Blackquest 40: Jeff Bond

Would you attend a corporate training meeting if it meant that you could no longer have access to the outside world? Would you be leery of this type of training? Deb Bollinger refuses to succumb to what the leaders of her company expect  from her. As the top engineer for the copy, she has created an app called Carebnb that helps find spare beds for the homeless. This is something she is passionate about and anything that interferes with her day to create and complete this project will not fly. However, all the employees of her company have no choice but to be involved in the exercise called Blackquest 40. But just what is it? No one can say no, and everyone is required. This project will encompass everyone’s expertise and take 40 hours of training without any electronics allowed. Sleeping on cots and no one can come in or out. Deb is smart and astute and finds this situation not acceptable and wonders what it  really is and who is behind it and why.  Carebnb is vital to her and she needs to leave in order to handle what is required so when she does the result will shock readers when she realizes that she might have no where to turn. Believe it or not when she tries to escape, she is attacked by armed men, HVAC duct chases and a master plan that is sinister, dark and dangerous. Her app is the most paramount for her, but the company wants her on the project. However, she spent most of her childhood homeless because her mother had a mental illness. Elite Development is behind running Blackquest 40 and blocks the data and cellphones from receiving signals. But Elite plays no favorites and she meet many dangerous foes and obstacles when she tries to leave the building, an Elite employee attacks her to present her from leaving. Susan Wright is the CEO of Codewise the company she works for and is out of town when this is happening. Elite is enforcing paramilitary strategies and tactics. Since Susan is out of the country Carter Kotanchek the CFO and company found with Susan and Paul Gribbe her direct boss, believes that Elite’s certification will boost revenue for Codewise. But Deb has other plans and she wants to bypass the cyber obstacles and obstructions set in place by Elite.

For the most part Deb is a loner and in this case is on her own but hoping to enlist the help of Paul. Elite is not what it appears to be and the betrayals, deceptions and even more run high. But, why does she decide to remain and what exactly is the truth behind Blackquest 40?

The plot gets more explosive and the secret behind Blackquest 40 starts to be unveiled and who is really behind it and why. Deb is tenacious and impulsive and believes in justice. She wants the truth behind what Elite is really creating and why they are getting big money infiltrated into their company go complete this project on such a short deadline. They want them to create and build this software within 40 hours. Her manner of dealing with obstacles is extraordinary and you almost think she has some super ones. She has certain people that she can trust but when Paul hands her his badge and the truth comes out that he gave it to her, Elite places him in a jail type situation until we finally meet Susan the head of the company and then things take on a more sinister turn as we uncover information about the Russians who are part of this deal, just who and what Dawson really is, Kate the other owner and where and how the money is being filtered in.

Things take on a deadly turn when Deb is held by gunpoint by one of the owners threatening to end her life because of her actions. But, someone else high in the hierarchy realizes her value and things settle down as the author builds the tension, the final scenes and what is the outcome of Blackquest 40? Is it for the Russians? Is it to create a nuclear plant? What exactly will happen to the 300 workers that have taken their lives and put them on hold for Elite to foster and promote whatever they have planned.

The truth behind Blackquest will shock readers and what Deb uncovers changes the complexion of the result. What were they really doing and was it really related to a nuclear plant? What was Susan’s real role? When the test and training is complete you won’t believe that Deb realizes and just what Elite had in mind for all of the employees of her company.

What about the app for the homeless? Did that succeed or did that prove that sometimes people that have power of their destinies do not really want it? Will these people accept beds or do they really want to remain on the street?
Blackquest 40 is a software commissioned by and for the Kremlin or is it? What will happen if the project is not completed before the deadline? Jim Dawson, Carter, Kate, Susan and Paul: Just who can she trust? Does this involve the nuclear power plant near the Russian border with Ukraine? Just how does this link to the past, Chernobyl, and something called Vlast.

With her homemade drone, Raven her computer that she eventually needs to replace, and my favorite Hedgehog Eleanor Roosevelt a unique type of computer with cameras, scanners and is hand held, Deb takes on Elite along with Paul and hopefully Prisa her assistant and maybe one or two others to define, create and hopefully complete Blackquest 40’s training before the clock and time runs out. HotWheel Drone, Raven no longer operational, she takes on the entire company from both sides hoping that she survives.

The ending and the final revelations will shock readers as it will the employees of Codewise as this is about power, greed, control, money, deceptions and people that Deb trusted that prove to have been compromised. When Susan claims that she was not part of what Dawson, Carter and the rest installed and wanted to create, Deb realizes that friendships and honesty are not longer an option. Where does this leave her at the end? What does she realize before it’s too late? What will her final fate be? When all is said and done and the final programs, botlets and computer numbers are spilling out will the ending be positive or negative for those involved in the training session for BLACKQUEST 40? A lot of technical research, a lot of technical language as author Jeff Bond brings everyone into the world of technology in a different way.

Fran Lewis: Just reviews