Volunteers: 2047 - A Murder of Consequence

By Robert Arias

In the year 2047, the breakaway Republic of Franklin shares North America with the remaining United States of America. But memories of the causes and the results of the Second Civil War, which ended 20 years previously, linger on. The body of a woman is found at the City Dock in Annapolis. FBI agents Edison and Williams pursue the case. Of two different generations and mind-sets, the agents’ conflict reflects the bloodless war that continues between the two nations and their ideas of government. The agents’ investigation leads them to two groups of college alumni planning to gather at their 25th reunion. As possible motives are discovered, the politics of the two nations, as well as global money flows, are revealed. With the scattered alumni and their allies in Colorado, Texas, California, DC, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, as well as in Italy and Hong Kong, the conflict of visions is not just an American but also a worldwide phenomenon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Robert Arias
• Release date: Mar 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215409350

Robert Arias

Robert Arias is a writer living in Maryland, and is also a skier, a sailor, and a community activist. His musings have been published in The Economist, Smithsonian, the Washington Post, The Capital, Spinsheet, and BoatUS Magazine, as well as on-line. Crown of Creation is his first novel; a second ("Volunteers") is now available . You can contact him at [e-mail].

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Note to Readers

This book, Volunteers, is both a prelude and a sequel to my earlier work, Crown of Creation, first published in 2011. Volunteers begins in 2022, on the day that Texas secedes, but the main body of the novel happens in 2047. Volunteers can be read without having read the earlier work, though some characters carry through both books, as does the background of a divided nation.

Both books are detective stories, each investigating a murder whose consequences reflect the nature of the conflict on the North American continent. Volunteers expands both the geographic scope of its story to include Europe and Asia, and provides the reader with a broader range of characters or, should I say, suspects.

Robert Arias

Annapolis, MD, USA

NOTICE OF NATIONAL SECURITY REVIEW

P.L. 134-352, The National Security Information Protection Act of 2035, as amended (The Warren-Ali Act), requires that any public document produced by current or former Federal law enforcement personnel be reviewed for national security information, prior to publication.

Accordingly, this Office has reviewed the attached novel written by Special Agent John A. Edison, formerly attached to the Annapolis, Maryland, Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Though a work of fiction, the novel references the actual investigation of the homicide of Ludmilla Novachenko, an employee of the United States Department of the Treasury. Edison and the FBI found the perpetrator, who has since been tried, convicted, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Agent Edison references certain other alleged crimes. Since he has since retired and is no longer a resident of the United States, these allegations are being pursued by others.

While Agent Edison engages in considerable speculation about other persons, especially about times and places where he was not present, this Office finds no national security implications in this work. Any opinions expressed by the author are his alone and do not represent the views of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or this Office.

Vikram R. Mulligan

Acting Associate Director for Regulatory Compliance

Headquarters, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Bowie, Maryland

13 July 2052

NNSR-52-743-VRM

Dramatis Personae

The Gang of Six (the Volunteers)

Francesco (Frank) Cini, Florence, Italy

Ryan Gambone, Teaneck, NJ

Pei-Chung (Patty) Ho, Hong Kong, China

Ludmilla Novachenko, Kyiv, Ukraine

Benjamin O’Connor, Clairton, PA

Brad Winters, Boston, MA

The Gang of Four (the Collective)

April Benedetti, Florence, Italy

Juan Jose (JJ) Campos, Brooklyn, NY

Corey Edwards, Washington, DC

John Mather, Philadelphia, PA

Annapolis, MD

John Edison, FBI

Michelle Williams, FBI

Dwayne Brown, Annapolis Police

Bill Carroll, Annapolis Police

Brian Blanchett, FBI

Bill Hastings, Republic B&B

Dave Powers, Republic B&B

Austin, TX

Ben Travis, Texas Rangers

Boston, MA

Daniel Mancuso, FBI

Frank Halley, FBI

Florence, Italy

Jack Provenzano, American Consulate

Vito Barrone, Carabinieri

Lorenzo Donati, Guardia di Finanza

Grand Canyon, AZ

Aristotle Leaphorn, Park Security

Hong Kong, China

Anthony Cardone, American Consulate

François Doucet, INTERPOL

Philadelphia, PA

Roger Cranston

Sarah Birnbaum

Adam Henry

Pittsburgh, PA

Alan Grossman, Carnegie Mellon

Telluride, CO

Nick Franchetti

Gail Oshevski

Joe Cormack

Washington, DC

Carmine Damato, Office of the Controller of the Currency

Alma Petrie, Office of the Controller of the Currency

Prologue – A Conflict of Visions

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America

May 21, 2022

Texas Secedes! blared across the internet and around the world.

