Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller (53 page)

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?”

“
We need you to
review
your
encounter with Rahmati, in light of our logs and data from
the remaining Jerusalem Swarmbots. We must identify how he
commandeered the drones. And, given that your AI found the Ark, I’d
like to see what other insights it can yield. What can your AI tell
us about Rahmati? What are his intentions with the Ark? What’s
his
game plan
for the Middle East? What are his next steps in US
relations?”

Josh responded, “We
can
absolutely
help with the Swarmbots. But, let’s talk about the second
part. Becca and I want to start a new AI company. We want
our
company
to focus on a stronger, more general AI. I want to move way
beyond cybersecurity. I believe that may help find the answers to
some of your questions.”

“
The Accelerator can
invest in the startup,” offered Shields. “We never flagged your
clearances, so you’re both still in good standing. You can
use
the
SCIFs
and access
NSA technology.”

“
General, with all due
respect,” said Josh, “I don’t want to be business partners with
you. I don’t want to do demos for you, or sit in board meetings
with you. My dad and I will fund the company.”

Now Jared negotiated. “I propose that
in return for free rent at the Accelerator, we’ll license the
technology to you. We’ll use your facilities’ clearance and the
SCIFs.”

“
And,” interjected Josh,
“I want access NSA’s new GPU-accelerated, NVIDIA supercomputers and
an office on the 5
^th
floor. I don’t want any interaction with Vish.
Additionally, I want CyberAI to remove any claim to my
independently developed AI code.”

“
And I don’t want to see
Samantha,” said Becca.

General Shields smiled at
the negotiating forces of nature across the table from him. Josh
and Becca had grown up. “Done,” he said,
emphatically
. “Welcome back Josh.
Welcome back Becca.”

10:00 a.m. (EDT), Thursday, April 1,
2021 – Columbia, MD

Suite 502, ElectricMind’s
Offices,
Defense Innovations
Accelerator

“
It feels good to be
back,” said Josh.

“
I’m a little surprised
myself,” replied Becca. “I thought I’d hate it. But, I hate Rahmati
more
.”

“
Yeah. And I want
that
Ark back
. It belongs to Israel, not Rahmati. By the way, Samantha
came by here again this morning. You were down meeting with
Swarmbot.”

Becca shrugged her
shoulders and pursed her lips. “I don’t have anything to say. I’ve
been cordial to her in the hallways
and
cafeteria. I just don’t want to go
there.”

“
I understand. I do
think
her
hands were tied.”

“
Maybe they were. But, I
gave Gamification every waking hour.
Samantha
could’ve done more. At the
very least, she could’ve
told
me why I
was quarantined
from
Gamification’s best
people
and its most important projects. Instead,
she
tried to
convince me that I
was
imagining
things.
Anyway
—new
subject
. I love working with Chris
Fischer.
He’s super-smart. We should try
to get him for
ElectricMind,
if we ever need a
robot
brainiac
. He knows drones and
autonomous robots inside and
out.”

“
How are you coming with
identifying Rahmati’s Swarmbot hack?” asked Josh. General Shields
had read Becca and Josh
into
SWARM.

“
We’re stumped. I’ve tried
every attack vector I know. I’ve not been able to take over a
single process; let alone commandeer a dozen Swarmbots. My thesis
is that the hackers found a flaw in how the Swarmbots store their
AES encryption keys.

“
Chris disagrees. He
thinks it’s not a likely
scenario
because they used open source,
trusted libraries for the AES keys. Those
libraries
have proven to be
rock-solid over the years. He’s pushing for a simpler
explanation;
you
know Occam’s razor and all. The Swarmbot
logs
show nothing out of the
ordinary.

“
The op
center
handed
off all the Swarmbot communications to Rahmati’s hackers in
Jerusalem. It worked no differently than the handoff that
occurs
when the
op center takes control of the Swarmbots from Gamers.
This Swarmbot hack is beginning to scare
me.
”

“
Is it possible that
Rahmati’s crew just brute force attacked the encryption?” asked
Josh.

“
No. Swarmbots use
military-grade encryption for the satellite comms, AES-256. The NSA
certifies AES-256 for TOP
SECRET
. AES is the safest encryption
algorithm in the world. E
veryone
uses it
, even Apple. AES-256 encrypts
iPhones.”