The Program

Chapter thirty-one

Arms crossed over his knees, Lorraine's bobby pin pinched between his pale lips, Tim sat up in bed, waiting for Skate and the dogs to make their next pass around Cottage Circle. He wore two T-shirts beneath the sweater he'd pinched from Leah's drawer and an extra pair of socks. Trash bags, procured from the bathroom, encased his legs to the knees; he'd used shoelaces from his hipster Skechers to cinch them in place. Minutes before, he'd crept down the hall and unplugged the alarm's adapter, laying it beneath the outlet on the kitchenette counter.

Across in the dark, Leah was breathing raggedly, having cried herself to sleep. She'd refused to talk to him, a backslide in rapport.

The leaves of the elm said the wind was blowing east at a good clip, a Santa Ana riptide mountain-funneled back across the plateau. Tim would have to stalk Skate downslope to avoid the Dobermans' scent cone. He stared at the desolate ring of grass until Skate appeared, shuffling heavily by, the dogs' paws plunking in puddles.

Tim pushed open the window, eased himself out, and crouched at the base of the wall, mindful of the motion detector dangling from the roof's northwest corner. About forty yards away, one of the Dobies turned, ears perked, and looked directly at Tim. Forest green fleece pulled bandido style up over his mouth, Tim didn't move, didn't blink. The wind livened, whooshing in his ears. The dog stayed on point.

Skate snapped his fingers, and the Doberman reluctantly turned to trot beside his companion.

Tim pursued them, moving from cottage wall to tree trunk, not wanting to lose them in the darkness. Through the plastic bags, his feet left smudged, scentless indentations. When Skate banked around the lawn's far curve, Tim struck out swiftly for the trail leading down to TD's cottage. His jeans whistling at the inseam, his sheathed sneakers sliding on loose rock, he sprinted down the slope.

He reached the forbidden clearing and paused at a leaky pine, taking in the half-submerged wagon wheels, the grand porch, the candle flicker visible through the side window. Opera blared from TD's cottage. Across the way, Skate and Randall's shed nestled within a mass of brush. Orange light shimmered through the seams of the slatted wooden door. A silhouette crouched inside – Randall. Black smoke fumed from the pipe chimney, diffused by the rain cap. A blaze of fiery ash hiccupped out, then Tim heard the clank of an iron door. Judging from the gaps between the warped boards, the shed's frigidity outnumbed even that of the cottages; they probably kept the fire going all night.

Tim circled the clearing, ducking through bushes and rakelike branches. He passed behind the shed, close enough to peer through a rift in the wood. Randall relaxed shirtless on a cot, his flesh sleek with perspiration and jaundiced from the flames. He was reading a letter and chuckling maliciously.

The door to the mod confronted Tim with a rise of locks and a padlock dangling from a hasp staple. He plucked the meager bobby pin from his lips and twirled it between two fingers. Cold bit into him at the wrists and neck.

He humped his way up a nearby oak, bark scraping his cheek, then swung out along the branch. He absorbed the three-foot drop to the roof with a deep-knee bend, making barely a sound. Four screws secured the skylight pane in its housing, so he rebent the bobby pin to form a flat length and worked it until his fingers cramped. Once the top screws were loosened, he slid the pane out of its housing. He removed the trash bags and stuffed them in a pocket. Gripping the edge, he swung down into the mod, landing softly on his clean Nikes.

He pulled the flexible-rod flashlight from his back pocket and uncurled it. The confined tactical signature illuminated TD standing in the room, arms crossed confidently. Tim started at the cardboard display. A few moments' pause helped him level his breathing and stop smiling at himself. Then he moved systematically through the modular, searching through boxes and crates. He turned up a staggering array of propaganda and a locked Pelican case he presumed held ordnance; a barrel key in the bottom desk drawer fit the case, which opened to reveal a cache of fifteen handguns. Not wanting to pause to write down the registration numbers, he resecured the case, making a note to return to it if he had time. He couldn't risk a spin through the computer – his tech skills weren't good enough to justify the risk of a glowing monitor – but the bank of file cabinets beckoned.

