Mind Trace (3 page)

"There is no source address. It would probably have
been inaccurate in any case. It is obvious that the signal originated from some
sort of hacker."

Eric turned toward the rest of the group and said, "We
have limitless means at our disposal. No one will leave this building until the
source of that signal is found!"

He abruptly turned and exited the room, leaving the group
of men staring dumbly at the computer screen.

Chapter 3

Alice snuggled into her padded armchair and turned on the
TV. She was determined to put "the incident" out of her mind, at
least until she was prepared to sort it out. She flipped through the channels, but
they were devoid of anything interesting. She paused when something on the
Channel 6 news caught her attention.

The news anchor was very candidly relating a story of how a
state official from Washington, D.C. had been arrested for selling government
secrets to terrorist organizations.

I know that face… Why do I know that face?

Suddenly, her vision was filled with unbidden images of a
report made by authorities in the Pentagon. The report detailed that the suspect
was innocent, and the real culprit behind the crimes was a senator. Rather than
expose the senator, the Pentagon concluded it would be more effective to make someone
else take the fall so that they could handle him without drawing too much
attention. The senator would be taken into custody by the government,
interrogated, and then systematically "dealt with."

She abruptly stopped her train of thought, not wanting to
be aware of any more details. 

Is there no way I can get away from this?

Blinking hard, her vision finally returned to normal and
she saw the news anchor once again. Turning the television off, Alice escaped
upstairs to her room, shaking slightly. 

How about some puzzles? No harm could come from doing a
puzzle...

Not prepared to consider the possibilities, Alice needed a
distraction. She pulled a book of Sudoku puzzles from her bookshelf and settled
onto her bed. Within fifteen seconds, the puzzle was done. In disbelief, Alice checked
her results, and they were completely accurate.

What is happening to me? I'm not just remembering data
on a computer anymore. This is more than that… It's like my mind is functioning
like the computer itself.

She threw the book down onto the floor.

That's impossible.

At the bottom of her bookshelf, there was a small
collection of advanced calculus and physics books. They were supposed to help
her prepare for a PhD. Alice had not yet had the chance to study any of the
information.

Flipping through the physics book, she took out some paper
and decided to solve some problems.

Only there was not much to "solve." She was only
limited by the speed of her hand as she wrote out complex solutions on the
page. She stared down at the symbols and equations that she knew she never
learned on her own. The pencil trembled in her hands as she considered what
that meant.

So I get electrocuted, and now my brain is a
supercomputer? How is that possible? And somewhere in there is all of the
information from EngineerCorp's servers?

 A knot began to form in the pit of her stomach. If anyone
found out what had happened, she would be in immediate and extreme danger.

If anyone at EngineerCorp found out…well, she would
probably disappear forever. Even though she had unwittingly hacked into their
servers, she was still guilty. At best, she could be arrested. At worst, she
could become someone's sick science experiment for the rest of her life.
Neither thought appealed to her.

While the security she had in place on her computer would
protect her for a time, she assumed that eventually someone would trace the
download to its source.  Technically, it would first lead them to the older
couple who owned the cottage she rented. They wouldn't be in any real danger,
given their circumstances. They were both in their early eighties and no one
would rightly believe they had anything to do with the situation.

Either way, it would probably be a good idea for her to get
out of town for a while. 

Alice went to her closet and pulled out her suitcase. Never
in a million years did she think that she would be packing the drab black bag
to run away from a global corporation that may or may not be pursuing her.

She did her best to keep her mood light, humming one of her
favorite songs as she packed, even though her heart wasn't in it.

Alice made sure to bring only the basic necessities and, as
always, her laptop. Before stowing the computer in her bag, she turned it on
and wrote out a quick email to her boss.

Bill,

I have some things to take care
of out of town, so I will need to take off a few days. Since we do not have
anything pressing right now, I thought it was the best time for this. Send me
an email if you need me!

Thanks,

Alice

Bill was an extremely laid back employer. If she needed to
take time off, he was always accommodating. He never questioned her, mostly
because her work ethic spoke for itself.

As Alice went to put her laptop away, she hesitated. If it
was possible to secure her laptop against tracking, she needed to do so before
she used it again. Lifting the lid, she waited anxiously for it to boot up. It
took only a few minutes to replicate the security she had placed on her desktop
computer.

After she finished, her gaze fell to her phone, lying on
the edge of the bed. Personally, she had little experience modifying anything on
cell phones, and practically none with her particular model.  However, as she
examined it, she felt the strange computer part of her mind begin to fill in
the blanks.

This time, her mind suggested to implement a complex
algorithm that both masked her cell phones ID, and the towers from which she
received her signal. Her solution also dynamically altered that information, so
that even if someone were to momentarily pick up the ID, it would change a few
seconds later…definitely not enough time to get an adequate trace. Even if they
knew the pattern she was using, it would still require a vast amount of
information and resources. Satisfied with her work, she disconnected her phone
and packed up her laptop.

Packed bag: check. Secured devices: check. Hmm... I'm
going to need some cash. The moment I use my credit card, my exact location
will be out there for everyone to see.

Alice went downstairs into the living room and removed
Jane
Eyre
from the bookshelf in her study. The worn cover provided some small
sense of comfort in her hands. Inside, she pulled out a wad of bills.

My rainy day fund, in case of an emergency... I think
this definitely qualifies.

