Hope: Chandler Scott

By Jim Mosquera

HOPE: Can the nation find it during the crisis? The fourth book in the Chandler Scott series. 

 

Forces threaten to topple the first female President of the United States who faces opposition from secessionists and hostile forces in cyberspace and within her own government.  Journalist Chandler Scott gets the call to undertake a covert mission to save her presidency and secure the country's future. 

During his quest, he's forced to engage the Internet's dark forces to help him find the one person who might save the president.  Who can he trust?   Will he make the right decision?  The nation awaits. 

 

Fans of Tom Clancy, Stieg Larsson, The Black Mirror, and the Man in the High Castle will love the Chandler Scott series.  As the USA faces tumultuous social, political, and economic challenges, readers will connect with the alarmingly realistic plight of Chandler's world. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Sentinel
• Release date: Feb 13, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201878351

Jim Mosquera

Jim Mosquera is a published author of fiction and non-fiction and a business professional.  He wants people to understand the world around them and think for themselves. Early Life Born in Panama City, Panama, he spent his formative years in Panama City and St. Louis, Missouri.  He graduated near the top of his class from the University of Missouri-Columbia with Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Industrial Engineering.   Professional Career After graduation, he worked in telecommunications serving in a variety of roles including engineering, sales, sales support, product development, and training.  In 2004, he received a patent for a software application. He continued his education by completing a Series 3 license.  Mr. Mosquera also developed proprietary software programs used in options and futures trading.   He founded Sentinel Consulting, a business restructuring and capital acquisition firm.  Later he served as Vice President for a consultancy and then assumed the role of leading entrepreneurship for a private university. Non-fiction The financial crisis of 2008 inspired the first book in a series called Escaping Oz: Protecting your wealth during the financial crisis, published in 2011.  He published the successor to that book, Escaping Oz: Navigating the crisis, in 2015.  In 2017, he published the third book in the series, Escaping Oz: An Observer's Reflections. For Jim, the financial crisis never really ended. Fiction As a result of his non-fiction writing,  Jim wrote a realistic fictional novel titled, 2020 that he published in 2016.   The story is a political thriller with financial crisis, cyber terror, and alternative parties challenging the two-party status quo, culminating in the presidential election of 2020.  The second book in that series, Rebellium, continues where 2020 left off.  The third novel in the series, Division is a wild tale.  In early 2020, he published Hope, at a time when the nation desperately needs it. His latest book is an exploration of humankind's greatest mystery entitled, Seth's Epic Journey.

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Jim Mosquera

Sentinel Photocopy

Hope

The fourth book in the Chandler Scott series.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

Copyright © 2020 by The Sentinel / Jim Mosquera

All rights reserved.

Mosquera, Jaime (Jim) Jr.

Hope / Jim Mosquera

ISBN: 0-9832966-7-7

ISBN-13: 978-0-9832966-7-6

This work contains historical references to events and people.  The story, names, and characters portrayed are fictitious.  No identification with actual persons should be inferred.

No disrespect is intended towards the flag of the United States or Mount Rushmore as depicted on the cover.

The main body text type set in Adobe Garamond Pro.

DEDICATION

To the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

Prologue

It was a joyous and hopeful moment for the country.  On March 17th of the year 2022 the Chief Justice of the United States swore in the 46th President of the United States, Republican Alicia Scarborough.  Her trip to the White House as the leader of the free world felt like an aircraft that had lost cabin pressure — fortunately she had on her mask.

When the Electoral College voted on December 14, 2020, she came in second place to the incumbent, President Benjamin Jefferson, representing the Democratic Party.  Given the vast support for two other political parties, the Independent American Party (IAP) and the Theocracy Party (TP), no single candidate had the required 270 Electoral College votes.  The Constitution mandated an election in the House of Representatives, something that had not occurred since 1825.  That House vote never occurred because President Jefferson froze the results of the 2020 election by Executive Order 14666.  Financial crisis and cyber terror had rocked the nation.  Maintaining public confidence was essential for economic recovery and psychological well-being.  Even a document like the Constitution no longer served as a legal anchor.  Many rejected the Electoral College despite its constitutional mandate.  Jefferson surmised the public would view an election in the House, for president, and the Senate, for vice president, as a constitutional failure.

The nation faced another divisive challenge with two secession efforts, Cal Sí and Cascadia, threatening to reduce the Union by five states.  Only in the 1860s did the nation entertain secession.  The Jefferson administration and most government officials, were in no mood to entertain such a thought.

