Mind Trace (29 page)

The cab arrived a few minutes later, and he quickly entered
the faded yellow taxi. The man in the front seat partially turned around to ask,
"Where to?"

Garrett responded hesitantly. "This might seem kind of
cliché and strange, but I need you to wait here until a man drives by, then
follow him."

The cab driver raised an eyebrow in the rearview mirror.

That sounded a lot less strange in my head.

Garrett quickly thought of an explanation. "Look, I'm
a private detective, so I do this kind of thing all the time. I normally use my
own vehicle, but I know this man personally and he would recognize my car. Don't
worry; I will give you a nice tip for your troubles."

The driver laughed. "Whatever you say, buddy.  The
meter is running, so it's your dime!"

They were parked there for a span of almost five minutes,
when Garrett saw Richard's 1983 Buick drive past them. He motioned for the
driver to follow him, reminding him not to follow too closely.  It was
relatively easy to keep up with Richard. He had no reason to suspect that
anyone would ever follow him.

Ten minutes after that, Garrett watched as Richard pulled
into the same Chinese buffet he ate at every day. He had a sinking feeling in
his chest. Had he been wrong about this? He sighed, and asked the driver to
pull into a parking spot across the street. They waited. He was already there,
so he might as well see what took Richard so long.

He saw Richard get out of his car and enter the restaurant.
The windows on the building were clear, with no curtains hanging or other
window coverings. Garrett could see into the front half of the building, but
beyond that, the lighting was poor and it was too dark.

Richard spoke with the hostess for a few moments before she
showed him to a table near the window. From there, he stood and promptly went
to the buffet.

Well, that figures.

He gazed across the street distastefully. Anyone who ate
greasy food like that on a regular basis was asking for a heart attack. He
pushed himself back onto the worn plush fabric of the cab's back seat. He could
still see out of the window, but he had no idea why he bothered.

Five minutes passed before Richard came back to his table,
plate overfilling with food. Another twenty minutes went by with nothing else
to do but watch Richard's cholesterol climb.

Garrett was on the verge of telling the cab driver to take
him back to the office, when he gave one last look back to where Richard was
seated.

What? Who is that with him?

A strange man had slipped deftly by when Garrett wasn’t
looking and was now engaged in conversation with Richard.

He almost jumped out of the window trying to look at him. Garrett
did not recognize the man, but somehow instinctively knew that he found the
person he was looking for.

Garrett sat there, awkwardly with his face pressed against
the pane of glass, no longer caring how foolish he might appear. It was one
thing to be made aware that someone had been sabotaging him for years. It was
quite another to see evidence of it with his own eyes.  He wondered at the
callousness of a person that would agree to such a thing and carry it out so
casually.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but after a while,
Richard reached into his pocket and handed the man a small device. In exchange,
Richard was handed a thin, brown envelope. Most likely payment for his
services.

They talked for quite some time after that, about what,
Garrett could not imagine, nor did he care.  Then, the unknown man gazed down
at his watch, reached into his pocket and laid some bills on the table before
he stood to leave. He shook hands with Richard, who smiled at him almost
greedily.

Garrett sat back again, trying to be inconspicuous as the
strange man exited the restaurant. He stared at his face, trying to memorize
it. The man looked around suspiciously before walking to a dark SUV parked in
front.

What is it with bad guys and SUVs?

He took note of the license plate, make, and model.

Garrett leaned forward and spoke to the driver. "Change
of plans…we need to follow that black SUV pulling out from the restaurant
across the street."

"You got it."

The driver waited until the SUV was a respectable distance
away before following. Garrett checked the time. He needed to be back before
long to avoid anyone noticing his absence.

They drove silently for several miles before the scenery
began to change into clusters of close-knit houses. They were moving into the
outskirts of the residential area in Newport. There had not been much
residential development in some time, so many of the houses were older homes
that had been renovated.

What's he doing out here? Shouldn't he be delivering the
data?

In his mind, he irrationally imagined the culprit driving
madly back to EngineerCorp to deliver the stolen data. However, that was
clearly not the case.  He told the cab driver to keep a greater distance now,
as the cab would stand out more in this area.

