“So I hear,” Johnson said. “On the feather edge of bringing back normalcy, eh?”

Angela’s ears turned red.

“I’ll get to it,” he said. “Your House members eat like pigs at a trough. The food we have in our stores is all the food that we’ll have. It’s designed for sixty days, but given that we’re missing over a hundred people, we can make it last longer—which we may very well have to do. You need to tell your members to show some restraint.”

Angela’s face showed disbelief. “Are you serious? You want me to be a cafeteria monitor?”

“No, ma’am, I want you to show some leadership. Representative Kiser threatened to punch the line server unless he could get another slice of chicken, and then took more without permission.”

Angela threw her head back for a forced laugh. “You can’t be serious. That’s your problem, not mine.”

Johnson drilled her with a glare that silenced her. He leaned forward, his forearms pressed on his desk. “You’re goddamned right it’s my problem,” he said. He kept his tone low, threatening. “This is not a vacation, ma’am. It’s not a summer camp for over-privileged rich children. This is an emergency evacuation facility, where one of the most valued, critical commodities is food. If one person takes more than his share, that means someone else gets less. Surely, you understand this.”

“Of course, but this is—”

“I’m speaking,” Johnson said. “I’ll tell you when it’s your turn.”

Her ears were crimson now.

“Starting immediately, anyone who attempts to steal food will be shot.”

Angela’s jaw dropped open.

“It’s easy,” Johnson said. “Actions and consequences. My job is to maintain order under difficult circumstances. I’ve told you before that your job is to do whatever it is that politicians do and follow the rules as you do. I can’t imagine how anything could be simpler.”

Angela stared back, clearly at a loss for words.

“Okay, then,” Scott said. He stood. “That’s all. You can go now.”

* * *

Victoria didn’t want to be in charge of things. She wanted to be on her way to Top Hat Mountain to bring her family back together. Rumors swirled that the Clinton M. Hedrick Military Academy had burned to the ground, taking all of the cadets with it, but she refused to believe the stories. And if the story proved to be true, she would not accept that one of the dead cadets was named Adam Emerson.

If it were true, she would know it somehow. Don’t ask how, she just would.