Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller

By B. Michaels

Chasm Waxing is the first novel in the Chasm Trilogy. It’s a realistic, apocalyptic, cyber-techno-thriller; ripped from today’s headlines—projected into the year 2020.

Startup kids, Becca Roberts and Josh Adler, work for companies selected by the NSA's new venture capital and startup accelerator firm. However, the NSA Director—General Shields, uses the accelerator to pursue a personal vendetta against ISIS with micro-surveillance robots. Meanwhile, Josh's AI unexpectedly discovers the location of an ancient religious relic with geopolitical implications.

Muhammad Rahmati, an Iranian Quds Force Commander, employs his own novel ideas to defeat ISIS. He'll use the victory as a springboard to build a new, technically-savvy empire. A crescent moon waxes in the Middle East. Becca, Josh, General Shields, and Rahmati engage in their first confrontation, impacting the global balance of power.

Chasm Waxing explores the burgeoning technologies of next-generation robots, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, Bitcoin/ Blockchain 2.0, hacking, driverless vehicles, augmented reality, gamification, encryption, and quantum computing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: B. Michaels
• Release date: Aug 21, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370444618

B. Michaels

B. Michaels is an entrepreneur, executive, technologist...and now...a new author. He's spent a number of years working in the US Government and Fortune 1000.He's passionate about technology, business, and geopolitics. Right now, artificial intelligence, deep learning, and cybersecurity fill his days. In his free time, he studies the Bible, Koran, and prophecy. And plays with his dog!

Book preview

Chapter 1 – Castle Gecko

4:50 p.m. (EDT), Friday, July 24, 2020 - Columbia, MD

666 fiery missiles rained down upon Castle Gecko.  The thud of the assault was deafening, as medieval bombs slammed into the walls of the massive castle.  The projectiles were stone boulders coated with pitch, tar, and sulfur.  Trebuchets—catapults on steroids—launched the blitz. The trebuchets completely encircled Cattle Gecko’s vast moat. 

The stone castle was more like a gothic mall.  Its gatehouses, buildings, towers, turrets, and spires spanned three million square feet—a little under 70 acres. Two fortified towers, known as keeps, stood as the highest points on the north and south ends of the castle.  No earthly fortress was ever this enormous.  

Fire giants, standing 18 feet tall, prepared the boulders and placed them in the trebuchet’s sling.  Zombies, with flesh draping from their limbs, then ignited the bombs and discharged the trigger.  Upon release, a 10-ton counterweight fell and hurled the flaming payload at Castle Gecko.  All of this occurred in a robotic manner, over and over.  The scene was apocalyptic. 

For the last five hours, Team Bravo had explored the deep underground passageways and hidden chambers of Castle Gecko.  They gathered treasure and weapons along the way.  As long as the interior of the castle—the servants, attendants, and townspeople—could do their jobs, Team Bravo could hunt for riches.

Today marked the culmination of a five-day campaign for Team Bravo.  Until now, the Gamers had never experienced a coordinated, colossal attack of this nature.  Sure, they slew the occasional dragon, but the feudal heroes never encountered danger of this size or scope.

rAzorWire_007 was an eighth level, human Paladin. He possessed Team Bravo’s highest Social Ranking—93. Paladins were a very religious class of Fighters, with a strict moral code.  We’ve got to defend the castle by counter-attacking from the north and south keeps. SoCal, we need your Teleportation Spell!

SoCalSheMerlin was a diminutive, nineteenth-level, elf Sorcerer.  She had a Social Ranking of 79—and a sharp tongue.  RazorWire, not even Spock could teleport to more than one place at a time.

Alright, teleport all of us to the north keep.  Then teleport yourself and the Cleric to the south keep.  The dwarf Cleric’s Gamer tag was, ‘OrderMeMyself&I.’

Nice problem-solving skills RazorWire, said SoCalSheMerlin, You’re going to go so far in life.  Over the deafening crash of the stone rockets, she immediately began the incantation for the Teleportation Spell.

Hurry!

Whoosh.     

