Chapter 10 – The Rebels
Tent City, Seattle Washington
Things are just getting back to normal after a riot broke out few weeks ago. It was much worse than the scuffle that broke out during the protest against the dismissal of the Pegasus Electric Corp fraud inquiry few years ago. This recent riot has become so widespread that the police are given arms, and the police chief has broadcast warnings to shoot to kill if rioters don't disperse. The riot goes on and the chief of police issues the shoot orders. Several blocks are burned and the police chief is sacked. Following the riot, tent city dwellers are blamed for the incident and a crackdown follows with various tent cities being closed.
Drake Rain is a bitter man. He is a veteran of the Iraq war. He joined the army at a very young age in order to survive. His parents could no longer afford to feed him three meals. He came back from Iraq in a worse mental state. He gets angry easily and has a very serious temper problem. He ended up moving out and has struggled to keep a job. Drake eventually ends up moving from one tent city to the next. After the riot, his tent city got shut down and he has moved here in what has become a very crowded area. A lot of heated discussions can be heard at night. Drake decides to join one.
“Are you guys going to just sit around here complaining or are you going to do something about it,” Drake asks.
“What else can we do? Those rioters fuck it up for us,” one young guy answers Drake.
“Open up your eyes. It is not the rioters that are fucking it up for us. It is the rich people like the executives of Pegasus Electric Corporation and the Secretary of Treasury which happen to be living in one of the luxurious gated community close to here. So are you going to just sit here and complain or do something about it?”
“What are you babbling about? What can we do?” another elderly gentleman asked. Astor Isaiah has seen a lot at his age and he can tell Drake is up to no good.
“Rise up, make those people know they cannot hide away in their gated community.”
“Damn straight!” says one young man.
“How are we going to do that? Scare them with our placards?” asks another.
“No, tear down their castles and fortresses,” Drake says with hate in his eyes.
“With what?” another curious bystander joins in.
“If we can get our hands on those guns that the police used for the riot, we can overpower their security easily.”
“Good luck,” says another onlooker.
“I can easily get them. Question is how many of you would join me?” Drake asks.
“Are you out of your mind? Are you guys tired of living?” Astor stands up. “Everybody go back to your tent and don't listen to this madman.”
Drake stares at Astor like he wants to tear him up.
“What tent? This place is so crowded I can't even put down my tent.”
“Yeah! They won't let us have a proper sleep so why should we let them!”
A chorus of “yeahs” can be heard.
Astor is troubled to see Drake's incitement is working.
More young men stand forward. “You lead,” says one.
“Stop!” Astor yells. “Think carefully of the consequences of what you are planning to do.”
“I've been thinking my whole life old man. Get out of the way or else....”
“Or else what?” Astor stands his ground.
“Do we want to do this or not?”
“Yes!” comes the chorus from the growing crowd.
“Tie this old man up. We don't want him reporting to the police,” Drake commands and several people come forward to grab Astor.
“Just go to sleep and we'll untie you tomorrow morning,” one of the people sounds remorseful and apologetic but goes on to tie Astor up anyway.
“You! Stay with the old man and make sure he does not do anything funny,” Drake points to the apologetic man.
“Let's spread out and meet at the precinct.” Drake then gives them directions. “Wait for my command once we get there.”
The crowd spreads out and heads to the precinct that Drake claims is where the guns are stored.
Police Precinct in Seattle, Washington
Drake walks straight into the police precinct as if it is his home. “Is Seth Nevil here?”
“One second.” The cop at reception says and goes to the office to call Seth. Seth went to Iraq with Drake, and since Drake met him, he knew Seth was rotten to the core. He randomly killed civilians. Drake knew but did not say anything. Eventually Drake started to imitate Seth’s ferocity. Drake convinced himself men like Seth are the ones who will survive. Drake decided to set aside any emotions and guilt from that day on. Seth came back from the war soon after Drake. Seth got involved with gangs. Drake knows it and is surprised that the police force still does not know to this day. Seth was quite pissed when he learned several of his gang mates were killed in the riot.
