were getting more precise by the day.

  Jared breathlessly ran into the server room. “Josh, your trading algorithm is cleaning up. We just made $5M on the open. I’m going to allocate more capital to the platform. I’m shocked. I’ve been doing algorithmic trading since 1993. I’ve never seen anything like this!”

  Born in Israel in the early 1970s, Jared Adler immigrated to the US when his father died in 1989. Eschewing his acceptance into MIT to support his mother; Jared clawed his way up Wall Street. As a stockbroker, he began to see the benefit of working with computers for stock, bond, and currency analysis. He also foresaw the potential of automated trading. This was well before ‘quants’ became mainstream on Wall Street. After working at a number of brokerage firms, Adler started his own hedge fund with $575,000.

  Adler Capital’s proprietary computer models produced returns that consistently out-performed his peers, even in the wild bull market of the 1990s. More importantly, Jared Adler’s computerized analysis got him out of equities in time to miss the dot.com crash in the early 2000s.

  In 2007, Adler’s models led him to massively short residential mortgage stocks and high-risk-averse currencies, like the New Zealand Kiwi, Mexican Peso, and Turkish Lira. Adler profited from their collective decline to the tune of over $1 billion. Jared continued to prosper over the coming years.

  “That’s awesome, Dad,” replied Josh, not matching the excitement of his father.

  “What’s that?” asked Jared, looking over Josh’s other shoulder.

  “Dad, it’s the Ark of the Covenant. It’s in Jerusalem, about 1800 feet south of the Temple Mount.”

  “Oh my—,” said Jared.

  He was going to say ‘God,’ but even a secular Jew like Jared knew not to verbalize that name at a time like this. “Well, I wouldn’t believe it without seeing your AI’s trading results for myself. That’s amazing Josh. I’m proud of you.”

  Josh looked at his beaming dad. Josh couldn’t remember the last time he saw a smiling, proud father. Then the thought crossed his mind; It must be because of the money I just made him. “The AI places the Ark right here.” Josh pointed at the geo-marker. “It looks like this is an Arab neighborhood they call, ‘Wadi Hilweh.’ I don’t think they’re going to be open to selling property to Jews.”

  Jared Adler thought for a moment. “Let me make some calls. I know a lot of people. With enough money, there’s a way to make this work.”

  “Be careful Mr. Adler,” said Becca. “I know I sound like a broken record, but the NSA can tap any phone call they want, unless you use an encrypted line. And Unit 8200 is not far behind them in capabilities.” Unit 8200 was responsible for SIGINT in Israel. They were Israel’s NSA equivalent.

  “Yes, thanks for the reminder. Since all the revelations about the NSA came out a few years back, I invested in a system of secure telephones and email. I’ll make sure to communicate using encryption.

  “Fortunately, all my associates in Israel are pretty well versed in technology. They don’t want Israel, Russia, or the Americans to monitor them either. I’ve also got an extensive network of clients that I can tap for this mission. Do you have any indication as to why the AI selected this location? The research I’ve done said the highest probability site was directly underne
ath the Temple Mount.”

  Josh replied, “It’s difficult to determine why the AI predicts certain outcomes. It’s a black box. The system ingests information, and the neural network makes sense of it. But it looks like it’s heavily weighting the works of Josephus, especially his description of Jerusalem in, Wars of the Jews. That manuscript was written in 75 AD.

  “Who was Josephus?” Jared asked.

  “Josephus was a famous Jewish historian who was eyewitness to the Roman destruction of the second Temple in 70 AD. There’s a quote from Wars stating that the Acra, also known as the City of David, contained the lower city. It says it was located on a ridge shaped like a horned moon. I’m not exactly sure why that’s so important to my AI, but look at this satellite image. You can clearly see that the geography around the geo-marker is crescent-shaped.”

  “Maybe Josephus hid the Ark?” asked Becca.

  “No,” replied Josh. “You have to remember that there were two Temples. King David’s son, Solomon, constructed the first Temple. The Babylonians destroyed it in 587 BC. That’s when the Ark disappeared from history.

  “The second Temple was started when the Jews returned from their Babylonian exile, after 70 years. Then, around 500 years later, Herod the Great extended the entire Temple complex. That was the Temple that existed during Jesus’ lifetime.”

  Becca scrunched her nose in confusion.

  “What I mean is, the Ark disappeared almost 600 years before the birth of Jesus. Josephus wrote about 50 years after Jesus’ death. He wasn’t describing the Babylonian destruction of the first Temple; he was describing the Roman destruction of the second Temple.”

  “Ok, I get it.”

  With the location finally pinpointed; Josh, Becca, and Jared could now implement further steps of their plan. The most contentious issue thus far involved the travel of Josh and Becca. Josh was immovable. He wanted to be physically present to find the Ark. Becca was equally unequivocal. She would follow Josh wherever that took her. They were in this together; this was their adventure.

  Jared adamantly opposed the idea. His argument was that Josh and Becca were already something short of fugitives. General Shields said that they were both on the no-fly list. This meant that air travel with their passports was out of the question. Jared wanted to hire an experienced archeological team to lead the excavation. Becca and Josh could watch remotely, from the safety of the United States.

  Josh vehemently argued that he needed to follow this through. The disagreements were tense. Jared didn’t want to see his son in prison for espionage. And digging underground was extremely dangerous. The excavation could collapse at any moment or ground water could flood the dig.

  With the location pinpointed to Israel, Jared’s concern boiled over. “Josh, if you get out of the US, how are you going to get into Israel? Even if you get into Israel, there are the surveillance drones, soldiers, and police everywhere. Then, if you get to Jerusalem, you’ve got to work within an area less than a mile from the Temple Mount.

