The Clean Slate Accord Read Online Free PDF

“Director Lange.”
    â€œDirector, it’s President Chandler again. Half of my staff has vanished.”
    A strong wind suddenly blew in, bending the lotus blossoms until their stalks broke in half. Alexa had no idea what to say to Chandler, but she had to say something. “Don’t worry, President Chandler, I’ll start a trace as soon as possible.” It wasn’t exactly the truth, but Chandler wouldn’t know that.
    â€œOh, good. I got a little nervous when I didn’t hear back from you.”
    â€œI said I’d call you. You didn’t give me any time. Don’t call again because every time you do, it slows things down. Understand?”
    â€œI do. I should tell you that I also heard from the leaders from the United Lands of Africa and Contiguous Eurasia. There’s something odd going on there, too. People disappearing without a trace.”
    â€œAll right, all right. I’ve got to go.” Alexa disconnected the call and hurried back to the control room. “David! What’s going on? People are being removed. Lots of them. You didn’t tell me that.”
    With a confused look, David motioned to his monitor. “That’s because the MB levels haven’t reached critical yet. No one should have been removed.”
    â€œBut they have. Chandler said it’s happening all over the world.”
    â€œHow does she know? She’s a politician with an IQ inferior to mine, or yours.”
    â€œWell, she doesn’t know what’s happened, but people are there one minute and not the next. She’s bound to figure it out sooner or later. So are all the other leaders.”
    David shook his head emphatically, his curls bouncing. “I tell you, Director, the implants could not have fired.”
    â€œThen there’s something wrong with either your equipment or the MB programming of the implants. I’ll be in my room.” She ran down the hallway to her room and activated the mirror.
    As its lights came on, the mirror announced, “There’s been a breach in my system.”
    Oh, what now, Alexa thought. “What sort of breach? How could this happen?”
    â€œYou didn’t shut me down. You left me operational.”
    â€œSo what? I always do that. No one else can access my room.” She wandered around the room, trying to think, but all her thoughts were scrambled. There was too much going on. She couldn’t concentrate. “Jonas has access. Did you run the tests?”
    â€œDirector, that’s where the breach occurred. The analysis of the biological sample was downloaded from my system.”
    â€œBy whom?”
    â€œJonas.”

Chapter 5
    Alexa was speechless. Why would Jonas break into the files? Surely he knew she’d tell him everything. She needed to find him, and fast. Every second of delay in finding an answer to the malfunction of the implants meant more innocent people would die. She didn’t have time to waste chasing down a pubescent child.
    She looked out into the hallway. “Jonas!”
    No answer.
    â€œJonas, where are you?” She couldn’t bring herself to go back to the control room to hear any more updates until she found him, so she went to the lab instead, hoping to find him peering into his microscope. Maybe he was pouting because she’d hurt his feelings. Was it even possible to hurt his feelings?
    When she got to the lab, she saw that the door was ajar. Jonas would never leave the door open. He preferred to work in seclusion with no prying eyes. She gave the door a shove. It swung inward. Alexa held it open before it could close again and stepped inside. The microscope was still on the counter, along with a stack of slides and Jonas’ black eyeglass frames. He was nowhere in sight.
    â€œJonas! Jonas, are you in here?” she called, walking around the lab, peering behind the heavy bookcases. “Jonas?” The small closet-like bathroom was the