Team Bravo stood atop the north keep of Castle Gecko.  A new volley of missiles struck.  The drubbing of the castle caused the vibration motors in SoCalSheMerlin’s virtual reality—VR—headset to violently shake.  Workers in the courtyard screamed as they scurried to and fro.  For the first time in the campaign, the workers were unable to work.

Instinctively, Krusk.0571 grabbed a silver-tipped arrow from the quill on his back. Krusk was a sixth level, half-orc Fighter. It’s times like these; I wish I were a full-size orc.

SoCalSheMerlin laughed. Yeah, but without that human mother of yours, you’d be even dumber.

Funny, said Krusk.0571, not really meaning it. He inserted the arrow on the bowstring of his diamond long bow.  Utilizing two wireless touch controllers that communicated with his VR headset; he aimed the bow.  The silver tipped arrow flew and struck a zombie.  The zombie shrieked and melted away.  But another one ran to take his place.

OrderMeMyself&I surveyed the land.  Clerics derived their power from the religious order they served.  Like Sorcerers, they cast spells.  But unlike Sorcerers, their spells were more defensive in nature than offensive. 

OrderMeMyself&I gasped at the sight.  The marauders’ aim was improving.  Now, they specifically targeted Gecko’s windows.  It’s no use.  We can’t split up.  We need some attack magic!  SoCal what do you have?

 Do I look like the savior of the world? said SoCalSheMerlin, with a sigh.   She raised her wand to cast the attack spell and began the invocation.  Just then, projectile shrapnel hit rAzorWire_007 doing six points of damage.

SoCal, cast the damn spell! yelled rAzorWire_007. If we lose Castle Gecko, all the Bitcoins we’ve earned disappear.  I’ve got a family to feed.

Shut-up RazorWire! said SoCalSheMerlin.  All you’ve got to feed is a neurotic poodle and that AI girlfriend of yours.  AI was short for artificial intelligence.  

With that, she finished the incantation, thrust her wand, and discharged a Meteor Swarm Spell.  Fireballs fell from the sky crushing every trebuchet.  The impact of the meteors swallowed up the stone giants and zombies, covering them in earthen tombs.  Smacking her gum, SoCalSheMerlin said, That’s how it’s done, boys.  It’s a good thing I’m a nineteenth-level Sorcerer! 

Team Bravo breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Then, streaking out of the woods, they appeared: 666 well-armored mercenaries galloped toward the moat on pale horses.  As they came closer, they aimed their longbows into the sky.  The attackers targeted Castle Gecko’s courtyard.

The swarm of arrows flew over Team Bravo. The bolts hit nobody.  Each arrow transformed into a gold coin, just before they struck the earth.

SoCalSheMerlin shouted to the Cleric, Those coins are dangerous. You’d better neutralize them.  What do you have?

The arrows must be anointed with black magic. That’s the only way they could have transmuted like that. I think an Anti-magic Field will stop the coins from luring the castle workers.  OrderMeMyself&I released the spell.

Nothing happened.  Two workers grabbed coins.

Becca cursed under her breath.

Chapter 2 – Becca Roberts

5:30 p.m. (EDT), Friday, July 24, 2020 - Columbia, MD

Rebecca, ‘Becca’ Roberts occupied one side of a mahogany conference table. She watched the entire assault on Castle Gecko from her high-backed, leather chair. A 125-inch flat screen monitor depicted the video game war.

The high-tech conference room contained a number of smaller, flat panel monitors that surrounded the mammoth 125-incher.  Each screen displayed the Gamer’s point of view they experienced through their VR headset.  Becca watched SoCalSheMerlin’s screen most carefully, as most of the action flowed through the female Sorcerer.

Becca Roberts liked SoCalSheMerlin.  Although she had no idea of SoCalSheMerlin’s age, she thought they could be friends in the real world.  They were so similar, sarcasm and all.

The glare from the polished conference table made Becca readjust the black eyeglasses that hid her pretty face. The petite 25-year-old, dressed up for the demo.  She wore a black cardigan sweater and black slacks.

