The politicians, p.48
The Politicians, page 48
part #3 of The Beckett Cypher Series
“But, as to Thomas Marshall, our system promoted an egotist who placed his self-interests above our collective goals. The resulting failure is as much ours as it is his. But we have already made changes to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. Going forward, anyone in our system is encouraged to report any member, regardless of tier level, whose actions become suspect and counter to Committee values.”
“And, while this change will flush out those too weak to be our comrades, we now see this coming purge as a necessary consequence of our rapid growth. To some, this action may seem harsh. But we must all realize that we have recently lost a great deal of time and resources, having to abandon our Yucca Mountain facility and both of our Centers for Information Extraction. Many of our members will face tough questioning from a variety of investigations going forward through the next year or so. Our growth in the United States was dealt a serious blow.”
“However, on a very positive note, we plan to re-occupy our Yucca Mountain Facility and activate our two backup Centers for Information Extraction, as these investigations draw to a close, or are abandoned by American politicians. Key staffers are already hard at work with our members in foreign governments, creating fictitious news releases that will convince people our Committee was nothing more than an elaborate hoax by the Republican party designed to remove a Democratic President.”
“And just as importantly, during our recovery period, Committee IT will escalate attacks on both the Republicans and the Democrats, increasing their never-ending mutual war against each other, until violence becomes commonplace. Using our new algorithm, I promise you that this setback will pale in comparison to the damage we do to the American political system, and their precious system of justice, over the coming decade.”
“And, so, as we move beyond this attack together, I urge all of us to hold fast to our doctrine and continue to place faith in our vision. As we move forward, more quickly than ever before, our future progress will more than offset any setbacks we experienced. Your persistence is needed, and will be rewarded beyond your wildest dreams of power, control, and purpose.”
“Work hard. Remain strong. And believe in nothing other than yourself and your position in your Committee! Remember, each one of you represents the new world and the hope for the required change. If you are not with us, you oppose us, with all that has proven weak and unnecessary. Each one of them is our enemy, and represents all that is old and has failed. The Committee does not tolerate failure.”
“So, I leave you with this promise of victory. No one can resist us. No one can stand against us without being destroyed. The Committee is the only way, the only choice, and the only path to a better future. Our war has just begun. We take no prisoners, and we destroy without guilt so that we can rebuild in our perfect vision.”
“My members, rest easy in the guarantee of our future success. And may we all continue to bless our Committee with loyalty! Good evening, members.”
A loud round of applause came through the speakers, as all five members of the eighth tier stood and applauded.
BaCayse turned the monitor off, as the feed went blank.
Anxious to leave the depressing briefing, Helena stood and asked Joshua to follow her out to the rear deck. When they arrived, Helena said, “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” Joshua admitted. “I didn’t feel I had anything to look forward to when I walked into the workroom, if you weren’t here.”
“Joshua, I need to tell you that I have to make a decision soon. I came here, after falling in love with Bryan Holland, only because he asked me to leave and assist this team. And I love it here, with all of you. And I began to feel like I had fallen in love with you, while we worked together. And now, I just went back and saw Bryan.”
Joshua looked down, and said, “Oh, I see.”
“No, I don’t think you do yet,” Helena added. “When I got back to D.C., I was already missing you and the team, and not anxious to see Bryan, at all. I’ve been confused for the whole two weeks I’ve been gone. And now, on the way back here, all I could think about was the last time we held hands, and I wanted to see you.”
“But that’s great! Your back, and there’s no problem!” Joshua said excitedly.
“But, for how long?” Helena asked. “And what about when I have to leave for another assignment, or you go home?”
Joshua admitted, “I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that far ahead. But you’re right. I think we need to figure it out. Let’s go for a walk.” Joshua reached out and took Helena by the hand, as Hunter smiled.
Once they were gone, BaCayse said, “Hunter, I don’t believe we need to burden Shane and Kate about the Prophet and Committee plans to escalate a war on America, right before their wedding.”
Hunter was silent as he thought. He finally said, “I guess it should take this Prophet more than a couple of weeks to escalate his conflict to the point that anyone will notice. Maybe you’re right.”
BaCayse said, “Every human needs some peace, love, hope, and understanding. Let’s not impact our happy couple’s hope with worry.”
“Deal!” Joshua said.
“Goodnight, BaCayse. I’m calling it a day.”
“Goodnight, Hunter.”
Hunter got up to leave, and asked, “By the way, what are you wearing tonight?”
“Jammies,” BaCayse replied.
“You don’t sleep!” Hunter objected.
“How do you know?” BaCayse teased.
“Show me,” Hunter teased back.
The monitor flashed on, showing BaCayse walking barefoot across a white marble floor, toward Joshua, wearing a cobalt blue babydoll nightgown with lace trim, and matching tap pants. The blue sleepwear perfectly matched her shimmering blue eyes and accented every sensual curve of her incredible body.
Hunter exclaimed, “Oh, wow, BaCayse, you’re killing me!”
