Mind Trace (27 page)

Eric's face displayed a look of shock for the second time
in his life and he fell forward in a slump. She took the opportunity to
disentangle herself from him and fled to the door. She had almost made it there
when she heard a strangled voice.

"Don't take… another step, Alice… or I will activate…
the bracelet."

She froze, wondering what had gone wrong. She knew her
calculations were flawless and the blow should have immobilized him, but it
occurred to her that she had not taken into account the level of adrenaline in
his system. It must have made him more resilient against her attack and not
incapacitated him as much as she hoped.

She turned around to look at him, her heart racing. He
slowly stood up, rubbing the side of his neck with great deliberateness. The
mad look in his eye was gone, and he was back to his normal intimidating
appearance.

"It seems I may have miscalculated and gotten caught
up in the moment, a mistake I will not make again."

It took him an eternity to cross the room. Her heart was
pounding in her chest while she waited, frozen in place.

When he was a few feet from her, he spoke again.

"I meant what I said about one thing."

She watched him curiously while he paused, reaching for
something in his jacket pocket. He pulled out a small remote.

"No one defies me, Alice."

With that, he pushed the button and smiled menacingly. She
felt a small prick on her ankle and then collapsed onto the floor. 

Chapter 17

Eric watched silently as two of his men lowered the
unconscious form of Alice onto her bed.  He still felt disturbed by the events
of the evening; it had not gone at all like he planned.

She looked so peaceful sleeping there, but he knew that if
she were awake, it would be a completely different story. He followed the
guards out and walked somewhat distractedly back to his office.

As he walked, he thought about what had happened. Over the
past few days, he had grown ever more impatient with the girl. He wanted so
badly to know the truth, to know her secrets. Eric felt as if he were on the
brink of a discovery that would usher in a new age of technology. Only, no
matter how far he reached for it, it merely slipped through his fingers.

He was trying to be patient with her, to allow her to feel
comfortable and slowly open up to him. That was most of the reason he had
arranged the dinner in the first place. 

However, something happened there, as he was sitting across
from her at the table. Perhaps it was a combination of the wine and the quiet
of the room, or the brightness in her eyes as she spoke about herself and her
past… He shook his head to refocus his thoughts. 

Eric knew that a large portion of his haste was the
overwhelming feelings he had from being so close to her.  She was like the
fulcrum on which his world was unsteadily tilting. On one hand, she had the
power to destroy him. On the other, she could make him more powerful than he
ever imagined.  It made him uncomfortable and slightly dizzy at the thought of
what was at stake. Eric knew, as he was sure Alice did, that he would only
allow one of those outcomes to occur.

Some deep part of him was aware of his irrational behavior
in those moments, but the other part screamed for him to take this opportunity.
To force her to see his way of thinking.

When she was trapped in the corner of the room with him
towering above her, the pressure of his pent-up anger finally burst through his
restraint and he lashed out at her.

Her reaction caught him off guard in a way that he never
considered possible. She had simply leaned forward and kissed him…

Eric made it a habit of not wasting his time pursuing women
or relationships. His time was better spent working and furthering his
self-made empire. Even if he had considered otherwise, no woman was truly worthy
of his attention.

As a result, Alice's behavior awakened senses and feelings
to which he no longer gave any thought.  It was disturbing, to say the least,
and he was unnerved. Because of that fact, she had been able to get the better
of him a second time. 

A mistake I will not make again.

He was unnecessarily harsh on himself for underestimating
her again. He simply was not used to her caliber of resourcefulness and
creativity. Alice was indeed a unique woman, as he kept reminding himself.

But, what of her work?

She had made hardly any progress at all on the project he
had given her. However, she did appear to be working on it, so he could not
fault her completely. He also believed that if he was hard on her, she would
refuse to cooperate completely, regardless of the deal they made.

She was watched constantly, every hour that she spent
inside the lab. Eric himself read her status reports at the end of each day.
The results were mediocre, at best. He knew beyond any doubt that she was
holding back.

How can I force her use her abilities to the fullest?
She seems so fragile, at times. I can't risk her shutting down.

Eric was still benefitting from any progress, slow as it
may be.  Any time that she requested supplies, they were all fully justified
within the context of her proposals.  He even had the lab checked at the end of
each day for proof that she was focusing her energies elsewhere, but none was
found.

He did not think for one moment that she would leave
evidence simply lying about, but the searches were thorough and there was no
indication of any unreported activity. It was a mystery to him.

Of the few theories that made any sense, he chose to
believe the most obvious. That her heart was not in it. Alice might be working,
but she was doing so almost absently, as one passing through a dream.  Eric
knew she might be in a state of shock after all that had happened. She could be
having a difficult time acclimating to the new environment in which she was now
forced to live.

While Eric might have regretted his actions during dinner,
he had no time to waste on remorse. Alice would eventually accept her new life.
When she did, she would learn to work with the same fervor and intensity as she
had in her previous life.  She had a reputation as an intelligent and hard
worker, even before whatever happened to her that night. Eric just had to give
her time. He greatly disliked the idea, but he knew that time was all they had
now. Alice was not going anywhere any time soon.

Even if his plans were temporarily set back by what
happened, he knew that refusing to cooperate gave Alice no other options. If
she did not work, she would have to spend her days isolated within the four
unchanging walls of her room. She really had only one choice to make.

He was also still collecting data from the scanner embedded
within her glasses. He had assembled a special team to work on analyzing the data
and theorizing possible solutions for that level of activity. They were hard at
work, and there was a great deal of information to sort through.