Becca couldn’t wait to get back into her standard dark blue overalls and flannel. Her closet was full of flannels.  The software programmer and hacker had mousy brown hair that she always wore in a ponytail.  Appearances were of little concern to Becca.  Her passions were hacking, programming—and lately, VR video game development.

Becca interacted with Team Bravo through a microphone in her wireless headset.  She managed the Castle Gecko demo from two, 17-inch Dell laptops.  Wireshark, a software tool for packet analysis, ran on one laptop.  Metasploit operated on the other.  Metasploit was a software program hackers used for penetration testing.  Becca employed Metasploit to launch the simulated network attacks on Castle Gecko.  She monitored the attacks with Wireshark.  

Both laptops ran the Kali Linux operating system, a Linux variant with hacking tools pre-installed.  At least seven terminal windows were open on her laptops.  Becca was a consummate multi-tasker. She preferred the certainty of typing commands in the terminal window. It was more precise than dragging a mouse all over the screen.

Ali, I thought you fixed the code that dealt with spear phishing?  

Spear phishing occurred when hackers sent emails with nefarious attachments to selectively targeted individuals.  Most hacking attacks started with spear phishing emails. Once the victim clicked the attachment, bad things happened.  For example, a virus might be unleashed onto the target’s computer.  Or the victim could be tricked into entering personal information into a bogus website. An infamous spear phishing attack targeted celebrities. A hacker sent illegitimate emails to female stars. The phishing emails looked like they were sent by Apple, duping the luminaries into revealing their iCloud passwords. This allowed the hacker to gain access to the starlets’ personal information, including nude photos.

I thought I did too, replied Ali, anxiously.

Becca tried hard to hide her frustration, but a poker face wasn’t one of her strengths. Team Bravo, you guys are done. Within the VR gaming world of Castle Gecko, Becca’s presence was indicated by a flashing ‘G-Master’ icon.

G-Master, do we get our money? asked rAzorWire_007. 

Yes, I’ll release your Bitcoins by close of business today.  Out. 

Wait, said SoCalSheMerlin, will you raise our Social Rankings?

Yes, Becca replied, with exasperation. 

Team Bravo logged out of the game. Beep, Beep, Beep. The Gamers were gone.

Becca Roberts and Ali Asir were the first two employees of Gamification Systems, Inc.  Like Becca, Ali was young.  His family originated from Turkey, but the software engineer was born in the US. Gamification Systems could only hire US citizens.

The company’s 35-year-old CEO, Samantha Powers, was seated across the table from Becca.  Samantha wore a fitted, crisp white blouse, and black pencil skirt. The CEO had a sleek, blonde bob. She wore small diamond earrings and a diamond tennis bracelet.  No rings encumbered her fingers. At five foot seven, her black high-heels accentuated her shapely legs. 

Gamification Systems was conducting its monthly demo for General Shields, Director of the National Security Administration. Shields was one of the most powerful men in the world.  He sat at the head of the shiny table.

Within the Intelligence Community and among his employees, General Shields was known as ‘DIRNSA,’ pronounced ‘durnza.’ Shields had served as DIRNSA for three years. The President of the United States, Thomas Goodson, approved Shields as DIRNSA in 2017. POTUS’ re-election was coming in November.

Gamification Systems marketed software that applied elements of the video game experience—points, badges, and contests—to corporate environments. Gamification’s product transformed mundane business tasks into something more interesting and engaging.

The purpose of this demo was to gamify cybersecurity for Fortune 1000 companies.  The software world used the word, ‘enterprise,’ to refer to these organizations. Large corporations and government agencies bought enterprise software.

Samantha gazed intently into the General’s commanding eyes. We’ll get this fixed.

Becca studied the General’s expression.  Her peripheral vision always noticed the five stars on both of his shoulders.  Today, the stars were attached to his zip-up, blue jacket. The jacket was emblazoned with his name and numerous Air Force patches.

I know you will.  It’s important that you get this right, said General Shields, sternly. However, I will say that your team has made real progress in the last month. The tension on his face faded. 

Thank you, General. Samantha flashed a coy smile at her lead investor.

