The Outer Circle (The Counterpoint Trilogy Book 3) (31 page)

These will make our lives more convenient and possibly safer. They will also destroy whatever little remains of our privacy as the data they collect will add to the giant pool of information that will be collected and analyzed in order to sell you things, to protect you and – if needed – to bring you to justice. But what would be so bad about increased convenience and protection? Well, if you are an average American you commit three felonies per day
[22]
– unwittingly, of course. Life is complex, technologies changing fast, the laws don’t always keep up. There is no place to hide; under constant surveillance, everyone is a criminal.

This does not mean that the government is an evil, ill-intentioned force, ready to strike at you. That’s not the point. Every government always asked its citizens to trust it without question because it has the country’s goodwill at heart. But even best intentions do not guarantee good results. If there is one maxim that held through the ages, it’s that power corrupts. And giving someone ability to completely track our lives is to hand them an enormous power. Privacy is precious because it’s integral to liberty. Is free speech even possible in the absence of privacy? We would be well advised to remember what Benjamin Franklin said 260 years ago: “
Those who would give up
essential
Liberty
, to purchase a little temporary
Safety
, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” And would likely lose both.

Characters are arranged alphabetically by first name.

Alejandro

A friend and associate of Oleg Khmelco and a member of a prominent Mexican mafia family, Alejandro helps David and Maggie to escape their pursuers in
The Great Game
. Alejandro serves as their host when they return to Los Angeles in 2024 in
The Outer Circle
. His intentions towards Maggie are not entirely innocent.

Boris Mosin

The Russian President in 2024. When becoming aware of the Chinese plans to retake Taiwan, faces the choice of continuing to play a second fiddle in the alliance with China or taking a more independent position.

Brian Tice

The US Vice President in 2024. Trails both Dimon and Kron in the electoral campaign.

David Ferguson

Computer engineer and an innocent bystander that in
The Great Game
gets caught up in a struggle between superpowers. Together with Margarita (Maggie) Sappin, he ends up searching for the “Schulmann file” (research into insider trading behind the 2019 financial crisis). David and Maggie end up publishing decoded parts of the “Schulmann file” in 2022 and go on the run to Mexico. Together with Maggie, David returns to the US in 2024 in
The Outer Circle
following the discovery of additional names, in particular that of John Dimon, a leading presidential candidate.

David Weinstein

Son of Anya Weinstein. Anya was Pavel Rostin’s girlfriend before Pavel met Karen Baker. Anya helps Pavel in
The Metronome
. Thanks to the money that Pavel left his mother, David is able to come to study to the US. In
The Outer Circle
, he gets involved in the Jeff Kron’s campaign and helps with the information that David Ferguson and Maggie Sappin bring.

Ivan Mershov

A Russian military officer, Ivan meets Pavel Rostin in
The Metronome
because Ivan’s father was friends with Pavel’s father. Ivan is an uncle of Oleg Khmelco. By
The Outer Circle
, Ivan rises to be the head of SOBR, the Special Rapid Response Unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Through Vitaly Mershov, Oleg reaches to him for help.

Jeff Kron

At the beginning of
The Metronome
, Jeff is serving a life sentence for the murder of John Brockton, a murder he did not commit, although he did blame Brockton’s financial shenanigans for destroying his family. Jeff gets released thanks to Pavel Rostin. He ends up marrying Jennifer. Jeff gets involved in politics and becomes a prominent politician.

Jennifer Rostin-Kron

Daughter of Pavel Rostin and Karen Baker. Jennifer marries Jeff Kron, the man who’d been released from jail thanks to her father. Supports Jeff in his political activities, she herself becomes a prominent political figure in
The Outer Circle
.

Jim Brobak

First appears in
The Great Game
as the head of the FBI’s Dallas office. His friend John Platt helps David Ferguson and Maggie Sappin to find the Schulmann file. Brobak assists them with escaping pursuit. John Platt is killed and Jim Brobak gets demoted to a regional office in New Mexico. In
The Outer Circle
, Brobak helps David Ferguson to gain access to the data on John Dimon that David had been searching for.

Joe Maxwell

The outgoing US President in 2024. Faces the choice of either supporting his VP or a representative of a third party.

