Chasm Waxing: A Startup, Cyber-Thriller by BMichaelsAuthor Page A

could’ve done anything in
life . Why did I
force him to follow in my footsteps ?
    Shields was only internalizing what
his wife said aloud when they fought. Thursday evening’s argument
with Lisa echoed through his mind.
    “ Wasn’t it enough that
I’ve given my life to be a General’s wife—decades and decades of
moving all over the country and never feeling at home? Then, I had to sacrifice my
son? For what?” she demanded.
    Charlie’s public beheading
live over the Internet ran on a loop inside Shield’s head. It
enraged the General. After five years, the US had yet to bring the
killers to justice. He had watched the video 1000’s of times,
searching for clues. If POTUS and CIA weren’t going to do their jobs—he
would.
    The General poured another
shot.

Chapter 9 – Samantha Powers
    6:15 p.m. (EDT), Monday, July 27, 2020
- Columbia, MD
    Suite 201, Gamification
Systems’ Offices, Defense Innovations
Accelerator
    Samantha printed the
most up-to-date financials for her 6:30 board meeting with
General Shields. She swiveled in her desk chair and grabbed the statements
from the laser printer on her silver-mirrored credenza.
    The most important report
in a small startup was the statement of cash flows. This financial summary detailed money
coming in, and money going out. There was
not good news in the report. All the money at Gamification Systems
was going out.
    Gamification Systems had
yet to make a sale. After nine months, there was no revenue.
Samantha took no salary. She lived off savings. Even so—with nine
employees—Gamification was burning $115,000 a month. There was
about $275,000 cash in the bank. With that burn rate, the
company could operate for less than two and one-half months. While the lack of revenue was not
uncommon, especially for an enterprise software company like
Gamification Systems, it was nonetheless very nerve-wracking for
Samantha.
    Additionally, like Josh,
Samantha was coming to the end of the first year period with the
Accelerator. Worst case, this gave
the CEO three months. Then, not only would
Samantha be out of money, but she
would also need to lease new office
space—and pay rent. Additionally, she would lose the ability to use
the Accelerator’s two SCIFs. Access to SCIFs came in handy
for certain DoD contracts that required clearances.
    SCIFs came in all types of
configurations, ranging from multi-story office complexes to portions of
planes, ships, and buildings. One of the SCIFs was across the
hallway from Samantha, on the second-floor. A much larger SCIF
occupied the sixth-floor , down the hall from
General Shields’ office.
    There were a number DoD
regulations regarding doors, walls, windows, and the like, that
went into certifying a
SCIF. SCIFs were also required to meet
sophisticated specifications from a classified project code named,
TEMPEST. Complying with TEMPEST ensured that no electromagnetic
radiation could escape and be gathered by spies. Personal cell
phones and other electronic gadgets, including laptops, were generally not
allowed inside a SCIF.
    Samantha also printed
a nother financial statement—the balance sheet. Gamification’s balance sheet recorded the VC deal. Nine months ago, General Shields and
the Accelerator’s investment committee
voted to contribute $1M.
    In return, Defense
Innovations Accelerator received equity totaling 18%. Other terms of the deal included Samantha
assigning 20% of the stock to an employee option pool. From this pool, Samantha offered Becca three
percent. Becca’s options vested, one percent per year. It was options like
these that made multi-millionaires of former Microsoft
secretaries. Samantha collated and stapled
two copies of the financial statements.
    All of Gamification
Systems’ employees worked in glass offices. From her desk, Samantha
could see Becca sitting in the office next to her. She watched Ali and
Saul banging out code on their laptops. At least, she hoped they were banging
out code.
    Samantha always