14: THE PLAN

EVERYONE GATHERED AROUND the projection on the conference room wall. It was the final rendered video of Claire and Hanna navigating down the monster-ridden hallway. Most of the footage was too dark to see, but the panicked screams and haunting growls were enough to make Claire squirm in her seat.

“Are you okay?” Hanna whispered, looking over.

“I’m fine. It’s just a little uncomfortable to watch. It’s like we’re living through it all over again. I barely got any sleep last night.” Her face was pale, and there were bags under her eyes.

“Will you be okay to go back in?”

Claire pointed at the footage. “As long as we don’t have to experience that again.”

“There’s a chance we might have to. If it’s too much, I can go in by myself.”

“No. This case is important and I need to do my part.”

Hanna turned back to the projection. “Good. To be honest, I’m a little shaken too. After what happened, I would rather not go in alone.”

The video ended, and Russell flipped on the lights. Charles stood from his seat and moved to the front of the room. He adjusted his tie and cleared his throat. “That was very interesting to see. I think this kind of footage adds incredible value to our case.” He looked at Hanna and Claire. “I liked your conversation with Eileen, or what I assume to be a memory of her. It was a smart idea, but you didn’t seem to get any further than we did with our own interrogations.”

“Don’t forget her father,” Howard said. “His behavior supports her motive. She killed three fathers. Perhaps she feels that her father’s death was too merciful. She believes he deserved to suffer.”

“Yes,” Charles said. “That’s a possibility. It’s still the leading theory, but we have yet to find definitive proof. We have the breadcrumbs, but we need the loaf. That’s why Claire and Hanna have agreed to go back in. Hanna, would you like to brief us on your plan?”

Hanna stood up. “Yes, of course. As you all know, Eileen is unwilling to cooperate. Her cooperation is vital to accessing deeper parts of her brain. Otherwise, we could end up with those monsters again. If you haven’t already figured it out, that place was her amygdala. It’s where we found a manifestation of Eileen’s nyctophobia. Her fear of the dark. It’s a common fear, but we can use it to our advantage. If Eileen is not willing to cooperate, we can stick her inside her own amygdala. After that, she may reconsider.”

Finn raised his hand. “So, your plan is to torture her?”

“Yes, in a sense. It’s all in her mind, so she won’t physically be harmed, but it’s still potentially dangerous. If we’re careful, I believe we have enough control to mitigate that danger.”

“It’s kind of cruel, isn’t it?”

“Perhaps, but Charles wishes to proceed with this plan. We need results, and as you saw from the footage, exploring her memories has gotten us nowhere. The next logical step is to access her dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, but we need her help in order to get there. Right now, the only way to persuade her is to exploit her fear of the dark. I’m open to other suggestions, if you have them.”

“What about her father?” Lenny asked from the back of the room.

“What about him?”

“He abused her when she was a child, and she’s resented him ever since. You could help her confront him. That’s what Core Tech Computing does, right? You use thought-hopping as a form of therapy. You help people cope with fear. Can you do the same thing with repressed hatred?”

“I suppose it’s possible.”

“Then that’s what we do. We help her come to terms with her father. That’s how we earn her trust.”

“There’s no way it’ll work,” Howard said. “We’re the Serial Crimes Bureau. She thinks we’re pigs.”

“Hanna isn’t with the bureau,” Lenny said. “Sure, our little sedative incident set her back a bit, but I think Eileen is still willing to trust her under the right circumstances.”

“Even if she did trust Hanna, she knows our goal is to put her in jail. Why would she help incriminate herself? She may be crazy, but she’s not stupid.”

Lenny stood up. “Maybe she truly believes she’s not guilty. You’ve seen how unstable she is. She could have blacked out the murders, or just completely forgot they happened. That would explain why we couldn’t find any memories. She thinks she’s innocent, but if she really did kill our three victims, I would assume the truth is still in there somewhere. Right, Hanna?”

“Correct,” Hanna said. “Whether she believes it or not, the truth will be in her dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. And I agree with Lenny’s theory. I think she believes she’s innocent. If we earn her trust, and she’s confident we’re not being deceptive, I think she’ll cooperate. In her mind, she’s not incriminating herself. She’s absolving herself. Focusing on her relationship with her father is a smart move. It will elicit strong feelings of catharsis. Creating a positive experience for her is the best way to kindle her trust.”

