Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller

by BMichaelsAuthor

  “Alright, alright. Enough about Jesus. Let’s see the Ark,” said Josh.

  “Josh, God picked you for this job. You do the honors. Remove the veil,” said Professor McMillan.

  Josh opened the curtain that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies.

  There it was.

  The Ark of the Covenant.

  Becca’s eyes immediately focussed on the two golden cherubim. According to the Hebrew Bible, the spot underneath their mingled wings was where the God of Israel would talk to Moses—the Mercy Seat. The Shekinah glory of God, as the Rabbis called it; the God the Israelites believed created the heavens and the earth, dwelt on the Mercy Seat of the Ark to be near His people.

  Becca, Josh, and the Professor stood in awe. Not a word was uttered. Every moment of their lives led to the very second.

  At the height of this mystical encounter, grenade-like explosions ripped through the cave. Concussive waves reverberated through the Tabernacle. Becca heard screams and pops outside the Tent. Then, the screams stopped. Josh, Becca, and the Professor turned around. They saw Muhammad Rahmati. He stood at the entrance to the Holy Place. An Immortal was at his side, pointing his silenced AK in their direction.

  “Hello—Josh, Becca, Professor MacMillan. Thank you for finding the Prophet Musa’s artifacts. They now belong to me. This is Babylon’s rightful property. The conniving Jews—Jews with the same treacherous spirit that allied with the Quraysh—unlawfully hid them from their conqueror, Nebuchadnezzar.”

  “How do you know who we are? How’d you find us?” asked Becca.

  “All good questions, my dear. I regret to inform you that answers no longer have any meaning for you. I can’t have any witnesses to this event. I’m sorry. Release the Remora,” commanded Rahmati, through his radio. He said the order in Farsi, but Remora in English.

  Within a few seconds, Becca heard a buzzing noise. Professor MacMillan gasped and gurgled. Then, he grabbed his heart and fell face first onto the Tabernacle floor.

  “You bastard,” shrieked Becca. “Why are you doing this?” The Immortal pointed the AK directly at Becca’s head.

  Rahmati’s radio crackled, as a voice said in Persian, “That’s it. All the Swarmbots have either exploded, or their comm-links are down.” Becca recognized the word, Swarmbot.

  “Roger,” replied Rahmati. “We’ll just have to execute them the old fashioned way. Josh, Becca; follow me. After I deal with you, I’ll examine our Prophet Musa’s Ark, in all its glory.”

  The couple looked into each other’s eyes. Josh mouthed the words, “I love you.” They joined their hands and slowly walked forward.

  Just then, as if someone whispered into Becca’s ear, the last line of the copper scroll came to Becca’s mind. With your last breath, grasp the light. As Becca passed the seven-branched lampstand, she reached out. With trembling hands, she clutched the branch nearest to her. “Save us,” she whispered.

  Immediately, a trapdoor—directly underneath the couple—swung open. Still holding hands, Becca and Josh fell through the floor in the middle of the Holy Place. They screamed in surprise. The Immortal ran to the pitch black opening and fired his AK.

  Becca and Josh dropped 15 feet before they crashed onto an angled, polished stone surface. It felt like quartz. Becca landed on top of Josh, driving his shoulder hard into the rock. They began sliding down, faster and faster, at close to a 45-degree angle. After a terrifying minute, they were dumped into an underground pool of icy water. They both popped up quickly, gasping for air. Fortunately, the lights on their helmets were still operational.

  Rahmati cursed in frustration. “I hope that was a bottomless pit, and those two are dead.”

  After briefly surveying the Ark, he exited the Tabernacle. Rahmati gathered his force in the golden cave, including Hadi Hadari. “We need to dispose of all these bodies. Wipe down this mess of blood and guts. Make sure to no DNA remains. Double-check that the bindings are still firm on the Arabs above. Don’t hurt them; they are fellow Muslims. The Swarmbot’s explosive capability was stronger than their technical documentation described. We need to get the Ark and the artifacts packed. Then, we can transfer them through the Gaza tunnels. All of Musa’s relics belong in their proper place—Babylon.”

  Becca and Josh exited the water. “That slide, or whatever you call it, must have dumped us into the Gihon Spring system,” said Josh. “Do you hear the water dripping? Let’s follow that sound and see if we can get out of here.”

  Within a few minutes, the shell-shocked couple could see some faint light. After walking further, they came to a portion of the Gihon Spring that tourists visit. There was little ambient light from the quarter moon. Thick clouds afforded even more cover for the couple. Becca and Josh secretly made their way to the Jerusalem safe house, looking over their shoulder for Rahmati or Israeli security forces. With traumatized psyches and unraveled hearts they struggled to make sense of the events.

  Chapter 36 – Immunity

  01:15 a.m. (EST), Thursday, February 18, 2021 – Columbia, MD

  SWARM Op Center, Sixth-Floor SCIF, Defense Innovations Accelerator

  General Shields dialed Josh’s father.

  Adler groggily answered his mobile. “Jared, this is General Bernard Shields. Your son and his girlfriend are in grave danger. We know you’re aware of where they are, and what they’re doing.”

