The Program

by Gregg Hurwitz

  The student shook his head, his long hair swaying. “There’s no way you could argue me into a cult.”

  “Of course not. Arguing’s not nearly seductive enough.” A few students tittered nervously. Bederman continued to pace. “What’s your name?”

  The student tapped his pen against his notebook. “Brian.”

  “I would set out to create a new Brian. Cult-Brian. In his new world, Cult-Brian is rewarded for everything he says, does, and thinks by everyone around him. And True-Brian is punished for everything he says, does, thinks, or remembers. Pretty soon I’d have created a dominant cult personality much like everyone else’s in my cult, trained to obey me. Why are you susceptible, Brian? You’re a healthy, well-adjusted male, unburdened, I’d guess, by dire psychological problems. I need worker bees. I need bang for my buck. I wouldn’t waste valuable time and energy indoctrinating someone who wasn’t strong, caring, and motivated. Your active imagination, your creative mind, your ability to focus and concentrate—all the better to hypnotize you with, my dear. You’re struggling to assert your individuality. Look at how well you’ve done so here in this forum. Wonderful. Come assert it with me and mine. We’re rebels. We’ll take on all of society, do things our own way, you and me and our nine hundred and nine friends. Your positive characteristics are merely tools for me to exploit. Within a few weeks, you’ll think the cult’s the greatest thing that ever happened to you. You’ll never want to leave. You’d just as soon...”—he halted onstage, his momentum lost; the air seemed to go right out of him—”die.” A side door banged open. A man with a stocking over his head ran past the stage, screaming, “Fascist Nazi persecutor!” He threw a water balloon that exploded at Bederman’s feet, spraying him with white paint. The assailant flashed out the emergency door, tripping the alarm.

  Seemingly unfazed, Bederman pulled a handkerchief from his shirt pocket and wiped his paint-flecked spectacles, shouting to be heard over the din. “Okay. Here we go again! File out neatly and orderly! And remember to read Chapter Six for Thursday’s lecture!”

  Attaché in hand, Bederman made his way calmly up the stairs. Tim braved the outward rush of students. “Dr. Bederman!” he shouted. The alarm was so shrill it hurt his teeth. “I’m Tim Rackley from the U.S. Marshals Service. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Bederman nodded and took Tim’s arm. They spilled out of Haines into the quad as several security guards trotted inside. “I would apologize for the ruckus, but I’ve grown accustomed to it. Its reliability is refreshing.”

  “This happens all the time, I take it.”

  “Paint balloons, fire alarms, bomb threats, files ransacked. Cults have an enviable amount of manpower at their disposal, especially for an old dragonslayer like me. They’ve canceled my hotel and airline reservations, sent fraudulent letters to the board of state medical examiners. Once, after one of my expert-witness testimonies, I received seventy-two hours of continuous phone calls. I’ve elected to find the attention flattering.” He paused, sizing Tim up. “But let’s get down to business. I’m so glad you got back to me.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “About my stolen mailing lists. They were encrypted, of course, but—”

  Tim finally managed to slide in a sentence. “I think you have me confused with someone else.”

  “You’re responding to my complaint? You’re with LAPD, correct?”

  “No, sir. I’m a deputy U.S. marshal. I contacted you because I need your help with a case I’m working on. I haven’t received any correspondence from you.”

  “Oh.” Bederman stopped walking. “Oh, oh, oh. How terribly disappointing.” He studied his folded hands thoughtfully. “We see what we want to see.”

  “I’m trying to help a girl who got tangled up in a cult. I’d like a few minutes of your time.”

  “Let’s see that badge.”

  Bederman examined it closely, then Tim’s credentials. He handed them back and strode the path, Tim moving to keep up. “If you’re making an effort to bust up a cult in a way that’s real, I’ll help you. If you’re poking around, asking the usual questions to file the usual report that sits on the usual desk, I won’t.”

  “My task is to locate the girl and get her out. I can’t promise more than that.”

