Page 10 of The Session

“Well, the Vault’s real. Everybody knows that. Everything we say, all of our Sessions, all of our secrets, when we talk to Switchboard—I know enough about Summit to know that they wouldn’t get rid of anything like that. It’s too valuable.”

“I think people make it out to be something more sinister than it probably is,” Tru assured her.

This was the part of Summit that made Tru herself uncomfortable. She knew much about Summit’s operations, having grown up in it, and understood that some things might not make sense to outsiders. But if you fully understood why—and the reasoning and science underpinning it—then it didn’t seem as bad. Of course, those underpinnings might’ve been her father and Max gaslighting her.

“The only mystery is where the Vault is located,” Susan said. “And how much it holds. To think that somewhere in the world are everyone’s darkest secrets.”

“It’s called Facebook. Everybody puts their secrets out in front of everybody else.” It was a pat answer Tru had given any number of times when the subject of the Vault had come up. She felt a bit slimy using it on somebody as sincere as Susan.

“Either way, I just needed to tell you what I know so I can leave it behind. I don’t want anything else to do with this. And whatever you can do, let them know I’m no threat. Please, Tru,” Susan pleaded.

“I’ll see what I can do. If you notice anything else, let me know, and I can always make a fuss.”

Susan’s face went white. “Please, no, don’t do that,” she begged.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean it like that. Look, everything’s safe with me,” Tru reassured her.

“Don’t you wonder who really is running Summit?” Susan asked.

“Sometimes.”

“I don’t know how you’re so cool about it all. They showed me a little of what they knew about me, but I can only imagine what they have about you inside the Vault.”

Tru had been thinking about this a lot. The Vault had seemed like a distant, abstract idea when she was younger—a kind of library about you. But as she grew older and more involved with the workings of Summit, she understood that wasn’t how everybody else saw it. And it wasn’t so much the nature of her secrets that she feared; it was the idea that they could fall into the hands of people she didn’t want them to.

For most of her life she’d watched others and herself get away with impunity at Summit. Now she worried the real cost was about to be revealed.

The Program

“How did it go?” Devon Martinez asked.

Mark spoke to his friend by phone from a bench outside the Florida Atlantic College Athletic Building, waiting for his coaching interview.

“The foundation went great. They’re in for ten thousand.”

“Ten thousand? Amazing! What did you tell them?”

“Just the basics. They said they’re shutting down the charitable giving for this kind of thing, but they could help us out this once. So we’re good for the year.”

“Did you tell Holly yet?” Devon asked.

“I tried calling, but she was with her parents. So I texted her. She gave me a thumbs-up. So there’s that.”

“I’m sure she meant it enthusiastically,” Devon said. “Tell me more about the meeting.”

“It was in a conference room overlooking the ocean, like something out of a movie. The lobby was huge, with these massive video screens. Lots of security. I felt like I was visiting the CIA. It was just four people, including the woman I spoke to originally and some guy who seemed like he handled the financials.”

“I wish I could have seen that. How is Miami?”

“If that building is representative, it’s filled with a lot of very attractive women.” Devon laughed. “Anything else going on?”

“Byron wants to talk to you when you get a chance. Nothing that can’t wait,” said Devon. “Shifts have been slow—just a few bruises and bang-ups . . . Oh. If it’s not too much trouble, can you cover for me tomorrow? We got a new kid in the program, and I’d like to catch up on my sleep instead of watching a noob try to hit a ball around the field.”

“I get in tonight. No problem.”

“You ready for your real interview?”

“Coach Stevenson put in the word. That’s what matters. I’ll just be me, and hopefully they have a space for me here.”