Mind Trace (37 page)

If all went as she hoped, not only would she help Garrett,
but she would help herself as well. By showing Garrett's innocence, she would cast
a heavy shadow of doubt on the lofty corporation that ruled global technology
unchecked.

Alice knew that her attempt to restrain Eric would not last
long. Undoubtedly, even in the chaos that ensued from Garrett's virus, men were
rushing immediately to release him… and then, they would be searching for her.

Only, they wouldn't expect to find her deeper within the
complex. They would assume, at least initially, that she would find her way
out
as quickly as possible.

The main controls for the satellite network were located on
Level Six, which was one level deeper than where she was. With the security
system temporarily down, she would be able to get there before they found out
where she was going. She steeled her nerves against the irresistible impulse to
turn back.

I can do this. Don't think about it. Just go.

Looking up, she saw that she had arrived at the maintenance
elevator. She peered quickly back down the hall, the same hall where she had
bested Eric during her first escape. Alice shuddered and turned back to the
panel to work. She had little time to spare for her memories or anything else.

Alice raised her hand against the panel and began
concentrating. It was a relatively easy task in spite of her circumstances, and
she was rewarded when the elevator dinged softly, doors opening in front of
her.

Taking one last glance back, she entered the elevator and
went down.

It seemed to take forever for the elevator to make it to
the level below. When the doors opened again, she cautiously peered out, hoping
that her task would not be complicated by the presence of guards or other
workers.

Mercifully, no one was there. She was still in the
maintenance hallway, but it was empty. If there had been people lurking about
before, they were more than likely trying to contain the situation that had set
off the alarms. Alice silently thanked her friend for his very effective
distraction.

Accessing her internal map, she saw that the main satellite
control panel was inside a room central to the floor. There were two doors to
enter the room, on the north and east sides. The east entrance was the closest
and the best option, unless circumstances forced her to find another way.

Connecting the maintenance hall to the main hall was a
double door made of steel, with two windows lined with wire mesh.  She moved
her face as close to the glass as she dared, but saw no one in the main hall.

There was a numeric keypad that opened the door, and she
made short work of that. As she entered the hallway, she felt exposed in the
large, open space.

I need to get out of the open. The entrance is located…
twenty-five feet down, at the end of the hallway on the right.

 Just as she turned right at the second hall, she heard
anxious voices in the distance.  Panicking, she turned to the nearest door
which her mind instantly informed her was a janitorial closet.

Deftly opening the electronic lock, she slipped inside just
as a group of nervous lab technicians walked hurriedly by down the main hall.
Her heart was racing again and she did her best to quiet her breathing so she
would not be heard.

She had not been paying much attention to what they were
saying, but once inside the closet she could only hear muffled tones. They were
heading in the direction of the main elevator. Beyond that, she was unsure of
where they were going. She was relieved to notice that they were not guards,
but she could not risk being seen by anyone.

She turned around and surveyed her surroundings. There wasn't
much of use. Most of the closet was filled with brooms and cleaning supplies.
Even in a high tech facility like this one, it was almost reassuring to her to
know that they still relied on such everyday objects. It made them seem more
human somehow.

When she had not heard anything for several minutes, she
ventured out again. Whoever had been walking by was nowhere in sight now. Alice
dashed to the end of the hallway.

The security on the entry was considerable. It took her a
full minute to coax it open. Her nerves certainly weren't helping her speed.

The door slid open and Alice quickly slipped inside.
Garrett's distraction had been perfect, pulling most employees away from their
posts to the areas that were hit hardest by the virus. He had targeted the
security systems first to aid Alice in her escape, so most technicians and
engineers were helping out in the security center on Level Two.

…All except for the lanky technician in front of her, staring
at her as if he'd never seen a female before, much less expecting one to be
standing in front of him.

Her mind pulled up his personnel information. He was, as
she guessed, a low-level technician. Certain information in his annual reviews
caught her attention. They all had average ratings and said that he was "eager
to please but had little ambition or independence."

Alice straightened her shoulders and cleared her throat,
trying to seem as powerful as she could.  She didn't want to resort to violence.
The poor guy looked like he wouldn't make much of a challenge anyway.  She only
had one shot to make this sound convincing.

"Why are you still here?" she yelled, attempting
to sound demanding.

His expression immediately changed from questioning to
fearful.

"Oh, I um…they said that I needed to stay behind and…
watch over the satellites. They went with the rest to help take care of the…umm…crisis."

Alice did her best to look annoyed, shamefully taking
pointers from how she'd seen Eric respond to those around him.

"They didn't tell you? You are needed in the warehouse
at once!"

"The warehouse? Wh-h-y?"

"There is an incoming shipment of new circuit boards
for the satellite system. They need to be installed immediately upon receiving.
If they have not arrived, you are to wait there until they do."

"But…I was told to wait here. If I leave my post…who
will watch the satellites?"

Alice felt horribly guilty for what she was about to say,
but she had to make this man leave, and fast.

"Am I not fully capable of taking care of things until
you return? Do you always question your superiors like this? How long have you
been at this job? Four years? With no promotion? Well, it's no wonder with your
attitude."

The slender man hung his head low, defeated. She'd struck a
nerve and was fully aware of it, but it still felt bad all the same.

Does Eric ever feel like this?

The man looked down at the floor and mumbled a quiet, "Yes,
ma'am," as he awkwardly shuffled out the door.

Finally, she was alone. She looked around for the main
control terminal and spotted it in the center of the room. There was computer
equipment everywhere, but it was obvious that this was the main hub.

