Alexei felt exhausted, like he was working two jobs. A phone call marked “Sasha” in red appeared on his phone display. Alexei tapped it.

“Alexei, Gregor’s team really screwed us,” Sasha said.

“What happened?”

“Many targeted text messages were sent to the wrong age groups. To add insult to injury, some phone numbers received hundreds of the same text messages.”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

“Was the source number shielded?”

“Da, all return numbers are randomized and will not accept return text messages.”

“How many arrived at the appropriate age groups?”

“About 30 percent.”

“Not good, but not totally bad either,” Alexei said. “How many districts to go?”

“Half.”

“Proceed. Time is not on our side.”

“But what about Gregor? The quality of his work is slipping.”

“I will deal with Gregor.”