Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller (31 page)

“
Abdullah’s
father—Muhammad’s grandfather—was a famous Grand Ayatollah in the
Shiite branch of Islam. Early in his
life,
he moved from Iran to
southern
Iraq.
So Rahmati’s paternal lineage is very
Persian
and very
Shiite.”

“
I don’t understand,” said
Samantha. “Why is Muhammad Rahmati an Iranian Commander, if he was
born in Iraq?”

“
Because, when it became
apparent that Saddam Hussein was going to succeed Al-Bakr in 1979,
Abdullah took his family and fled to Iran. Abdullah knew that
Saddam was a ruthless butcher. Once in power, Abdullah was sure
Hussein would purge all the Shiites in the Baathist party. And
that’s
exactly
what he did. Saddam had Abdullah’s father
murdered.”

Samantha processed the soap opera. “So
Saddam was Sunni?”

“
Yes, but he wasn’t very
religious. His biggest concern was a coup. In Iraq, there are more
Shiites than Sunnis. The north of the country, where Saddam was
born, was Sunni. The south of the country was Shia. And there are
way more Shiites in Iran. Iran is over 90% Shiite.

“
In
moving
from Iraq to Iran,
Abdullah went from one fire to another. Iran was in the midst
of
revolution
in 1979. The Ayatollah Khomeini came to power and established
the Revolutionary Guards to protect the revolution. Abdullah worked
himself into a senior position in the Revolutionary
Guards.

“
His career took off when
Saddam attacked Iran in 1980. Abdullah provided valuable
intelligence on the military assets of Iraq to Ayatollah Khomeini.
That war lasted over eight years. It was
absolutely
brutal. One million men
died, and probably just as many civilians. It was trench
warfare, just like
World War I.

“
While the Revolutionary
Guards is a military organization, over time it became much more.
Now, the Guards operate like a sovereign country within a country.
They own almost all the
valuable
assets of Iran that the
mullahs don’t control. Abdullah used his connections to build the
high-tech industry in Iran. Over many years, he became very wealthy
and influential.

“
After religious studies,
Muhammad Rahmati followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the
Revolutionary Guards. He’s a warrior’s warrior. He’s also
maintained close ties
to
his father’s companies.
He knows
technology. I think we’d
better start tracking him more
comprehensively,
and we’d better add
more Persian speakers to the SWARM team.

“
From what I remember
about Rahmati’s profile, a defining moment in his life was the
death of his mother. While Rahmati’s father was Persian, his mother
was
a Sunni-Arab.
The family lived in Tehran. Saddam Hussein tried
to bomb Tehran into submission during the Iran-Iraq war. During air
raids, Iranians would run
to the
mountains
to escape the bombings. In the
midst of one
attack,
Rahmati’s mom was killed. At the age of seven,
Rahmati watched her die.”

“
How sad,” said Samantha.
“I can understand why, with both Sunni and Shia ties, he wants to
end all the sectarian violence.” She sighed. “General, my brain is
fried. Islam and the Middle East completely confuse me.
It’s so complicated.”

“
All you need to remember
is that
Islam is the fastest growing
religion in the world, with nearly 1.9 billion Muslims worldwide.
By
2045,
there will be an equal number of Muslims and Christians. Over
85% of Muslims in the world are Sunni. But Shia-Islam,
spearheaded
by
Iran, is growing in influence.”

“
All I think I’ll remember
is Muhammad Rahmati’s blue eyes. If they ever resurrect the most
interesting man in the world advertising campaign, I’d pick
him.”

Shields crinkled his face. Then he
whispered in Samantha’s ear, “Do you want to get a
drink?”

Samantha shook her head no.

The General looked surprised. “Come
on, just one.”

*

45 minutes later, Samantha
and General Shields lay in bed in the General’s office. Shields had
recently purchased a couch with a pull-out bed. A tipsy Samantha
was angry at herself. She promised she was going to stop sleeping
with him. “What’s
going
on with Becca and Josh?” Her tone was
sharp.

“
Well, they’re on a no-fly
list.
They
can’t get out of the country. Both of
them
have moved to live with
Josh’s dad in
Connecticut
. I’m sure
they’re
both
just moving on. Josh will probably go back to MIT or work for
his
father
.”

“
If I were you, I wouldn’t
underestimate Becca or Josh. Becca is an expert hacker. I’m not
sure a no-fly list will contain her. And Josh’s dad is a
multi-billionaire.”

“
I hear you. They’re under
surveillance.” Shields appeared confused by Samantha’s mood
swings.

“
I’ve
really
missed Becca at
Gamification. I didn’t realize how much I relied on her. Gecko
Insurance asks me about her, nearly every day. I’ve had to be much
more involved than I wanted. I mean, it’s great that they are going
to purchase an enterprise license. That thrills me. And I thank you
for your help in landing that deal. But my plate was already
full,
before you
fired Becca.”

Shields abruptly raised his torso in
bed. He glared at Samantha. “I didn’t fire her. She quit,
remember?”

Samantha turned on her
side. She looked the General directly in the eye. “Becca
resigned
because
she felt like I didn’t trust her. I did trust her. You didn’t. You
didn’t even invite me to the meeting in which you, had my employee
escorted out of the Accelerator—
at
gunpoint
.”

*

After extensive editing
and graphics work, Rahmati’s media team posted the video of Abu
Omar’s takedown to A-Tube. They also released magazine-quality
photos. The New York Times and CNN syndicated the
photos
. Drudge
prominently highlighted a picture of Rahmati on his
website.