Torturing the bobby pin further, he got through the crappy locks. He sat on the floor with the flashlight goosenecked between his teeth, flipping through file after file. All five drawers of the first cabinet housed prospective land purchases for TDB Corp. Various business models and proposals filled the next cabinet, many of them too complicated for Tim to assess.

The bottom drawers held social-science research. Table 1-9: Increasing Immediacy in Obedience-Inducing Force. Chart 4: Compliance as a Function of Demographic Group. Generating Socially Undesirable Behavior: A Reward-Cost Analysis.

TD had compiled his own database to underpin The Program.

Moving quickly, Tim evened documents' edges, realigned paper clips in their grooves, replaced folders in their hanging files. At the snap of a twig or the rattle of the wind, he'd click off the light and take a position of cover beneath the desk; the vigorous weather proved an impediment to swift progress.

He came upon lists of all sorts. A list of Decrees for TD's higher-ups – Do not make spontaneous eye contact with the Teacher; a list of Glitches – Touching the Teacher's skin when you are menstruating; a list of System Errors – Taking any action without your Gro-Par; even a list of Invisible Viruses – Having negative thoughts about The Program.

One file was stuffed with letters from TD bearing his signature stamp. Tim fanned the stack, eyeballing one in the middle – The Teacher forgives you for having an unflattering dream image of him last night. The adjacent file explained the mass-produced absolutions – letters to him from the Pros, begging forgiveness for everything from unauthorized masturbation to clandestine snacks.

The final two cabinets accommodated the most disturbing materials, dossiers on every Pro and initiate. Glancing through them recalled the eeriness Tim had felt perusing his own file in the midst of last year's mess.

The meticulous logging was mind-boggling. Sleep schedules. Weekly Gro-Par reports – Winona complained twice yesterday of missing her twins. Self-report forms – Name your complaints about The Program you least want to say out loud. Medical reports from the ranch physician, one Dr. Henderson, who seemed to double as a shrink – Chad complained of perianal itching; he believes it's stress-related. He's not yet fully sublimated into GrowthWork; he recalled weight-lifting fondly. A peek inside Dr. Henderson's file revealed him to be a podiatrist who'd had his license revoked for selling OxyContin, a juicy nugget rooted out by an outside PI, one Phil McCanley. TD had created a time-tested system for psychological leverage – trickle-down snitchonomics.

Tim found Leah's file and spent more time on it than was judicious. Primary trauma – father's death. Primary phobia – cancer. Primary victimization – enabling others in their victimhood. Point of leverage: stepdad. Below this the wrongdoings Will had ostensibly perpetrated upon Leah – the precise list she had regurgitated to Tim last night. Having scrutinized similar lists in countless other files helped put Will's allegedly abusive parenting in perspective. Dr. Henderson had much to report on Leah's rash. A pink bow fastened a bundle of love letters Leah had written to her new self. A note jotted on TD's letterhead made Tim's stomach churn: Latent feelings of unwantedness and minor instances of neglect serve as tenable areas of exploration. Guide Leah to recall physical and sexual abuse.

Tom Altman's file held exhaustive financial information regarding his phony portfolio. Not surprisingly, murdered daughter was Tom's key point of leverage; Tim felt another wave of shame at having exploited the trauma so cheaply. The file was updated to include TD's suspicion, then confirmation, of the murder-for-hire, as well as the fictional hit man's blunder. Tom's bout of impotence had already appeared, as well as his extensive dish-wiping miscues from yesterday's lunch. His divorce was noted as well. All in all, the file declared him an exceptional candidate.

A gray file in the back of the drawer caught his attention. The tab read Dead Link, and as Tim flipped through it, he realized it was different from the others he'd seen. No photo, just a name – Wayne Topping – a computer folder designation – c:/TD/docs/deadlink4/ -and a status entry – Missing. Tim went back through the other drawers and came upon several more Dead Link files hidden among the others. Each seemed to correspond to a person who'd left or been removed from The Program. Ernie Tramine's status at the Neuropsychiatric Institute was noted. A girl had killed herself at the Le Brea Tar Pits – Tim recalled the newspaper story from several weeks ago – and more suicides were reported, neatly closing out three more files. According to his folder, Reggie Rondell was checked into a psychiatric ward in Santa Barbara. Another girl's status was listed as Active.