General Shields exited his chair and peered out the top floor window of Defense Innovations Accelerator.  Defense Innovations Accelerator was the first NSA funded, VC and startup accelerator firm. 

Venture capital firms provided money to young companies in return for stock in the startup.  Startup accelerators offered training, provided mentors, allowed access to cutting edge technology, and furnished office space to competitively selected startups.

A tall chain link fence, topped with rolls of barbed wire, protected Defense Innovations’ six-story building. The sprawling structure didn’t have many windows. NSA police officers armed with MP5 submachine guns, M4 assault rifles, and bomb-sniffing dogs protected the one entry way. It was like a real world version of the Castle Gecko virtual world.  Other NSA police were stationed strategically on the campus.  The Accelerator was just one mile from NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland.

The General continued, You guys are delivering the exact type of innovation that I expected when I testified before Congress to obtain approval for the Accelerator. Becca, give me a Hotwash Report.  Shields chuckled.  Check that, I forgot.  I’m across the highway, and this isn’t a military organization.  What I meant to say was please tell me what we just saw on the big screen.  Act like you’re explaining it to your grandma.

Excitement and anxiety pumped through Becca’s veins. Just two years out of college, she already possessed a TS/SCI clearance and was debriefing a 5-star general—a man who regularly met with the President.  TS/SCI stood for TOP SECRET/ Sensitive Compartmented Information.  It was among the hardest military clearance for contractors to obtain and involved two types of polygraphs.

As General Shields returned to his chair, Becca cleared her throat.  This demo ran on the test network of Gecko Insurance Company. 

Samantha interrupted. General Shields, thank you so much for making that introduction.

The General dipped his head. Yep, that’s one purpose of the Accelerator, to bring people together.

Despite her pushiness, Becca loved her boss. CEO’s had to be pushy. When Becca’s passion for Gamification waned, she would remember Samantha’s work ethic. Samantha aggressively recruited Becca to join Gamification from their previous company. Becca had never felt so needed.

She continued, "There are no real customers on the test network.  Gecko uses their test network to evaluate software, hardware, and networking gear.  Even though it’s just a test network, it’s the first time we’ve run Gamification’s software outside our firewall—on a network we don’t own or control.

We put a Gamification software agent on every network element on the test network. We call this software, ‘G-Agent.’ When I say network element, I mean every firewall, web server, database server, computer, router, switch, Wi-Fi access point—everything.  We even put a G-Agent on an A-Stat thermostat.  You know the thermostat you can program over the Internet? 

The General shook his head yes. 

The wildly successful, Nucleus Corporation, marketed the A-Stat. Nucleus owned the top search engine in the world, the Atom search engine.

We also linked the G-Agents to log files on the devices.  For example, the G-Agent on the Gecko firewall incorporated information from the firewall’s log.  This file records everything that occurs on the firewall, second-by-second.  Firewalls attempted to monitor and control the type of digital traffic on a computer network. The software operates like any other security software in that respect.  It’s always listening, trying to detect malicious activities and prevent bad stuff from happening.

Becca walked to the whiteboard.  She reached for a black whiteboard marker. I want to draw a simple architectural diagram of the Gamification Software.  

First, she drew a large, black rectangle standing on its short end. It looked like one bar of a bar chart. Within the black rectangle, Becca wrote, 'REALSPACE.’ Moving from left to right, Becca etched a fatter, green rectangle. It was longer at both ends than the REALSPACE rectangle.

Becca stamped this green rectangle as, ‘G-Bridge,’ short for the Gamification Bridge. Finally, to the right of G-Bridge, Becca sketched a blue rectangle. It was the exact same proportion as the black, REALSPACE rectangle. Inside of the blue rectangle, Becca wrote, ‘GAMESPACE.’

To Becca, the entire architectural diagram looked like a standing stick with two stubby arms. Samantha chided Becca to quit calling it a ‘stick,’ and always refer to it as an ‘angel,’ during company presentations.

Becca continued, We call this whole architecture, the Gamification Angel. Samantha’s eyes gleamed with approval.