After an impeachment, a Senate trial, and a Supreme Court decision, Jefferson was ready to decide the election, though events prevented it.  Cyber terrorists destabilized the nation’s capital so much that Congress vacated the city, fearing for their safety.  An Article V convention held in Winter Park Colorado during the winter of 2022 further split the country between those who saw the convention restoring constitutional order and those who viewed the exercise as a rogue attempt to destabilize the country.  President Jefferson made a surprise and unwelcome appearance at the convention and later faced abduction by the Five Tribes, a mysterious organization with many adherents in cyberspace who wanted minimal government intrusion in their lives.

During the abduction, Jefferson had time to contemplate an unending struggle between authority and liberty and concluded that he’d overstepped his boundaries as Chief Executive.  Journalist Chandler Scott brokered a deal between Jefferson, the Five Tribes and other hackers to bring a halt to the cyber mayhem that had emptied the nation’s capital.  Congress then returned to decide the 2020 election on March 10, 2022 in favor of former Kansas Republican Governor Alicia Scarborough as president and Robert DeMarco, a Democrat from New Jersey, as vice president.  During Jefferson’s farewell address to the nation, he stated the country should give secession groups an opportunity to leave the Union provided constitutional authorities could develop a sound legal path.  Once he let that genie out of the bottle, it left President Scarborough to face an unanticipated crucible and challenges to her authority as Chief Executive and Commander-In-Chief.

CHAPTER ONE

dissolving republic

The deal brokered by Chandler Scott dissolved after two months.  Cyber warfare returned to the nation with the capital city of Washington, D.C. being the epicenter. 

Omni often shouldered blame for any cyber attack not assignable to an individual hacker or an organization.  Omni was the infamous hacker group responsible for cyber-attacks on businesses and governments.  The authorities could not figure out who they were or where they came from.  This proved almost inconceivable, given how much the National Security Agency (NSA) and other agencies sampled and collected a plethora of digital data. 

Omni proved themselves a benevolent group.  They could come to the rescue of organizations held hostage by cyber crooks placing ransomware on their devices.  Ransomware was a malware preventing users from accessing their system.  They also knocked down web sites of Middle Eastern terror organizations.  They could also disable an airline reservation system to settle an employee’s grievance.  Omni operated by its own set of rules and had become an enigma, friend to some and foe to others.

There were other culprits such as the Five Tribes and various cyber terrorists without affiliation.  Identifying suspects in cyberspace proved a challenging endeavor.

Fighting cyber mayhem were domestic cyber counter-terror organizations of the United States government such as the NSA, United States Cyber Command and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). 

Both hackers and government blamed the other for ending the cease fire brokered by journalist, Chandler Scott.  Government counter-terror agencies stabilized the capital so the business of government could continue.

The Convention of States organization prepared for a new Article V convention in Dallas, Texas after hackers, some reputed to have domestic intelligence roots, disrupted the prior year’s convention in Winter Park, Colorado. Former President Benjamin Jefferson’s convention appearance didn’t help either.  Many viewed his abduction in Colorado and safe return as a political stunt designed to enhance his chances of reelection in the House.  Chandler, as an unfortunate hostage, had his own doubts.  Spending extended time with Jefferson, however, convinced him the abduction was no stunt.  The abduction showed how far technology had advanced that a group like the Five Tribes could thwart presidential security — it was asymmetric warfare at its best.

In the final days of the Jefferson presidency, there was a mass resignation of his cabinet.  Former Secretary of Defense Trent Carter spearheaded this effort.  Carter attempted to mobilize a 25th Amendment removal of former President Jefferson on grounds of mental instability — he felt Jefferson’s secessionist sympathies resulted from Stockholm Syndrome affliction during captivity by the Five Tribes. 

When Carter realized his presidential removal efforts resulted in failure, he resigned his position as secretary.  That did not mean he’d resigned from being influential within the current military and intelligence establishment. 

Carter, the patriot, saw his country slipping away and wanted to put an end to niceties extended to those who were speeding up the Union’s dissolution.  Carter operated in the shadows, thwarting President Scarborough’s attempted diplomacy with breakaway states.  He had many adherents within the military and intelligence establishment, though only a few key players would defy their Commander-In-Chief.

Secession movements had matured to the point of regular communication with legal scholars and the Scarborough administration.  As expected, many within government, including intelligence agencies, expressed dissatisfaction with the treatment afforded the movements by President Scarborough.  The Cascadia movement that included northern California, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, used the same name for their new country.  Likewise, Cal Sí, which included southern California, Arizona and New Mexico, decided on Calexico for their name.  Aristides Zamora established himself as primary spokesperson and negotiator for Calexico, and Justin Tremblay had done the same for Cascadia.

