“Not great,” she admitted.

“Yeah, not great. I at least have to try.”

She pushed her hands through her hair with a sigh. “Okay. Call about those maps.”

LENNON

LENNON CALLED HIS dad’s campaign manager, who, after a brief freak-out, sent aerial maps within minutes. Maisie spread them out on the table, and then marked them up with some notes. Hadley returned from her call with the Spencer contact—Queso, a code name that Lennon found charming—and added some information.

Lennon peered at the maps and Maisie pointed. “We pieced everything together the best we could. There are still some spots where it’s unclear if a road is being maintained. But we outlined some possible routes.”

“And some helpful tips,” Lennon added, pointing to the spot where Hadley had written, You’re probably screwed if you go here.

Hadley shrugged innocently. “Just telling you what Queso said.”

“These are the four Spencer territories,” Maisie said, pointing. “They’re ruled by four different Spencers. Used to just be one territory, but they can’t get along for shit up there.”

“Understatement,” Hadley said with a short laugh.

“Just north of us is East Spencer and West Spencer,” Maisie continued. “East is ruled by Nash Spencer, West is Arthur. West is weak and sparsely populated. East is…bad, by all accounts. We’re going to try to stay west and avoid east altogether.”

Lennon put a finger to the map. “That big highway that runs through West Spencer is still in use. We could take it nearly all the way to the next territory.”

She nodded in a way that he suspected was just to humor him. “That next territory is the biggest one, known as Val’s Territory. Valerie Spencer runs that one, with a gang known as the Vals. Mostly made up of women who fled East Spencer. Last we heard, Val and West have a tenuous alliance, and she helps protect them from East. It’s notoriously difficult to cross through Val’s Territory, but Queso says we can try here.” She put her finger on the spot.

“He makes no promises,” Hadley added.

Maisie pointed to the top of the map. “Northgate is the smallest territory, but arguably the most powerful. Ruled by Jonathan Spencer, who used to rule the whole north. The gate is at the northwest corner of the territory, so he controls everything that comes in and out. They’ve built the Spencer compound directly in front of the gate, which is really bad, but there are options for getting around it on foot.”

Lennon had seen the Spencer compound on the aerial map—it was a large, walled compound that was most likely heavily patrolled and impossible to avoid if you wanted to get to the gate.

“Queso thinks he can help you get into Northgate,” Hadley said. “But not to the gate. He is checking on the shipment location, though.”

“And for the record, I’m still deeply suspicious of this cheese man,” Maisie said.

Lennon studied her for a moment. “Are you sure we shouldn’t bring a third person with us? Once we get the shipment, you have to be able to get it back. You’ll be alone.”