Code Breakers: Beta Read Online Free Page A

children, no doubt relieved and enjoying their newfound freedom from the tyrannical, controlling Family.
    Across the table from her sat the temporary president, Justiciar Rosario Fuentes, the head of the city’s justice system before the Family left. Fuentes was a woman who stood up for the citizens by refusing to leave with the rest of the government officials.
    In a unanimous result, the public had voted for her while the city recovered from its huge loss of people in important positions and set up a new government that worked for the people. Unlike most of those who had lead roles in the running of the city before the revolution, she wasn’t born in the Dome.
    At fifty-nine years old, she was a toddler when the Cataclysm happened. She was in her native Mexico during the first wave, and by some miracle, she survived and was eventually picked up by a passing Family battleship.
    Showing great aptitude in her proceeding years, the Family instated her within the Dome and exploited her loyalty to them.
    Next to her, and fanning around the table, sat a task force made up of ten other men and women elected by their peers. Among the group was James ‘Jimmy’ Robertson, Sasha, and surprisingly, young Jess, who’d proved so instrumental in working with the two servers. Her role in the group was as a ‘listener’. Using her unique talent for hearing and understanding computer traffic, it was decided she would help with interrogating those found wearing the chips in order to track down the source.
    “Well?” Rosario said to Sasha. “What are your thoughts?”
    The entire task force, codenamed Liberty, were all looking towards her now. It’s strange, Sasha thought. All the time she spent at Criborg, no one really gave her credit or respect, apart from Jimmy, who was mostly just protecting her. But here, in Libertas, she was elevated to chief security officer and tasked to find and eliminate all users, dealers, and makers of the chips.
    So far she was losing that battle. There were daily murders now, and the public were demanding something be done. Some of the ronin had organised groups of citizens to protest on their behalf. Some people just didn’t want the freedom after all. They wanted the safety of the network, the lack of responsibility. And there was the mad bastard Elliot, waiting, and willing, to provide them with the control they appeared to desire.
    She thought on the report, considered the spree of crime that had occurred shortly after Liberty was setup, and compiled the reams of intelligence gathered so far.
    “From what I can tell,” Sasha began, trying to sound professional and competent in front of her new peers, “we have a sleeper cell within the city. An individual or individuals are manufacturing the ronin-chips and installing them on very specific people. I believe the operation is carried out by someone here on the ground, but directed by Elliot from his as-yet-unknown location.”
    Jess caught Sasha’s eye. The young girl gave her a supportive thumbs-up, having listened to Sasha confide in her about her nervousness about her new role and the responsibilities that came with it just hours before the meeting.
    It was also a prompt.
    “Speaking with Jess earlier today, I... erm... ascertained a pattern. Having caught one of the ronin the day before prior to carrying out plans to commit...” Sasha stopped, the words tripping over in her mouth. She took a breath, felt her body get hot and sweat form on her forehead. Everyone was staring at her, expectant.
    Eventually, she looked up and said, “Look, I can’t do all this politics talk, right, so I’ll just say it how I want, and you’ll just have to live with that, okay?”
    Rosario laughed, and the others followed. Jimmy joined in and gave her a wink. “Sasha, love, you communicate however you want,” he added.
    “Thanks, Jimmy. Okay, so these bastard ronin are basically looking to cause as much mayhem as possible. Elliot is using ’em as nodes