“My brothers were deployed when both my parents died, but after they got discharged they helped me see the truth. Which is that the people in charge don’t want us to know what’s really going on. But pretty soon, the government will dissolve, and FEMA’s going to start running things. And if you don’t like that idea, they’ve already got over eight hundred camps ready to send you to. They’ve even got boxcars for moving people, just like the Nazis did.”

“Okay,” Miranda says slowly. “So there’s this massive conspiracy. And no one knows about it or talks about it.”

“Right.” Cole nods. “That’s how conspiracies work.”

“So how do you know about it?”

“My brothers told me. But you can see videos of FEMA camps on YouTube.”

Cole clearly believes what he’s saying, but Miranda sees the flaw in his argument. “How come if the government’s so evil and clever, it hasn’t managed to pull the videos from YouTube?”

He raises his chin. “Maybe they would rather leave them up so that they can monitor who watches them. So they can build cases against us to say that we’re crazy and paranoid.”

Or maybe he really is crazy and paranoid. But Cole has lost both his parents. No wonder he’s angry. No wonder he sees conspiracies.

“You think this government is corrupt?” Javier takes his feet off the desk drawer and sits up. “You should try living in Mexico. If you pay enough in bribes, no one can touch you.”

Cole doesn’t appear to be listening. Instead he points at Javier’s back. Miranda follows his finger. Javier’s shirt has ridden up. Tucked into the back of his pants is a—

“You’ve got a gun!” Miranda exclaims.

Javier shakes his head. “I don’t.”

“Don’t lie!” Cole says.

Pulling it out of his waistband, Javier holds it loosely, pointing down at the floor. “It’s not a gun, dude. It’s a toy. I took off the orange tip. It only shoots BBs. Not bullets.”

“Let me see it.” Cole holds out his hand and Javier gives it to him. He hefts it, then holds it in front of him and closes one eye as he aims past them.

Even though she knows it’s fake, to Miranda the gun still looks real, heavy, and serious. “What’s the point of having a gun that isn’t real?” Miranda asks. Everyone has heard about kids gunned down by cops because they were waving around fake guns.

“Protection.”

“From what?”