Lawmakers in the nation’s capital, fearful of more defections, enacted legislation creating a Loyalty Board.  The Loyalty Board had authority to work with the Financial Stability Board (FSB) to grant loyalty points to citizens who’d submit to greater invasions of privacy.  These invasions comprised retinal scans for Internet access, vehicle trackers, DNA samples, monthly blood draws for disease detection, and reviews of social media posts. 

The Loyalty Board used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to determine points awarded by culling massive amounts of data from those willing to expose themselves to further government scrutiny.  The Financial Stability Board would apply loyalty points to reduce individual or business financial reporting and grant tax credits.  For those submitting to household monitoring, the FSB granted financial payouts. 

The Loyalty Board conducted an aggressive social media campaign attempting to lower the common denominator — free money — to create a hive mind embracing increased authority.  Loyalty Board measures became ensconced in the Plan for Prosperity (PFP), a campaign enacted by the Jefferson administration to give the nation economic hope — surveillance and scrutiny implied financial salvation.

Government also used data collected to predict secessionist tendencies.  The plan was to use this data in recommending treatment in the form of reeducation.

Civil libertarians lamented how the promise of AI and technology made the country more susceptible to authority.  It was a case of forced transparency for individuals and opacity for the State.

AI and the Internet made some people eschew technology altogether.  These people looked to secure places of refuge, somewhere the government apparatus couldn’t reach them, yet it was difficult to operate in a world devoid of technology. 

The President of the United States (POTUS), Alicia Scarborough, juggled many balls and she could afford to drop none.  With the nation economically teetering and politically fracturing, perhaps at no time in America’s history was hope required to such a profound extent. 

Chandler Scott, a journalist with independent news organization Veritas, would thrust himself into the fray once again. 

B reeeaaathe!

Chandler was in the middle of a downward-facing dog pose, and the last command from the instructor included a lift of his right leg.  The three-prong balance created a shallower breath.

Breeeaathe Mr. Scott.  You’re holding your breath!

Crap!  He’s right!

The flow of air returned to his lungs and lessened focus on his balance.

Better, much better.

I know I’m not the only one holding my breath.  Wait, stop thinking and relax.  Think about shanti.

Shanti was his mantra during morning yoga class.  It meant peace in Hindi.  He needed all the peace he could muster with the love of his life, the stunning Arianne Maxwell, off in Singapore.  Her father, Larry, the scion of Maxwell Technologies, summoned her to help open a new office in the Asian nation-state. 

He’d planned on proposing when she dropped news of her departure.  A romantic weekend in Washington, D.C. provided the pretense.  The city held special significance for both since they were onetime residents.  He would pop the question at a restaurant where they had their first date.  This time, though, he’d skip Thai hot spice on his chicken.  Alas, the ring presentation would have to wait.

While Chandler enjoyed a reasonable fitness level, Arianne thought he needed something to calm his mind and help his fitness at the same time.  She’d practiced yoga on and off for years and suggested it.  Plus, it was something they could do together. 

Chandler’s initial foray into yoga practice might have made a good social media video, and not for its quality.  Arianne didn’t laugh, but snickered at his attempts.  He appreciated her loving support, even if he became the subject of her humor.

That was six months ago, and he’d come a long way in his yoga practice.

He’d come a long way with her too.  They achieved the life they both wanted.  She worked for her father and he worked for an up-and-coming news outlet, Veritas.  A condominium in Evanston, Illinois, near Maxwell Technologies headquarters served as their nest. 

His last pose in this Hatha yoga class was Shavasana or Corpse Pose.  While common at the end of class, many considered it the hardest pose since its goal was to promote relaxation while keeping thoughts clear. 

He entertained thoughts of Arianne in a pair of snug jeans, in a pajama set he gifted her, and in her birthday suit.  Then he thought about coffee he’d not had.  Fighting the constellation of mental objects tugging at his attention, he focused on his mantra, Peace begins with me.

Chandler rose to a Hero Pose or Virasana, awaiting the instructor’s last words.  He’d worked hard for months to get into this position, stretching his quads and ankles, which had poor flexion. 

The light in me honors the light in you, Namaste, the instructor chanted, his hands held in prayer in his heart space.

Namaste, the class said in unison.

Chandler was rolling his mat when his instructor approached.

Mr. Scott, you’re doing much better, just don’t forget about your breathing, it’s key to the practice.

Hey, Chase.  Great class, as always.  Yeah, I know, I know.  Have a great day!