Becca moved back to the original rectangle. The black wing of the angel is REALSPACE. In the demo, REALSPACE is the world of cybersecurity I just described.  She grabbed a purple marker and penned a bunch of small squares within REALSPACE.  The purple squares within REALSPACE are all the network elements; the firewalls, the routers, and the like.

Reaching for a red marker, she drew a small circle in each purple square.  These red circles in the purple boxes are the G-Agents.  The G-Agents sit on the network devices within REALSPACE and talk to G-Bridge. So the red circles—the G-Agents—talk to the green G-Bridge. G-Bridge is Gamification System’s secret sauce.  It’s the crown jewels of the company. That’s why we always draw it using money green.

The blue GAMESPACE wing of the angel is the virtual gaming world.  In this demo, it’s the virtual world of Castle Gecko. Within GAMESPACE, Becca traced an orange square she named, ‘Game Engine.’  

I programmed the Castle Gecko game.  I used the Unreal Engine.  A game engine is a software framework that enables the more rapid creation of video games.  With a game engine, you don't have to start from scratch every time you write a game.  The Unreal Engine works well with VR. It’s the game engine’s job to interact with G-Bridge and adequately render what’s occurring in REALSPACE. In other words, G-Bridge translates REALSPACE to GAMESPACE. That’s why G-Bridge is the key intellectual property of our company.

Do you support any other gaming engines? asked Shields.

Not yet. We focused on the Unreal Engine.  But your question highlights what’s cool about our architecture.  Our entire architecture is pluggable and extensible.  The key to our flexibility is that we created G-Bridge to expose a very robust API. 

API stood for Application Programming Interface.  API’s were used to help one piece of software communicate with another piece of software code.  APIs were critical in the software world. They allowed programmers to talk to a software component, like G-Bridge, without knowing how G-Bridge worked internally. People used APIs every day. Typing ‘http://www.cnn.com’ was an API call. The web browser sent the API call over the Internet to CNN’s webserver.

Through this API, G-Bridge can talk to any gaming engine that makes up GAMESPACE.  My colleague—Saul Abrams—did amazing work with the API.  And on the other end, in REALSPACE, G-Bridge talks to our G-Agents.  We have G-Agents for Linux, Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, and even embedded systems.  Ali leads the team that codes the REALSPACE software.

Ali Asir still wore a disappointed expression.  His software code had broken the demo.  While Becca wrote on the whiteboard, he was frantically searching through his source code to find the bug. 

The General paused in thought for a moment. What I hear you saying is that REALSPACE can be anything upon which I can deploy a G-Agent.  And REALSPACE could be more than just cybersecurity?

Yes! replied Becca. She was excited that Shields was clearly following her presentation.

For example, said the General, a G-Agent could be put on a drone and talk to G-Bridge.  And GAMESPACE can be any game, although right now, all you support is the Unreal Engine.  Do I have that right?

Becca grinned broadly, Rig— 

That’s exactly right, sir, said Samantha. We’re a gamification company.  We want to support all types of games in GAMESPACE, and varied scenarios in REALSPACE.

Outstanding, replied the General.  So Becca, tell me more about GAMESPACE.  Walk me through the demo I saw of Castle Gecko.

Ok, said Becca, as she left the whiteboard and returned to the conference table. Castle Gecko in GAMESPACE represents the Gecko test network in REALSPACE.  Becca’s pace of speech increased and her face brightened.  Becca loved the world of Castle Gecko.  

The beautiful castle, the trebuchets, the swords, the armor, the orc faces; Becca enjoyed creating everything.  The detail—the sheer number of pixels she had to render in VR—boggled her mind.  Her job was to use the game depicted in the VR headset to completely block out reality.  A VR game was successful when the Gamer felt like they were more present in the VR world, than they were in the physical world.

Becca started hacking when she was 10.  Hacking offered her a way to escape the pain of her mom’s death from ovarian cancer.  Over time, she moved from a hacker that ran someone else’s software for attacks, to writing her own programs.  

