A Novel by R.M. Dolin
Book three in the, WHAT IS TO BE DONE, Trilogy, Copyright 2021
1. Mexican Underground
Keeping his promise, Hector organizes a Mexican Underground comprised of his friends and neighbors to help Padre return the rescued girls safely to their homes. Jon seeks revenue sources and has identified members of the ruling Oligarchs to plunder. After spending all night in Padre’s church thanking God for smiting Ramon, a Mexican father comes to the halfway house looking for his daughter who’s not there. The ANA agree to help him find her, which launches them on a new campaign.
2. Broken Pieces
Jake and Sympatico attempt to define their feelings toward each other, which is hard because Emelia is the only woman Jake could ever love, and after all that’s happened, Sympatico could never be with a man. Sympatico tells jake why Ramon wanted her back. The ANA investigate her story and learn the international corporations involved in the Bolivian exploitation or miners and oil field workers are part of the ruling oligarchs.
3. The Coming Coup
The ANA confirm the theory Jake and Marcos have about Alvarez being in Albuquerque to thwart a hostile government coup attempt. While planting Miguel’s client book where his agents could find it was a good diversion, it only took Alvarez off the ANA scent for a short time and now he’s refocused. To counter the Watchers, the ANA develop a cat and mouse tactic to further distract Alvarez and allude capture.
4. Battle of the Oligarchs
A rift is dividing the Oligarch ranks, causing their consortium to splinter into two groups: the old and new guards. The new guard is comprised of media and technology moguls, while the old guard consists of industrial capitalist. The new guard has seized control of government, but the old guard is plotting to retake control. The ANA debate how the two guards manipulate the masses to strengthen their grip on society, and whether they have an obligation to align with one side over the other.
5. The Avatar Paradox
The ANA hold a faux commencement ceremony for Chance while reading him fully into the ANA and telling him that his past has been erased and that he now has a PhD from Harvard, a pretty much meaningless degree. Later, Jake tells Sympatico that the boys have made her a US citizen whose history cannot be traced to her new identity. He delights in explaining how the ANA intend to screw with goons looking for her though by randomly making it appear her old self is somewhere else and then having her pop up somewhere else later. The ANA also have a plan to ensure the Bolivian miners and their families get their litigation checks even though the corporate goons will try to stop them.
6. Civil Unrest
With the new guard in control, they use their media and technology resources to ferment social unrest, further their ambitions, and suppress their old guard adversaries. The old guard fall back on time-tested methods of exploiting religion and patriotism to rally the masses to their side, while using their vast financial acumen to attack the new guard. In Romanesque fashion, both sides manuver to eliminate their foes while either maintaining or seizing control of the country.
7. Follow the Money
The Bolivian Miners win their litigation but learn that the oligarchs exploiting resources are not going to take this laying down, which draws the ANA into battling the Oligarchs in Bolivia, raising their cause to an international platform. The lawsuit was never about money, $157 M is nothing to the oligarchs, it’s about the masses believing they can now stand up to the ruling class and if that’s allowed to stand, there’s no telling where it could lead. The ANA plunder both the new and old guards to fund setting up a STEM school in Bolivia, but they do it in a way that leaves each side believing they were plundered by the other side.
8. Trumpeter of Krakow
Padre relates how he was able to convince Bishop Abbadelli to let him play in a salsa band by betting the bishop he could play a song on his trumpet that would make him cry. To prove his point, he plays the Hejnal Mariacki, and both Jake and the old man who moved into the Valdez place six months ago cry. Jake cries because the song takes him back to his honeymoon in Krakow, and the old man because that song was played by the Polish army after they won the battle of Monte Cassino, a battle where his leg was forever damaged.
9. Twist of Fate
With the nation under siege from two sides, the ANA abandon their subversive aspirations in order to bring both the old and new guards down. Their strategy is to create so much chaos and confusion within the oligarch ranks that they implode. A second part of their strategy is to secretly help Alvarez, even at their own peril, because they feel bad for distracting him and know there’s no way Alvarez can succeed against the oligarchs without their help. An unpopular aspect of their new strategy is setting aside their antitrafficking campaign – for now at least. They make light of the fact that not long they were the subversives attempting a virtual coup, and now they’re subverting a hostile insurrection.
10. Dominic and Denali
The story of how Dominic met his wife Denali, and how she was murdered, is retold to Chance and Sympatico during one of Jake’s bourbon and cigar nights in the courtyard. Jake tells this story as a means for teaching them that they are not unique, that every soul is burdened with tragedies of some kind.
