Mind Trace (16 page)

It doesn't matter. I refuse to hover over her, watching.
If she insists on working, I will let her do so in peace.

He decided to give her a few more hours before insisting
that she get some sleep before the next day. It was already almost seven o'clock.
Jeremy had agreed to meet them at eight the next morning, meaning they would
have to leave by five to make it on time.

Garrett plopped down on the couch in the living room and turned
on the television. He dozed off a few times before eventually falling into a
deep sleep.

Several strange dreams later, he bolted off the couch,
disoriented. Checking his watch, he discovered it was near midnight.

Where is Alice? I didn't mean to sleep that long!

He heard no sounds anywhere in the darkened house. As he staggered
to his bedroom, he saw bright light shining from the doorway to his hidden
workshop. Peering inside, he found Alice fast asleep on the table next to the
Memory Keeper. She looked so young and innocent, the effect magnified by his
brightly colored pajamas.

Amused, Garrett slid next to her to examine what she had been
so fervently working on. As the computer came out of standby, he saw an
entirely new directory of files and programs that wasn't there before. Curious,
he ran the main program and watched as the orb began to glow brightly and an
image appeared on the lenses of the headset. 

A strange feeling, a hope too far-fetched to accept, swirled
in his mind. Garrett hesitantly reached for the headset and pulled it over his
head. Through the semi-transparent lenses, he could see a prompt asking him if
he wished to begin sorting through memories. Unsure of how to proceed, he tentatively
thought, "
yes.
"

Almost instantly, the screen changed, requesting that he
begin recalling the particular memories he wished to store. His first thought
was the moment when he met Alice.  Images flashed quickly in front of his eyes,
stopping on a picture of Alice in the parking lot. Then, a dialog box appeared
over the memory, prompting him to approve or reject what he had seen. He gave
another affirmative, and watched as it was replaced by more flashes and a
status bar ticking across the lens.

There is no way that is possible.

He ripped off the headset and connected the Memory Keeper
to the computer, fumbling with the cables.  He downloaded the data to the
computer, and to his great astonishment, found himself watching his
recollection of his first moments with Alice.

In his haste, he made enough commotion that Alice stirred
and started to wake. She opened her eyes and saw him staring at the computer
screen, his face transformed with complete and utter incredulity.

She managed a sleepy "hey" and a shy smile when
he turned to look at her.

"Alice!"

He swept her into a claustrophobic hug before she realized
what was happening.

Garrett, caught up completely in the splendor of the
moment, did not stop to think about the awkwardness of the gesture. He was only
aware that he was staring at the realization of years of hard work and ideas,
completed in a mere afternoon by a complete stranger.  Alice had given him a
reason to hope again, in spite of the fact that he had done nothing to deserve
it.

"Alice, I don't know how to thank you! Do you know
what this means? Do you know what you've done?"

He finally released her and stood back, staring.  Garrett sorted
through a multitude of emotions before settling on complete astonishment.

"How did you do this? How is this even possible? You
did in one afternoon what I couldn't do in years! You had never even seen any
of this until this afternoon. I don't know what to say… I never thought it
would be finished."

Garrett turned again to the computer screen, thinking of
everything it meant to him.

If EngineerCorp knew about this, the things they would
do to get their hands on this technology... It can never happen.

"Alice, no one can find out about this. It shouldn't
even be mentioned until after EngineerCorp is dealt with. That's the only way I
can prevent them from stealing it."

She gave a serious nod and the dark cloud abruptly
vanished. Garrett couldn't hold his elation back for long.

"Alice, what can I ever do to repay you? What you've
done here…it's a miracle."

Alice yawned and stretched back in her chair. "I guess
you'll just have to owe me one, Garrett."

She gave a wry smile before continuing. "But given my
luck lately, I will probably need your help sooner, rather than later."

Garrett smiled back at her.

She amazes me. Look at what she is capable of! It seems
that the more I get to know her, the more I realize I don't know. Someone with
this level of ability… She is truly rare, indeed.

A thought occurred to him, prompting him to ask, "Alice,
does Eric know that you can do…
this
?"

He was at a loss to describe what it was that she just
accomplished.

Her brows furrowed and her expression clouded. "He
suspects that I have certain aptitudes, but he knows nothing for sure.  I'm
just…" Alice hesitated. "Just really
good
at what I do. That's
all," she reassured him.

Garrett looked at her doubtfully, but he did not press the
issue.

She's hiding something; I can tell that much.  However,
if she doesn't want to tell me, that's her choice. Besides, I owe her much more
than respect for her privacy.

He instead replied, "Well, my dear, I have kept you up
long enough, and we have to be up bright and early in the morning.  Off to bed
with you now."

Garrett herded her from the room as one would a small,
unwilling child. The sarcasm was lost on her, tired as she was. He led her into
the guest room, said a quick goodnight, and returned to his own. 

He fully intended to lay awake, thinking over the entire
marvelous situation, but his body had other plans. He was asleep moments after
his head hit the pillow. 

Chapter 11

Alice woke the next morning to someone vigorously shaking
her. She opened her eyes to see Garrett an inch above her face, bright, cheery
and exclaiming, "Good morning, Sleeping Beauty!"

Already?

She groaned, and rolled over to look at the clock on the
bedside table. The vivid red numbers informed her that it was 4:30am.

"I let you sleep in. You looked so peaceful."
Garrett sighed wistfully before retreating down the hall. 

He yelled back as he left, "Don't worry about
breakfast.  We'll get some on the way out of town."

Alice grumbled again and rolled out of bed.  She discovered
her clean clothes neatly folded on the dresser and she grabbed them before
heading to the bathroom.  She took a rushed shower and was completely dressed
and ready in less than twenty minutes.