John Dimon

A populist American politician and a frontrunner in the 2024 election.

Jonathan Schulmann

Appears indirectly in
The Great Game
. The SEC attorney that investigated the financial crisis of 2019 and discovered planning and participation by high-ranking figures from China, Russia, the US, and other countries. He was assassinated on Nemzhov’s orders. His file survived thanks to Suzy Yamamoto.

Kai Liu

As the Chinese Premier in 2024, he faces difficult problems with a restless population. In favor of taking a military action to retake Taiwan, but only if the chances for success against the US Navy are overwhelming.

Karen Baker

Sam Baker’s daughter and the mother of Jennifer Rostin-Kron. She fell in love with and married Pavel Rostin in
The Metronome
. The marriage began falling apart under stress from Pavel’s business venture failing. Acts as a support for Jennifer in
The Outer Circle
.

Margarita Sappin

Appears first in
The Great Game
, when David Ferguson accidentally involves her in searching for the “Schulmann file.” David and Maggie become lovers, publish the file and escape together. They both return to the US in
The Outer Circle
to expose a dangerous politician.

Nikolai Nemzhov

In
The Metronome
, Nikolai is a colonel of the FSB that is involved in clandestine financial operations abroad. Pavel Rostin comes across Nemzhov when investigating his father’s death. Nemzhov attempts to manipulate Rostin in order to gain access to Sam Baker. When this fails, Nemzhov eliminates Rostin. In
The Great Game
, Nemzhov is the head of the GRU and one of the driving figures behind the attack on the US dollar in 2019. He tries to manipulate Ferguson and Sappin into not releasing the data. When that fails, Nemzhov is forced to run. He retails powerful resources, both information and financial, that he uses in
The Outer Circle
in an attempt to seize power and more.

Oleg Khmelco

Briefly appears in
The Metronome
where, while still a teenager, he meets Pavel Rostin. Originally from St. Petersburg, Oleg comes to the US to work as a bodyguard for a Russian mafia figure. When people pursuing David Ferguson kill his friend in
The Great Game
, Oleg gets involved with David and Maggie. With the help of his friend and associate Alejandro, Oleg helps David and Maggie escape to Mexico. In
The Outer Circle
, Oleg joins David and Maggie in coming back to the US.

Pavel Rostin

The main character of
The Metronome
, a Russian physicist that married Karen Baker and left academia for the Wall Street. In investigating the death of his father Vladimir, he comes across the plot behind the murder of John Brockton, a financier that had been active in Russia during the
perestroika
years. Pavel’s actions lead to release of Jeff Kron, who’d been mistakenly jailed for Brockton’s murder. Unknown to Pavel, he’s been all along manipulated by Nikolai Nemzhov in order to gain access to Sam Baker, Pavel’s father-in-law. When Pavel refuses to cooperate he gets killed, with his murder staged as a suicide.

Robert Treadwell

A prominent media figure, Treadwell is blackmailed by Nemzhov into supporting John Dimon for president.

Sam Baker

Prominent US congressman, father of Karen Baker, grandfather of Jennifer Rostin-Kron. Retired from politics in 2022. Helps David Ferguson and Maggie Sappin to expose John Dimon.

Sarah Shoffman

Pavel Rostin’s lover in
The Metronome
; she appears briefly in The
Outer Circle
.

Suzy Yamamoto

In
The Metronome
, Suzy helps Pavel Rostin to investigate the financial mystery surrounding his father’s death. She appears indirectly in
The Great Game
as the person that saved Jonathan Schulmann’s research in an online storage service that David Ferguson and Margarita Sappin discover.

Vitaly Mershov

Ivan’s son. He first appears in
The Metronome
as a friend of Oleg Khmelco. In
The Outer Circle
, he is a
militzia
investigator that comes across suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of the Russian Minister of Defense. Reaches out to his father Ivan for help and gets involved in untangling the Nemzhov-directed coup.

Yuriy Shelkov

A senior Russian military officer that is blackmailed by Nemzhov into supporting the coup attempt. He becomes the Russian Minister of Defense following assassination of his predecessor.

Wu Cao

A senior Chinese military officer that is planning a military action against Taiwan.