Mind Trace (23 page)

More generous than I thought you were capable of…

She briefly nodded, and he replied, "Give me a few
minutes to make arrangements."

He stepped out again and began speaking with the guards
outside. When the door shut, she was left alone with her thoughts.

I hope this works.

Chapter 15

Half an hour later, the door opened again, and a
blindfolded man was thrust inside.  It shut behind him as he furiously worked
to remove his eye covering.

"Where am I? You…!"

As he struggled, he tripped over the desk chair, falling to
the ground. He finally pulled off the blindfold and looked around, wildly.

Is that really him?

Alice watched him from the corner of the room, unsure of
what to do. As he turned to look at her, she immediately noticed the black eye
and felt an overwhelming sense of relief. It had to be Garrett.

The past few days combined with extreme exhaustion had
removed any restraint she might otherwise have. She ran to him, knelt and
hugged him fiercely.

"Garrett!"

Confused and still trying to get his bearings, he pulled
her back to get a better look.

"Alice! Hey, be careful with the eye there…"

When he saw that it was indeed, Alice, the joy on his face
was unmistakable. The joy lasted only a moment before subsiding to confusion.

"Alice, what is going on here? Why did they bring me
here?"

Alice withdrew, moving to sit on her bed. Garrett got up to
join her, rubbing his ankle where he tripped.

Now, the hard part…

"You're not going to like this, Garrett, but it was
the only way. I don't have much time to talk. Eric said he would only give us a
few minutes, so you're going to have to listen carefully."

"What is it?" Garrett looked concerned.

Alice tried to remain calm and composed. It was vitally
important that Garrett accept her plan and he was unlikely to do so if she was
acting hysterical and unstable.

She took a deep breath and continued. "He is obviously
never going to agree to let me go. You, on the other hand… you are only a minor
threat to him, mostly because of me."

"What are you talking about?"

"If you will agree to these conditions, he will
release you. From this point forward, you will be under constant surveillance
and you cannot attempt to ever contact me again. In addition, you cannot come
within 100 miles of any EngineerCorp facility, or try to interfere with them in
any way. If you will agree to those terms, he will allow you to leave."

Garrett looked at her suspiciously. "Why would he ever
agree to such a thing?"

"If I agree to cooperate with him, he will let you go."

"If you agree to
what
? Alice, what are you
talking about? You can't be serious."

Her exhaustion put an uncharacteristic edge in her voice. "Garrett,
please. This is the only way. You can't do anything for me or yourself if you're
trapped in here! If you are ever to make anything of Cyberconn, you'll have to
overhaul your security and find the person that's been letting Gabriel in, but
after you've done that…"

Garrett interrupted her, quickly losing his own composure. "Alice!
Listen to yourself! None of that even matters if you're not there!"

"What?"

Alice stopped and looked up into his face. He visibly
calmed himself and reached out to lay his hand on hers. "I can't do this
to you, Alice. My freedom isn't worth this… Nothing is."

That wasn't part of the plan.

She suddenly found herself conflicted, part of her wanting
to reassure him, to do anything just to make him laugh again, all the while
keenly aware of how warm his hand felt on hers.

"I won't
really
be helping him, Garrett. I'll
put up a good show, but I won't let him have anything worthwhile. I just have
to build up his trust long enough to figure out how to escape.  I can't focus
on that if I'm worried that my decisions here will affect their treatment of
you. You're better off away from here."

"There has to be a better way. I'll think of
something!"

"Garrett, there's no time. This is it. We have less
than thirty seconds left before they come back for you. So, stop worrying about
me; you know I can take care of myself."

The turmoil was evident on Garrett's face.  He could not decide
if he should agree with Alice, or tell her she was completely insane for
volunteering to help the enemy in exchange for the freedom of a man she hardly
knew. In the end, he knew what she said was the most logical course, but he
hated himself for agreeing to it.

"Thirteen seconds…"

"Alice, I think this is crazy. But, if this is what
you want me to do… then, I'll do it. Just get yourself out of here! And I'll do
everything in my power to get you back!"

With that, Garrett swept her into his arms again, and
squeezed her until she found it hard to breathe. Just as the five minutes were
up, she heard the door cruelly open and he released her.  Eric entered the room
with two other men.

Was that really five minutes? It can't be over yet.

"What will it be, Garrett?"

Garrett glared at Eric and icily responded, "I have
agreed to the terms of the
arrangement
."

Eric glanced at Alice, as if to verify. She nodded briskly,
trying not to look as helpless as she felt.

"I guess it pays to have good friends, doesn't it,
Garrett?" Eric smirked before gesturing to his men.

They came up to Garrett and secured his arms behind his
stiff frame before escorting him out. As he was leaving, he gave one last look
over his shoulder at Alice. On his face, she saw a multitude of emotions:
anger, regret, remorse, and sorrow. He gave a weak smile, and then he was
gone. 

Eric grinned as he left the room, clearly quite pleased with
the outcome of events.

Alone again, Alice sank back slowly onto her bed.

What have I gotten myself into?
 

***

After giving Alice a day and a half to acclimate, Eric
commenced with his plans.

No need to rush things. She's not going anywhere.

He began by taking her on a tour of the underground
complex.  It did him no good, he reasoned, to keep her from seeing it. She
already knew enough about the layout to find her way around. Moreover, it gave
her the impression that he was choosing to trust her, since she offered her
cooperation.  That was important if he was going to find out what secrets she
was hiding beneath her quiet facade.

The subterranean levels encompassed a massive amount of
space, so a complete tour would be impractical. He showed her enough areas to
take up the expanse of an entire afternoon, including the most impressive areas.
She mostly said nothing, only responding with small, noncommittal sounds when
prompted.

