Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller (40 page)

“
Analysts in the SWARM Op
Center will play the role of the G-Master. The G-Master will
monitor
everything,
as we go after the Caliphate’s top 50
leaders.
Of course,
number one on the list is Caliph Abu Mosulaydi.
For delicate
operations,
we can always take complete control of the
Swarmbots in the Op Center.

“
CyberAI, Josh’s old
company is doing well. Vish has improved the AI for cyber-event
recognition a good amount, even without Josh’s code. NSA counsel
tells me that it’s an up-hill battle to get him to turn over the
code. I don’t feel like waging that legal battle right now.
Besides, three of the
10
new companies we approved for the Accelerator
class specialize in AI. I’ll pick the best one. They’re all
employing deep learning algorithms.”

“
Speaking of Josh,” said
Lin, “What are Josh and Becca up to?”

“
I think they’re
both
moving on
. The FBI is no longer tailing them, but we’re monitoring all
their
comms
. They both work for Josh’s dad, applying his AI to the stock
market.
They recently got
engaged.”

Lin smiled at the
revelation.

“
In celebration,
they’re
making a
cross-country
trip in a new A-Car,
right after Christmas. It’s geeky, but I’m happy for them. It’s a
shame how it all went
down...
but can you imagine the
destabilizing effect of the Ark? It’d be like a
bomb
, dropped in the middle
of a Middle Eastern minefield.”

“
No,” replied Lin, “I
can’t imagine that.”

“
That’s the problem,” said
Shields. “Neither
can
I.”

4:30 p.m., Friday, November 13, 2020 -
Aleppo, Syria

Commandeered Home in
Syrian Controlled Neighborhood of Aleppo

The Immersive Media Team
uploaded the Tal Azan video eight days ago. Many viewers
across
the world
thought they recognized ghost-like apparitions in the sandstorm.
Conspiracy theories and paranormal speculations were
viral.

Shockwaves from the
victory, as portrayed in the highly immersive video, reverberated
across the Middle East. Rahmati’s status was now almost mythic. Was
he a new
Khalid
Bin Walid, or Saladin, or the Mahdi? The video
broke all
previous
A-Tube records for views. Rahmati’s media team
began working on a film chronicling the night’s battles. Their goal
was to release the documentary for 2022 Oscar
consideration.

Muhammad Rahmati was now
one of the most recognized and admired men in the world. Day after
day, an ever increasing number of protestors gathered in the
streets. They engaged in sit-ins, occupying the prominent gathering
places and squares of Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and
other Gulf states.
Police forces
tried to disperse the crowds without excessive force, but the
sit-ins grew larger.
The media labeled the
demonstrations as
the
‘Crescent Revolution.’

Surprisingly, the Crescent
Revolution’s most massive crowds congealed in Iran. Protests spread
to ten cities, including Tehran and Isfahan.
Marchers
also gathered in
front of Iranian embassies all over Europe. While all of this took
the West by surprise, two aspects of the Iranian protests intrigued
the NSA and CIA the most. First, the Internet was still not being
censored in Iran. Iranians were receiving unfiltered digital
content from all over the world—for the first time in the country’s
history.

Second, Iranian security
forces were doing nothing to halt the dissent. They
simply
watched
and maintained order.
This
could
only mean that, at least for the
time being, the Revolutionary Guards were standing down. Nobody
knew why.

Muhammad Rahmati gathered
around his laptop in the Aleppo comms room with his most trusted
Immortals. He browsed to the BBC Persian Services website. The
monitor displayed footage from a
massive
rally in Azadi Square in
Tehran. With estimates of over 500,000
protesters
, the demonstrations
were larger than the marchers against the Shah in 1979.
Those
protests
led to the
downfall
of the
Shah
and the ascension of Ayatollah
Khomeini.

The Iranian government’s
fortunes had improved markedly after the nuclear deal with the
West. The removal of sanctions and release of frozen Iranian assets
in early 2016 produced
a
significant
windfall for the Iranian
state—and the Revolutionary Guards. However, the prosperity only
enriched the ruling elites’ lives.

And, once the
Revolutionary Guards
tasted
the
money
, they wanted more. The clerical
class’ assets were particularly attractive, especially since the
mullahs’ welfare
depended
on protection from the Guards. The majority of
Guards desired
a more
Westward-oriented
government to enable
their affluence to increase, in contrast to the mullahs who wanted
to keep separate from the Satanic West.

The Iranian protestors consisted of a
broad mix of society—students, merchants, lawyers, doctors—people
who wanted the ability to paint a brighter future for their
children, increased economic opportunities, and more
freedom.

Today, for the first time,
the crowds began angrily shouting “Ayatollah, get out! Ayatollah,
get out!”
Taking a page out of the
1979 demonstrations
, protestors placed
flowers in rifles of the security forces.

A courier met the
Commander in the living room. All eyes fell on Muhammad Rahmati.
Rahmati read the message. Ayatollah Saatchi—the Supreme Leader
of
Iran
—was ordering his Quds Force Commander to return to
Tehran.

*

It was
evening
in Columbia. General
Shields, Samantha Powers, Lin Liu, and 12
operator-
analysts gathered in
the
SWARM Op Center. Their eyes
were glued to the gigantic video
wall.
SIGINT finally provided
a solid
lead on
the whereabouts of the Caliphate’s leader. Caliph Abu Mosulaydi had
fled to his hometown of Mosul, Iraq.