Seth comes out and is surprised to see Drake. He acts nervously then turns to the cop at the reception. “I am just going to head out for a minute,” Seth says.
Upon reaching outside, he turns to Drake and says, “What the hell are you doing here?”
“The thing we've talked about. We want to do it tonight.”
“So soon?”
“Is there a problem?”
“No, actually there are only a couple of cops with me tonight so it would be perfect. But you have to make sure you burn this place down and leave no evidence.”
“Deal.”
“Go to the back door.”
Seth opened the back door. “Where's the two other cops?” Drake whispers.
“In the jail area.” Seth says, pointing to the direction.
He hands Drake a handgun with a silencer. “It does not look like police issue.” Drake observes.
They go in and both police stand up. “It's just me with another boarder for the night.” Seth says, holding Drake’s hands behind him like he is handcuffed. But it is not handcuffs that Drake has behind him. It is a gun with a silencer. One cop turns to open one of the prison doors when Seth points the gun at the police sitting at the desk firing one shot into the head and as the police in the jail door turns around, Drake lands another shot in his head. They ask prisoners to see who wants to join them. They then open the door of those who raised their hands. Seth then goes up to the reception and shoots the other police officer. Soon Seth opens the storage where the guns are stored and Drake signals for the rest, who have been sitting casually outside, to come in and get their guns.
They burn down the police station and hijack a public transit bus, breaking the cameras. Drake then drives the bus to the gated community.
Tent City, Seattle Washington
Astor has talked non-stop, trying to convince the man to let him go. The man threatened to put a cloth in his mouth but did not. “Think about what is going to happen to your parents and siblings if the police took revenge on us and close this tent city down. Let go of your hatred. It will only destroy you, like it did Drake.”
“Drake is fighting for a just cause,” the man said proudly.
“You don't fight evil with evil or you just end up like your enemy,” Astor says, in a pleading manner. “I assure you from my experience in life that things will get better. It might not seem so right now, but it will. Good always triumphs against evil. Kindness always wins against injustice. Believe me when I say that what Drake is doing will just prolong and worsen our suffering and get innocent civilians killed.”
That seems to have touched the man as he quickly unties Astor. Both of them run to the nearest payphone, but neither of them has any change. They then continue to run to the nearest convenience store. They start yelling, which scares the store clerk, who takes out a gun and pointes it at them. Astor realizes how hasty they have been, raises his hand and tries to calm him down.
“No, we are not here to rob you. We need the phone for an emergency. Please,” Astor says as he tries to control his breathing. The store cle
rk looks him in the eye and slowly lowers the gun. He then moves the small phone unit closer to Astor.
“Thank you.” Astor starts dialling 911, hoping it is not too late.
Gated Community in Seattle, Washington
The bus parks right in front of the gate as Drake comes down. The security man in attention puts his hand on the gun's holster. But he does not know that Seth has sneaked in from the other side of the bus and fired a shot right to his head. Drake then approaches the guard, takes his key and opens the door.
He went back to the bus and yells, “Tonight we plunder the treasures that have been stolen from us!” He then drives the bus inside looking for the Secretary of Treasury’s home address that Seth got from his contact. It does not take long for him to find it. He stops, and people from the bus immediately pour out like beasts that have not been fed for years. They spread out and charged to various houses with guns in their hands. The secretary hears some noise and decides to check it out. His security is right on their feet already. Then Drake and others start firing at the door, breaking the frame to pieces. Amidst the gun fire, the attacker does not hear the sirens going all around the city trying to reach the gated community. Helicopters also approaches but turn away after some of the attackers start firing into the sky.
One of the secretary's security guards quickly grabs him, knots a blanket, and throws it out the window. He goes down to make sure nobody is in the backyard and quickly ushers the secretary down. The quiet night has suddenly been punctuated with the voice of women screaming and children crying. The security guard quickly grabs the secretary and throws him over the fence. One of the attackers suddenly appears in the backyard and the security guard quickly fires at the assailant, killing him. Drake is so overcome with rage he goes charging into the house and is immediately shot in the head by one of the secretary's security. The secretary decides to jump into the man-made lake and start swimming to get as far from here as possible. But gun fire seems to come from everywhere as the attackers use it to force open the door and intimidate their occupants. Those with guns are able to fight back. They have either killed the looters or were killed. The secretary wonders if this is what it sounds like in a battlefield.