On this day, the secession of Texas from the United States of America was the top headline in every newspaper, printed or electronic, website, news program, and social network in the world.

Texas Says, ‘Enough!’ headlined the Houston Chronicle.

Texas Bails Out, headlined the New York Daily News.

Texas Secedes: Women and Minorities Most Affected, opined the New York Times.

Texas Chooses Treason, headlined the Boston Globe.

Texas Chooses Liberty, opined Fox News.

Good Riddance to Texas, opined MSNBC.

Texas Goes First. Who’s Next? editorialized the Wall Street Journal.

Texas Says, ‘I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore,’ headlined Variety.

***

For 10 college students from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) whose graduation was the next day, it was a time of celebration, decision-making, and foreboding. The national economy was in recession, and now political uncertainty would certainly make it worse. And their conflicts of vision reflected those of the nation.

Six graduating seniors had gathered in the basement of Hammerschlag (formerly Machinery) Hall for a few last beers before graduation ceremonies the next day. In the background, a computer was playing the Jefferson Airplane song Volunteers from the campus radio station, WRCT. The Gang of Six, as they called themselves, despite their disparate backgrounds, had hung out over the last four years, drawn together by common political philosophies and outlook on life. They met while being active in the libertarian movement and were discouraged about the country’s lack of real political choice. The Gang of Six was tired of schooling and wanted to get out into the real world and do something useful. And they did not want to work in anything to do with politics, that is, government work. Many of their classmates were heading to graduate school, but the Gang of Six were united in their goals and ambitions.

Benjamin O’Connor, BS in Software Engineering, was the de facto leader of the Gang. Well, guys and gals, this is it, he said. Time to go to work, if you can find it. I’m looking forward to joining the Fishhead Networks team in Austin; it’s a startup you’ve probably never heard of. I’m gettin’ outta Dodge.

Texas, Ben? But they just seceded, said Brad Winters of Boston, BA in English.

Let me tell you why, said Ben. "Listen to this from the Houston Chronicle. The editorial is titled ‘Welcome to the Second Republic of Texas.’" Ben proceeded to read from the screen of his iPad 16:

For the first time in 161 years, a state has voted to secede from the United States. We Texans have a fundamental conflict of vision with Washington; the majority of Texans see no reason for the Union to continue. For decades, we have led the nation in job creation, economic growth, energy production, and in welcoming immigrants from other states and other countries. The taxes we pay to Washington far exceed the money received in benefits, business or contracts. As Washington continues to pile on unfunded mandates to the states, Texas has fought back in Congress and the Courts, with very limited success.

Sounds right-on to me, added Ben. And there’ll be more states in the West and South following, I bet. The slogan in Austin is ‘Who needs Washington?’ And they’re right. Most of the companies I interviewed with were more than happy to get Washington off their backs.

Assuming Washington lets them go. It didn’t work out too well in 1861. But President O’Leary is no Lincoln, said Brad. Well, I guess I’m lucky to have a low-level job at my dad’s law office in Boston. There’ll always be a need for good lawyers, though I’ll have to go to law school pretty soon. He’s been working on lots of cases defending property owners against eminent domain abuse.

We’re used to that in China! added Pei-Chung (Patty) Ho, BS in Chemistry. I hope Liberty Movement succeeds in Beijing and I can burn my Mao portraits, the Great Leader, as he is called.

You mean the greatest mass-murderer in human history? asked Brad.

Same guy. He’s on our paper money, too. Anyway, I found a job at a textile company in Kowloon.

Glad to hear it, DL, added Ryan Gambone, BS in Mechanical Engineering, sipping on his Iron City beer.

After all these years, you still call me that! ‘Patty’ please!

Come on, Ryan, it might be years ’til we meet again. Be nice to the Dragon Lady, added Benjamin.

And, Frank, going back to Florence to join the family business?

Looks like it. Not too many legal opportunities here, answered Francesco Cini, BS in Chemical Engineering.

Like what your Mafia family does in Italy is legal? asserted Patty.

It’s not the Mafia. That’s for the Sicilians. We only provide what people want, and we don’t kill or beat up anyone. It’s only illegal because the politicians say it is.

Yeah, like dope, gambling, and whores, added Ludmilla Novachenko, BS in Computer Science. Can you get me a job?

This broke the room up in laughter. Ludmilla had been Frank’s girlfriend for nearly a year.

Not so funny, said Ludmilla. Ukraine is not exactly Silicon Valley East quite yet. But will be a lot better once we get rid of Putin.

‘We’? my dear, asked Cini. Maybe he’ll die of a heart attack. Are your friends in Kyiv working on that?