BaCayse laughed, and said, “Hunter, I think it’s high time you found a girlfriend.”
Hunter murmured, “You’re telling me,” as he turned to leave the room.
BaCayse spun around, in the monitor, and sauntered away from view, out of sight. Her rear view was as stunning as her front, as her body flexed and bounced perfectly, creating a spellbinding erotic effect. The screen went blank.
Tracy walked into the room and found Jesse staring at the overhead monitor. She asked, “What are you doing, honey? There’s nothing on the monitor.”
Jesse answered, “I was just thinking about you. Can we make tonight a date night? We need some alone time!”
Tracy smiled coyly, and said, “I was hoping you’d ask. A girl needs some attention you know.”
Jesse quickly turned and kissed Tracy passionately.
Pleasantly surprised, after the kiss, Tracy looked around to make sure no one was watching.
She asked, “Honey, what’s gotten into you?”
Jesse said, “I just miss...enjoying you. By the way, do you have any dark blue lingerie?”
***
Immediately following his speech, while the alluring BaCayse said goodnight to Hunter and mesmerized Jesse, six representatives of the seventh and eighth tiers ordered the Prophet into a private meeting. Heavily armed agents representing The Committee’s Secret Enforcement Division stood guard, dressed in black uniforms with facemasks, while the six-member panel read the Prophet a devastating list of grievances.
Although the Prophet was a fearsome man, possessing incredible physical and mental powers, jolts of fear penetrated his mind and body. He understood very well that nearly all formal grievance recitations ended in arrest, incarceration, torture, and termination.
He, himself, had designed the very torture system currently in use at all Committee Centers for Information Extraction. It was a terrifying system he feared he may now personally experience.
The Prophet headed the Committee’s Cyber Operations and Warfare Division, making him responsible for all cyber victories, and failures. He knew that he alone bore responsibility for the recent defeats at Yucca Mountain and the two C.I.E. facilities. And although he saw himself as the most powerful person in The Committee, he realized that at this very moment, he was also the most vulnerable. Uncharacteristically, for a sociopath, with nearly unlimited power and control, the Prophet began to sweat, profusely.
As soon as the reading ended, Marissa Weinstein asked, “Do you see any plausible reason your presence is still a benefit to The Committee?”
The Prophet remained silent for a few moments, as he thought. He had listened to dozens of members plead for their lives, all unsuccessfully.
He seized the only opportunity he saw, and said, “These attacks were unforeseeable and undefendable, as when the attack came, our resources were running at near full capacity, testing the Primary Objective algorithm in the Bay area. President Marshall pressed for the accelerated timetable, against my advice and wishes. His was an unfortunate error.”
“Now, we must locate and capture the people and the system that attacked us, to prevent a similar attack in the future. And I already have developed the plan that will accomplish those goals, quickly. Once we succeed, we can merge the enemy’s technology with ours, enabling us to more than recover what we have lost. I am essential to this purpose!” The Prophet stood erect, at attention.
The room was silent as all six members pushed their digital buttons to vote, immediately sparing the Prophet’s life by a vote of four to two.
Senator Marissa Weinstein said, “You have two weeks to produce what you have promised. Make sure there are no more mistakes.”
Twenty minutes later, the Prophet stomped angrily into a vast room filled with workstations, servers, computers, and monitors. In two rows of twenty, uniformed Committee IT experts stood rigid, awaiting his arrival. He marched directly toward the center of the lines, stopped one pace back, and looked from right to left, critically assessing each member of his team.
In a strained voice, The Prophet snarled, “We have all failed while working within one of the least forgiving and most powerful organizations in the world, a system completely intolerant of failure. All administrators in both top tiers are very, very unhappy. And their unhappiness most often leads to termination. I am fortunate to be standing here, alive, addressing all of you.”
“My survival...no, our survival, is now dependent on my promise. And because I assured our leaders success, we have been given one last chance at redemption. It is our only chance and leaves no room for a single mistake. And I do not intend to fail again. We will identify and find the team who attacked us. We will capture those individuals and their computer system. This is the only path to life and freedom our leaders offered us.”
He took a deep breath, and sneered, “And in the meantime, we will not suffer another defeat at our enemy’s hands. The Committee’s future hangs in the balance.”
The Prophet subconsciously flexed his entire body-builder physique, as every muscle, including those on his bald head, strained to emphasize his resolve. Standing nearly six-feet-three-inches tall, sporting a 48-inch chest, 36-inch waist, 20-inch biceps, a shaved head, and a thick, wide mustache, the Prophet was more than formidable. Standing rigid, with narrowed, dark-brown eyes and tensed jaws, he appeared menacing and unstoppable, even at 53-years old.
As the bulky man surveyed his team one last time, looking across their faces from left to right, he asked sternly, “Does anyone have a question?”
A feather dropping to the floor in the stress-filled room would have made a noticeable sound.
When no one uttered a single word, the Prophet said, “Good! Then get to work. We’ve been given two weeks to find them! And, after we capture them, I will interrogate each member of their team, personally!”