The SUV finally stopped at one of the houses and parked in
the driveway.  Garrett had the driver pull over to the side of the street, far
enough away so they would not attract the man's attention. He got out of the
vehicle, and stooped to pick up something…the newspaper?

He lives here? This is getting stranger by the minute.

The man reached into his pocket to take out some keys,
unlocked the front door and went inside.

Garrett wrote down the street name and took notes over what
he saw. If this man was the person responsible for getting the information back
to EngineerCorp, then Garrett could use him to find a way back onto the
EngineerCorp campus. He would need all the help he could get.

After he had gotten all the information he could, he told
the driver to take him back.

They arrived at the same place where Garrett had been
picked up. He paid the driver and thanked him, giving a gracious tip. As he
jogged back to the warehouse dock, he hesitated only when it came into view. Seeing
no one outside, he deftly crept up to the door and slipped inside. 

The warehouse was empty, fortunately, and he made it back
inside his office without incident. A quick peek outside the window revealed
the white van, still parked across the street.

The clock read 3:03pm, meaning several more hours before he
could go home. Garrett frowned impatiently. There was so much he needed to
research, but he could not do it there.  He didn't trust his work computers,
and there was no way he could do what he needed to on the old laptop he found.

Garrett still mourned the loss of his home computers, but
he knew he wasn't helpless. He had more than enough to work with at home.

It pays to have a secret lab. 

Chapter 18

Steven watched as the tall, dark-haired man returned home for
the evening. 

I wish I was anywhere but here. But, I'm stuck watching
this nobody named Garrett Wiggins.

Before his reassignment, he was a member of the elite
guards that patrolled the underground complex at EngineerCorp, a complex that
most people had no idea existed.  Then, there was the unfortunate incident that
ruined his career. 

It all happened one evening when he was working his shift
in the "Underground," as they affectionately called it. His
assignment was simple. He was responsible for delivering dinner to one of the
guests. She was a girl, seemingly innocent and non-threatening. He knew she had
to have some terrible secret to have earned herself a locked cell at
EngineerCorp, but he couldn’t imagine what it might be, and it was above his
pay grade to know such details.

When he entered the room, she seemed caught by surprise. She
jumped back and tripped over her bed. He cursed to himself for his bad luck.
She had not stirred at all and he assumed she was unconscious, so he bent over
to check on her. In the next moment, he found out the hard way why she was
behind a locked door.  She shot him with his own taser, and then completely
immobilized him.

It was humiliating, but even more so when he woke up. Not
only had she fully escaped the compound, but she also attacked Eric Martin on
her way out. Steven became aware of that gossip later, when he overheard some
of the other guards talking. 

Steven awoke in an impossibly awkward position, slumped
near the scanner of the girl's cell. She had apparently dragged him over to use
his palm to activate the door. 

Convenient.

Then, there was the fact that he was wearing significantly
less clothing than when he entered the cell. He was found only wearing an
undershirt, boxers, and handcuffs.

Eric's unofficial second-in-command was standing over him
when he awoke. He was staring at him with a grim expression and Steven could
clearly see that he had messed things up irreparably. Grant stood watching as
two other men roughly pulled him up to standing and unfastened his cuffs.

Grant spoke with great deliberation. "Follow me."

He tried to maintain what dignity he could, trying to shake
them off and stand on his own. The gesture was futile, as he was still unsteady
and unable to walk without help.

Steven groggily followed, trying to shake off the fog in
his brain and figure out exactly what had happened. He was completely lost, not
even noticing where they were going.  When they suddenly stopped, he was
shocked to see that they were standing in front of the door to Eric's office.

A short pause later, they were buzzed inside.

Eric was sitting in his immaculate desk, staring menacingly
across the room. Even the air itself was thick with the sense of
disappointment. In spite of his stupor, Steven was aware that his heart began
to beat faster and his palms grew sweaty.

It seemed like an eternity before Eric spoke.  He gazed
over him with distaste, taking note of his lack of attire, only serving to
further his sense of humiliation.