  “Can you promise me some turpentine?” He swept a hand through his white beard, and it came away spotted with paint. “That was a joke.”

  “Pretend I laughed politely.”

  He halted and looked at Tim. “I like you. No tough-guy routine, no unrealistic promises, no polite laughter. And you could have taken advantage of my misunderstanding about your identity.”

  “I’ve been taken advantage of too many times in my life.”

  “So you feel bad for others?”

  “I don’t like the feeling it gives me when I do it to others.”

  “Very good, Deputy Rackley. Very good.” Nodding at a passing faculty member, he hurried down a set of stairs. “Tell me about this girl.” Tim had mostly filled him in by the time they entered Franz Hall. He couldn’t help but think of the horrible evidence he’d discovered in this very building a year ago in William Rayner’s office. With some effort he refocused on Bederman’s words.

  “The good news is, there are signs that this girl is receptive to leaving the cult. The timing might be good. You say she went home for a day. Even if she fled, that shows she’s at least open to other options on some level. She’s probably just too afraid to seek them—she’s likely been programmed to believe that her life is worthless outside the group. Did she have any new allergy problems, asthma, or ailments when her parents saw her?”

  “Her mother mentioned a rash, yes.”

  “These are ways the body makes cries for help when the mind won’t. She might be ready when you find her. But if you come into any contact with the cult, you’ll have to be extremely careful. Mind-control techniques are very subtle and coercive.”

  “I can handle myself. I’ve had military countertraining.”

  A slight smile played upon Bederman’s lips as he opened the door to a corner office on the second floor. “You have, have you?” Papers and files covered the entire room, taking up virtually every horizontal surface. Tim noticed a piece of almost comical hate mail on the assistant’s empty desk, its jagged little letters cut from magazines. leave us alone or die. A framed poster on the wall showed a herd of cows being driven into a slaughterhouse. In black lettering across the bottom: Safety in Numbers.

  “It appears messy to the untrained eye, but it’s actually a highly sophisticated filing system. Be careful not to move anything. Would you mind sitting up on that counter?” Bederman pointed to a clear stretch of water-stained countertop in the corner.

  “I’ll stand.”

  Bederman settled into his desk chair, fingers resting on his cheek. “Right. Maybe the coffee table there would be more comfortable. Take care not to wrinkle the papers.”

  Tim sat awkwardly on the low table.

  “As I was saying, do not underestimate mind-control techniques.”

  “I’ll be fine. I have an eye for that stuff.”

  “I’m sure you do. Military countertraining and whatnot.” Bederman’s eyes twinkled. “But I just got you to sit on a coffee table.”

  Tim looked at the two chairs in the office, which were unburdened by paperwork.

  “Reciprocal concessions,” Bederman said. “I conceded that you didn’t have to sit on an uncomfortable countertop. You then made a concession to match my concession, never mind that there are two perfectly fine chairs at our disposal, never mind the fact that if I’d asked you first to sit on the coffee table, you almost certainly would have declined.”

  Tim took a moment to remind himself he should be impressed, not irritated.

  “You’re neither weak nor foolish for doing this. Reciprocal concessions are a key aspect of living in a community. If there were no social obligation to reciprocate a concession, who would want to make the first sacrifice? How w
ould society function? Mind control can begin with simple, innocuous ‘suggestions’ like these.” He winked. “Get a flower, give a dollar, right?” He gestured at a chair with a hand that, Tim noticed, trembled slightly. “Please.”

  Tim moved to the chair.

  “I’m not trying to make you feel foolish. I’m merely trying to show how insidious these techniques are. Do you have children?”

  Tim felt the familiar ache in his chest. “I did.”

  Bederman nodded sympathetically, assuming divorce or estrangement, as they always did. “Well, you remember the annual Christmas-toy crazes, then? Cabbage Patch Kids, Beanie Babies, Nintendo Game-Cubes?”

  “The hot holiday toy that every kid absolutely must have.”

