The road grows blurry, so Tom pulls to the side and parks his sedan. He hears Marie sniffle on the other end of the line. Together they cry for the girl they raised as Quinlan. They cry that they’ll never know her as Nicole.
After a moment Marie clears her throat. Her voice is a stern echo in the empty car. “You know it was for the best,” Marie says. “If she knew you remembered her, she’d come back here. She’d never leave. And you see what Arthur has been doing to those who reject therapy. There’s no telling what he’d do to keep her quiet. We can’t let that happen to her.”
“I know,” he says miserably. “I know.”
“We’ll protect our girl, Tom. We’ll always protect her.”
Tom puts his hand over his eyes, trying to pull himself together. His daughter can never know how much he misses her. She’s too kind—she’ll come for him. This really was the only way.
A year ago the grief department gave him a choice—they give everyone a terrible choice. But he asked to be erased, refusing to tell them anything about Quinlan. Marie arranged for Evelyn Valentine to do his procedure. And instead Tom began working with her and Marie. He’s had to fake memory loss since, and it grows tiring at times.
“There is something else,” Marie says, a new urgency in her voice. “I just got off the phone with Evelyn. She’s testing her theory. She thinks she has the right boy.”
Tom straightens, slipping back into work mode. “And?” he asks, checking his mirrors before swerving back out into the road.
“She’s given him The Treatment. Now she’s waiting to see how it takes. She thinks it’s the only way to counteract The Program.”
“Good,” he says with a small measure of hope. “Now what’s the bad news?” Because of course he can hear that in her voice too.
“She thinks Arthur and the board are onto her. She’s going to run.”
“Damn it,” Tom curses. After a few measured breaths he adds, “Then she should. The last thing we need is for her memories to compromise us.”
“I agree,” Marie says.
Tom continues driving toward home, thinking that every step they’ve taken toward ending The Program has been thwarted in some way. “Well then, let’s hope this boy is the cure for The Program.”
Marie laughs softly, almost desperately. “Yes, let’s,” she responds. “I’ll see you when you get home.”
Tom says good-bye and hangs up, watching the road that winds higher and higher. He thinks about Nicole again, hating how sad she looked, but happy that she was okay. But of course she would be okay—she’s strong. She’s brave and wonderful.
And he dares to let himself hope that one day, when this is all over, he’ll get a chance to see her again. So that they can be a family.
SUZANNE YOUNG is the New York Times bestselling author of the Program duology. Originally from Utica, New York, Suzanne moved to Arizona to pursue her dream of not freezing to death. She is a novelist and an English teacher, but not always in that order. Suzanne is the author of The Program, The Treatment, The Remedy, Hotel Ruby, and A Need So Beautiful.
Visit her online at www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com.
SIMON PULSE
SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/teen
authors.simonandschuster.com/Suzanne-Young
ALSO BY SUZANNE YOUNG
The Program
The Treatment
The Recovery
The Remedy
Hotel Ruby
Just Like Fate
with Cat Patrick
COMING SOON
All in Pieces
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SIMON PULSE
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First Simon Pulse hardcover edition April 2016
Text copyright © 2016 by Suzanne Young
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ISBN 978-1-4814-4470-5 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-4469-9 (eBook)
Suzanne Young, The Epidemic
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