Paradise Hacked (First Circle Club Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

the workshop.
    Virgil put his hand on Mei's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Take all the time you need. I'll keep you company."

Chapter Three
    Dr. Theodore "Teddy" Harlow stared in horror at the corpse on the examination table. The mess reminded him of dog food. An enormously violent impact had shattered the body and had scrambled the parts, but that wasn't the cause of death. Intense radiation had cooked the man first, but even that might not be all. Harlow was expecting other unpleasant surprises in the medical examiner's report. He was glad he didn't have to perform the autopsy.
    The dead man's name was Corporal Scott Hartmann. Harlow had spoken with him for a few minutes before the experiment, and he had seemed like a nice guy. He had certainly been enthusiastic about the research project. Nobody had told Hartmann about the two test subjects that had come before him.
    Harlow was maintaining a calm, composed exterior, but he tasted bile. He was working hard to not throw up. He desperately wanted to leave the medical lab.
    "Well," Colonel Jack Knox said, "at least we got the body back this time. We have something to study. That's a small win, I guess."
    Harlow looked at the Director of the Advanced Physics Directorate and the Commander of the Crusader Special Unit. He had short brown hair and a round face. His pale skin looked a little flushed, but that was its normal color. A green Army uniform fit his broad chest and shoulders perfectly.
    Harlow reported to Knox but didn't particularly like him. The colonel was an old-school military man who spoke of honor and duty annoyingly often. He had fought in foreign lands and had the scars to prove it. He was also ridiculously stubborn. Once he got his teeth into something, he never let go even if the cause was hopeless. Harlow didn't understand how Knox had received his current assignment as commander of a scientific research organization. He was well educated and knew some science, but that wasn't his natural calling by any means.
    "I see it differently," Rena Penn said. "We finally have proof the test subjects are getting killed. We can stop pretending the first two will reappear safe and sound someday. We have to suspend the project immediately."
    As the only non-military member of the project team, her role was ambiguous, and she had little official authority. She worked for the State Department as a "special liaison." She was responsible for diplomatic protocol, but it was more accurate to say she was a spy for the White House. The civilians in the government were a little nervous about what the military was doing in Chicago. Penn's reports reached the desk of the President, so everybody had to take her seriously even when she had no idea what she was talking about.
    She was a very thin woman. Harlow assumed she was in her fifties, but she had slathered her face with makeup to hide her age. Her long black hair looked stiff and brittle. She was wearing a white sweater and a black scarf.
    "Suspend what exactly?" Colonel Knox said.
    "Sending men to their deaths. No more test subjects. No more fearless exploration of the unknown. It's time to take a big step back and rethink your project plan from scratch."
    "Are you serious? Is that your official position?"
    "Are you asking if I'll make that recommendation to the President?" Penn said. "I might. I'll certainly give him all the facts, and right now, those facts suggest your team is dangerously out of control."
    The examination of the body was taking place in a bedroom on the second floor of a suburban house. The team had converted the room into a temporary medical laboratory, but the original wallpaper remained. Pink hearts and flowers on the walls showed a little girl had lived here. In every other way, the room was suited for performing sophisticated analysis. The selection of equipment included autoclaves, microscopes, centrifuges, and a mass spectrometer. The Crusader Special Unit was well equipped.
    Other scientists