A new record!

Garrett was waiting for her in his office, absently toying
with the flash drive that held the files for Jeremy. He looked distracted and
somewhat dazed, but he focused on her as she entered the room.

"Glad you had enough time to get ready. Although, I'm
sad that you finally ditched the pajamas. Now, you look almost like...an adult,
I suppose." Garrett winked at her as he gathered his things together.

Alice gave him an angry glare, but he had already turned away.

"We better head out. I need to fill up my tank before
leaving town. Do you have everything you need?"

She gave a quick, wistful glance around his house. Alice
had not brought anything with her, much less anything she was worried about
leaving behind. Still, she was almost sad to leave. Garrett was a decent man,
sarcasm and all. In the short time in his home, she began to feel safe and
strangely comforted. 

Ever since Mom and Dad died, I just kind of stopped
talking to people. Garrett…he's different. I feel almost like we could be
friends. Granted, we don't have much choice in the matter at the moment.

Alice sighed as she looked around one last time.

Maybe things will be different after this whole thing
blows over... If it's ever over.

They stopped to fill up the car and to get breakfast at a
local kolache shop before leaving town.  When Garrett left, it was still dark.
Alice leaned back against the headrest. She had not intended to fall asleep,
but the slow, steady drone of the engine and the rhythm of the road beneath lulled
her into unconsciousness.

***

Alice was woken by the warmth of the morning sun, shining
on her face. The rosy, red glow inside her eyelids rudely intruded on her
slumber. Garrett was still driving, staring tiredly ahead at the highway. She examined
their surroundings.

Given our current location, we have thirty-seven miles
to the rest stop. Good to know.

Alice looked over at Garrett again, sheepishly. "Sorry
about that. I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it. I've just been
thinking about everything. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and find out
that it was all some kind of cruel dream." He smiled weakly.

Ha. Yeah, or a nightmare, depending on your perspective.
I am glad I can help, Garrett. At least this nightmare has given you new hope.

He dismissed his concerns with a simple shake of his head.

"But, onto more uplifting matters. We have about forty
minutes left by my approximation."

Alice cut him off without thinking.

 "Thirty-eight minutes and twelve seconds at the
current conditions…" she trailed off, realizing what she was saying.

Oh, man. I'm not supposed to know that. Normal people
don't know those things.

 She forced a hasty laugh. "Well, I was just making a
best guess, to pass the time, you know? My, it sure does look like it's going
to be a beautiful day!"

Garrett gave her a few weird looks before awkwardly smiling
at her. "You certainly are a strange girl. And yes, it does appear to be
the beginning of a beautiful day."

He directed his gaze back to the road and the car grew
silent again.

Change the subject. He probably thinks I'm a freak.

"So, you really trust this Jeremy guy?" she asked
after a brief silence.

"Yeah, I do. He did his best to help me during the
rough times, and I've pulled him out of a scrape or two, myself. I was hoping
that his connections and expertise could help us, or at least make this a
little easier. We can't really just come out with the information. If it's not
successfully broadcasted in the right places, it's very likely that someone
will intercept it and then make sure we're not around to try it again."

Yeah, that's for sure. I'm out of my league here. If
Garrett trusts Jeremy, then I don't really see a better course of action.

I wonder if Garrett realizes that he's putting himself
in the line of fire now, too. Anyone who goes against Eric Martin is either a
complete fool, or someone who never wants to see the light of day again.

I really don't know which category I'm in…

Since she had some time, Alice decided to get to know
Garrett a little more. She would be spending the foreseeable future with him,
at least until they accomplished what they set out to do. There was also a
small, nagging curiosity in the back of her mind, ever since she saw the faded
picture of the twin boys. Alice could not help but think that there were some
dark secrets he was hiding too.  She'd have to get to know him better before he
would be willing to confide in her about anything like that.

She chose a neutral approach. "So, Garrett…how does a
guy like you end up doing something like this?"

He gave her a questioning, sidelong glance. "I'm
assuming you mean how I ended up creating Cyberconn, and not how I ended up
aiding and abetting a fugitive?"

Alice made a brief sound of indignation, preparing to
launch a complete counter-argument, including pointing out that it was
his
fault that she had even gotten to this point in the first place. Garrett must
have guessed as much and interrupted, answering her intended question.

"I could give you the long, drawn-out version, but
since we don't have several weeks, I’ll summarize. My parents were rich,
successful and had outrageous expectations. Like any normal kid, I did my best
to make them proud. In turn, they set every possible opportunity before me,
hoping I would find something in which to channel the 'overabundance of talent'
they were sure I possessed.

A lot of money and many years later, they had just about
given up on me. Then, on my eleventh birthday…"

Garrett stopped to give a brief chuckle, lost in the
memory.

"I inadvertently found the technical manual for my
father's stereo system.  About three hours later, he found me on the floor of
the media room with the entire system in pieces. Needless to say, he was
nonplussed. But, it did seem as if they had finally discovered something that I
had an aptitude for.

I started taking apart anything I could get my hands on,
trying to understand how all the pieces fit together and what made them tick.
When I was a little bit older, I began studying all the technical books I could
find. When I started making things of my own, my father decided I needed to put
my 'inventions' to good use. After I got out of Harvard, he insisted that I
take endless business classes and entrepreneurship seminars, until it finally
occurred to me that the only way I'd get any peace was if no one else was
telling me what to do.

With my dad's help, I started Cyberconn. Everything started
out so well. My parents were proud of me, bragging about me to anyone that
would listen. Cyberconn was one of the leading tech companies in the country. Everyone
wanted what we had and I thought I'd finally achieved the dream, so to speak."