Above the computer was a massive display with a map of the
earth and the current location of all the satellites in their orbits. There
were thousands of them, each represented by a tiny point of light slowly
sliding across the vast screen. Alice knew that there was an extensive network,
but she was still amazed by the sheer volumes that she saw.

There was an entire console of different gauges, buttons,
and meters, but Alice paid no attention to them. She didn't need them anyway.
Instead, she approached the center of the console and allowed her hand to hover
above it. She sucked in her breath and concentrated harder than she ever had
before.

Before she could do anything, Alice had to locate the files
that she wanted to broadcast. Luckily, she already knew the names and locations
of them within the mainframe. From there, she had to open up a channel on the
satellites, override all of their safety mechanisms, and link them all with a
single broadcast of data. Somewhere in there she had to compile the information
in such a way that it would make sense to the viewers; it wouldn't do her much
good to send out a garbled stream of data to the entire world that no one would
understand.

She hoped against all hope that Garrett's virus hadn't
reached the satellites, but if it had, she would have to contend with that as
well. It was nothing she couldn't handle, but it would cause her delays she
didn't need.

Alice closed her eyes and opened her mind to the computer.

Chapter 23

"Get someone down here NOW!" Eric bellowed into
his phone.

Eric should have seen it coming, but he was
distracted…distracted by what Alice had done, what he had seen her do with his
own eyes.

He saw her reach casually down, hand above the ankle
bracelet, eyes closed, and then a few minutes later, the bracelet clicked open.
It seemed no more difficult to her than if she had bent over to tie her
shoelaces.

He had been going down to make sure her glasses had been
returned to her, and…to check on her. Eric had spent a restless night trying to
get sleep, but being unable to get her out of his thoughts.  If he were honest
with himself, he would have acknowledged there was no real reason for him to
visit. Part of him had hoped that maybe if he saw her, the proof Eric needed
for his unbelievable theories would somehow just appear. He had no idea how
right he was.

Walking down the hallway, he noticed immediately that the
door was open. But no alarms had gone off, and he heard no noises. Was he
already too late? He ran quickly to her door.

Alice was still there, sitting crouched on the ground and
staring at her bracelet. Eric put his hand on the activator, ready to press the
button. He had no idea what was happening, why she was awake, and why her door
was open… but he wasn't about to let her to escape.

Then, he hesitated and decided in that short moment to let
the events play out. He could at least see what she was planning before he
stopped her. She hadn't even noticed him yet, so focused as she was.

But after he saw what she did, he could no longer think
rationally. His mind was completely consumed by what he'd seen. It should have
been impossible. No human being should have been able to do what she so
nonchalantly just did. Disbelief overpowered logic, and he was lost in the
moment.

Somewhere during his attempt to fathom the incredible
event, Alice slapped the bracelet on his wrist. At that moment, reality harshly
came down on him and he stared at his wrist in complete astonishment. Then, the
anger took over.

Alice was one step ahead of him and darted out of the room
before he could react…but not before she reveled in his helplessness. He almost
realized too late that he could not go after her, but checked himself at the
doorway.  How did he keep finding himself here, at the mercy of this girl?

He boiled in anger at the idea of being forced into this
vulnerable position.  His insides shook with the force of his emotion. She
would pay, one way or another.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, the intercom sounded in his
ears, telling him that there was an unknown system breach. Everyone would be
scrambling to their positions to try to contain the situation, making it that
much more difficult to find Alice. At this point, it didn't matter to him why
it happened, only that she was stopped.

So, he started calling everyone he could get a hold of. He
had to get the bracelet off too, which Grant could help with. In the meantime,
he also called in his Alpha team to start the search. Alice had to be found. 

***

Ten insufferable minutes passed before Eric was free of the
bracelet. He had no doubt his men were rushing to his aid, but it seemed an
excruciatingly long time before they arrived.

How could I have been so foolish?

While he was waiting, he sent men ahead to begin sorting
through footage to find which way Alice went. However, Eric was cruelly
informed that the entire EngineerCorp security system was malfunctioning due to
the virus. It had been introduced from an off-site location and was targeted
specifically at their security.

EngineerCorp was not invulnerable to attack, but they had
internal and external firewalls for protection. The scope of this attack was
limited to the depth of the connection that the hacker was able to reach before
the internal security took over. The hacker had used an authorized connection,
enabling him to get deeper into their network before being stopped. 

It couldn't have been Alice, then. But, who was it? Did
she have friends in other places with her same abilities?

No… That is illogical. There is no one else like her.

At any rate, I have no time to worry about who launched
the attack. We must find her.

He had teams working on the mainframe at present and Eric
knew that the breach would soon be contained. Alice, on the other hand, was far
more dangerous and must be dealt with immediately.

When Grant arrived, Eric went with him to the elevator,
heading to the security center on Level One. The door dinged open and Eric
briskly entered, followed by Grant and a few other men. Hunkering in one corner
was a frail technician, staring intently at the floor. Eric gave him a passing
glance, but otherwise ignored him. 

As Grant pressed the buttons to go to the first level, Eric
noticed that the warehouse button was lit. Why would anyone be going to the
warehouse at a time like this? Everyone was needed in the underground portion
of the complex to contain the situation.

He asked angrily, "Who's going to the warehouse?"

Looking around him, most people shrugged and appeared to be
as confused as he was. Then, Eric heard a small voice in the corner speak
unintelligibly.

He directed his gaze to the man in the corner. "You're
going? What business do you have there?"