“May I introduce Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Harris. They chair the Northern California section of the Committee to End Blood Sports.” He is a suave, elderly man, she a thin, well groomed woman. Both wear lush, matching hand-woven Peruvian sweaters as a shield against the cold. “The Harrises live here. And this is Sally Winehurst.” A youngish, swarthy girl. With her dark coloring and coarse facial features, she could easily pass for Abelman’s daughter. “My secretary. Ebbet McKay you already know. And Harry Deutsch.” A nervous, baldheaded, emaciated man, dragging heavily on a cigarette. The pile in the ashtray in front of him indicates he’s been at it for some time. He smokes with one hand, and pushes his spectacles up higher on his nose with the other, a fruitless endeavor since every time he exhales his smoke, his glasses slip back down. “Harry works for IBC. He’s the one who supplied us with the tape you’re about to see.” Abelman walks around the room pulling down the shades. “If you’ll have a seat.” He points toward an empty chair in back.

T.K. takes it.

Abelman turns on the tape projector. The tape clicks into place. A hiss issues from out of the projector’s speaker. A random pattern of flashing lights appears on the screen. The show begins.

T.K. winces when he realizes he’s looking at a replay of Sunday’s game against the Minutemen, specifically that play in which Eddie Hougart was killed. It doesn’t seem to be the standard television broadcast version. The voiceover isn’t Timothy Enge. It’s someone else, someone whose voice is lower, quieter, more intense than Enge’s. The voice isn’t simply announcing what’s going on. It seems to be talking to somebody. Giving someone directions.

“That voice you hear belongs to a man IBC euphemistically refers to as a programming adjuster,” interjects Abelman. “He sits in the control room and watches the game on the program coordinator’s console. He has a very specific purpose which I think will be made obvious in a few moments.”

Experiencing a strange sense of déjà vu, T.K. watches himself in the huddle, calling the play that will cost Eddie Hougart his life.