"Steven, is it? Do you have any idea what you've done?"

He didn't wait for an answer. "No, I suppose you don't…
You've single-handedly facilitated the escape of the most dangerous person in
the world."

Eric paused to let the complete effect of his statement
sink in. Steven swallowed hard and stared dumbly ahead.

"You knew, of course, when you signed your contract
and accepted this position that there was no 'exit clause.' I cannot allow you
to continue working in this position when you are obviously incompetent. Until
further notice, you are stripped of all duties and privileges until something
suitable
can be found for you to do. And, I don't need to remind you of the consequences
of breaking your contract."

There goes my
future.

It was a dismissal. He numbly allowed himself to be led
from the room. Steven knew exactly what the "contract" entailed. When
he accepted the job, he basically signed over his life. He knew at the time
that it was unreasonable, but somehow the idea of working in a top-secret,
underground complex overruled everything else. He was much younger then, and it
seemed like the best thing to do at the time.

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Even now, he couldn't say that he regretted his decision.
It was an amazing job, right up to the point where his career was ruined. He
didn't know what they would do to him now, but he knew there weren't many
options.

Part of working for one of the most powerful companies in
the world was accepting the obvious fact that they had the power to do whatever
they wanted. If he was on their bad side now, he didn't want to imagine what
they would do to him if he stepped further out of line.

He waited a few days under what was essentially house
arrest.  Most of the guards were housed on Level Two of the Underground and
Steven was no exception. No one told him he was a prisoner, but there was a
guard posted outside of his room twenty-four hours a day. He would have been a
fool to think otherwise. When Steven began to wonder if he would stay there
indefinitely, Grant paid him another visit.

His door was thrown open quite unceremoniously and Steven
stood back dumbly. Grant briskly entered and watched him with a steady gaze.

"It appears you've been given a second chance. You've
been reassigned to be a part of a new team with a
simple
assignment. You
will be responsible for keeping surveillance on a man named Garrett Wiggins."

Steven looked at him quizzically, not sure what he was
supposed to do.

"This man is to have twenty-four hour surveillance and
you will follow him wherever he goes. The details are in this file. You can
read them on your way. You will be leaving immediately."

He thrust a packet toward Steven and left the room, leaving
the door wide open. Steven gave a deep sigh, turning around to gather his
belongings and begin his new assignment. 

He was glad they were giving him another chance, but he
felt strangely apprehensive. Something about the way Grant looked at him made
him think this was not the redemption he was looking for.

Steven shook off the memories. It seemed like ages since
all of that happened.  Now, he was seated in the cramped and uncomfortable
surveillance van outside of Garrett's house. In reality, it had only been a few
days.

The file that Grant had given him hardly provided any
useful information. It only specified that the subject needed surveillance for
the foreseeable future, and any deviations from normal activity were to be
reported immediately. The subject was aware of the surveillance, but he did not
know how extensive it was.

It seemed that this man was given the same kind of "freedom"
that Steven now had. Whatever Garrett had done, he was now on the bad side of
the wrong people.

At least my privacy is still intact. I can't say the
same for this man… But my sympathy stops there. I have a job to do, and I'm not
going to give EngineerCorp any further cause to be angry with me.

As far as the surveillance went, there was only one camera
in the house, and it was in the office. There were cameras surrounding the
perimeter of the house and a wiretap on his phone. They were also monitoring all
network activity and financial information for any suspicious activity. If
Garrett left the house, they followed him.  

Their main concern, as outlined in the file, was to make
sure that he made no attempt to violate his agreement with EngineerCorp. The
moment he did that, he would be seized, and EngineerCorp would take over from
there.

Whatever happens, it will not be favorable for him.

At his work, they monitored the basic activities. Phone,
internet, and outgoing correspondence. They weren't required to use
surveillance inside the building, although they did have a remote listening
device pointed at his office.  They could essentially hear everything he said
or did there.

It was not a hardcore stakeout, but they had to be logical.
If this was going to be a lifelong surveillance, as he had every reason to
believe, then he knew that to keep track of every detail for that length of
time would be impractical. So, they settled for a middle-of-the-road approach.
They kept track of his movements and any contact he had with the outside world.
That, by itself, seemed to be enough of a challenge.

