The Arctic Code Read Online Free PDF Page A

Afterward, they got out the chessboard, but her head wasn’t really in the game.
    â€œAdmit it,” Uncle Jack said. “You’re letting me win.”
    He knew what was on her mind and was trying to lighten the mood. “It’s the only way you can win,” she said with mock sincerity. “And I just feel so bad for you.”
    â€œHow sportsmanlike.”
    She closed her eyes. “I know. You’re welcome.”
    â€œEleanor, I—”
    The chime of the Sync cut him off.

CHAPTER
4
    T HE MESSAGE MADE NO SENSE . I T WASN’T EVEN REALLY A message, it was just a batch of files. Eleanor opened them, one by one, hoping to find something to help her make sense of what her mom was sending her. But all she found were diagrams that she recognized from her science class as star charts, with lines and equations drawn across them in sweeping arcs. There were maps of the world with crisscrossing lines connecting far-flung locations, wrapping the globe in a spiderweb. There were pages and pages of mathematical equations.
    â€œWhat is this?” Eleanor asked out loud, sitting alone in her room on her bed.
    The images all had a watermark in the bottom-right corner.
G.E.T.
    Never mind what the files were—what was her mom doing with them?
    The Sync chimed again, and a new batch of files came in, as incomprehensible as the first. One of them appeared to be an Arctic map showing the city of Barrow, Alaska, as well as the research station where her mom must be currently stationed, inside the National Petroleum Reserve. More pages of equations, charts, and graphs. This batch didn’t have the G.E.T. watermark.
    The Sync chimed a third time, and a text came through.
    
    Eleanor typed quickly.
    . . .
    
    . . .
    
    . . .
    Eleanor waited. No reply came through. She didn’tknow what all these files meant, but she intended to do with them exactly what her mother asked her to do.
    Uncle Jack knocked on the door and came in. “Everything okay, Ell Bell?”
    When her mom said “secret,” Eleanor didn’t think she meant from Uncle Jack. “Mom sent me a bunch of files. Maps and stuff.” She then read the text to him.
    â€œThat’s weird,” Uncle Jack said.
    â€œYeah.” All this only fed Eleanor’s earlier worries. “I knew there was something going on she wasn’t telling me.”
    â€œShe mentioned her company had partnered with the G.E.T. on an energy project.”
    â€œShe did?”
    â€œBefore she left on this trip.”
    Eleanor looked at the blank screen of her Sync. “But she hates the G.E.T.”
    â€œShe doesn’t hate them, Ellie, she just doesn’t agree with them. Her team discovered something they didn’t have the resources to pursue. Some kind of massive oil deposit or something. The G.E.T. came in to help.”
    â€œShe’s working for them?”
    â€œWorking with them. Temporarily.”
    â€œSo why is she sending me this stuff?”
    Uncle Jack palmed his head with his thick hand and rubbed his hair. “I don’t know.”
    â€œIt’s not all G.E.T. stuff. Only the first batch was. This other stuff is hers.” Eleanor looked up at the ceiling, at the Spackle where she used to see animals and faces. “It sounds like she’s in some kind of trouble.”
    â€œI’m sure she’s fine, Ell Bell.” Uncle Jack sat down next to her, and the bed squealed. “It sounds like things are really tense for her right now. Super busy. But I’m sure she’s fine.”
    Eleanor wasn’t sure.
    â€œTry to put it out of your mind for now, okay? Maybe get to bed?” He rubbed her back. “Hopefully, she’ll be in touch tomorrow and you can find out what all this means.”
    Eleanor didn’t know how