11. Distant Echoes of La Marseillaise
After telling the story of Denali, Jake can’t sleep and decides to work in his whiskey barrel room where he becomes overwhelmed by everything he’s embroiled in. He talks to Amelia, first about their wedding day and trip to Krakow, but before long is seeking her guidance. He questions what he should do and if he’s the right person for this daunting task he and the ANA have signed up for, and realizes the answer lies in the fact that La Marseillasise is Emelia’s favorite song, and Victor Laszlo, from the movie Casablanca, her favorite literary hero.
12. Manzano Mountain
As the old and new guards battle, social and political manipulations intensify, and the nation sinks deeper into turmoil. Manzano Mountain, located on at the east edge of Kirtland Air Force base, has the capacity to reconstitute the government should something ever happen to DC. The old guard’s strategy is to cause a hostile attack on DC while reconstituting the government in Albuquerque. Alvarez learns about the old guard’s plans and figures out he’s getting help from someone, but is the information actionable, and who can he count on within government to be for their country?
13. The Order of Saint Jude
Because Padre needs ANA resources, he reveals his true mission in New Mexico and what his Oder of St. Jude, the patron saint of impossible causes, is all about, including their special training in Poland and devotion to righting injustices. Their symbol is an old wooden crucifix missing its Jesus statue, like the one Padre has on his alter. Their goal is to make the world a kind of place Jesus would want to return to. Padre tells the ANA that they are not alone, they may be the most talented activist group with the best resources, but in every corner of the world are noble activists like them ready to make a difference. After a heated debate, the ANA agree to join forces with Padre, even if it means getting dragged onto an international platform. Alvarez draws dangerously close, but he begins to realize the men he’s hunting are not the nation’s enemies. The ANA continue to assist him, though it could cost them everything.
14. In the Shadow of Simón
Simón Bolívar, the man who liberated South America and briefly united the continent, would be proud of the courageous way Sympatico is helping the mine and oil field workers of Bolivia in their struggle to rout corporate oligarchs exploiting Bolivian resources. But just as Bolívar fell short, so it seems Sympatico will.
15. The Nobel Lie
As the country plunges into a civil war orchestrated by the power struggle within the oligarch’s ranks, the new guard continue to stir social upheaval as their vehicle for maintaining control of the country, while the old guard whip religious and politically conservative masses into a frenzy in order to seize power. Both these zealots perpetrate what Plato called, The Noble Lie, that you can lie to the masses to achieve a desired outcome. Damage, death, and the destruction of the democracy are acceptable to both guards because the end justifies the means.
16. Something About Sympatico
Sympatico has a hard time reconciling how Jake is able to make her a citizen while erasing her from the reach of corporate goons. She struggles to come to terms with her expanding feelings toward this man so lost to sorrow but seemingly capable of doing such powerful things.
17. Padres for Peaceful Patience
As the country tips toward tilt, Padre preaches peace and patience to his congregation who increasingly feel the need to pick a side in the coming conflict. He reassures them by putting the country’s turmoil into both historical and global context, and cautions them against being manipulated.
18. Every Man’s Truth
Pushed into a corner, the only way Alvarez can stop the hostile coup attempt it to trust other government agents to be loyal to their country. He gets help ferreting out good agents from an unknown entity. He’s so focused on stopping the attempted coup, he pays no attention to the what the aftermath may look like. Dario struggles to understand the military’s role in what’s happening.
19. Plato and the New Republic
The ANA contemplate what a reconstituted government will look like in the aftermath of the oligarch’s collapse. They debate how to keep new oligarchs from retaking control, uncertain there’s ever even been a precedent. They discuss Plato’s take on the just man, and whether he’s happier than the unjust man, while ironing out a new role for guardians.
20. Clash of the Titans
As the old and new guard prepare for their showdown, who controls the nuclear stockpile, and what about the one billion rounds of live ammo and thirty-two hundred assault vehicles homeland security procured last month? Alvarez is betrayed by some Watchers, but the ANA come to his rescue. Padre’s Order uncover a sinister international threat that demonstrates just how global the struggle between oligarchs has become. With the stage set, the ANA look to intercede, while some members wonder if they even should.
21. The End is Always More Than an End
Alvarez can’t prove the ANA helped him, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know. Realizing the Watcher Program was a tool of the new guard, it must be dismantled. Jake and Sympatico feel even closer than before, and yet, they still cannot reconcile who they are with who they’re becoming. With the country restored, the ANA shift focus back to their anti-trafficking campaign, but Padre is quick to point out that all they’ve accomplished is a small ripple in a very large, very corrupt cesspool, and if they would join forces, together they could accomplish so much.
