—I’m done. Is he lying?

—Already?

—I’m a fast reader. Is that sack of shit lying?

—He is not. Mr. Mitchell does not possess all the facts; he is being irresponsible, shows a complete disregard for the consequences of his actions, and appears to be on the verge of a complete breakdown, but he is being truthful.

—So it’s true? I have a child?

—That, I honestly do not know. It is true that Ms. Papantoniou removed biological samples from both of you while you were being held, and that evidence left at the laboratory suggests that she intended to attempt in-vitro fertilization. What Mr. Mitchell failed to mention in his missive—which would have been very helpful for Ms. Resnik to know—is that all of the information he is so eager to divulge, from the existence of a child to her parentage, not to mention the threat of a Russian kidnapping, also comes directly from the mouth of Ms. Papantoniou. I need not explain why I do not take everything she says as gospel.

—You found Alyssa?

—I did not personally locate her, but she is indeed in custody.

—Do you think she’s lying?

—She faces charges that could normally carry a death sentence or several lifetimes of imprisonment. The circumstances under which she committed her crimes make a public trial unlikely, but she is well aware that the United States Government would like nothing better than to see her…retired. She knows that without a bargaining chip of some sort, she will in all likelihood disappear without explanation, or fall victim to something more mundane, get lost at sea, or succumb to a mysterious disease. She therefore has ample reason to lie. That said, I am tempted to believe her. She could only buy a few days by sending us on a wild-goose chase.

—Where is she now?

—In a safe house under twenty-four-hour surveillance.

—…

—What are you thinking?

—A child?

—A daughter, yes.

—Now?

—She would have been born a decade ago. We are only finding out about her now.

—…

—Mr. Couture?

—…What?

—You do not appear angry?

—You mean at you?

—Yes. I did hide what I knew about what Ms. Papantoniou intended to do a decade ago. If I had to do it again, I would still conceal that information, but that makes you no less entitled to some form of anger.

—Oh, I’m angry all right. I’m just…I can’t imagine what Kara’s going through.

—I am fairly certain Ms. Resnik did not react so calmly to the revelations contained in the letter you are holding.

—I’m sure she didn’t. She must have gone mad when she read this. But that’s not what I’m thinking about. She didn’t want…I tried real hard to make her change her mind, but she didn’t want children. But I did, and I pushed, and I pushed.

—And now?

—Now? Now the world is ending. Would you bring a child into this world? Today?

—As I previously stated, she would have been born several years ago.

—How do we find Kara?

—You stated that she was against becoming a mother. Do you believe she will attempt to contact the child?

—She’ll go. She won’t come back until she finds her. She won’t stop looking. There’s a reason she didn’t want a child. I think she was afraid it would consume her. Now that she has one, it—

—She very well may not—

—Doesn’t matter. Now that she thinks she does, there’ll be no stopping her.

—Are you worried?

—Yeah, I am. I’m afraid she’ll do something stupid.

—I am truly sorry if I—

—I really don’t care. I’ll deal with you when this is over. What did you plan to do with the information Alyssa gave you. Oh, and how the fuck does Ryan know?

—I did not want to share the information with anyone at the EDC until I could at least confirm that some of it was accurate. I requested help from the United States Government.

—What did you promise them? A pilot?

—Not in so many words, but I did leave open the possibility. They agreed to send a Delta Force unit to retrieve the child. In the event that a child did reside at the address Ms. Papantoniou provided, I asked Mr. Mitchell to accompany the Delta team and to make the experience less traumatic. There was also a strong possibility that there would indeed be a child living there, but that she would later prove not to be the offspring of Ms. Resnik and yourself. My request was later denied when the robot appeared in England.

—Let’s say they had gone and found a little girl. Say it was our daughter like Alyssa said. Would you have told us?

—Of course I would have.

—How do I know that?

—I understand that your trust in me may have been irreparably damaged. Trust, however, is not a prerequisite in this case. Simple logic will suffice. The sole reason I would have—that anyone would have—to hide your daughter from you is to use her as a pilot in the future. I, or anyone else, would first need to determine if she can activate one or both helmets inside Themis. This could perhaps be accomplished without your knowing. That said, she would eventually need to be trained. Themis requires not one but two pilots, hence the child’s training would demand that you or Ms. Resnik be present. It would most likely have to be you, since you are the only one whose anatomy is compatible with the lower body controls. I would surmise that her ability to activate the controls, coupled with a likely physical resemblance to one or both of her parents, would make it near impossible for me or anyone else to hide her lineage from someone of your intelligence.

—Really? Flattery? And what do you suggest we do now?

—We wait. Now that the information I was trying to conceal is out in the open, I will renew my request for a Delta Force extraction, this time through the EDC, and sans Mr. Mitchell.

FILE NO. 1556

NEWS REPORT—JACOB LAWSON, BBC LONDON

Location: London, England

[Thirty seconds, Jacob.]

—No! No! Don’t put me on the air. We’re walking away.

[What do you mean, away?]

I mean that my cameraman and I are leaving. We’re five minutes away from the van.

[Why? They’re ready for you in…twenty seconds. What’s going on Jacob?]

Stall them. The bloody thing moved. I’m getting the hell away from it.