Before Tim had time to contemplate the chilling ramifications of the Dead Link files, a faint shout froze him up. Replacing the papers neatly in the file, he eased the drawer closed. A twist of the bobby pin, which he'd left protruding from the lock, sealed the cabinet. Sensing the ground vibration of someone approaching, he scampered to the skylight and pulled himself to the roof. Lying flat, he secured the pane. Another yell, distorted in the wind but nearer, reached him.

He peeked over the mod's edge in time to see the twin black streaks of the Dobermans beelining into the clearing.

Lorraine's head bobbed industriously in TD's lap. His arms, spread wide, clutched a silk pillow on either side. A fat, three-wick candle cast a tranquilizing glow. He regarded the pistoning seal of her mouth for a moment before turning his attention back to a spot on the duvet cover, which he worked at futilely with a thumbnail.

Jessye Norman wailed to a close, the CD rasping quietly as it spun down.

A fierce snarling outside shattered the room's calm. He was on his feet, silk robe settling over him like a cape, his momentum knocking Lorraine off the bed. He shoved through the doors and out onto the freezing porch, standing barefoot with a jagged triangle of chest revealed.

The dogs had fallen on someone. They snarled and shoved back with their legs, heads shaking to tear flesh.

The shed door flew open, and Randall emerged just as Skate burst from the trail into the clearing, whistling around his fingers. The Dobermans dropped their prey, trotted to Skate's side, and sat whimpering lustfully, tongues working their wet muzzles. Bawling, the figure found her feet.

Nancy wore the same denim dress she'd had on when she'd been taken away, but it was tattered – torn at the collar, streaked with grime, missing half its buttons. She'd withstood the dogs' brief assault -aside from a missing shoe and a nasty bite on her right calf, she was surprisingly intact. Her hair, sweat-pasted and knotted, stuck out at all angles, the light roots prominent. Snot smeared her upper lip. She stooped in the thickening rain, favoring her right leg. "Please, TD," she said. "Please take me back. They left me. They dumped me by the tar pits."

TD's face held utter delight. "You got here yourself? How?"

The sole of her remaining shoe was almost entirely worn away. "Hiked. Walked. Hitched."

His eyes went to her muddy knees. "Crawled."

"That, too."

A pleased smile touched his lips. He nodded at the dogs. "Glad to see you got a warm welcome from Sturm und Drang."

A tiny voice called from behind him. "TD?"

He didn't turn his head. "Get back inside."

Lorraine scurried off.

"Please take me back," Nancy said.

TD's lips curved into a grin. "No. Never."

She cringed. "I can help. I'm indispensable." Blood ran down her ankle, leached up by a ragged sock. Her appearance spoke of endless miles, wrong turns, the groping hands of truckers. She braced herself and took a last-ditch shot. "I know everything about The Program. You'd rather have me here than somewhere else."

Skate's mouth parted at the poorly veiled threat. The dogs revved at his side, the mingled scents of blood and fear driving them wild. TD broke the standoff with laughter. In a moment Nancy joined him with a relieved smile, nervous eyes darting.

The aftermath of amusement lingering on his face, TD turned back to the door. "Get her out of here. Correctly this time."

From his flattened perch on the mod's roof, Tim watched the scene unfolding in the clearing about thirty yards away. Renewed gusts of rain rattled the leaves on the oak overhead. A lightning flash strobe-lit the woods.

Randall disappeared back into his shed and emerged clutching a shovel and a flashlight. Skate snapped his dogs into a sit-stay and headed for the trees, prodding the shell-shocked woman before him. She tripped, and Randall hauled her up and pushed the shovel into her hands. His mouth moved, and then Tim heard the faint sound of Skate's chuckle.