Chandler put on shoes and a jacket, slung his mat over his shoulder and walked into the brisk spring air.  On these Ides of March in 2023, the thermometer showed 38 degrees Fahrenheit with a brisk wind blowing off Lake Michigan.  It would be a short walk to his condo. 

Chandler Michael Scott was born to a single mother on October 19, 1987, infamously known as Black Monday.  The shame of his mother’s pregnancy chased her from her native Columbia, Missouri to Dallas, Texas, where she attempted to eke out a living.  He didn’t meet his biological father until the age of eight, though he grew to have a brother-brother relationship with him. 

Chandler Scott grew up to be a handsome man of 6’2" with an athletic build, wide shoulders and small hips.  As a non-participant in athletics, his body never reached its full potential.  He cut an impressive look that played well as a news personality working for the successful Argentine TV news network, El Mundo.  While he cut his teeth at that network, he’d achieved notoriety for a revelation he’d made on the Internet regarding the Global Financial Union (GFU) — a covert financial reorganization of the United States.  His boss, involved on the periphery of covert action supporting the GFU, had not sanctioned his detailed investigation. The ensuing confrontation precipitated Chandler’s ouster from the network. 

Later, as an independent journalist working on a documentary with his partner, he showed the nation, through a foreign news network, the ghastly underbelly of a mind control program used by domestic authorities to quell dissent.  He went undercover at a reorientation camp where domestic security used virtual reality to reform the mentality of dissenters.  Dissenters often included those with views opposing government policies.  The mind control program had its problems, leaving some of its victims with brain damage.  The solution to brain damage was euthanizing patients who chose their own path to the Elysian Fields — death.

Within the last year, Chandler took employment with Veritas, an independent news organization.  Little did he expect that his first story would cover his own abduction, along with the President of the United States, at the hands of the Five Tribes.  The Five Tribes were an organization that had their own views about citizen governance.  The cyber group envisioned an inclusive society with small governing units since technology facilitated governance at ever smaller levels.  This conception of governance proved antithetical to those espousing larger organizational units.  A mysterious man known as Quinque served as voice of the Tribes, though he only appeared on video monitors.

An electric jam ring tone of Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix interrupted his pace.  His hand lamented removal from the jacket’s warmth, reaching into his sweatpants to retrieve the phone. 

Hey, Chan.  Beware the Ides of March.

Jaden Casey was Chandler’s boss at Veritas.  In a chance meeting the year before at the Article V convention, Jaden offered him a position on the spot during a meeting at a café.  Chandler’s first assignment would cover the convention, which the day prior he’d attended as a visitor.  His new employer ended up with a story magnitudes larger after Chandler’s and President Jefferson’s abduction. 

Veritas framed themselves as alternative media with a motto of vincit omnia veritas or truth conquers all things.  Veritas believed that the further a society drifted from truth, the more it would hate those who spoke it. 

Chandler had established a history of speaking truth regardless of upsetting guests at the banquet.

Hey Jaden!  I don’t think any Roman Emperors are in danger today.  What’s up, dude?  Chandler positioned the phone over his left ear, blocking wind swooping off Lake Michigan.

So, can we talk about this stuff goin’ on with the Five Tribes?

The Five Tribes continued to be a thorn in government’s side, given their espousal of limited government, so limited to the point of only wanting government for defense against foreign invaders.  This organization operated in the shadows of the Deep Web, making them impervious to government auspices of taxation and financial monitoring.  The Tribes were fuel for those who saw the Financial Stability Board (FSB) as an oppressive government agency attempting to control the economy.

Yeah!  I mean, what the heck is goin’ on with these detainments?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported the apprehension of Five Tribes members.  For an organization that existed in cyberspace and whose members were unidentified, this was quite a coup for DHS.

So, Chan, that’s a story we need to look into more.  I don’t get it.  You have this person, Quinque, and you told me how all these people online view him as their leader, so to speak, and then these other hacker types were brought under control by him with that deal you brokered.  I thought these guys weren’t public with their membership, if that’s what you want to call it.

Chandler dodged several plastic grocery bags taking flight in the brisk wind.  Whoa!

You OK?

Sorry, I’m good.  I know.  Quinque will tell you he’s not the only leader.  He said there are others but didn’t say more than that.  The only thing that makes sense is maybe they identified some of those Fawkes characters.

During his prior year abduction with President Jefferson, their captors wore Guy Fawkes masks and spoke little.  The first time Chandler met Quinque, which was on a video monitor, someone in a Guy Fawkes mask drove him and Axel, his mentor, to a remote location in a farm field that housed two silos. 

