“Because they usually get murdered,” Hadley added.

“Oh.” Lennon swallowed.

“We can easily communicate with the outside world from the comms tower,” Elise said. “But I have this job because Lopez knows that I never would, unless he approves it first.”

“But Lopez is gone, and no one knows who’s calling the shots now, so I say we take advantage of this window,” Hadley said. “No leader, no rules.”

“You have a point.” Elise put her mask up for a moment to take a breath, and then poised her fingers over the keyboard. “We all should be taking orders from Maisie right now anyway.”

Lennon looked at Maisie curiously. She pretended not to notice.

Elise punched a few keys. “Okay, should be up in a few seconds….”

A second screen appeared next to Elise’s face. It was a woman, enjoying yogurt more than anyone had a right to.

“What is this?” Hadley asked.

“A commercial,” Lennon said.

Another woman replaced her, this one sitting behind a desk. “Welcome back. The situation in Spain has grown more serious today, and officials—”

“Try a different livestream,” Lennon said.

Elise frowned but did as he said. Lennon’s face filled the screen before it returned to a woman sitting at a brightly lit desk.

“Day three of the Lennon Pierce kidnapping, and we’ve yet to hear any word about his condition inside the quarantine zone. Supporters are keeping vigil outside the fence, the closest point that people can get to the zone.”

The image changed to a video of hundreds of people lining a fence. Flowers and cards were stuck to it. Beyond the wire, armed men stood in front of a huge concrete wall with signs that read NO TRESPASSING. YOU WILL BE SHOT.

“Oh, shit, is that the other side of the wall?” Hadley asked.

“Yes,” Lennon replied.

“Looks like people like you,” Maisie said, pointing to a crying woman.

“Yeah, I’m great from a distance.”

She blinked, glancing over at him, but he was staring at the screen. What a tragic thing for him to think about himself.

The image onscreen changed to a young boy, maybe four or five years old.

“Lennon Pierce, now nineteen, is the middle child of Camden and Melinda Pierce.”

The image switched to child Lennon with two girls on either side of him.

“Change it, we don’t need to hear about me,” Lennon said.

“No, no, I want to see,” Hadley said.

“Lennon showed great promise as a student, and his parents enrolled him in an exclusive private school. It turned out to be the first of many schools, as the young Pierce had a knack for getting into trouble. He became a favorite target for the tabloids.”

The image changed to a picture of four naked people on a tennis court. All the good bits were blurred out, including Lennon’s butt. The headline above the picture said: LETTING THE BALLS FLY—LENNON PIERCE ARRESTED FOR PLAYING NAKED TENNIS WITH THREE FRIENDS.

“Oh my god,” Hadley said. She clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle. Lennon sighed.