“And what if she still refuses to help?” Howard asked.

Charles stepped forward. “If she refuses, then we come up with a new plan. But I like Lenny’s suggestion. It’s worth trying.”

“She won’t play along if she thinks you’re still with us,” Lenny said. “You need to convince her that you’re disobeying orders. Tell her that we have a plan, but instead of going along with it, you’ve decided to help her. Say that you believe she’s innocent.”

Hanna nodded. “This could work. Good job, Lenny. Let’s get started.”

The meeting dispersed. Hanna, Claire, Russell, and Howard headed toward the lab.

“Be honest,” Howard said as they walked. “What are the chances this actually works?”

Hanna shrugged. “Not a clue.”

“No offense, but based on our results so far, I just don’t see this working out. Personally, I think we should pull the plug and try it the old-fashioned way. We would still pay you for your work, of course.”

“I don’t want to give up just yet,” Claire said. “Not before we see her truth center.”

Howard shook his head. “I just think we have a solid case without this stuff. We have DNA evidence.”

“You already know why that’s not enough.”

“Let’s not kid ourselves. She did it. We all know she did it. Now we’re just jumping through hoops to appease the system.”

“We jump through these hoops for a reason,” Claire said, “The system’s in place to protect the people. They’re good hoops.”

Howard scoffed. “Right. Good hoops.”

Arthur trotted up behind them and tapped Hanna on the shoulder. “Before you start your next session, could I get in another interview? We’re supposed to do one every morning.”

“Yeah, sure,” Hanna said. “You guys go ahead without me. This shouldn’t take long.”

She followed Arthur back to her office, where the tripod and camera were already set up.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Arthur said. “I was in here without you. I wanted to set things up first, so you don’t have to watch me struggle with the camera. A whole year of using the thing, and I still haven’t figured it out.”

“I don’t mind at all,” Hanna said, circling her desk and plopping into her chair. “What kind of questions do you have for me this time? No brain-stumpers, I hope.”

Arthur sat across from her, pulling out his notepad. “Nothing like that. This is more of an update interview to see where our progress stands. I guess my first question is, what is it like working with Claire? How did she do in training?”

“She did very well. She’s a fast learner. Faster than most.”

“In the footage this morning, she tried to save the memory of a young Eileen Warner.”

“Yes, that’s the one thing she hasn’t quite grasped yet. Memories not being real. It speaks to her personality. She’s a caring person who wants to help others in distress. I imagine it’s why she was drawn to law enforcement.”

“It was the same for me,” Arthur said.

“It’s an admirable trait, but in that particular situation, it worked against us. Sometimes it’s difficult for people to understand they can’t change a memory. They’re events that have already happened, and they will always have the same outcome.”

“Her attempt to save Eileen resulted in a struggle with her father.”

“Unfortunately, it did. He didn’t do any serious harm, but it’s always good to avoid encounters like that.”

Arthur looked down to scribble something on his notepad. When he was done, he glanced back up. “And after that, you stepped into a memory of her high school. What did you learn there?”

“We learned that she had a rough life growing up. But we already knew that. She was a victim of bullying, and she had no support system at home. She had academic potential, but a series of bad experiences pushed her toward an attempted suicide. Eventually, she dropped out of high school, and then the rest of her life fell apart.”

“You had a chance to see Eileen’s arrest. How was that experience for you?”

“It was definitely interesting, but I found the conversation with her leading up to that moment far more intriguing. She was a lot friendlier than when I spoke to her in person.”

“Yes, she’s quite unpleasant to speak to in real life.”

“She was unaware the victims had died. I found that odd.”

“It was pretty clear to me that she was lying. Her ignorance was an act.”

“But she didn’t know she was a suspect at that point. She had no reason to lie.”

“If you killed someone, wouldn’t you pretend like you didn’t know too? Innocence through ignorance?”

“I suppose that’s true, but I still think it’s odd, the way she reacted.”

Arthur squinted at Hanna, jotting something else on his notepad. “I disagree, but I’m not here to start an argument. For the sake of time, let’s move on. Next was the hallway, or as you called it, the amygdala. From the footage, it looked quite terrifying.”

“The amygdala is where the essence of your fears live. They manifest in their purest form. In Eileen’s case, her fear of the dark manifests as an unseen monster. It’s a classic monster in the closet scenario.”

“It was too dark to see in the footage, but both of you sounded like you were in pain.”