So, how’d they do that?  Do you think there was an undercover domestic intel operative in that Guy Fawkes masked group and he ratted them out?

Chandler had never considered that possibility.  Last year, he harbored doubt about the whole abduction, thinking like many that it was a stunt to elevate the president’s popularity ahead of the election resolution in the House.  The abduction proved to be a time of great doubt, where he didn’t know fact from fiction.  He accepted the abduction as legitimate, concluding the president had experienced a metamorphosis after his exposure to the Tribes.

I don’t know, Jaden.  I guess that’s possible.  Heck, there’s so much that’s happened that I guess nothing should surprise me.  I suppose you want me to sort out this story.  And here I was preparing myself for the Article V convention.

Hey before I forget.  How’s Arianne doing?

Yeah, the time difference is a bitch.  We talked this morning early before I went to yoga.  Damn, I miss her.  She sounded pretty pumped about being in Singapore, you know, helpin’ her father.

So start to work on this and, you know, you can take your mind off her a bit.

Yeah, just a bit.

Talk to you later, Chan!

See ya, Jaden!

He shoved the phone in his pants pocket.  His hand relished the jacket’s warm confines.

When he arrived at his condo, his personal digital assistant, Venus, greeted his arrival.

Good morning, Chandler.  Would you like a news update?

No.

He’d owned Venus since his time in New York.  There had always been concerns about opening up his condo to the Internet of Things or IoT.  He could control Venus from anywhere in the world, hence the potential for mayhem.  Axel Schulz, his mentor, convinced him to change the software to limit functionality.  Arianne would not appreciate one of their nights of passion being shared on the Internet.

Venus couldn’t help with the task at hand — investigating the story about the Five Tribes detainees.

It wasn’t like the old days when he could talk to Axel and get direction on something like this.  His death the prior year left a void in Chandler’s life like no other.  Axel had grown to be more than a mentor.  He was the father figure Chandler lacked growing up with his mom as a single parent and a father with whom he interacted as a brother.

On this day, a call would go to Matt Geringer, the senator from Colorado of the Independent American Party (IAP) who’d grown to be another mentor.  This mentor was the leader of his political party and a respected member of Congress.  Geringer ran for the presidency as a member of the Republican Party in 2016.  When he failed to secure the nomination, he and others formed the IAP, a party in the spirit of Jeffersonian democracy. 

They’d met by chance a few years back when Chandler’s father, Professor Gustavo Sáenz, gave testimony to a Senate committee.  The erudite professor schooled many of the senators on money concepts and history and impressed Geringer, who later introduced himself.  Chandler was in the audience and met the senator through his father.  That introduction started a friendship that would serve both men.

Though Geringer did not always approve of Axel’s or Chandler’s methods, since they involved contact with cyber hackers, he recognized the value of the truth uncovered.

Chandler plopped himself on his leather sofa.  Hey senator, how’s the weather in D.C.?

Geringer’s voice operated on the low end of the audible spectrum.  The lanky senator from Colorado could have served as the Marlboro Man, though he did not smoke.  Were he not a public servant, he would have enjoyed success as a voice-over artist.

He tilted back in his executive chair.  Chan, great to hear from you!  Well, the cherry blossoms are coming out.  I guess it’s better here than in Chicago.  Do you even have a spring season there?  Geringer’s low frequency laugh vibrated Chandler’s ear.

No, senator.  We don’t have spring.  Arianne warned me.

How’s she doing, anyway?

She seems like she’s too busy to miss me.  Chandler winked at the phone.

Well, I know better than that.  What can I do for you?

These detainments of the Five Tribes members.  You know anything?  I know you have some decent contacts in the intel community and I thought Homeland Security.

Geringer leaned towards his desk before responding.  If you want to have that conversation, you’re gonna have to come here.

For several years, domestic intelligence had kept tight surveillance on just about every form of communication, especially voice and email transmissions.  The nation understood that private conversations occurred either with very sophisticated encryption applications or in person. 

Maxwell Technologies offered one such encryption method for digital phones.  As a member of Congress, the law prohibited Geringer from using any encryption for communication.  Federal law granted government officials a modicum of privacy in personal interactions.  The call with Chandler did not create a personal interaction.

I thought you might say that.  I’ll see you in your office soon.  I’ll set it up with Molly.

Molly Sanders was Geringer’s chief of staff.

Geringer had no love for the Five Tribes, an organization he felt did not have the best interests of the nation.  Chandler would be hard-pressed to change his mind.

The Oval Office measured thirty-six feet on its longest axis and twenty-nine feet on its shortest one.  It was little changed since the FDR administration, except for furnishings.