  Before Rahmati seized control of the Swarmbots and ended the surveillance feeds to the op center; two Swarmbots recorded grainy images of—what looked to be—Muhammad Rahmati. The ramifications of the pictures rocked Shields to his core, but he couldn’t make a 100% positive match.

  He needed confirmation from Josh and Becca. If they were still alive. Shields did know that a number of Swarmbots exploded and that a Jumbo had released its Remora. NSA assets would later gather the remaining Swarmbots and ship them back to the Fort.

  Jared processed the information with a sleepy mind. This is a trick, he thought. “General, I don’t have anything to say. I’ll let Josh know you called. If he wants to talk to you, he will.”

  “Look, Jared. I’m not going to reveal all the evidence we’ve compiled. We both know that Josh and Becca have fled the country. They accomplished this feat in spite of their presence on the no-fly list.”

  Jared’s pulse slightly quickened.

  Shields continued, “I can tell you that we found Josh and Becca’s A-Car at the Grand Canyon. We know that Becca hacked into a motel computer system. We tracked them to Jerusalem, where they’ve been digging to find an ancient historical object. I warned them this object impaired their safety and was dangerous for our nation.

  “We ran a title on the property, near the Temple Mount, that’s concealing the excavation. With the help of four forensic accountants, we’ve tracked the recent purchase of that real estate to entities’ affiliated with you.”

  Jared’s stomach did flip flops.

  “I’m not sure how Josh and Becca got out of the country, but I believe you know how. When I add all this up, there’s been a lot of state, federal, and international laws broken.”

  Jared was now fully alert. “General Shields, perhaps we can all go to jail together. And how’s visitation day going to be for you? How will your wife avoid running into your mistress? At the very least, if you don’t go to jail; you’ll be forced to resign.”

  The General’s tone softened. “I’m sure we both have things we’d like to keep hidden. This isn’t a pissing match. The bottom line is that your son and his girlfriend’s life are in serious jeopardy. Despite what you may have been told, my actions were designed to protect Josh, Becca, and interests of the United States. If they’re alive, we’ve got to get them out of Israel and back to the States. NSA needs to debrief them. They possess vital intelligence, with global implications. We must carefully determine our next steps. And, I’ve got to ascertain if there’s a mole in my organization or the Intelligence Community.

  “I’ll help you get Josh and Becca out of Israel.
I’ll remove them from the no-fly list. And, I’ll get the Justice Department to write up an immunity deal. Our nation has a serious problem. I need Josh and Becca’s knowledge and talents.”

  Jared’s burner cell phone started ringing. It was either Josh or Becca. Now, Adler’s heart thumped. His knees weakened. He fully realized that Shields was neither bluffing, nor trying to deceive him.

  Jared rushed through remaining deal points. “I’ve got a lot of connections in Israel. I’ll work on getting them out. I’ll need your help getting them through customs. Once they get home, we’ll fly to Dulles on my jet. I’m going to bring my lawyers. Not only do they need an immunity deal, but we’ll need additional ones for me, my CTO, Becca’s father, and the archeologist.”

  *

  The next day, Shields caught a CNN report on Muhammad Rahmati. The news anchor said that Rahmati had secretly entered Gaza. He proceeded to deliver a speech that would reverberate across the Middle East for a long time. Rahmati chastened Israeli and Palestinian leadership. Surprisingly, he was harder on the Palestinian rulers, than the Israelis.

  Rahmati admonished the Palestinian government to work harder to improve the lives of their people. Leaders must forget about lining their own pockets with the aid money that pours in from around the world. If not, then Palestinians should initiate their own Crescent Revolution, just like Iraq and Persia. He called for a unilateral end to Palestinian rocket attacks and assaults on Israelis with guns and knives. Rahmati ended the speech by challenging Israel and Palestine to renew talks on a two-state solution.

  The talking heads were effusive in their praise of the Iraqi PM. “Is there anything this guy can’t do? Peace between Israel and Palestine? He’s got to be the leading candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. There hasn’t been an honest broker like this since Oslo or Camp David. He was way too easy on Israel, what about the settlements?”

  *

  72 hours later, Josh and Becca landed at White Plains Airport. Josh’s right arm hung in a sling. The Westchester County, New York airport was 20 minutes from Jared’s home. Jared arrived in his limousine.

  The three collectively embraced for an extended time. Becca sobbed. Josh and Jared teared up. After working through small talk, and more of the Rahmati story, Jared got down to business. He detailed the specifics of General Shields’ immunity proposition. Becca replied first. “That guy can take his immunity deal and shove it up—”

  “Becca! You, Josh, your dad, and I are in a lot of trouble. This is our get-out-of-jail-free card, and we all need to take it.”

  “Mr. Adler, I told him this would happen. Swarmbots, with pieces of code I wrote, murdered Professor McMillan and all the excavation team. I don’t know how Rahmati hacked them, but he did. Who knows, maybe Shields and Rahmati are working together?”