“I’ve tried to be transparent about this throughout the process. What happens in the mind is not physically real, but all of the sensations feel completely real, pain included.”

“You said it can permanently affect your mind. Is that a concern going forward?”

“It’s true, permanent damage is possible. If you’re not careful, you could end up in a coma.

“That’s a severe consequence. Is thought-hopping too dangerous as an investigative tool?”

“In my opinion, no. It’s the same as anything else. In theory, driving a car is extremely dangerous, but if you obey the rules and stay in your lane, you’ll make it to your destination without any problems. We follow the same philosophy when we’re thought-hopping. We obey the rules and stay in our lane. We know what’s safe and what isn’t. Safety is always a priority for Core Tech Computing, and I feel safe enough to continue. I spoke with Claire, and she feels the same way.”

“Fair enough,” Arthur said, flipping to a fresh page and writing more. “I wanted to ask about your equipment. Yesterday, I had some time to examine your hardware. It all looks quite old.”

“It’s the exact same hardware we started the company with. We’ve wanted to upgrade for a while, but we don’t have the funds.”

“Are you worried that the hardware will fail while you’re using it?”

“All the time. It doesn’t pose a safety threat. If anything fails, we just get kicked out and wake up like normal. I’m more worried about losing data. Given the way our computer stores information, if the processor fails during a session, or the cooling fans stop and the whole system overheats, we lose that session. If the storage server fails, we have backup files in the cloud, but we would lose our ability to record anything new. The unprocessed data is just too large to store on our main hard drive.”

“One of your headbands is broken too. It’s one of the first things I noticed when I stepped into your lab.”

“That’s right. We used to have four functional headbands. To be honest, we rarely use more than two at a time. Losing one hasn’t had much impact on our work. It’s when we lose another that I’ll start to worry.”

“Is that how you intend to spend your money once your contract is complete? Upgrading your hardware?”

“It is. Our equipment is the heart of the company. Without a functional computer, Core Tech Computing doesn’t exist. It’s that simple. I just hope we can deliver on our end of the deal.”

“Well, as long as you follow SCB rules, you should be fine. You’ll get paid even if we don’t get results.”

“Which is very generous on your part. In a way, it takes the pressure off Russell and I but, at the same time, I feel more obligated to find something useful for your case.”

“Are you confident in your ability to do that?”

Hanna paused to think about the question. “Before we started, I was unsure, but now that we’ve had our first session, I’m more confident. The dangers are more manageable than I expected. And while we didn’t find what we were looking for in her memories, I have no doubt we’ll find it in her dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. We just have to convince her to take us there, and I believe we have a solid way of doing that. Once she lets us in, we can finally know the truth. Hopefully, that happens today.”

“Very good,” Arthur said, flipping his notepad shut. “That wraps up our second interview. You’re free to catch up with the others in the lab. Thank you for your time.”

“Of course,” Hanna said, standing up. “I look forward to the next one.”

“Tomorrow morning. Same time. Same place. It will hopefully be an exit interview, if all goes well today.”

“Fingers crossed,” she said, opening the door and leaving the room.

When she reached the lab, Eileen was screaming and tugging at her restraints. “You can all go to hell!” Her body jolted back and forth, trying to jostle free. “You’re corrupt pigs. Every one of you. Punishing an innocent woman to make a quick buck in Hollywood. You make me sick.”

Russell was at the control panel booting up the computer. “Howard, get the sedative. And remember, not the Temazepam. You’re looking for Passiflora.”

When Eileen heard the word sedative, she stopped yelling and lowered her voice. “Please, don’t put me under. I beg.”

Hanna walked over and whispered in her ear. “I’m here to help. I promise.” She looked up at Howard, who had found the sedative and held the syringe. “Do it.”

Howard plunged the needle into her arm. Her violent thrashing melted away as she fell into a deep sleep. Claire sat in the same spot beside her.

Russell left the control panel to help with the headbands, but Claire grabbed her own and put it on herself. “I got it. I’ve done this enough times to know how it goes.”

“Okay,” Hanna said. “We’re good to go.”

“Be careful in there,” Russell said, moving back to the control panel. “Her nyctophobia looked nasty in that video. Keep an eye on each other, and if anything goes wrong, don’t be afraid to extract. I’ll be ready to pull you out.”

“We’ll be fine,” Hanna said. “As long as we stick to the plan, everything should be okay.”