The Mind Virus

Chapter 12 - Part 3

The little red dot on the tablet's screen cavorted from blue line to blue line. The tracking device that Harriett had attached to Eddie's car was showing her his exact location in real time. There was a time when such technology would be limited to the military. On one hand, the availability on the civilian market made such acquisitions easier, but on the other hand, Harriett had always gotten her tracking devices from less-than-wholesome sources so that they could be modified for her very singular use, and she didn't think her sources got their parts from the civilian market anyway.

After she'd decided that Eddie was far enough away, she attached the tablet to the clip on the side of her dashboard, turned the key in the ignition, and began the very long tail. It seemed like he wasn't going very far. After only a few minutes of driving, the red dot pulled off of a blue line, presumably entering a parking lot, though Harriett didn't know this area well enough to tell. No matter, she'd be there in no time anyway.

She eventually pulled up to the lot in question – it was a gym. Eddie had always been a bit of a fanatic for fitness. It was something she admired about him. While she was more cerebral, Eddie was always more physical. They'd often talked about how it made them a perfect match. The Brains and the Brawn, they'd joke. At least one of them was using their key attribute for a good cause. Harriett didn't think of herself as evil or bad – after all, she was only doing what she was good at, and for no reason other than it was her profession – but she didn't kid herself either; no one would be singing her praises apart from the crooked fiends that hired her. She certainly wouldn't be getting any good wishes from the loved ones of the people she killed.

The car fit perfectly in a marked bay on the far side of the parking lot. Leaving as much distance as possible was desirable. She didn't need to be right on his tail when he'd eventually leave; the tracker would be doing all of the heavy lifting. She only needed to be able to see where he would be and when he would be there. By establishing a schedule of his usual haunts, she could work out where the best place to take him out would be and pull the trigger there, be it figuratively or literally. She didn't really need to be following him in her car – her tablet would be recording Eddie's travels, saving them for future reference – but it was good to also know what he'd be doing wherever he was. Furthermore, it was useful to note what every location was, Harriett not being from the area nor knowing it well at all. A spot on the map was only so useful, even with the internet.

As she jotted down what she needed to remember about this location, something caught her attention from the corner of her eye. The poor lighting made it hard to be totally sure, but it looked like there was a person sitting in another car further up the parking lot. This wouldn't surprise Harriett normally, but there was something else – she was sure she had walked past the same car outside of Eddie's house, and she was also sure she'd noticed there was a person sitting in that car too. Was she overthinking it? It was a common-looking car, after all. No, it was too much of a coincidence. Could it be a happy accident? Sure. Was it worth ignoring it? Not for Harriett. Staying a few steps ahead of the game was an essential part of her work. It was no mere happenstance that she'd evaded arrest (or worse) all these years.

Straining her eyes, she recorded the number on the license plate in her notepad. Doing so, she missed Eddie leaving the gym and getting back into his car. When she looked up, he was already leaving, but more importantly, the mysterious white car that she was watching had begun leaving as well, taking the same turn that Eddie took out of the parking lot. Right, there's definitely something going on here, she thought. A long tail was no longer an option. There was more going on than she'd planned for, and if she was going to stay on top of it, she'd need to keep an eye on this other car as well.

A vicious pulse was pounding in Harriett's temples over the next quarter of an hour. She was so used to following her targets safely from afar. Being this close was a risk that stressed her out wholly, but she had no option. She only hoped that between the distance that the white car was leaving between himself and Eddie, and the distance that Harriett was leaving between herself and the white car, that she was far enough back that Eddie wouldn't notice her. Fortunately, the light coming from the street lamps probably wouldn't be enough for anyone to recognize her face anyway, but it was a risk she was unwilling to take.