  “Precisely. Children extract promises from their parents that they’ll receive said toy, but toy companies purposefully limit the supply. Panicked parents have to buy other holiday gifts to appease their tyrannical youngsters. The toy companies wait until late January, then flood the market with the desired toy. Parents have to fulfill their prior obligations to their children and—bam—toy companies have managed to double their sales. Literally millions of families are duped into buying dumb, unwanted crap and helping promote the übertoy every year and are not the least aware of it.”

  “So once you do what they want, you’re more inclined to think what they want.”

  “Exactly. How were you suckered? Tickle Me Elmo?”

  A chuckle escaped Tim. “Furby.” He remembered trekking around town for weeks trying to locate the damn thing for Ginny, enduring endless jokes from Bear that a deputy U.S. marshal trained in hunting fugitives couldn’t locate a mass-produced talking hairball. A My Pretty Pony had arrived under the tree instead, the Furby in February. “I’d never claim I haven’t been made a fool of, probably more times than I’m aware.”

  “There’s more to mind control than meets the eye, Deputy Rackley. That’s all I’m cautioning. In fact, it’s all about what isn’t perceived, what isn’t thought. You’ll have to watch your back in ways that—even as a federal officer—you aren’t accustomed to.”

  “Given I’m on your turf here, do you have any specific advice on how to do that?”

  “It’s game theory, really—mind games. All cults work by a finite number of truisms. You’ll want to crack the code. What are the twelve steps? The seven habits of highly effective zombies? The Ten Commandments? Once you know what kind of cult you’re dealing with, then you can figure out how to protect yourself.”

  “Does anything I’ve told you about this girl’s cult ring a bell?”

  “Yes. All the bells.” Bederman smiled. “Does anything you’ve told me indicate one particular cult over another? No. The particulars you have are almost universal.”

  “I was told you treat a lot of cult survivors in your clinical practice.”

  “Hundreds. They’re often programmed to self-destruct when they leave the cult, so they’re rarely in good shape.”

  “Have you counseled anyone in the past few years who was recruited off the Pepperdine campus?”

  He thought for a moment, finger pressed against his beard, then nodded. “About a year and a half ago, a family contacted me. Their son was a cult castaway, living on the streets. His parents enlisted my help, but he was too far gone. A schizophrenic mess.”

  “Where is he now?”

  “I’d imagine still in the Neuropsychiatric Institute, busy with the voices he’s tuning in through his dental work.”

  “Where’s the institute?”

  “Right here—UCLA Med Center. I helped get him admitted.”

  “I’d like to speak with him today if that’s possible. Could you help me?”

  “If he’s still there, I’m sure I could. Though I didn’t do much, his family feels indebted to me. I don’t know what good it will do you. He’s nearly catatonic—not your usual cult survivor. More a cult victim.”

  “I’d appreciate that very much.”

  Bederman flipped through an old-school Rolodex, its cards written in code, then punched a number into the phone and spoke briefly with the charge nurse. He hung up and regarded Tim. “Even if you can locate this girl, there is a very specific skill set you’ll need at your disposal. You’ll need incredible patience. She won’t have access to the thoughts and feelings you’ll expect her to. If you push, you’ll cause her to retreat further or melt down altogether. If you try to reason with her, she’ll likely fight the process with meditation or thought stopping.”

  “I’m not planning on reasoning with her.”

  Bederman rocked forward in his chair, arms resting on his blotter, his voice warning of impending outrage. “What do you mean? How do you plan on getting her out?”

  “By any means necessary.”

  “Oh, no, no, no. Abducting her would be a grave mistake. You law-enforcement types have three approaches—force, force, and more force.” Bederman seemed unnerved by Tim’s silence. “You can’t show someone that coercion is wrong by coercing her in the opposite direction.”

  “She’s clearly not thinking for herself. What if a recovery operation is the only way to get her the help she needs?”

  “It’s never the only way.” He’d come up out of his chair with the exclamation; he took a moment to ease himself back down.

  “What matters is getting her out.”

