Free Aligned by Jaci Wheeler Page B

them to give me some warning. I have many other things I need to do, none of them including meeting with the Council, but I guess those things are going to be put on hold.
    “Sure, Karl. Do they want to see me now or later this afternoon?”
    “Dexter Vaughn said if you are available, the sooner the better. It can wait if you are in the middle of something.”
    “No, now is fine, you caught me just in time. I will be up in five minutes.” I hang up and go tell Judy of my plans. She looks up and smiles when I walk in.
    “Sorry, Judy, duty calls, so it looks like I’m going to be in a meeting with the Council this morning. I was about to set up a meeting with the Ag Department. Do you think you can do that for me? And hold all my calls please.”
    “Of course I can, Miss Roz. I’ll leave your messages on your desk and put the Ag Department meeting in your calendar.”
    “Thank you, Judy, you are heaven sent.”
    I head straight to the Council offices. The sooner I get this over with the sooner I can get to work on rebuilding this country.
    I scan myself in and head straight to my chair.
    “Good morning, everyone.”
    Samuel raises an eyebrow in amusement. “In a hurry are you?”
    “I am on a mission to change the world, Samuel. I’m always in a hurry these days. What can I do for you today?”
    He laughs. “Maybe I just missed seeing your beautiful face.”
    Dex clears his throat. “When you two are done flirting we would like to get down to business.”
    “Thank you for coming in, Roz,” Amira says. “We know you’re busy but the Council would feel better knowing what revisions you have made and would also like a rundown of the speech you plan on making to the Ministry. That is still planned for this Friday, yes?”
    Oops, I guess I should have informed them of the changes.
    “Actually, I have changed that to Monday. After doing the trial run on the department heads, I thought it would be best to do it in the beginning of the week. That way they have the rest of the week to process and ask questions. I didn’t like dropping it on them and then being gone for two days if they had any questions.”
    Seamus nods. “You’re right, that sounds much better.”
    “As far as any revisions, I think Dex and I were able to get everyone on the same page. Wes has been transferred to the Career Department for as long as he is needed. That, along with placing Ronan in charge of the monitoring revisions, are the only big changes I’ve made. Ronan didn’t like the plan at all, though he has come around a bit and I’m trying to give him as much leeway as I can. Once we tell the Ministry we can get to work training everyone to go out into the Zones. This week we are focusing on making sure the directors of each department feel comfortable answering any and all questions. After I’m done here I plan to go to the Agriculture Department to start scouting the best areas to build the compounds around adequate food sources.”
    “Wait a minute here,” Clarisse speaks up. “It’s one thing to open compounds and bestow land. Now you are putting them in the best spots? That isn’t going to happen. We need those resources for our people. You know, the ones living under the Ministry and our protection.” Her voice is filled with disdain. I should have seen this coming.
    “It’s not my intention to take anything away from our people, Clarisse. Nothing will change. We will still be feeding the same number of people if you think about it. If people from the Zones leave, that is fewer mouths for us to feed in the Zones. I’m not suggesting taking anything away from us; I’m going to make sure they are placed in an area that has a food source, that’s all.”
    “Yes, but—”
    She’s cut off by my watch beeping. I have an incoming message, and I should ignore it but it’s from Judy. Since she was told to hold my calls it must be an emergency.
    “Excuse me, Clarisse, I need to take this.”
    She huffs and glares at