Date: July 3, 1962. Time: 12.17 p.m. Her name was Maryjo Clegg, age twentynine, address
But the first five seconds were already up. Teresa remembered what she was here to do, braced herself against the risk of some violent event, and stepped into the cover of the first doorway she came to.
A man with a gun emerged through the door at the same moment, and he shot her in the face.
Entry into an extreme scenario was an almost instant process; withdrawal and recovery after virtual death were slow and traumatic. The day after her first session, Teresa had to report back to Agent Kazinsky to continue her training. She did so after only three hours' sleep, having spent much of the previous day and most of the night undergoing recovery therapy at the Quantico clinic. She was exhausted, terrified and demoralized, and convinced that she would never again venture into extreme experience.
She was obviously not the only one: two of the other trainees had not turned up at all, and were immediately dropped from the course. The remaining trainees looked as fatigued as Teresa felt, but no one had time to compare
notes. Kazinsky announced they were all to return to the scenario and attempt to resolve it.
Their only relief was that they would be more fully briefed about the details of the incident they were dealing with.
Instead of having to learn about the witness in the few seconds before the incident began, Teresa was now given a full character profile. She learned not only factual details about Ma
'jo Clegg, but something about her personality.
ry
She was also informed, significantly, that Maryjo had survived the incident. lt was her description of the bank robber, and later her ability to pick him out in a lineup, that secured his conviction and, ultimately, his execution. Details of the gunman were also given. He was a man called Willie Santiago, age thirtyfour, a repeat offender with a string of armed robberies behind him. At the moment of his encounter with Maryjo he was attempting to escape from the bank he had just held up. He had shot and killed one of the tellers, and was being pursued by the bank's security officers. The police had already been called, and were on their way to the scene of the crime.
Full of misgivings, and terrified of what she knew was almost certainly going to happen to her, Teresa reentered the Clegg scenario later that day.
She arrived in Cleveland in circumstances identical to the first time. The same rush of impressions swooped in on her: heat, noise, crowded downtown. Additionally, though, she was in a state of blinding panic. She saw the door to the bank, and instantly knew not only what was about to happen but that she could do nothing to protect herself, She turned away from the door and ran as fast as she could. Santiago rushed out and ran up East 55th in the other direction, firing his gun at passersby, wounding two of them. He was apprehended by the police a few minutes
later. After another three hours Teresa was still in downtown Cleveland, wandering through the streets, unsure of what she was expected to do. She had forgotten all the training, the mnemonics and acronyms. She was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the simulation in which she found herself, its incredible attention to detail and its apparently limitless size, the thousands of reallooking people who populated it, the endless procession of traffic and events: she looked at newspapers, even found a bar where a TV was playing, and saw a news report of the Santiago holdup. Her venture into this scenario had started in panic, and, after a short period of relief that Santiago had not actually harmed her this time, it ended in the same way: Teresa began to believe that she was permanently trapped, for ever stuck in the Cleveland of 1962, knowing no one, having nowhere to live, no money, no way back to the place and time she had left. lt was terrifying to think this, and in her state of mental exhaustion she began to believe' it. No thought of the LIVER mnemonic, nor how it could be used, entered her mind.
Finally, Special Agent Kazinsky took pity on her, and got the Quantico staff to pull her out before she became completely disoriented.
She reported back to the Academy the following day, in a worse physical and mental state than before, and with her resignation written down on a sheet of the Bureau's own memorandum paper.
Dan Kazinsky took it from her, read it slowly, then folded it and put it in his pocket.
'Agent Gravatt,' he said. 'I'm not concerned that you ran away, as taking evasive action is warranted. However, in the real event you are attempting to take control of, Miss Clegg obtained a witness description of the perpetrator that ensured his conviction and execution.
You did not. You
may take twentyfour hours' leave and report back here tomorrow at this time.'
'Thank you, sir,' Teresa said, and went home and called Andy. They were due to be married within two months. She told him what she had done, and what Kazinsky had said. Andy, who had already trained with extreme experience, was able to help her through this difficult time.
On her next visit to Cleveland, she did not run away but stood beside the door as Santiago rushed out, and tried to see his face clearly. He shot her.
Next time she tried to get a glimpse of Santiago, then threw herself facedown on the sidewalk.
Not only did she fail to get the description, she was shot in the back of the head as she lay there.
Next time she tackled Santiago, hurling herself at him and trying to force him to the ground.
She tried to use the disabling techniques in which she had been trained. There was a brief, violent scuffle, at the end of which she was shot again.
Each time the experience was worse, because although Teresa retained her own identity she never believed she had actually become Maryjo Clegg the fright, pain and trauma of being repeatedly shot and killed were almost impossible to handle. The hours of physical and mental recovery that followed the extreme experience were gradually extending to two days; this was not unusual for a trainee, but it used up expensive time. She knew she had to get this right or flunk the course.
On her next extreme, she did as Kazinsky had repeatedly advised, and tried to let Maryjo's own reactions control her behaviour. In the actual incident, which had really occurred as depicted, Maryjo of course had had no warning that an armed man was going to burst out of the bank, and she would not have reacted until something happened.