  Josh interjected, “Becca, you don’t really believe that. We’ve been talking about this since we got to the safe house. Rahmati’s team somehow figured out how to take control of the Swarmbots. There’s no way Shields was involved. I don’t want to see anyone go to jail….and we do need to get debriefed by the NSA. We have to help Shields figure out how Rahmati hijacked the Swarmbots. Do you think I’m thrilled to see the guy that fired me? But it’s best for everyone, including your dad.”

  Becca stewed for a while. She looked out the limousine window. “The snow is so pretty. It’s pure. It’s white. And look at me. I just got my dad’s best friend killed.”

  “The Professor knew full well that the job was dangerous,” said Josh. “I told him that in Memphis. Think what he saw in the final minutes of his life—the greatest archeological discovery in the history of the world. Besides, that’s New York snow. It’ll be dirty in 15 minutes.”

  Becca didn’t laugh. “That’s another thing. We don’t even have the Ark. We have nothing to show for his death…or the death of El Minero…or the four Juan’s.”

  Jared stared at Becca, puzzled. “That sounds like a restaurant.”

  Becca and Josh looked at each other. Then they giggled. The cathartic laughter allowed the release of some steam.

  “I know the situation is bad,” said Jared. “You guys experienced some grisly stuff. El Jefe is beside himself about losing his best mining engineer. To make it up to him, I told him I’d rescind the management fee for three years. At least, Rahmati didn’t kill any of the construction crew. He must have somehow drugged them. They don’t remember a thing.”

  *

  The setting was surreal for Josh.

  He sat back at the same shiny mahogany conference table where he signed the deal to become a part of the Accelerator. At that time, he went directly against the wishes of his father. He started CyberAI and became business partners with General Shields. And nine months later, he was fired in this very room.

  Today was different. While he occupied the same seat, Josh was accompanied by his father and his girlfriend. Today, they assembled on his side of the table. Becca hadn’t uttered a word. In the seven months they’d been dating, Josh came to realize that a quiet Becca meant she was either mad or nervous—or both.

  Josh was glad to have his dad present. Jared Adler knew how to hammer out a good deal. He didn’t need to bring his lawyers because they’d already hashed out an immunity agreement for everyone. They were free from the threat of prosecution in return for ‘cooperation’ and non-disclosure of the events after leaving the Accelerator in October. Cooperation was loosely defined.

  Lin Liu and General Shields arrived in the conference room. Josh watched his father’s reaction to Lin. He wasn’t sure if Jared even noticed Shields’ presence. However, Becca noticed the General. The edginess in their handshake was palpable.

  Shields said, “I want to thank everyone for meeting with us. I’m glad we were able to work out an immunity agreement for you all. I know that you’ve experienced some rather traumatic circumstances.”

  “Rather traumatic,” blurted out Becca. “A very special man to my family was murdered by a collection of robots you built. And, an entire team of men was blown up by highly advanced explosives you installed in Swarmbots. This all occurred after you assured me that Swarmbots were merely surveillance platforms. Husbands are not going to see their wives. Children will never again play with their fathers.”

  “Becca, I understand your anger. I don’t want to dwell on the past, but I told both of you not to get involved with the Ark. At the time, I’m sure you thought me to be an ogre from Castle Gecko. You probably called me Krusk. I was genuinely trying to protect you both from the peril associated with that artifact. I suggest you channel your anger towards the one responsible, Muhammad Rahmati. The NSA did not kill your friends. Rahmati did.

  “Somehow, the Prime Minister of Iraq—a worldwide, political rockstar—accomplished feats that should’ve been impossible. According to the written report of your debrief; he knew who you were. Obviously, he knew where you were. And, he was aware of what you were doing. We guess that he secreted the Ark out of Israel, through the Gaza terrorist tunnels.”

  Jared added, “Becca, we’ve set up a fund for the Professor and the Mexicans. It won’t bring them back, but it’s something for their families. Members of the remodeling crew remain on-site, guarding the property until they are given further instructions.

  Becca scrutinized the recesses of General Shields’ soul. For a split-second, she felt compassion. The hacker bowed her head and murmured, “Krusk was a half-orc, not an ogre. There’s a big difference.” Then, Becca turned her head towards her boyfriend.

  Now it was Josh’s turn. “You also fired me and took my company.”

  General Shields cleared his throat and patiently parried the anger. “I understand why you feel that way. At the same time, consider things from my perspective. Since your AI first came across the Ark, you’ve probably spent every waking hour pursuing it.

  “CyberAI needs a full-time CEO. As you know, there was a new round of funding with a higher valuation. You choose not to take part in that process, but you’
re still the highest percentage owner in the company. So, I didn’t take your business at all. And, I can’t overemphasize this point: I told both of you that looking for the Ark was incredibly dangerous. You choose to do it despite my warnings.”

  Lin added, “What you guys didn’t see is how much the General agonized over that decision. General Shields answers to Congress regarding the Accelerator.”

  “What if Congress asks him about hacking my car? Or anything related to the Swarmbots?”

  “First, he’d remind you that part of your immunity deal is non-disclosure of those events. Then he’d probably say, from time to time, the NSA engages in activities to protect the security of the United States,” replied Lin, with a sly countenance.

  Josh straightened his back in his chair and exhaled deeply. “General Shields, you have our statements. Now, how can we help you going forward?”