There is a starkness to watching someone about to be killed. Ruthless executioners – whether common murderers or soldiers -comprehend the deadness of their victims even before they're dispatched. They handle them like ambulatory meat. And most victims seem to grasp their deadness as well. They can walk on their own, draw breath, even clutch the shovel that's to dig their grave, and though a glazed cognizance may take hold around the eyes, they can't catch up to their fate, can't seem to bend their minds around the fact that the thought they're endeavoring to think is going to be their last. Most unsettling is the inescapable fact that there's no romance in death, no grand horror even, just the final footsteps, a muffled pop, a body wilting to the ground. Despite his time spent dug into trenches and kicking down slum doors, Tim had never quite adjusted to it. Not that he wanted to.

He slid off the roof and jogged through the clearing toward the woods, mind racing to generate a plausible plan of attack. The Dobermans snapped and yowled but stayed put in their sit-stay as Tim had gambled they would. Despite their racket, there was no movement at TD's cottage.

Saliva flew from the dogs' jaws, great foamy drops that mingled with the downpour. Tim disappeared into the woods, skidding down a bank of mud and almost tumbling over. The air was thick with rain and wet-bark scent. Tim pressed on in the direction of Nancy's death march, shouldering through brush, his breath clouding humidly about his head.

A gunshot.

The storm swallowed the reverberation. Turning a desperate 360, Tim saw only trunks and leaves, no hint of light or human movement.

A piercing whistle split the air, a two-note blast. When Tim heard the dogs galloping through the clearing, he realized that the sound was Skate's release command. He scrambled down a slope, ducking behind a brace of rock. Snarling, the dogs approached. Claws scrabbled on rock, then two black streaks flew overhead, hit ground, sprinted toward their master.

Tim bent over, sucking air. A few seconds passed. A few more.

Then, carried to him from all sides in the trick wind, came a heightened roar, the teeth-sunk growl of dogs on flesh.

Tim watched the rain pool around his shoes.

After a moment he pulled the trash bags from his pocket and slipped them over his feet. He headed after the dogs, switching direction after a few minutes. He searched the terrain, always navigating with crisp 90-degree turns to keep his bearings. The sound of voices drew near. Randall and Skate passed about twenty yards away, the dogs scampering ahead, muzzles dark and sopped. Randall clutched a mud-caked shovel.

When they crested a hump of granite and dropped out of sight, one of the dogs howled, probably picking up Tim's scent back by the rock. Then, over a growl of thunder, he heard Skate laughing, "Go git it."

Listening for the dogs, Tim moved in expanding circles, trying to locate the grave. The windswept ground was blanketed with leaves and fallen branches. It was useless. After about a half hour, he headed back, reminding himself he had only to get through tomorrow and the retreat was over.

Now he had plenty to bring back to Tannino.

He avoided the part of the woods he'd entered, emerging on the far side of TD's cottage. When the wind shifted, he could hear the dogs snorting along his old trail deep in the woods.

TD's cottage was dark, but the shed glowed with stove light.

Tim made his way cautiously up the trail, through Cottage Circle. He arrived back outside his room. Ducking, he reached up and tugged at the window.

It had been locked.

Thighs burning, he eased himself up to peer over the sill. Leah's pale face, inches from the pane, caused him to jerk back. The muscles of her jaw were corded with tension. He gestured for her to open the window, but she met him with a glare.

Her expression changed when she glanced behind him. As she yanked open the pane and helped him inside, he glanced over his shoulder. A far-off flashlight bounced up the trail from the clearing. He was careful to keep the muddy trash bags off the bedspread. He tugged them inside out as he removed them, then pulled off his shoes.

They sat quietly by the window. Skate and the dogs materialized from the rain, shadowy apparitions. The dogs were hyped up, their stick legs blurring, snouts swiveling. Their heads dipped to the ground, vacuuming scent, but then something caught their attention ahead. They burst past the cottage, barking, Skate jogging after them.

Tim and Leah exhaled simultaneously. She backhanded his shoulder. "What the hell are you thinking? Do you have any idea what he'll do to us?"

"Skate and Randall killed a girl. In the woods."

"What? Does TD know?"

"He told them to."

"You saw them murder a girl?"

"I didn't actually see it." His wet socks ice-crackled as he crept to the door. "I have to wash off these shoes in the bathroom."