Acknowledgments
I acknowledge and thank my wife, Debbie, for many dozens of hours she spent reading, re-reading, editing and critiquing the manuscript, helping this book develop and survive in a form I recognize as mine.
All readers are challenged to follow an author’s thoughts, feelings, and expressions, as the writer works through scenes, expanding characters and advancing a storyline. We all recognize that the same tale could have been written a million different ways. No one person always writes using perfect language, punctuation, spelling, grammar, and style. Linguistics evolve through time.
And because they are free to use diverse techniques, authors create exciting differences through their writing style. These variances give us the opportunity to see the world through a new set of eyes. Hopefully, we learn, grow, and are entertained in the process.
My two technical editors and dear friends, Tom, and Marilyn Suarez, helped immensely in identifying correct sentence structure. They also provided invaluable advice. I thank them for their diligence, commitment, and friendship, as they volunteered their time to this project.
My wife, Debbie, often provided me with excellent feedback on what a reader may enjoy or even consider exciting, as I worked to create real-life characters and stimulating situations. As with all people in life, my characters speak and respond, influenced by different dialects, personal experiences, and cultural backgrounds. My goal is to create realization, discovery, and drama using parts of life people are aware of, but may not know, and in the process present an intriguing tale.
Family units featured in my novels include loving pets. Dogs presented throughout this series are based on real-life pets. Some of these canine family members are living, while others now remain only in photographs and life-long memories. Dogs like Jago, Masai, Bruiser, and Sophia tend to keep the story grounded in reality, as they provide true unconditional love, entertainment, and loyalty. I thank family and friends for sharing cherished exploits, photos, and characteristics of their special family members, inspiring me to create essential roles in my novels.
As I wrote this manuscript, sitting at my desk, each day I found myself surrounded by my own canine family. My pack consisted of Pearl, the centenarian Cocker Spaniel, Jazzy, our King Charles Cavalier, and Bentley, my rescue dog with a black tongue, likely part lab and Black Mouth Cur.
Jazzy favored a space on the floor behind the chaise lounge, where she sleeps and snores so loudly you can hear her from other rooms. Pearl lays directly under my chair, so I can never move without checking to make sure I won’t roll over her paw. And Bentley sleeps on the chaise lounge, or sits, watching squirrels out the window. He often looks at me, likely wondering why I remain at the same chair for hours, when we could be out running in a field.
Dogs warm our hearts and make us smile. They all seem to share that unique ability to improve our lives just by being present. Considering the power of that gift, we should all take lessons from our canine companions. I thank them for their willingness to stay patiently by my side throughout the writing of The Beckett Cypher Series – Book 3 – The Politicians.
About the Author
___________________________________________
Lee Cunningham was just 6 months old, when his father was killed, while driving from Nebraska to Idaho, to reunite with Lee Jr. and his mother. Lee eventually came to be known as “Danny,” a nickname given him by his eight aunts. Lee’s mother relocated them to California, seeking a better career opportunity, to improve their lives. Struggling, as a working, single mother, she met and married George Holub, when Lee was 9 years old. Lee’s step-father adopted him when he turned 12. Proud of his new father, Lee had his name legally changed, to Daniel Lee Holub.
Lee attended universities, graduating with a degree in Zoology, minoring in English. His daring mother often ventured in to the California deserts, to help him collect rattlesnakes, for college research projects. His father taught him to fish, hunt, camp, and love the outdoors. Lee’s parents instilled in him a respect and love for God, family, friends and country. He also always loved to write. His first success was an essay, published while still in school.
In the year following college, Lee worked a drug case assisting D.E.A. He flew a Cessna 210 airplane from California to Bogota, Colombia, as an undercover pilot. He participated in one of the largest out-of-country drug sting operations of the time, when he was just 24 years old. Fascinated with police work, Lee was hired as a police officer, and graduated from the L.A.P.D. academy.
Lee worked in law enforcement in California and Nevada for 25 years, serving in both uniform and plain clothes. His work included assignments in patrol, a narcotics task force, a gang unit, and various detective units, where he investigated thousands of cases, including homicides. He interviewed thousands of criminals, including some in prison. Lee served as a S.W.A.T. member and a S.W.A.T. commander.
Following policework Lee went on to work in Security Management at one of the world’s largest gold mines. He and his team were responsible for protecting more than a billion dollars’ worth of gold and silver shipments annually, while providing high level security for explosives and other sensitive chemicals.
Throughout his careers, writing remained one of Lee’s passions, and he planned this collection of novels for many years. Calling on all his crime knowledge, undercover work, training and experiences, Lee Cunningham now offers his first series of fiction novels as The Beckett Cypher Series.
Lee lives in Florida with his lovely wife, his nearly “psychic” multi-breed rescue dog, a King Charles Cavalier puppy, and a grand-motherly Cocker Spaniel. He enjoys writing, traveling, experiencing the great outdoors, good food, family, friends, and pets.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