Becca liked the concreteness of writing software.  Unlike the real world, she could always find the answer.  While other girls were playing house and dressing up dolls, Becca was infiltrating computer networks.  But, after 15 years, hacking and programming were becoming rote.

Something happened to Becca when she created Castle Gecko.  The process of imagining a world and filling it with characters was cathartic. Or, maybe it was the romance of the castle and envisioning a prince charming?  Something that was dead in Becca was coming back to life.

Becca continued, "As Team Bravo moved about Castle Gecko, their top priority was to make sure everyone on the test network could do their work. When a network threat—like a virus—is identified, a couple of big things happen. The G-Agent talks to G-Bridge. And G-Bridge communicates to the game engine to spawn the appropriate monster or situation for the attack vector.

"That’s the epitome of gamification software; it makes a game out of standard tasks. Like when you check in at a restaurant to earn a badge on A-Friend or Foursquare. We’ve just taken gamification to a whole new level. Typically, all the cybersecurity tasks would be performed by a human security administrator. Those administrators have to watch the network around the clock. That costs a lot of money.

"Once the threat is neutralized on the network in REALSPACE, and the monster is killed in GAMESPACE, Team Bravo can go back to collecting treasure in GAMESPACE. The treasure they find during the campaign is part of the Bitcoins they earn.

They also get Bitcoins as a daily wage, for achieving objectives, and for completing the campaign. There are lots of rewards to motivate them to stay engaged. We switch teams every eight hours. To ensure they keep coming back, we pay the teams at the end of the week.

First, tell your grandma what Bitcoins are? said the General, with a wry smile.

Becca rolled her eyes and smirked. Bitcoins are digital money. You can email the money to anyone in the world.

How do I get Bitcoins?

There are two ways. You can convert currency into Bitcoins, or someone gives you their Bitcoins. You don’t need any personal information to send the Bitcoins. All you need is their Bitcoin address. And they don’t have any of your personal information. The transactions are completely anonymous; well, pseudo-anonymous. Something called, the ‘Blockchain,’ allows every transaction to be viewed by anyone in the world. There’s just no personally identifiable information associated with the transaction.

The General frowned. He stared at Samantha menacingly. So who is Team Bravo? How much are they making? Are they Gamification employees…and what about taxes? Geez, I can see the headline now, ‘NSA Director serves on board of company that thwarts US tax laws.’

Samantha gulped. "Like with a lot of new technology, there are some gray areas here. Remember when ride-hailing companies—Uber, Lyft, and Didi—first launched? Or driver-less cars? Or house and apartment sharing through Airbnb? Laws always have to catch up with the technology.

"I’ve spoken at length with our lawyers and they believe that it’s the responsibility of the Bitcoin recipient to declare the income and pay the income taxes. Our lawyers also believe that Gamers are not our employees. I’ll call them again and see if they can suggest any alternatives.

Just to use this demo as an example, the most anyone made was the level 19 Sorcerer. And she made under $800. You can see that paying a Gamer is much cheaper than paying a security administrator.

Becca admired how quickly Samantha thought on her feet. She wanted to emulate that trait in her mentor. They were close, and like Becca, Samantha lost her mom at a young age.

Do you know the Gamers? asked the General.

No, replied Samantha. "They need to remain completely anonymous to us—and us to them. Gecko Insurance Company will never buy our software, if the Gamers are aware they’re traipsing around the Gecko network fighting monsters and rogue routers.

Going forward, this is a huge issue for our business model. We have human Gamers playing games in GAMESPACE. At the same time, these Gamers are also performing work in REALSPACE. But they don’t know they’re working in REALSPACE. And, we’re not paying them for work in REALSPACE. We’re just rewarding them for playing the game in GAMESPACE.

Maybe we just need robots to perform the job, said the General, in half-jest. I want to talk to your attorneys. You’re using Loreal & Hammer, right?

Samantha nodded. Loreal & Hammer was a shadowy law firm. General Shields recommended the firm to all the Accelerator’s portfolio companies.

Please schedule a secure teleconference with them during next week’s board meeting.

Yes, sir, replied Samantha.