No comment.

The pisser of all this is that me and Ludmilla and Patty have two weeks to leave the country or be arrested as illegal aliens. We have been here for years, speak good English, have lots of brains, but we have to leave like some wetback Neapolitan. Whatever happened to that proposal to attach Green Cards to diplomas, like both candidates said back in 2012?

Read my lips. Politicians lie, said Ben. How about joining me in Texas? Sounds like the new government down there likes immigration.

Now there’s a thought, said Ludmilla, lifting her glass. ’Til we meet again on the other side of this life. Na zdorov’ya!

And what’s that song on the radio? asked Ryan.

Got to revolution. Got to revolution, played the music.

‘Volunteers,’ Jefferson Airplane, circa 1967. I love that old revolutionary stuff, said Ben.

That’s us, said Brad. The Volunteers.

And who are we going to overthrow? asked Ludmilla.

The Establishment, said Brad.

Better get some jobs first, added Ryan.

***

Less than a mile away in a rented four-bedroom duplex house on Baum Boulevard, four CMU graduate students were also saying their goodbyes, in their case, over a cheap chardonnay. They had shared the house for the last year, having met on campus and found much in common. They first met three years before while working on the O’Leary campaign for President and felt that their efforts helped to push Pennsylvania, always a swing state, away from the evil Republicans. They called themselves the Gang of Four or sometimes The Collective.

John Mather, PhD in Physics, was the de facto leader of this group. Well, my fellow Americans, and you too, April, tomorrow’s the big day. Can’t postpone going back to the real world any longer.

Well, kind of, I guess, said April Benedetti, MA in Painting and Design. I’m sticking with art history, but I have no decent job offers, so I’m going back to Florence to do some research on Ghirlandaio’s sketches.

Must be nice for your grandfather to own a bank, even if it’s a small one, added Juan Jose (JJ) Campos, MS in Computer Science. I’m moving to Texas to design the next iTablet for Fishhead Networks.

Texas! Are you nuts? exclaimed Corey Edwards, MBA, Tepper School. They’ve just seceded, and they sound like they want to take some other Western states with them. You might end up on the wrong side of a war. Sure hope there’s no war. Most of our military is based in the South or the West.

But why? asked April. Didn’t those rednecks learn their lesson in 1865?

Apparently not, said JJ. "Just listen to this editorial from the New York Times:

The plain fact is that Texans refuse to pay their fair share. Older states have been running unavoidable huge deficits in their state governments because of shrinking economies and an aging population. Raising state taxes doesn’t seem to help; we have seen more people and businesses leaving those states. California and Massachusetts have already declared official bankruptcy. Thankfully, Congress, encouraged by President Larry O’Leary, has stepped in with a Federally funded bailout package. That stirred up the crazies in Texas, and its legislature, despite large and noisy protests outside the state capitol in Austin, rammed through a secession bill, with little thought to the consequences to its citizens and their responsibilities to the nation.

Well said, don’t you think?

Who needs Texas anyway? added April. They’re all a bunch of fracking, low-tax, Bible-thumping, homophobic gun nuts anyway. Those people hate the idea of the government doing anything for people. Their state government has shut down half its departments already. Pretty soon, they’ll be selling the freeways and the public schools, for God’s sake.

All true, said Campos, "but a job’s a job, and I got a big student loan to pay off. My grandfather is still a farmer in Jacinto. How many technology companies are still thriving here in the East?"

Well, damn few, but finance is still a big business, said Corey. I’ve got a job with Biden and Snodgrass, who represent a couple of big Wall Street firms in Washington.

Ah yes, the old Manhattan-DC Axis of Evil, as my right-wing friends call it.

Would you prefer those greedy capitalists like in Texas or Colorado? asked Corey. We’ll be better off without them. How about you, fearless leader?

Nothing firm yet, answered Mather. I might have a shot at a research fellowship at Cornell, but it doesn’t pay much.

How about designing bombs in California? We might be needing some more.

Not funny, said Mather. He lifted his wine glass: Until next time.

Until next time, repeated the other three.

***

Soon after the student groups met, news networks began reporting large numbers of fully loaded pickup trucks and SUVs driving toward Texas, mostly from the East. Other networks reported large numbers of Priuses, Volvos, and Subarus leaving Texas, mostly heading East and North.

Chapter 1 – The Body at the Dock

Annapolis, Maryland, United States of America

March 18, 2047

I’ve been a cop for 29 years, but the sight of a dead body still causes my stomach to churn. That, and a bit too much Guinness the night before. The pale reddish early morning light seemed idyllic, but for the body.

Agent Michelle Williams and I had responded to a call about the body of a woman found