What is a good invention for my sci-fi character to use?

[insertcoolnamehere]

Hello, I'm working on a science fiction short story and I wanted to think of an interesting device for my character to use in order to find his father, who's locked up on the other side of the country.

 

[Firelock]

A virus that spreads from person to person with no symptoms, and is keyed to activate when it infects a person with DNA your protagonist shares with his father. When the virus is activated, it creates a limited mental link between people with the activated virus - he'll start getting flashes of sensory information from his father, getting more complete as the virus establishes itself in their nervous systems. He'll hope to use clues from these flashes to determine where his father is being held.

Possible complication: he may start seeing snips of his father's memories, leading him to learn things about his father that make him question whether he should be rescuing him.

Another possible complication: a previously unknown person turns out to be a sibling or half-sibling, and has the right DNA to activate the virus, leading to the protagonist having flashes from not just his father but from another person as well. The protagonist might end up on a wild goose chase, or might through the link end up contacting a new ally - or enemy.

Another possible complication: if the activated virus is allowed to grow too long, it may have bad side effects. Maybe people connected this way too long start to have their identities combine into each other. Maybe the virus causes brain damage or death. The protagonist hopes to rescue his father before things come to this point.

 

[Laura]

An iPhone with GPS capability?