Now look at him. Kidnapped three times, currently held hostage in the most dangerous place in the world. Absolutely distracting from the campaign at the most crucial point. He should have stayed in New Haven and ignored that little voice that said he had to prove his parents wrong, in the most public way possible. His girlfriend at the time had told him that he would never find happiness through their approval, and he should grow up.

She was annoyingly right all the time. Everyone was right, and Lennon was wrong. He should have it tattooed on his forehead, since they’d all never let him live this down.

Dr. Lopez dialed on the clunky phone and pressed it to his ear. He listened for a moment. “Yes, this is Dr. Lopez. I have Lennon Pierce here.” He passed the phone to him.

Lennon raised the phone to his ear. “Hello?”

“Mr. Pierce? This is Agent Johnson. Are you in a safe location right now?”

“Yes? Yes.” Define “safe,” he wanted to say.

“We have footage from the gas station of two men grabbing you. Is that correct?”

“Yeah, there were two.”

“And when they took you to the airport? How many there?”

“Three. The two who took me and the pilot.”

“That’s all? No others?”

“Not that I saw. Did you get them?”

“The plane was shot down right outside the quarantine zone. All three men aboard are dead.”

“Oh.” He barely stopped himself from saying, Good. “Do you know who they were?”

“We’re still working on that. I have Senator Pierce on the line. He’d like to speak with you briefly.”

“Sure.”

“Lennon.” His dad said his name with an exhalation of air. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m good.”

“Are you sure? Are they…Are you…comfortable?”

“Yes. Dr. Lopez has been very hospitable. They gave me some food and clothes and they’ve promised to help get me out of here.”

His dad blew out a breath. “Christ. Okay.”

“How is, um…” He glanced at Dr. Lopez. “How is the news framing this?”

There was a brief silence. “There is significant concern. Your face is on every news station in the country right now.”

Lennon could read between the lines of that statement. He could only imagine the media hysteria. “There’s no need for significant concern, for the record. I’m doing great. Really.”

“I know that everyone will be very relieved to hear that. You can tell them yourself as soon as you get out.”

“I will.”

“Agent Johnson would like me to wrap this up. He has some questions for Dr. Lopez.”

“Okay. Tell Mom I’m fine. And Stella and Caroline. Tell them I’m actually excited to see the quarantine zone firsthand.” He could just imagine the reaction to that from Caroline, his older sister. She would put her hands on her hips and say something like, “Tell Lennon to stop being ridiculous.”

Stella, however, would probably be a little jealous. His sixteen-year-old sister was just as obsessed as he was with the quarantine zone. She was going to relentlessly hound him for information when he got back.