Whoever it was that was trailing him, they took the bait. Now his heart was beating faster, but not from fear. The adrenaline rush of the pursuit had made his mind razor sharp again and he was firing on all eight cylinders. After a long winding turn where he was able to lose his shadow's lights for just a few seconds, he quickly pulled off the pitch black road behind some brush to avoid detection. It worked. The car slowed and lingered for a moment , but then went on. Now he was the predator instead of the prey, a position he was more accustomed to.
He pulled out after a short minute and eventually caught up with his mystery driver just before the trailer park. He was almost close enough to read the plates when some drunken yahoo from the trailer park pulled out onto the road in his old pickup and nearly caused an accident. Jason had to lock them up to avoid a collision and that was just enough of a diversion for Racer X to get away.
Deciding to call it a night, Jason pulled a UEY and headed back to town for his apartment. On the way home, he began replaying the night's events in his head , just to make sure he kept things straight. He was pretty sure it was a woman behind the wheel, possibly blond. And there was a good chance it was the same woman he saw at the gas station. For now, that's all he had.
As soon as he got home he checked his screen. A tap of the space bar resuscitated the machine back to operating mode. Still no change. Damn! How long would his luck holdout? And exactly what would happen if and when his server's location was revealed? Would an FBI Internet Fraud Team come after him? Would they kick down the door to his place? Would he go to prison?
Though he had managed to turn around tonight's situation and was feeling good for the moment, the anxiety and paranoia continued to gnaw at his underbelly.
He still had this humongous technical problem to deal with and some difficult decisions to make. Normally, he was more proactive in his defenses and would never have allowed something like this to happen. But if he could stay just one step ahead of his trackers, he'd be happy for now. At least that's what he was telling himself.
Turns out the decision was made for him by someone at the other end. As his screen suddenly went black and rebooted on its own, Jason knew exactly what would happen next. The operation timed out and initiated a series of programs that would eventually lead back to his server, and ultimately, his account. But again, the nagging question. How long? How long would it actually be before the walls really began to close in on him? Minutes, hours, days? There was no way to be sure. Should he try to make a run for it? That would be foolish and only draw attention in a small town where everyone was nosy. And besides, where the hell was he going to run to anyway? The nearest town was over forty miles away and the nearest airport was over two-hundred miles. He was fucked. He either had to stay put and destroy all his files, all his computer gear and basically shut down the whole operation, or he could take his chances on the lam. The sound of a train whistle in the distance momentarily gave rise to the thought, but he quickly dismissed the option as a bad choice.
Feeling the squeeze coming on, Jason searched feverishly in his head for a solution to his dilemma . He had tens of thousands of his hard earned dollars and a lot of sweat invested in his cybersex system. And even though it ultimately failed him, it had taken a long time to develop the software that allowed him to roam the internet with impunity, and he was emotionally attached to it. It wasn't going to be easy to let go of his baby.
Click here to read part 1 , part 2, and part 3 of Source Code: Jason
Click here to read part 1 , part 2, and part 3 of Source Code: Jason
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