The lake house was almost two hours from Asheville. It was
completely remote and nestled deep within the national forest on Lake
Nantahala. Her parents bought it as a summer home when she was too young to
remember. Alice had many fond memories there as a child having adventures in
the woods surrounding the house. Mainly they consisted of making "secret
bases" out of tree limbs and underbrush and letting her imagination decide
the rest.

Alice had not returned to the house since her parents died.
She was not particularly avoiding it, but the past was harder to ignore there.

Not that I have a choice in the matter now.

There was nothing else left to do, so Alice dressed and said
goodbye to her cozy cottage. At the end of the driveway leading to the cottage,
under a large oak tree, was her real mode of transportation. A silver Ducati
Multistrada.

Mom never would have approved.

Thinking of her mother made her feel a sudden sense of
urgency. She strapped on her helmet, put her things in the cargo box, and revved
up her bike. Glancing at the clock on her dashboard, it read 3:00pm. If she
left now, she could get to the lake well before nightfall. She switched her
bike into gear and rode out of town. 

***

Back at EngineerCorp, Luke took his glasses off, rubbed his
bleary eyes, and stared at the ceiling.

I've never had to work this hard in my life. What time
is it? 8:00am? And no one's traced the link yet? We're going to be here all
day. I don't know how many more of these files I can sort through...

He had been assigned to one of the teams responsible for
tracing the unauthorized connection. Their main lead was the data collected
from the Traceback software.

Traceback collected massive amounts of data on each
incoming and outgoing connection for each computer it was installed on. When a
connection was made to a computer, the Traceback software was excellent at
tracing. If prompted, it could find the source of a connection almost
instantaneously.

However, if the link was no longer active, it was limited
to the cursory information that the software stored.

For someone, or something, to connect to the server without
the proper authorization was
practically
impossible. For that same
person to download that amount of information in such a short period of time...
it never should have happened. Luke could have probably traced the connection
if he had acted quickly enough, but how was he to know how little time he had
to act? For all he knew, the computer where the hack originated was not even
online anymore, adding another degree of difficulty to the situation.

Right after Eric Martin left, there was a meeting in which they
set up seven teams to tackle finding the signal's origin. After the meeting,
Luke spent the majority of the night and morning comparing DNS tables and laboriously
tracing each jump of the signal.

Luke was falling asleep, only halfway paying attention to
his work, when he heard a commotion at the other end of the room. He sat up,
straining to make out the excited voices. Apparently, one of the engineers claimed
he had located the source of the signal, and was now surrounded by a group of
people arguing and trying to take over the console.

Just like earlier that night, seemingly out of nowhere the
same deep, commanding voice suddenly spoke, breaking up the small group.

 "Give me a full report of your findings on the
central screen. Now."

Of course, it's Eric. How does he do that? It's like he's
lurking around, just waiting for the best time to show up and freak everyone
out.

The engineer stumbled over his desk chair and punched in
the keys to transmit his display to the huge, multi-directional screen in the
center of the room.  On the screen, there were dozens of charts listing all the
different routes that were made by the source connection. The result was a
single IP address with a street address of 2432 Birch Street, Asheville, NC.

There was also a map on the corner of the screen, showing a
live satellite feed of the house. It was a turn of the century farmhouse on
several acres just outside the main part of town. There appeared to be a couple
other buildings on the property, but they were small, most likely storage
buildings.  An old, rusty pickup sat in the driveway near the house.

The engineer roughly summarized the results. "It appears
to have originated from a farmhouse just outside a small town in North
Carolina. The names on the property tax records are Joe and Ellie Marshall,
born March 2, 1929 and June 30, 1930, respectively."

Eric stood back impassively. He stared at the screen,
unimpressed with the findings.

 "Are you going to tell me that an 80-something-year-old
couple is responsible for breaking past all our security and then somehow
downloading our entire mainframe?"

The engineer shrunk back. "No…it's just, well… They
are the ones that own the property where the signal originated."

The disapproval was obvious on Eric's face.

I'm really glad I'm not that guy.

"Well, I'm not interested in who owns the property. I
want to know who is responsible for this breach. I want to know everything
about this situation, including who had access to any kind of internet or
network connection anywhere near that house. And I want the information
yesterday! Get to work, people. We have to get this under control!"

His voice was urgent, but he still maintained complete
control of his emotions. Eric seemed to be fully confident that it was only a
matter of time until the perpetrator was caught.

Until then, he would leave no stone unturned. Luke felt
sympathy for the poor soul who decided to hack into Eric's mainframe. It would
not end well for him; that was certain.

***

A short time later, a thick file was laid on Eric's desk. 
He methodically scanned through the papers. Apparently, the elderly couple had
lived in the house since 1947. The property consisted of the farmhouse, a barn
near the back of the property, a shed near the house, and a small cottage near
the front of the lot. There was no information about who might be living in the
cottage. It was also in the Marshall's name.

He had ruled out, obviously, that the elderly couple could
be responsible for the breach. Therefore, it must be someone living on the
property that had access to the internet account. A cash deposit of $500 was
made in the Marshall's account monthly, which he assumed was rent for the
cottage.

He glanced over the rest of the information, but found
little that was useful. All utilities, telephones, internet and TV were in the
Marshall's name. Half of the utilities were diverted to the cottage, so it
appeared someone
was
living there, although that person's name was
nowhere to be found.

Eric sat back in his chair, considering the situation. He
knew he could send a team to go find all the information he required, but he
was becoming more and more intrigued by this mystery person. How could some insignificant
individual hack into
his
impenetrable network and then just walk away
with the entire contents of his servers? This situation warranted his personal
involvement.