Mind Trace (10 page)

I know I don't have much time, but when am I going to
eat again? Better to be safe, than sorry.

She lifted the lid on the tray, quickly devoured the
sandwich that was there, gulped down some water, and then moved to the security
panel.

Alice did not know the code off the top of her head, but
she knew the algorithm used to change the code and how often it was changed. It
was only a matter of seconds before she was able to derive it. The door would
not open, however, unless the correct code was entered after a palm scan. She
glanced over at the guard lying on the floor.

Great.

Frustrated, she hurried over to the almost naked man, and
began to drag him awkwardly across the room to the keypad. Luckily, she had
cuffed his hands in front of him, so she was able to place his palm
uncomfortably on the scanner. After a brief moment of hesitation, the scanner
glowed green. She eased the guard back onto the floor and hastily entered the
six-digit code into the keypad. A few seconds later, the door whirred open.

Here we go!

 She sucked in her breath and started forward. Alice forgot
to take into account the position of the guard, and clumsily tripped over him.
She caught herself at the last minute and stepped breathlessly into the hall. 
There was no one, patrolling or otherwise, that she could see.

That was close.

The door to her cell closed, and she hesitantly made her
way to the employee terminal. It was in a small room off the main hallway,
accessed only by a key code.  She kept her head lowered so she would not be
recognized on the security cameras, with the hat hiding most of her face.

She stopped at the door, taking a moment for her mind to
generate the correct code, and then swiftly entered the room. There was not
much security there, as this terminal was designed for the guards to put in
requests, close work orders, and manage timesheets. To the average user, there
was nothing else that could be done.

Just enter a few commands here and there…Voila! Access
to the mainframe. This "computer brain" sure does come in handy.

She typed furiously at the terminal, and after a few
moments, everything was in place. Alice made sure to add time delays, giving
her a chance to get to the maintenance elevator before the chaos ensued.

She also enabled an override code for the keypad on the
entrance to the maintenance area, so she would not need a palm scan to enter.
She removed all traces of her activity, making it seem as though she had done
nothing to their system.

From there, Alice walked as nonchalantly as possible down
the hall, heading to the maintenance entrance. It was in a corridor off the
main hallway, a good distance from the security station.

I hope this works!

When she got to the door, she entered in her makeshift
override code and slipped inside the corridor. The elevator waited at the end
of the hall, beckoning her to freedom. 

Alice counted down in her head as she approached the steel
doors.

 Five…four…three…two…one!

If all went according to plan, her scripts had now begun
executing. As if to confirm her thoughts, chatter erupted from her earpiece.

"Code green in sector three, Level Seven. Notify
Martin."

"What happened down there?"

"Cooling systems are going haywire. We need to get
someone down here immediately."

Then, a few seconds later. "Update status to code
blue. There are intermittent electrical failures."

"I'll update Martin. Bring maintenance from that level
over to look at the issues."

She was almost to the elevator when she heard a frantic
yelling in her ear.

"Code Red! I repeat,
Code Red
! The Project
Alchernon server has completely shut down!"

After a tense moment, the man replied frantically, "Martin
is heading your way now. He's coming straight down from Engineering."

She had reached the elevator and pressed the button,
waiting to go up.

Almost there.

As the door dinged open and she looked up, she realized a
fatal error in her timing.

Eric had been in Engineering, most likely discussing the
progress in cracking her computer. Engineering was on Level Three, and right in
the middle of that was the maintenance corridor.   If, for instance, he heard
that something devastating was happening to Project Alchernon on Level Seven,
he would use the closest route to get there… the maintenance elevator.

She looked up directly into Eric's steely blue eyes.

You have to be kidding.

She really had a streak of bad luck lately.

Eric stared at her, and probably the closest thing he had
felt to surprise in years was now written all over his face.

For a moment, they both stared at each other, neither one
moving.  Then, Eric jumped forward out of the elevator to grab her.
Unaccustomed to the overly large boots she was wearing, she tripped over her
own feet and fell backward onto the floor.

Eric fell on top of her, and she struggled fiercely as he
sought to restrain her. Within a few moments, he had her arms firmly pinned to
the floor. His arms felt like iron bands, and she knew she could not break free
of his hold.

If I had waited just a few minutes, I would have missed
him entirely. I'd be on my way to freedom instead of trapped on the ground
beneath Eric Martin.

He finally spoke, slightly out of breath.

"What have you managed to do now, Alice? I guess it
was too much to hope that you would behave yourself."

He added with a hint of malice, more to himself than her, "Someone
will pay dearly for their lack of attention."

That guard is going to really hate me.

He drew his attention back to her and continued, "Alice,
I don't know how you've managed to escape your cell and find your way here, but
I can only surmise that if you were able to do that, you are most likely behind
whatever chaos is ensuing on Level Seven."