Mosul
was built
over the ancient
Assyrian capital of Nineveh. Nineveh played a prominent role in the
Hebrew Scriptures. It was the city that God told the Prophet Jonah
to visit. Jonah was called to proclaim a message of repentance to
Nineveh. Jonah so despised the Assyrians that he attempted to flee
his calling by escaping on a ship in the Mediterranean. It took
three days in the belly of a great fish to persuade Jonah to change
his mind and obey God.

In 2014, the Caliphate destroyed
Jonah’s ancient tomb. This demolition was meant to send a message
to Jews, Christians, and apostate Muslims. The Caliphate’s brand of
Islam was superior to all other religions.

Eight Swarmbots, including
two Jumbos, entered a
three-story
building in Mosul. It was a
former Iraqi government building. The SIGINT indicated that
Mosulaydi was in the building. Many airstrikes had targeted
portions of Mosul. However, given the large civilian
population,
a significant
amount of the city remained intact.

Four other Swarmbots established
overwatch on the building’s perimeter. All the Swarmbots had active
camouflage and noise suppression engaged. Unless you touched them,
you wouldn’t know they were there.

After clearing the first
floor, the Swarmbots stacked
up.
They created two rows, linked
three
across. In the last row, the
Jumbos
were
connected,
side-by-side. The
Swarmbot clusters moved up the stairs. As they cleared the
second-floor, they came across six sleeping Caliphate members.
There was no sign of Mosulaydi.

They stealthily proceeded
to the third floor. The Swarmbots registered
distant
speech. The Jumbos
positioned themselves
securely in
the
hallway. The six other Swarmbots, now
untethered from each other, rotated towards the
voices
.

One-by-one, the Swarmbots
moved into position in the room. The Caliph was speaking with three
of his lieutenants. Samantha noticed the tension in General
Shield’s face.
This was
it.
This
was
the man that ordered the death of his
son. The Swarmbots laid in wait, relaying the real-time video and
sound.

“
Rahmati’s popularity is
drastically affecting our operations,” said Mosulaydi, in Arabic. A
SWARM analyst translated the Caliph’s words. The op center also had
an AI-based translation system that produced subtitles on the video
wall and computer monitors.

“
The world is rallying to
him. Our recruiting of foreign fighters has
slowed to a trickle.
Europeans are entering Syria, through Turkey, and
joining
him
. His
popularity among Sunnis is something I can’t even fathom. How can
Sunnis be led astray by this Shiite
Dajjal?
His message is winning more
converts than ours. He’s destroying our
safe havens
in Syria. We
need
to rapidly procure more
funds, ammunition, and weapons
from the
Saudis and their allies.”

“
Alright,” said General
Shields, “let’s take him out. Release the mini-drones.”

From the hallway, the
jumbo Swarmbots launched their mini-drones. Chris Fischer had named
these drones, ‘Remora,’ after the fish that attached themselves to
sharks and manta rays. Two Remora drones flew through Mosulaydi’s
door. The first Remora headed straight for the Caliph’s
neck.
Its
kill
dart
was exposed
.

The Remora released the dart inches
away from Mosulaydi. The projectile penetrated the Caliph’s
jugular. The mini-drone peeled off to the right. The other Remora
hovered near the ceiling, providing an aerial feed of the
action.

Mosulaydi grabbed his neck
and sputtered. His three lieutenants rushed toward the Caliph with
their pistols drawn. They couldn’t see anything. They all looked
toward the window, thinking a sniper might have shot the Caliph.
But the window
was closed with the
glass intact.

The three panicked
Daesh
caught
Mosulaydi before he fell to the ground. His mouth foamed. He
gasped for air. And then he stopped
gasping
. The killer Remoras buzzed back
to their
platform,
and were sealed by their hosts.

General Shields said in a
subdued but victorious tone, “Abu Mosulaydi is the first confirmed
kill of the SWARM program. All of you in this room were integral to
this mission.
This is
the first of many successes. Working
from
the safety
of our office in Columbia; we’ve successfully killed the most
wanted terrorist in the world—without any risk of collateral
damage. From the highest levels of government, I can say thank
you.” He ordered the operators to continue to surveil the room
for
intel
and watch the Caliphate lieutenants’ next steps.

Samantha and Lin congratulated General
Shields.

“
General, you’ve avenged
your son and made America safer,” said Samantha. “Not one American
life was endangered whil
e you
executed Charlie’s murderer.
”
Although I lost my best
employee
, thought Samantha.

“
Thank you,” replied the
General, more somberly than Samantha expected. He then addressed
the analysts. “Update me on the Crescent Revolution.” While the
SWARM Op Center
was
dedicated
to Swarmbots, their systems had
significant reach back to the Fort.

An analyst
rattled off
the
latest
intelligence
. “The Egyptian military
has moved into Tahir Square to disperse the demonstrators. They
appear to be using restraint.
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have not been so kind.
Many protestors are dead. It looks like the
various governments are coordinating their response. We guess their
endgame is to halt the rallies and break up the sit-ins, by early
next week. In all those countries; the Internet, cell phones, and
SMS messaging are
largely
inoperable.