Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of a mass shooting event, abduction and attempted murder, and suicidal ideation.

As the tobacco spokesperson for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, Nick attends the Clean Lungs 2000 conference in Washington, DC, addressing 2,500 anti-smoking activists. He says he is much more interested in consultation than confrontation. A participant asks him how he can sleep at night. He tells her that smoking has to do with individual rights under the Constitution and describes an Ottoman ruler who killed anyone who smoked. He concludes, “I’d like to think that we as a nation have progressed beyond the days of summary execution for the crime of pursuing our own definition of happiness” (6).

When Nick returns to his office, he finds that Jeannette, who technically works for Nick but has a long relationship with his boss, BR, has left a pile of studies on his desk. Gazelle, Nick’s assistant, says that BR wants to see him immediately. First, Nick calls a reporter who wants Nick’s response to a new scientific report that blames smoking for Buerger’s Disease, a circulatory condition. When he finishes the call, Gazelle reminds Nick he must see BR immediately.

BR, a former cigarette vending machine executive, replaced JJ Hollister, Nick’s previous and more serene boss.