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 travel
ling 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.
The short time he had been around Alice, he discovered a great many things. Through her eyes, he had seen a new future, full of hope. She was so young, full of life and possibilities, even though she desperately tried not to stand out or be noticed. She was too young for her future to be taken away from her.
Garrett now knew that his brother had been responsible for the constant sabotage that prevented Cyberconn from recovering. It made so much sense now, but it was the last possible explanation he would have considered.
Kind of ironic. I assumed Gabriel was dead, never truly knowing what happened to him. Now, I find out he is not only alive and well, but spending all his energies finding ways to sabotage me.
Since Cyberconn had shrunken down to its current state and size, Garrett was involved in a great deal of the daily operation of the company, including monitoring the network regularly. He would have noticed any kind of suspicious activity resulting from the large transfers of data. There was no way that his technology was being stolen across the network.
Additionally, the server that held all of his critical information was not even directly connected to the outside. Garrett had severed that connection in the beginning, attempting to make things more secure.
That left only one plausible option…Cyberconn had a mole.
Most of the employees that worked for him had been there since the beginning. The first employees to be let go, as they began to downsize, were the ones that had worked there the least amount of time. Over time, he was forced to let more and more people go and was left with only the core employees.
The ones that remained had agreed to pay cuts and other sacrifices instead of being let go. There was one exception; his former IT manager had been unable to support his family with the salary Garrett was able to offer, so he decided to seek employment elsewhere. He left on amiable terms, so Garrett had no suspicions of him. However, the person that was hired to fill his place was someone Garrett had never been able to establish a relationship with.
His name was Richard. He was a heavyset, middle-aged man that seemed to be perpetually sweating. Garrett couldn't afford to be particular and hired Richard mainly for his experience and willingness to accept a lower salary. Richard had worked at Cyberconn for over five years now. He behaved oddly at times, but Garrett assumed it was just part of his personality. He did his job, regardless of his odd qualities.
Garrett never dreamed that someone within his own company could be responsible for undermining his business. He knew he made a foolish assumption by thinking that way, but part of him had given up on trying to understand how bad things kept happening. The other part assumed that a company such as EngineerCorp, with its limitless resources and intelligence, would never need to stoop to such levels of subterfuge when it was clearly far su
perior to his modest business.
Considering the facts before him, Richard seemed to be the most likely candidate. He had access to all computers in the building and it would be very simple for him to copy the data to an external device and pass it along to a contact for EngineerCorp. Since it was obvious that he was not transferring the data over the network, it would have to happen another way. He would probably just meet his contact and pass along the information.
Garrett was assuming much in his theories, but he had little else to consider at the moment. Even if this theory proved correct, he had a lot of work to do to prove it.
I don't even know how I'm going to get around without my surveillance team watching my every move. I will figure something out… I have to.
How closely are they watching me? Are they watching my every move? Or just making sure I don't deviate from my schedule, checking in every now and then?
No doubt, they know my location from the GPS in my phone. Hopefully between that, the phone taps, computer monitoring, and surveillance, they won't bother looking any closer.
If I am going to escape these guys, I'll have to dump my phone... but I'll still need one. Time to go shopping.
On Saturday, Garrett took his weekly grocery trip. It was a typical department store, the kind that had both food and general items. Garrett noticed that the van was parked outside of the store, but no one got out of the van to follow him.
I bet they plan to use the store's security system to track my movements. I'm going to have to get creative.
Inside the store, Garrett walked casually down the aisles, appearing to be browsing. He stopped on the video games aisle, where a shaggy teenager stood, mesmerized by the demo game system. He stood next to him, pretending to be interested in the game.
"Hey kid, this might seem strange, but you want to earn some money?"
The teenager, not taking his eyes of the game, mumbled a reply. "Dude, I'm not into drugs, okay?"
Mind Trace Page 21
