Mind Trace Read Online Free Page A

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