  “It’s not that simple. The process by which a person gets out from under the cult’s dominance is essential. She’ll be crippled by implanted phobias about leaving. You might wreck her in the process of trying to save her.” Bederman cocked a snowy eyebrow. “Force may work when tracking down crooks in stocking caps, but it doesn’t stand a chance when you’re up against mind control, psychological coercion, phobias. Take it from me, Deputy. You can very easily, very quickly get in over your head here.”

  FIVE

  The institute’s bleached tile, white walls, and the antiseptic chill of fluorescent overheads all contributed to the serene mood. Tim drifted down a corridor past a bank of windows looking in on a cluster of people in gowns, twisting, bending, and extending their arms in slow motion, a sculpture garden coming sluggishly to life. A social worker with sharp, attractive features and shiny black hair met him at the reception console, wielding an immense visitors’ log. After he signed in, she led him to her office, where she called Ernie Tramine’s father and confirmed approval for the visit.

  “Ernie hasn’t spoken in weeks. I’m not sure what you hope to accomplish.” Her voice was pleasant and observational.

  “It’s part of an investigation.” Tim immediately regretted sounding like an uptight TV cop; her polite interest in his badge at reception had made him feel like a kid showing off a tin sheriff star.

  “Take a seat behind my desk. I’ll bring Ernie right in.”

  The office’s single window overlooked a treetop canopy six stories below. A prepackaged Zen garden on the desktop tirelessly cycled water. Tim sank into Ms. Liu’s chair, which tilted accommodatingly under his weight. He pushed “redial” on her telephone, and a number popped up on the Caller ID screen as it dialed. He punched the number into his own cell phone to save it and hung up the receiver before the call rang through.

  A few minutes later, Ms. Liu entered again, guiding Ernie in front of her. Tim was struck immediately by how young he looked—he couldn’t have been over twenty-one. His chiseled features and dark eyes had probably served him well in the past. He looked like a kid whose biggest concern should have been how many girls were showing up to the next three-kegger, and yet here he was, rocking and mute, his feet encased in paper slippers. He wore a few days’ scruff and an incredibly blank expression, as if his facial muscles had atrophied.

  Ms. Liu steered Ernie into the interview chair facing the desk, and Ernie immediately began to rock. “I’ll be right outside,” she said.

  The door clicked behind her. Ernie’s eyes focused on his tight-clasped hands.

  “Hi, Ernie. My name’s Tim Rackley. It’s nice to me
et you.”

  Ernie swayed rhythmically.

  “I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.” Tim might as well have been talking to a watercooler, a fire hydrant, his father. He realized how foolish he’d been to ignore Bederman’s and Ms. Liu’s hesitations.

  “I’m looking for a girl who joined up with a group of people. I think she was recruited off campus at Pepperdine. You went to Pepperdine, right?”

  Ernie leaned forward in his chair, zoned out. Tim drew nearer in an attempt to engage him, resting his elbows on the desk. He brought his face within a few feet of Ernie’s, but still Ernie didn’t look up to meet his eyes.

  “What was the name of the group you joined?”

  The lulling whisper of the trickling water.

  “Do you remember joining a group?”

  Ernie’s gentle rocking continued, regular as a heartbeat. Tim studied his eyebrows, his pupils, the occasional flicker of his lids.

  “Can you tell me anything about the Teacher?”

  Ernie snapped forward violently, screaming, his face inches from Tim’s. Tim jerked back, elbow striking the Zen garden and sending it crashing to the floor. He rolled back until the chair collided with the wall. Ernie paused only to suck in a deep, screeching breath and then continued. Ms. Liu burst through the door, looking uncharacteristically flustered, and Tim heard the pounding footsteps of approaching backup.

  Ernie continued to scream, so loud his voice was already flattening into hoarseness. He bobbed fiercely in his chair but made no move to attack Tim or Ms. Liu.

  Two burly psych techs skidded into the room, followed by a jogging doctor.

  One hand raised calmingly toward Ernie, Ms. Liu glared at Tim. “I think you should leave.”