Sometimes though, despite her best efforts, she could not
hide her interest. It was obvious that she had a passion for technology, and
Eric hoped to use that to win her over.

There were so many questions that he wanted answers to,
especially on the subject of her mind. He had to find a way to get the
information he required, without causing her undue alarm. He could not read her
mind, although that would have been ideal, but perhaps if he could come up with
a way to monitor her brain activity and see the responses to different stimuli,
it would give him something to work with.

Eric studied her as she was examining one of the massive
server rooms on their tour. Her eyes, hidden behind her dark-framed glasses,
were alight with fascination.

Her glasses! It's perfect. If I can get my engineers to
design a wireless scanner that they could hide within the frame, I can get what
I want, and she'd be none the wiser.

He made sure his teams got all of the relevant information
they needed and put them to work immediately.

Retrofitting her frames was simple. It was only a matter of
adding some sedatives to her dinner one night, and then replacing them while
she slept.

An ingenious plan.

A mere sixteen hours later, the system was successfully in
place.  They began analyzing the data almost immediately. 

It was astounding to see behind the scenes of her brain.
Despite her cool demeanor, her mind was constantly working in overdrive. When
Alice was presented with any kind of new information, her brain exploded with
activity, none of which could be ascertained by her outward expressions.

As with her preliminary scans from before, they confirmed
that she was using nearly all of her brain simultaneously when processing
information.

What does this do for her? How did she manage to acquire
this kind of ability? Was she born with it, or did something happen to her that
caused this phenomenon?

 The questions churned inside Eric's mind. They had not
fully explored her family history, which also had the potential to cast some
light onto the situation. In the back of his mind, Eric still held onto the impossible
explanation that the burns on her hand somehow contributed to the unique and
unthinkably intelligent girl before him. But he was not quite ready to accept
that explanation. He would need far more proof before he could be compelled to
believe such an idea.

She had been there less than three days, but already Eric
was finding himself becoming infatuated with her. The idea that someone could
possess such abilities fascinated him. He considered himself superior to
others, but if someone had ever existed who could equal him, Alice was fast
becoming a worthy candidate. Eric would never confess that to anyone, but it
did present him with an overwhelming need to learn everything he could about
her.

Eric decided it was time to see her in action. He had the
perfect project for her.  The Department of Defense recently approached him
with the task of designing hovercraft technology for armored vehicles. It would
benefit them greatly, eliminating the need for mine detection and similar
precautions in combat zones.

There were many aspects to a project like this that made it
extremely difficult…one of which was finding or creating a power source with
the capability of allowing vehicles of that magnitude to hover above the
ground. It would have to be compact, non-volatile and use low amounts of fuel.
It was no easy feat.

Surely, the humanitarian part of Alice will see the
value in making such a project to come to life. And it gives me the perfect
chance to see what she is really capable of.

Allowing her to work also meant giving her a workspace. He
needed to set something up for her, preferably on the floor where her cell was,
so he could limit her range of movement. Less area to travel meant less of a
chance for her to find some flaw in their security to exploit.

Which reminds me, I need to have the maintenance
elevator reprogrammed to no longer stop on that floor. I can't have a repeat of
her last escape...

He had a fair amount of work to arrange, but he didn't
mind. Things were beginning to unfold quite fortuitously.

***

Alice woke up with a start. She was disoriented at first,
not recognizing her surroundings. Then, she remembered where she was and the
unpleasant situation she was in.

She sighed and closed her eyes again. Her internal clock
informed her that it was 6:41am on Sunday, the fourth day of her entrapment.

Has it already been four days? This place is starting to
get to me. Four days, and I haven't found a decent way to escape. I have to try
harder. Maybe today Eric will give me something to work with.

When Eric came for her later, he described some of his
visions for the future, showing her the projects that she would soon be working
on.

In spite of her desire not to get involved, she could not
help herself. She saw prototypes and designs for things she had only thought
possible in her dreams. The collective amount of intelligence and resources was
truly amazing. Alice also knew that the small portion she was being shown was
only a sample of the things that were worked on within EngineerCorp. It was a
shame that the unlimited potential contained inside the walls of Eric's domain
was overseen by someone who had lost touch with his conscience.

Alice wondered what the world would have been like if
Garrett had not been ruined, but instead was allowed to accomplish what he set
out to do. It would be a completely different place if he, and the countless
others smothered by EngineerCorp, had been allowed to succeed.

That evening, as Eric was escorting her back to her room,
he mentioned casually, "Tomorrow, Alice, you will begin to live up to your
end of our arrangement. I've arranged for the construction of your own personal
lab, so you can work without being interrupted or bothered by anyone else."

More like I could work without meeting anyone who could
potentially help me escape…

But, I'll take it.

It was one step closer to her being able to free herself.
With access to equipment and other tools, perhaps she could devise some way to
remove her ankle restraint. It would not be that simple, of course. She would
be watched at all times, she was sure of that.

They were back at her room now and Eric opened the door to
let her enter.

"Sleep well, Alice."

Easier said than done.

***

Her mind informed her that it was Monday, not that it
mattered. Time had lost its meaning since she'd arrived at EngineerCorp.

After completing her sad routine of getting dressed,
showering and eating whatever breakfast they brought, she waited for Eric to
come for her.

It had been over a week since her life was turned upside
down. She looked absently down at her hand and saw that the burns were healing
quite nicely, but they were going to leave a substantial scar. It was kind of a
jagged line, two and a half inches long across the base of her right palm.