He studied her face, taking in every detail as if to find
an explanation there.

Alice decided to appeal to his sense of humanity. She
returned his gaze, pleading.

 "Eric, you don't have to do this. Just let me go. I don't
have anything that you want. I just want to get out of here and never think
about any of this again."

His gaze softened, and she could see a shred of sympathy in
his eyes even though he had no intention of changing his mind.

"It's far too late for that, my dear."

It was worth a shot. Time for Plan B.

He maneuvered her wrists together and held them down with one
arm as he reached back to grab his radio to call in backup.  Alice took that
moment to calculate the best way to break from his one-handed hold.

Given his weight and the direction of the force he's
applying on my wrists, I should be able to break his hold with a significant
force in this direction…

She broke his hold by violently propelling her hand
outward. He obviously did not expect that reaction and hesitated for the
briefest of moments. Alice frantically reached down for the tranquilizer gun
and closed her shaking hand around it. She pressed the weapon to his thigh and
released the trigger.

The shock on his face was undeniable now. Eric held her
gaze as his hold loosened and he began to sag. Alice pushed him off her body and
onto the ground.

She stood up and looked down at him, giving him her best
smile. She couldn't resist saying, "Well, I'm sorry too, Eric. I really
hoped you'd be reasonable."

The shock on his face turned to undeniable anger. Before he
could reply, he was unconscious.

Alice leapt in the elevator and held down the floor button,
so it would skip over any other floors on its ascent. She tried not to think
about what had just happened as the elevator continued to rise. Her heart was
pounding in her chest, her body filled with adrenaline from her encounter with
Eric. She could not help but be in awe of him. He was handsome, intelligent,
and powerful. A dangerous combination. But it was that very fact that gave her
victory almost epic proportions.

No time to think about that now. I have to escape.

Even if their altercation had managed to go unnoticed on
the security feed, she knew Eric could not go missing for long. Not to mention
there was still a guard locked inside her room.

The elevator dinged softly and opened in the central part
of the warehouse.  A guard was posted near the elevator, but he merely glanced
up at her, nodded, and went back to his crossword puzzle.  Apparently, her
escape had not yet been noticed.

The layout in her head told her that the docks were to the
north of the elevator, with the offices, sorting stations, and another security
station between her and the exit.

A direct path there would leave me vulnerable, too many
checkpoints. If I take the longer, less traveled route, there is less risk.

Alice weaved her way in and out of boxes, taking advantage
of the blind spots in the security system until she had almost reached the
docks.

Ahead of her lay yet another security station. The only way
in or out of the warehouse from there took her directly past the station.
Although they were more likely to question the people coming
in
the
warehouse, Alice knew that her whole plan could be ruined right there if she
was not careful.

She pulled her cap down a little tighter and surveyed the
situation. She saw a group of warehouse workers talking and carrying on in
front of a large machine, which she recognized as one of the package sorters.
As boxes were received and scanned, they were then placed on a conveyer belt
that fed them into the sorting machine. The machine took in the packages,
scanned them, sorted them based on their destination, and then pushed them onto
separate conveyer belts leading to the appropriate areas of the warehouse.

It was a valuable machine and her mind interjected that it
allowed the warehouse to cut down processing time by over 75%.

If that were to fail suddenly, it would provide more
than enough distraction to get past the security station.

 She backtracked, went down a few more aisles, and ended up
at the backside of the sorting machine. Prying open a panel near the engine, she
strategically unplugged a few wires and replaced the cover.

Alice hurried back to her previous position just in time to
see workers running over to the machine, shouting. This caught the attention of
the guards at the security station and they ran over to see what all the
commotion was.

She took advantage of their distraction and walked
hurriedly past the station, unnoticed. Her heart was beating so quickly and
loudly, she was sure that someone would hear it and she would be discovered.
Alice tried to look casual as she sought out some sort of delivery vehicle that
was on its way out of the warehouse.

Unease gnawed at her resolve as she passed dock after dock,
finding no suitable vehicle to escape.

Please, don't let this happen. There has to be at least
one truck leaving this place!

Alice had almost given up hope when she came to the last
dock. There was a solitary delivery driver loading boxes into his truck for
departure.

It was a typical delivery truck, with a rolling door in the
back and two side doors near the driver that seemed to be perpetually open.  As
he finished loading the last box, the driver approached a small terminal to the
right of the dock to confirm the boxes he received for delivery. Alice quickly
glanced over her shoulder and crept into the back of the truck, sitting behind
a tower of boxes.

She settled down, trying to remain hidden from view. The
back door suddenly rolled shut and she heard footsteps come around the other
side of the truck, followed by the squeak of seat springs as the driver sat
down. The engine started, and the truck slowly pulled away from the dock.