Seth saw Drake go down and start running toward the house. The security sees him coming and fires several shots but misses. Seth then crouches down, leaning as much on the wall as he could. He then hears slow footsteps and that's all he needs, as he quickly turns, staying as low to the ground as he can and fires a few shots at the direction of where the footsteps came from. He lands several shots but also gets hit in the chest. The security guard in the backyard, who is now crouched in the kitchen, takes the opportunity to move and sees Seth on the floor. He quickly fires several shots at Seth's back killing him.
Words starts spreading among attackers that Seth and Drake are dead, and the police are coming. Everyone starts running in all directions to get out of the subdivision with as much of their loot as they can carry. Some are arrested, some are killed in gunfight with the police, and some make it back to the tent city.
Tent City, Seattle Washington
Astor convinces all returning attackers to hand over their guns. He would keep them and lead the negotiation with police. They oblige. Upon the arrival of police, Astor identifies himself as the person who called for help. He hands over all the guns that he recovered. In the succeeding days, police arrest the attackers one by one, based on intelligence gathered by their agents in the tent city.
Saudi Arabia
On the other side of the world, another group of rebels has assembled. They are determined to march peacefully to protest against corruption and atrocities. They have talked about the bravery of the Egyptians who have withstood violence and sniper fire to overthrow their dictator.
The internet has been shut down, so Jabaar, who has joined his friends in the rally, is not able to upload any pictures or video to the internet. So he just brings his computer unit and starts filming. He is puzzled as to why the Middle East Voice Network is not broadcasting their protest. The network has been promoted as the new voice for the Middle East and has offered modern programming, attracting lots of viewers, especially the youth. But Jabaar is puzzled as to why the network news is not even mentioning the protest. The government has also been cracking down on internet usage censoring the content. Saudi is one of the first to quickly sign the Motherland Defence Initiative, claiming they already practice all of those laws. Saudi has also required citizens to get a license to blog. Jabaar did not see any problem with that until he started blogging about things critical of their monarch and government. His license to blog was taken away.
But there are ways around being banned from blogging. He just gives the message to his friend to post until they themselves get banned also or use anonymous IP addresses and encrypted traffic. It has made posting protest videos and pictures on the internet difficult. Difficult but not impossible. Even more difficult now that the government has shut down the internet due to the growing protest. One of Jabaar’s friends, Gamali, is heading to the United Arab Emirates. He asked him to smuggle the memory chip across the border and post it to the internet that way. Jabaar asked Gamali to post it on the crowd-sourced net. Maybe they will broadcast it on their satellites.
Conglomerate's Headquarters in Paraguay
“The protest is growing in Saudi,” Helmut Groos tells the chief.
“But we have shut down the internet and our subsidiary, the Middle East Voice Network, will not be reporting anything about this,” Helmut Groos explains.
“Spare no resources. Do everything even if we have to turn that country upside down. We cannot lose our investment there,” the chief orders.
The chief and Helmut are joined by an extra guest today. Steve M. O'Reilly, the head of U.S.-Canada media division of the conglomerate.
“I fear if the same thing happened in the U.S. that we might not be able to get away with not reporting it, especially if the number of protesters grow,” Steve says.
“Why not? Just report on something else. Label them unpatriotic, un-American or traitors. Maybe there is a plane crash or some other disaster. There will always be something more pressing you can report on. If not we can create one for you,” the chief says and starts laughing. Helmut joins in and starts laughing also. Steve laughs nervously, knowing that they won't hesitate to create one if the need arises.
“Our subsidiary, a gaming company, has been compromised,” Helmut says bleakly.
“How so?” Steve asks.
“Some hackers have posted internet details of our backdoor codes on the hackers forum,” Helmut explains.
“We need the media help for this one, you and your subsidiaries from around the world,” the chief tells Steve.