In the past, he tossed around the idea of using the
patterns found in brain scans to translate into thoughts and images, but he had
not come across enough intelligence to work on such a project. Now, he needed a
solution more than ever, and he decided to set forth on the project anyway. His
only option was to use the resources he had and hope that they would make a
breakthrough soon.

Eric looked up and saw that he had reached his office. This
was so unlike him, the distraction and inability to stay focused. As time
passed, he realized he was growing ever more consumed by Alice and the power
she represented, to the point that he was losing his concentration.

After sitting down at his desk for a few moments, a knock
sounded on his office door. It echoed in the eerie silence of his office.  He
switched a button at his desk to bring up the video feed from outside. It was
only Grant, so he pressed the small button under his desk to allow him access.

The door opened and he entered, carrying a thin folder.
Eric gestured to the chairs in front of his desk and Grant took a seat.

Before speaking, Grant pushed the folder across the desk to
Eric. He pulled it open and began perusing through the papers.

"That's the latest from the surveillance teams
following Garrett Wiggins. So far, so good, although he rarely ventures out of
the house outside travelling to and from work. We've got taps on his phone and
are monitoring his internet traffic. Nothing out of the ordinary."

After he finished, Eric sat the papers down and gazed
unseeingly through one of the windows.

As the silence stretched into minutes, Grant interjected, "You
seem distracted."

Eric brought his gaze back to Grant slowly and gave a small
smile that did not reach his eyes. "Things are proving to be more
difficult with the girl than I previously imagined. She is a mystery, Grant. It
is almost impossible to say what motivates her. And yet, I can't seem to get
her out of my mind."

Grant gave no expression, but instead said noncommittally, "I
think it's fair to say that there hasn't been anyone in a very long time that
you couldn't figure out. As an exception, it's understandable that she gets
under your skin."

"I haven't allowed that to happen, Grant. It's more
than that. She is hiding something, something that has to do with what happened
that night. I have a theory, but there is no way to prove it. I feel that whatever
it is, it is critical that we find out the truth as soon as possible."

"There's no way to do that at the moment, short of her
coming to you and telling you herself. What could you possibly do to change
that?"

"I'm trying to figure that out. I have my best people
working on it, but it's not enough."

"That may be so, but you have no other options. She
won't be able to escape with the measures you've taken, so your best bet is to
wait until your teams make some breakthroughs with the data. Or you can try to
get her to trust you, although the former will probably happen long before
then."

"I know. In the meantime, keep a close eye on Wiggins
and make sure the security team is going through every hour of footage from her
lab. We must remain vigilant."

Grant heard the dismissal in his voice. He nodded at Eric,
before getting up and leaving the room.

Grant was right, of course. It did not stop Eric from
thinking of her, but he did his best to put it to the back of his mind so he
could focus on other matters. It would do him no good to be consumed by Alice
and neglect the rest of his empire. 

Grant was right in the other matter, as well. Alice didn't
stand a chance of escaping this time.

***

The first day after Garrett was returned to his home, he
could hardly function. He had been given a heavy dose of sedatives and the
people responsible for bringing him back to Newport had been unnecessarily
rough during the trip. He had more than a few bruises for which he had no
explanation.  When he finally awoke from his drug-induced stupor, he noticed
that it was Saturday and his head was pounding. He had lost a day and a half
since he was at EngineerCorp.

Aside from the headache and the bruises, Garrett had plenty
of other reasons to be in a foul mood.  A quick journey around his house showed
him that certain "improvements" had been made. A loose covering on a
phone jack revealed a phone tap. Peeking through his front blinds, he could see
an unmarked van taking up residence across the street from his house. 

Garrett supposed there was not any point in them being
discrete about their surveillance. It was probably more effective if he was
reminded constantly about it, lest he forget the arrangement that was made.

Precious little could make me forget that.

He had agreed to the arrangement with great hesitance. It
put him in a very difficult position. Garrett never wanted Alice to sacrifice
so much on his behalf, but he also knew that he could do nothing to help her if
he were locked inside some remote cell under the watchful eye of EngineerCorp.

He was still under their "watchful eye," but he
would find a way to circumvent the surveillance and do whatever it took to get
her out of the mess he created.

How could one email cause so much grief? And I'm the one
to blame…completely.

Garrett had sent the email that prompted Alice to hack into
the server, making her a target for the arrogant and malicious Eric Martin. It
was his idea to call in Jeremy… another plan that backfired, causing her to be
captured again. Finally, it was because he never got the opportunity to tell
her about his brother that she was fooled by Gabriel and snared by Eric for the
last time.

Alice, on the other hand, had done more for him than he
could ever dream to repay. It was Alice that had given him cause to hope again,
showing him the possibility that his name could be cleared once and for all. It
was Alice that took it upon herself to gather the evidence to expose
EngineerCorp's treachery. Alice had finished the Memory Keeper for him in
one
evening
, a task that he was unable to complete for over a decade. Alice
sacrificed her freedom and future so he could go back to the sad, pathetic
excuse of a life that he possessed.

When Garrett considered all of the events, he could not
understand why she felt the need to do anything for him at all. She was fueled
by an incredibly strong and overwhelming desire to do right by herself and the
world around her, even though it had dealt her the unfortunate hand she held.

In truth, she owed him nothing and he owed her everything.
Garrett had plenty of reasons to consider these things after he was tossed back
into the life he no longer felt was his own. He had played a role his entire
life and after being taken out of it for only a few days, he realized that it
never really fit at all.