Alice had just begun to breathe a sigh of relief when she
realized that the radio was still chattering in her ear.

 I forgot I was even wearing this. Wait… They can use
this to track me if they find out I have it!

She hastily removed it and crushed it beneath her boot.

When the driver picked up enough speed, she was able to
safely discard the uniform without being heard over the engine. Outside of the
EngineerCorp campus, the uniform would be a liability, making her stand out and
draw unneeded attention.

Alice's hands were shaking as she put her own shoes back on
and silently prayed that the truck would make it beyond the campus without any
mishaps.

After what seemed like an eternity, she felt the truck roll
to a stop, heard a gate open, and then the truck was off again. Judging by the
relative speed of the vehicle and the time since they left the dock, they had
just made it past the outer gate of campus.  As they were driving away, she
heard a proximity alarm go off and some men yelling, but then they were too far
away to hear any more.

Sounds like they found Eric…

Alice knew that the entire campus would be shut down the
moment they realized she had escaped. The fact that she had made it safely past
their defenses before they realized their error made her feel almost giddy.

And they all thought they were invincible. I'm really
glad they were wrong.

She let out a small, nervous giggle and then checked herself. 
It would be just her luck to escape a maximum-security underground complex,
only to be discovered stowing away by some delivery driver.

What would she do now? Suddenly sober, she considered her
options. It didn't take very long; there were precious few to choose.

My best hope is to find Garrett and somehow convince him
to help me. But, I'll need money and some way to get there…

She checked her pockets but, not surprisingly, everything
had been taken. Most of her money had been in her bags anyway, which had been
confiscated by EngineerCorp. Alice would have to get creative.

The EngineerCorp campus was located just outside of
Yorkshire, Virginia. It was massive, centered on a five-mile stretch of land
and was technically considered a city in itself. It was not open to the public
and could become an impenetrable fortress at a moment's notice.

Cyberconn, however, was located in Newport, New Hampshire.
Alice had to cover almost 450 miles if she wanted to seek Garrett's help, and
she wasn't getting there without some form of money.

It was approximately thirty-two minutes before the delivery
truck stopped again.

I better get out now. They can trace me too easily to
this truck, and wherever it stops.

 The driver went around the back of the truck and rolled up
the door. She could barely see him through a small space between boxes. He
loaded several things onto a dolly and walked away in the direction of the
driver's side. When she could no longer see him, she squeezed between the boxes
and exited from the side passenger door of the truck, tucking the guard uniform
under her arm.

She was in a small town approximately twenty-seven miles
from EngineerCorp. Alice looked around and began mentally laying out a map of
the city, overlaying the streets until she knew exactly where she was.

The driver had parked in front of a large office building
in the heart of the business quarter. In the immediate vicinity, there was an
assortment of similar corporate buildings, tapering off to smaller structures
and local businesses further down the street. Being early afternoon, there were
very few people about, as most of them were still at work.

Hastily crossing the street, Alice put some distance
between her and the truck, tossing the uniform bundle into a covered trash can
as she passed by.

When she was a few blocks away, she noticed an ATM in a
small alcove off the sidewalk.  As Alice approached the machine, she was caught
off-guard when her mind began accessing all sorts of schematics, diagrams and
programs for that particular ATM.

This really is amazing. It's like there's no limit to the
information that's on EngineerCorp's servers. I guess that makes sense; they
are involved in almost everything.

Still, if a less scrupulous person was given this kind
of data…they could do some serious damage. Me? I just want freedom.

She analyzed the data she was presented with, finding that
this series of ATM had a hard code wired into it; pressing a series of buttons
and entering a sixteen-digit code would grant her access to the maintenance
portal.  From there, she entered her routing and account information and had
the machine output five hundred dollars from her account. She altered the
information to show the money being withdrawn on a date prior to the "incident." 
Alice returned the ATM to its main menu and pocketed the cash.

How am I going to get to Newport? I don't even have an
ID. Anything extravagant is most likely too expensive or covered in security
cameras. If I chose one of those options, I might as well just turn myself in
now.

I suppose a bus would be the simplest route, less
security. I'll start there.

Alice had one more stop before heading to the station.
There was a clothing store a few blocks out of the way, but it was worth the
effort.

I really need to disguise myself. I'm too recognizable in
these clothes. Plus, I've been wearing them for days. Soon, I'll stand out
because of the smell!

She reached the clothing store a short time later. It had a
nice, generic name, "Clothes & More." It offered an assortment of
clothing for all lifestyles, non-designer clothing that would do well for
blending into the crowd.

Searching through the meager racks, Alice quickly picked
out some subdued clothing and was heading to the register, when she noticed a
small section along the wall with assorted wigs.

A wig! Why didn't I think of that before?