They worked their way slowly over the creaking floor, slipped into the bathroom, and huddled in a toilet stall. Tearing the plastic bags into pieces and tossing them in the toilet, Tim explained to her what he'd seen.

"I'm sure there's an explanation. You didn't find a grave." Though they were whispering, her voice was high-pitched, desperate, and he had to hush her.

"She was just another loose end tied up. TD keeps track of everyone in The Program and everyone who's left The Program."

"He doesn't care about people who leave."

"I saw the files he keeps on them. Listen to me carefully, Leah: Nobody gets out of The Program. Not without winding up dead, missing, or in a nuthouse."

"No way."

"That's what the Protectors do, Leah. That's what they're here for. They're dangerous men."

Her face tensed with uncertainty, but then she dropped her eyes. "Of course they're dangerous – they're like cops." She put a particular emphasis on that last word.

Tim looked at her skeptically.

Another flicker of emotion crossed her face. Still, she wouldn't raise her eyes from the patches of plastic floating in the toilet. Then the affect vanished. She regarded him with perfect calm. "Why should I even talk to you? You're trying to persecute the Teacher."

"I'm here to protect you and to try to stop him from doing this to others."

"What are you, in the CIA or something? You're a spy, aren't you?"

"No. I'm not. You don't like spying?" Again she averted her eyes, an infuriating trick she practiced every time he threatened to pick up ground. "The Program is built on spying. You should see the file TD keeps on you. All your finances" – she pushed her hands over her ears, so he raised his voice to an angry whisper – "dating back months before you even became a Pro." She closed her eyes; her lips were moving. He grabbed her wrists and yanked her hands off her ears. Startled, she opened her eyes. "He's created an instruction manual for how to handle you. You know what it says to do if you try to leave? Tell you that outside The Program you'll get cancer."

She was weeping silently now. "Don't grab me."

He pulled his hands back. She started rocking and hugging herself. He flushed the toilet twice and rinsed his Nikes off in the sink. She followed him silently back down the hall, fell into bed, and lay with her back to the room. He sat beside her, resisting the parental urge to pet her back.

"I'm sorry I grabbed you."

"You don't have any right to handle me that way."

"Of course not. No one does."

"There are no files. I don't believe you."

"I held them in my hands, Leah. Yours and the Dead Link files for people who have left. Or tried to leave."

She sat up, back against the wall, studying him. "What do you want? From me?"

"When I leave tomorrow night, I'd like you to come with me to meet with your parents the way you tried to before. But this time I'll make sure it goes better."

She laughed quietly. "You're going through all this shit just to try to get me to do that again?"

"You'll have a chance to explain to them why this is right for you."

"Are you paying attention to anything that's going on? I have no need or obligation to explain myself to my parents. So they can kidnap me."

"I won't let that happen. You have my word that you can come back if you want to."

"Like I trust you. And besides, there's no way TD would let me go."

"So you don't believe TD when he says everyone is here by choice?"

"It's more complicated than that. There are reasons. He won't let me just go."

"Leave that up to me."

"It'll never work." She fisted her bangs hard. "You can't just leave the ranch."

"What do you mean? I'm not a Pro yet. And the retreat ends tomorrow."

Her eyes darted away. "TD wants you here. He wants all the initiates here, but you're special to him. He treats you differently, bends the rules for you." Her eyes flicked to the Cartier. "I've never seen him do that before."

"Then what's to say I can't get him to bend the rules again?"

"Even if he did let you leave, there's no way I could go."

"Pretend I could arrange it."

Leah stared at him, her mouth drawn tight.

"I told you, Leah, The Program is a one-way trip. And I know, now, that this is a dangerous place – and not just psychologically. This might be your only shot to get out. If I can arrange it, will you go with me?"

She lowered her hands and glared at him. "No. I won't." She stared at the rain-flecked window. "I started this, I'm going to finish it. I'm fulfilled here."

A movement drew their attention to the window. Skate and the dogs, patrolling the far edge of Cottage Circle. Leah shivered inadvertently.

Tim studied her reaction. "Really?"

She made no response.

"Leah, has anyone ever left the ranch?"