The piece created by the
Immersive Media Team was over 25 minutes long. It included Rahmati
kneeling in prayer with his forehead pressed to the ground. He
asked Allah to bless his mission and protect the Immortals,
inshallah
.
Inshallah was Arabic for, ‘if God wills.’

The video interspersed
inspirational
music
and high-resolution drone
feeds
, with
elaborate, on-the-ground
footage. The post looked every bit like an
interactive, immersive TV show. It could’ve come straight from a
big movie studio in Hollywood or China.

Rahmati’s propaganda
spread like
wildfire
across the Middle East. Then it ignited in the
West. Whether
viewed
normally
,
through
VR headgear, or with AR
glasses; the world
felt absorbed
into
the action. The footage was of such
high quality and
realism;
the
viewer felt like they were an
Immortal.

American talk shows, from
the left and right, cheered Muhammad Rahmati. Here was a Muslim
that was finally demonstrating pan-sectarian, nation-building,
Islamic leadership. Voices in the Middle East
elatedly
praised Rahmati for
capturing and executing Omar. Omar was an enemy that had
baffled
and
embarrassed the CIA. Tactical tomahawks became a best seller on
Amazon. Memes of Rahmati hacking Omar’s hand went viral across
social media platforms, incorporating a range of messages—from
religious to comic.

The talking heads and
columnists questioned whether Rahmati was attempting to lead a
cultural renaissance in the Middle East. Was he trying to reform
Islam, like Martin Luther
reformed
Christianity? Other pundits
debated whether Rahmati was talking about implementing Islamic
Sharia law or Western style democracy. They wondered aloud what the
Ayatollah thought of his dashing Quds Force Commander.

In the Middle East,
pro-Rahmati demonstrators took to the streets in many of the
same
countries as
the Arab Spring.
This included;
Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain,
and Saudi Arabia. Though Bahrain was a tiny island, it was
strategically important to the US because it contained
the
Navy’s
5
^th
Fleet base. The 5
^th
Fleet’s area of operation
was the waters of the Middle East. The Fleet was designed to serve
as
the
tip of the spear in any military action against Iran or other
Middle Eastern country.

Rahmati supporters carried
placards of the Commander’s face and waxing crescent moons. They
also held signs that called for an end to sectarian violence and
advocated
more
economic opportunity. Chants of, ‘the future
is
now,’ rang
out through the crowds. A few dozen demonstrators called for an end
to their oppressive regimes.

The #FutureIsNow hashtag
spread in waves throughout social media platforms. Social media was
also used to organize the peaceful demonstrations in the Middle
Eastern countries that did not block the Internet or SMS messaging.
Demonstrators posted thousands of pictures and videos from the
rallies. Social media sites
published
results from online polls.
Rahmati
was more popular than
any
current Middle Eastern ruler,
including the Ayatollah.

Some compared Rahmati to
Suleiman the Magnificent or Saladin. A small but vocal
group,
began
referring to Muhammad Rahmati as the Mahdi. In Iran, the Ayatollah
had always censored the Internet. However, technically literate
Iranians still saw the videos using proxy servers. Subtitles
translated Rahmati’s Arabic and English into Farsi.

A handful of students met
at Azadi Square in Tehran. Azadi Square was the scene of the
massive protests in 2009, known as
the
Green Revolution. It was also the
location for the even larger 1979 protests. Those demonstrations
led to the overthrow of the Shah and replacement by the first
Ayatollah.

From
their
headquarters at Raqqa,
the Caliphate raged. Caliph Abu Mosulaydi plotted the elimination
of Muhammad Rahmati.

11:45 a.m., Saturday, October 24, 2020
- Raqqa, Syria

Abu Mosulaydi sat with his
legs crisscrossed on a threadbare rug. The
carpet
covered the dirt floor of
his
makeshift
residence. Mosulaydi had a long, dark-brown beard, with
flecks of gray. He
was
dressed
from head to toe in black. To
avoid drone strikes and air bombardments, Mosulaydi moved locations
every night.

Like the previous Caliph,
Mosulaydi held a doctorate in Islamic studies from the Islamic
University
of
Baghdad. In addition to the Koran and various collections of
Hadiths, Mosulaydi was surrounded by literature on Mao Tse-tung,
Genghis Khan, the Viet Nam war, and
driver-less
vehicles.

The Caliphate’s new Minister of
Finance—the man who replaced Abu Omar—and the Minister of Social
Media & Recruitment entered the dusty room. They proceeded to
update the Caliph.

At various times over the years, Abu
Mosulaydi had been forced to flee from the city of Raqqa due to
American, French, British, and Russian harassment. Sometimes, he
would dissolve into Raqqa’s population of over 200,000. Other
times, he would flee to alternative regions of Syria or Iraq. Once,
Mosulaydi was secreted to Libya.

He was always able to return when the
tempo of the attacks slowed. Despite the Caliphate’s wishes, no
country wanted to involve themselves in a full-scale ground war. No
nation wanted to repeat the commitment of George W. Bush’s surge in
troop levels to fight in a civil war.

Raqqa was
a key
city for
the Caliphate. It
was
situated
in northern Syria, located on the
bank of the Euphrates River. It was roughly 100 west of Aleppo.
Since early 2014, Raqqa served as the headquarters of the
Caliphate. After numerous battles and air bombardments, the city
was still the de facto capital
of
the Caliphate.