For one, Garrett was fully aware that he was being watched.
He took every opportunity to walk around his home in the nude, pausing in front
of the front windows where the van was in full view. It was his small, twisted
revenge on the otherwise uncontrollable situation. Steven understood his
motivation, but it didn't make it any easier to watch. 

Aside from that, he was just plain boring. If he was not
walking naked around his house, he was usually watching television. From the
office camera, they could see into the living room where Garrett would turn on
the TV and spend his evenings lying on the sofa. They couldn't technically see
his body since the back of the sofa faced the camera, but they were able to see
him get up hours later. The rest of his time he was either sleeping, or at
work.

I can't, for the life of me, see why this man is so threatening
that he requires this level of surveillance. He probably isn't a danger at all.
Just a punishment for me. "Watch some random guy for the rest of your
life."

Better yet, maybe he had an affair with some board
member's wife.

In any case, it seemed that Eric viewed Garrett as only a
mild threat. Dangerous, but lacking ambition. 

Steven knew he would never again have the kind of job he
wanted so he was just glad to be on the outside. Swallowing his annoyance and
resentment, he stared ahead at the figure of the nude man standing in front of
the window. 

He sadly shook his head.

It's going to take a long time to get used to that.

***

Garrett sat in front of a computer in his hidden lab,
clothed in a bathrobe. He spent most of the evening trying to find all the
information he could on the mysterious man.  It seemed that everywhere he
looked, it was a dead end. He even tried looking up the tax records on the
house, but found that the owner was unlisted. It was clear that he would not
get much further on his own.

He picked up a pencil lying on the desk and twirled it
through his fingers, thinking of what to do next. One of his past clients had
been a detective with a private investigation firm. He didn't like to call in
favors, but he had done enough business with the man to feel comfortable asking
him for help.  Garrett gazed at his watch.

Great. Still early enough to call.

He pulled out his prepaid cell and called up the detective.

A short while later he hung up, satisfied with what was
accomplished. His detective acquaintance, Nick, was only too happy to help.
Garrett hadn't been completely honest with him about
why
he needed this
mysterious man followed, but instead told Nick that he suspected the man of
corrupt business dealings and wanted to get more information. He was just as
much protecting Nick as he was himself. The fewer people that were involved,
the better.

He stood and stretched, removing his bathrobe to sneak back
into the living room.

Garrett knew it was irrational, but he reveled in the small
bit of pleasure it gave him to torment his watchers. He also knew that if he
acted in such a manner, it would prevent them from watching him too closely,
because they would be wary of what they would see next.

You do what you have to do.

Garrett also knew that the only camera in his house was in
his office. He found that the first night during his analysis of the house. Making
sure to turn off all the lights that evening before going to bed, he waited
until the middle of the night and snuck out with a frequency scanner.

I never knew this thing would come in handy.

It was not a sophisticated piece of equipment, but it would
certainly let him know if there was anything sending out a signal nearby.

Garrett plugged in a set of headphones and crept around his
darkened house. On the off chance he was spotted, it would only appear that he
was taking a midnight stroll around his house with a radio.

Strange…but I've done stranger things in front of them.

He hoped they weren't using any kind of thermal imaging, or
he would be seen despite the darkness in his house.

He found signals transmitting near his phone lines,
internet lines, and near a vent in the office. Garrett knew his phone and
internet were tapped already, but the third signal he was unsure of. After
searching the rest of his house, he was unable to find anything else.

He took his transmitter back to his office and analyzed the
signal. It was only a matter of minutes before he successfully hacked into the
video feed.

They make it too easy. I guess they think I don't really
have the means to hack into anything anymore, or they'd be taking better
precautions.

It wasn't until the next day when it was light again that
he was able to see well enough what the camera was viewing. It was placed in
such a way that the entire office could be seen, as well as the doorway into
the living area. He could see the back of the couch, the television and other
chairs. Beyond that, nothing else.