“Your wish is my command,” Steve says.
Newscast around the world
Immediately after Steve M O'Reilly leaves the meeting at Paraguay, he dispatches instructions to broadcast news. Almost instantaneously, the news has been repeated across the world on all media outlets of the conglomerate. Even media not owned by the conglomerate quickly pick up on that and start repeating what was reported.
One newscaster reads the prepared news: “The manufacturer of the game Izaron's Realm has declared that hackers have broken the digital lock on the game to install a malware. Users are asked to update it with the patch immediately, which will prevent their system from being compromised by these malicious codes. The company said they intend to track down the uploader of this code who broke the digital lock and will prosecute them to the maximum penalty allowed under the copyright and patent law.” The news anchor then goes off the script and says, “and that's a whole lot of fines and jail sentence.” The new anchor closes with a shake of her head and raised eyebrow along with a twist in her lips that portray an adult showing disapproval to a naughty child.
Immediately after the broadcast millions of people start updating the patch, erasing evidence that there ever was a backdoor
code in the original game. The program at the company's download site has also been updated, removing any trace of the malicious code.
Several raids are made across the world at addressees of the people who commented and posted about finding the flaw. The ISP readily provides the address as requested and all data that they have of on the user, which is substantial since the data retention law came into effect. The ISP of the forum agrees to take down the offending post just an hour after it was posted.
Helmut Groos breathes a sigh of relief that only few people knew about it, and they have all been arrested except for the original poster. He is glad that this was posted late in the night.
Chicago
Meanwhile in Chicago, veteran news magazine reporter Anthony Kemp just finished interviewing Oleg Oborski. Anthony is intent on revealing the inconsistency and the media's rush to judgement about the electric car accident. At 60 years old, Anthony still has strong followers and an integrity that is fully intact. He despises what the media has become. A spin machine for politicians. Anthony is the only U.S. media personnel that is still daring to do investigative journalism. Aside from working on the Oleg's electric car story, he was hot on the tail of the Pegasus Electric Corp fraud. It was his investigation that lead to the revelation.
Anthony looks at his watch. He has an appointment with Brett Jules, a long time source and government insider. Brett is bringing a document that would implicate the Secretary of Treasurer. Anthony drives to their usual secret meeting place. A restaurant in Chinatown. As he sits down, Brett offers to buy him drinks. He declines but Brett is very insistent. As Anthony is looking at the menu, Brett pours drinks into his glass and drop some powder in it. The powder dissolves almost instantaneously. By the time Anthony put down his menu, the powder has become invisible. The two chat and Brett hands him the document as they leave.
Back in his office, Anthony is shocked at the revelation in the document. He quickly calls his network to report breaking news. The network obliges. They start broadcasting and reporting that internal government documents have shown the Secretary of Treasury has misappropriated funds. Other media outlet ask for a copy. Solara, a growing media empire that has network in U.S. and Canada start reporting within seconds of receiving the document that it is a forgery. They immediately point out inconsistencies in the letter header with actual government header. Anthony is shocked. Brett has betrayed him. Other details start emerging. Details that only government insiders would know but is now being revealed to show the false information. Including some administrative staff names and information. Anthony was crushed.
Anthony see his career of 35 years coming to a brutal end. His network suspended him. But Anthony does not realize that those are the least of his worries.
Brett sits at his home watching the events unfold, staring intently to the screen with a devious smile. His mind is replaying the preparation they did before meeting Anthony. “Here's a chemical powder.” Morris told him. “Not only do we want to discredit Anthony, we also want to make sure he does not regain his integrity ever again. This powder will induce a cancer on his body. It will then make the compromised cell acidic to create an environment that the cancer can thrive on.”
Brett was looking forward to trying out the drug. He has worked as a secret agent for various agencies but never got to use such a drug. “Depends on how soon we want him dead. We can increase the dosage. This quantity will give him about 4 months to live. So by the time the controversy dies down, he will be on his way to permanent retirement.” Morris says confidently.
As a result of Anthony's suspension, the interview with Oleg has also been buried.