General Shields’ cell phone buzzed. Excuse me. I’ve got to respond to this text.

Chapter 3 – General Shields

6:05 p.m. (EDT), Friday, July 24, 2020 - Columbia, MD

Suite 601, General Shields’ Office, Defense Innovations Accelerator

General Bernard F. Shields stood an even six foot, with broad shoulders and a square jaw. He was in his early fifties, very young for such a high-ranking General. Shields sat at the same English Oak desk his father had used as an Air Force General during Viet Nam.

Most Generals who commanded cyber-forces were nerdy. General Shields was not. He saw himself as a digital Patton. He didn’t walk; he sauntered. Shields leaned back in his chair and rested his feet on the desk. Numerous photos of the General with famous people adorned the paneled walls. A special section was dedicated to his family, including his wife of 31 years, Lisa Shields.

Pictures of his son, Charlie Shields, filled his office. The largest photo was General Shields’ favorite. The blown-up snapshot depicted Charlie’s Navy SEAL graduation in 2014. Navy SEALs were widely regarded as the most elite special operations unit in the world. SEALs conducted extremely dangerous missions, like killing Osama Bin Laden.

In the photo, General Shields was in full Air Force blue uniform, covered with medals and numerous brightly colored insignias. Lisa snapped the picture. Of course, Lisa wasn’t in the image, but the General could still feel her joy. At the time of the photo, Shields was merely a three-star.

Charlie wore a gleaming white Navy uniform. He was hugging his dad and pointing to his golden SEAL Trident. His badge signified that Charlie was now a member of that elite community of special operations warriors. Both men’s faces beamed with love and patriotic pride.

General Shields returned his wife’s text with a call.

Bernie, I’ve been sleeping all day. I just wanted to apologize for last night. I think it was the combination of Prozac and alcohol. You’ve told me I shouldn’t mix them, and I keep doing it. I’m going to try to get back into church. I’m sorry I yelled at you, I—

Lisa, I know. I keep telling myself the pain will end. Yet, every day it’s back. It’s like a rain soaked coat hanging in a steam room. It won’t dry. And we can’t take it off. We just got to keep pressing forward.

I know you’re busy, said Lisa. I know you’re working your tail off to kill those bastards. Get them Bernie.

I’m trying.

Thank you for understanding.

As the General ended the call, he could hear the relief in Lisa’s voice. He didn’t share Lisa’s passion for church. He felt God was for the weak of mind. But, he was in favor of anything that helped her constructively deal with the pain.

Shields gaze was drawn back towards Charlie’s picture.

Tears streamed down his face. The General slogged to the wet bar in his office. DIRNSA did two quick shots of Tovaritch! Premium Russian Vodka. It was the only Russian he liked. He dried his eyes with a cocktail napkin.

In February 2016, a year before General Shields accepted the position as DIRNSA, Charlie Shields was beheaded by the Caliphate, while it was still known as ISIS. The Caliphate was a group of radical Sunni-Islamists. They initially emerged from Al Qaeda in Iraq—AQI.

Under the leadership of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, AQI led the Sunni-Iraqi insurgency, baiting Shia-Iraqis into civil war. In 2006, Zarqawi was killed by a 500-pound bomb. Ultimately, AQI was decimated by General David Petraeus’ Iraq War Surge. AQI went underground until the Americans left in 2011.

Then they reconstituted themselves, filling the vacuum created by the absence of US forces in the region and the Syrian civil war. The ISIS backstory surprised many. ISIS had seemed to appear out of nowhere in 2014, capturing vast tracts of Syria and Iraq. This included Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul. In early 2017—the organization known at various times as AQI, ISIL, ISIS, and the Islamic State—rebranded itself as the Caliphate.

Special Warfare Operator, 1st Class, Charlie Shields was abducted while advising ‘moderate’ Sunni rebels attempting to overthrow the Shia-led, Syrian government.

The moderates weren’t really moderate.

The very same anti-Syrian-government Sunnis the SEALs had trained, betrayed them. The rebels seized five SEALs and handed them over to ISIS. One-by-one, ISIS chopped off the warriors’ heads and posted the heinous videos to A-Tube.