  “That’s the most contentious 35 acres of real estate on the planet. There are eyes on every square foot of that place. We all know that the US and Israel regularly share information, especially regarding terrorists. If General Shields has passed any of your information to the Israelis, Shin Bet will arrest you on sight. Then, they’ll deport you to the US for prosecution.” Shin Bet was Israel’s FBI.

  “Dad, I understand your concern. This is just something I have to do. Someone hid the Ark over 2500 years ago. They hid the Ark so it could be found. Maybe it’s the latent Jew in me, but I feel like I’ve been selected to find it. I was made to find the Ark. Its discovery would be a remarkable contribution by AI to humanity.”

  This was the exact passion and tone of their arguments when he was thinking about quitting MIT. However, this time, Josh needed his dad’s help.

  Jared’s eyes pierced Josh’s soul. Josh didn’t know what was going to come out of his father’s mouth next.

  “Alright, Josh. I’m not going to make the same mistake twice. I’ll support you with every resource at my disposal.” With his best Yiddish accent, Jared said, “Who knew Indiana Jones was a Hebrew?” The father and son laughed together. Jared hugged Josh awkwardly.

  “Now you’re another story, Becca,” said Josh. “My dad is right. This trip is too dangerous for the both of us. We can’t both rot in jail.”

  Becca smiled and shook her head. “There’s no way I’m staying behind. If you’re going to be Clyde; then I’m your Bonnie.”

  After a long lunch, the three reconvened. Kishore also joined them. Josh configured the augmented reality system. With the AR interface to the AI system functioning, everyone put on their A-HoloGlasses. Nucleus had two AR platforms: A-HoloGlasses and A-Glasses. A-HoloGlasses were more immersive than the A-Glasses.

  When looking through the A-HoloGlasses, holograms were visible and could be manipulated. Josh created TextWorld to function in both VR and AR environments. The AR experience was more collaborative than VR, because wearers could still freely interact with their colleagues and the physical world. The VR experience was like going into a dark cave to shut out the world. Then, an interactive movie played.

  “TextWorld, create 3D A-Map showing the location of the Ark of the Covenant.” The A-Holo environment projected a 3D map complete with the Temple Mount, the Ophel, and the City of David outlined. The geo-marker hovered just to the west of the Gihon Spring.

  “TextWorld, show satellite imagery of this location.” The terraced dwellings, overlaid by the geo-marker, were now visible.

  “TextWorld, show historical pictures of the City of David.” Josh swiped through a number of images, mostly hand-drawn renditions of how the city looked during the life of King David. Then, he stopped on a photograph of particular interest.

  An aerial picture from 1936 displayed the hilly region, with the geo-marker superimposed. The image more clearly highlighted the crescent moon shape of area’s topography. The map labeled the overall area as the ‘City of David’ and the ‘Acra.’ It was totally free of any structures. All that existed on the City of David site, south of the Temple Mount, was terraced agricultural fields.

  A quote from the book of Micah displayed under the photo, ‘Zion shall be plowed like a field. Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountains of the temple like the bare hills of the forest…’

  Josh saw a look of amazement sweep across Jared’s face. “Wow,” said Jared. “It sure would have been easier to dig for the Ark in 1936. Can you make a time machine?”

  Josh chuckled. “TextWorld, go back.” The present-day satellite image reappeared, along with the geo-marker. “This is the area where we have to excavate. Again, I don’t know the precision of the geo-marker. But, I think it’s as close as I can get. Let’s talk through our plan, now that we’ve zeroed in on the location.”

  Jared spoke first. “We have to acquire a property, buy archeological gear, stealthily get the equipment to the site, pretend we’re remodeling the property to hide our excavation, and surreptitiously remove dirt. We can’t have the authorities or neighbors asking questions. I’m sure I’ll need to grease the skids in Jerusalem to expedite the permitting process. The key is to conceal our excavation, by acting like we’re remodeling the property.

  “I’ll use my Israeli real estate connections to see what I can do about purchasing a property as close to the geo-marker as possible. I’ll use a bunch of shell companies and off-shore accounts to hide the transaction from the FBI and NSA. I must appear to be an Arab buyer. I also have some associates in the Israeli building industry. I’ll find someone that will cooperate with our pretense of remodeling. I’m not going to mention the Ark to anyone. But they’ll need to know that secrecy is paramount.

  “I thought about a couple of things during lunch. One is getting you guys out of the country. The other concerns the dig. I have a client in Mexico City that I think will be very useful. He owes me some favors. He’s a Jew by the way. I’m not su
re if you’re aware, but Mexico City has a thriving Jewish community.

  “My client’s name is Juan Elias. Or at least, that’s what he tells me. But everyone calls him, ‘El Jefe.’ El Jefe owns a construction company. He digs very elaborate underground tunnels complete with ventilation, power, and transport systems—via minecarts. He has a number of architects and mining engineers on staff. If adequately rewarded, I think he’d allow us to borrow some of his team. His tunnels run right under the US border; from Matamoros, Mexico to Brownsville, Texas. If they’ve remained hidden, they might be a viable way for you to sneak out of the country.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Josh, dumbfounded. “Why is someone in the Mexican construction industry digging elaborate tunnels under the border?”

  Becca sighed. “Geez Josh, for someone so smart, sometimes you make me wonder. Mr. Adler, I don’t know what your client in Mexico City does but, TextWorld, display images of Joaquin Guzman drug tunnels.” The A-HoloGlasses showed numerous pictures of tunnels that the Mexican drug lord used to smuggle drugs into the US. Becca swiped through the photos.