The public outcry for retribution after the February 2016 executions of US servicemen was reminiscent of 9/11. Already stoked by ISIS sympathizer’s terror attacks in the US, Europe, and Turkey; the public demanded retribution. There were an increasing number of protests against radical Islam and Sharia law.

However, the US response in the wake of the decapitations was tepid. It was a difficult situation. Completely destroying ISIS would work to the benefit of America’s enemies—Syria and their benefactor, Iran. It would also help Russia. Russia went so far as to call ISIS an American creation.

General Shields vacillated between gut-wrenching heartbreak and white-hot rage, although he knew he was functioning much better than Lisa. At least, I’m doing something positive with my pain and not popping pills, he thought. General Shields personally wanted to destroy the radical Islamists, one-by-one. He was upset with the hamstrung US response to his son’s death.

Americans went to the polls in November 2016 to elect a new President. Terrorism and ISIS were important issues in the 2016 election. During the campaign, Thomas Goodson used extremely harsh rhetoric against Islamic terrorism in general, and ISIS specifically. However, once in office, he became more cautious. No one—except Shields—wanted to commit large numbers of ground troops to Iraq or Syria.

Goodson announced stepped up air strikes against ISIS in Iraq. He continued his predecessor’s strategy of relocating most special operations units from Syria to Iraq, to avoid further debacles like Charlie’s death. America was unable to identify friend from foe in a complicated civil war.

Because he wanted to avoid air combat operations in the same airspace as the Russians, and civilian casualties, the new POTUS refrained from air strikes in Syria. He preferred drones. Goodson bickered with NATO allies about who should bear the brunt of operations in the ancient country. No-fly zones were imposed to protect Syrian civilians and stem the tide of refugees that were drowning Europe and causing upheaval in the EU and Turkey. In contrast to the decisive actions of the Russians, who began bombing ISIS in Syria in the fall of 2015, the US looked weak.

While the average American didn’t distinguish between Iraq and Syria, General Shields was incensed. The only response to Charlie’s killing was airstrikes in a neighboring country, reduction of the US special operations units in Syria, and no-fly zones. And drones. Lots of drones.

If the President wouldn’t do the right thing, General Shields would.

In the four years since the election, by the spring of 2020, the Caliphate was weakened in Syria due to continued airstrikes from Russia and NATO. Iran also had ground forces in Syria that attacked the Caliphate. However, Russia and Iran were more concerned with supporting the current Syrian government, than defeating the Caliphate. The Syrian government even bought discounted oil from the Caliphate.

Air strikes in Iraq also sapped the Caliphate. But many members of the Caliphate simply fled to Libya, the Sinai, Europe, or faded into the civilian populations. They would return when the attacks stopped.

But Iraq wanted the US to do much more. The Caliphate’s vast propaganda machine continued to draw recruits from all over the world, especially after they changed their name.

In 2019, due to the limited US campaign against the Caliphate, the Iraqi government’s frustration boiled over. Iraq expelled all American forces in the country. Then, they turned to the Russians and Iranians to lead future air strikes and ground operations against the Caliphate.

The US’ strategy of timidity towards the Caliphate played havoc with General Shields’ psyche. He inhaled another shot. There was a knock at the door. The General grabbed a piece of gum and opened the door.

Lin Liu entered the room.

Lin was in her late twenties. She wore nude pumps and a tight white dress. Her eyes were jade green. The second-generation Chinese-American was gorgeous. I’m sorry I’m late General. Everybody at the Fort was jockeying for an invite, even this late on a Friday night. I had to fend them off with a stick.

Are you sure they were only interested in the Accelerator? he chuckled. Well, good job. I don’t need them here. The last thing these entrepreneurs and startup kids need is for a bunch of govies to get in their way.

On the job for only two weeks, Lin had never been to the offices of Defense Innovations Accelerator. As often happened in the military, the General’s previous assistant was reassigned. General Shields requested Lin because she was non-military. He hoped to keep her as his personal aide