Lily Romanov unlocked her desk drawer. The lock was looser than it had been last time. She pulled the drawer open and stared down at the pencil tray. It was empty again. She swore softly and stood up. The favorite pastime, here in the Company's basement maze of cubicles, was breaking into each other's desks. She wondered why they bothered putting locks on them at all.

She scanned the warren and picked a likely target. Before she could take a step away from her desk, the phone buzzed. She snagged it, reaching for her pocket knife with her free hand. "Romanov."

"My office," Control said, very softly and very firmly. "Right now."

"Okay. What's …" He was already gone.

Lily didn't bother locking her desk; there was nothing left in it to steal. She sprinted out of her cubicle and down to the elevators. Her mind spun swiftly, efficiently. She knew that tone in Control's voice. Someone was in big trouble, and it was probably her. She couldn't remember anything she'd screwed up lately.

She stabbed the elevator call button once, waited five seconds, stabbed it repeatedly. "C'mon, c'mon," she muttered. She noticed that she still had her knife in her hand and put it away.

If it wasn't something she'd done, then something had happened to him. Or someone had found out about their extracurricular relationship. Or else … or else what?

The elevator finally arrived. She pressed the button for the seventh floor and held it down. By design, it bypassed all other stops and floors – a little feature she'd learned from Control.

She trotted down the hall to his office. The inner door was shut, but his secretary, Sue, waved her past frantically. "Go on, go on," she said quietly. "They need you."

"They?" Lily asked. She didn't wait for the answer, just opened the door and moved silently into the office.

They – Control and Simms – were at Control's desk, hunched anxiously over the speaker phone. "Nancy?" Simms said tightly. "Nancy, you still with me?"

There was a long, static-filled pause, and then a very small voice said, "Y-y-yes."

"All right, you hang in there, we're going to help you." Control nodded his head, and Simms followed his gaze, held one arm out to bring Lily closer to the desk. "Nancy, you remember Lily Romanov? You met her at the Wall party. She's here now, she's going to talk to you, okay?"

Another pause. "O-o-okay."

Lily frowned at the two men, looking for explanation. Control began scribbling on a pad. His silence confirmed what she'd suspected: Nancy had no idea the big boss was listening to the conversation. Probably just as well. "Hey, Nancy," she said to the speaker phone. "You sound scared, sweetie."

"S-s-so scared, I'm so scared."

Control slid the pad across the desk. Lily scanned it quickly, sank into the chair. Prague. She'd always hated Prague. She took a deep breath. "So Vince is dead, huh?"

There was a sob. "It's my fault, it's my fault …"

"Stop that," Lily said firmly. "Are you sure he's dead? Did you get a chance to check?"

"I didn't check, I didn't check, I just ran … I just ran away. But I know he's dead, I know he is."

The three in the office shared a look. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. All they had was the word of a panicked trainee in the field that her training officer had been shot. Lily looked to Simms. "Where's the packet?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "Don't know," he whispered back.

"Nancy," Lily said firmly, "where's the packet?"

"The … what?"

"The packet, where's the packet? Did you meet your contact yet?"

"Contact … yes. We met him."

"And he has the packet?"

"Y-y-yes."

"Did you see who shot Vince?"

There was more silence, and then more sobbing. "I didn't see, I didn't see. I just … he fell, I heard the shots, I just ran."

Control tapped the desk for their attention. "Fell first?" he mouthed. "Fell before she heard them?"

Romanov and Simms both nodded. "Nancy, go back," Lily said. "Vince fell before you heard the shots?"

"Y-y-yes."

"You're sure?"

The trainee paused. "He fell, there was … I turned and he … and then I heard them." Her voice took a hysterical edge. "It's a sniper, isn't it?"

"How far did you run, Nancy?" Simms asked quickly.

"I ran … I ran … I don't know. A couple blocks."

Control shook his head. A sniper that good, firing from that far – even if she'd run the right direction, she might not be out of range. "She needs to move," he whispered.

"I'm not sure she can," Simms whispered back.

"Nancy, where are you now?" Lily asked.

"In a phone booth."

"Yes, but where?"

"I don't know. I don't know. It's a sniper, isn't it? I didn't run far enough, I didn't … how did they find us? It's my fault, it's my fault …"

"Look out of the booth," Lily said firmly. "Are you on a corner?"

"Y-y-yes."

"What does the street sign say?"

"There's no … there's no sign."

Lily squeezed her eyes shut. "Okay," she said patiently. "Where were you when Vince got shot?"

The woman told them. A main street, a busy street, in the middle of the oldest part of the city. Lily knew exactly where she'd been. "What direction did you run?" she asked.

"North," Nancy answered with certainty.

"Two blocks?"

"Yes."

Lily sat back, frowning. "What?" Control asked quietly.

"There's no phone booth there," Lily answered.

"Maybe they added it," Simms offered.

Lily shook her head. "Are you sure you went north?" she asked out loud.

"I'm sure," Nancy insisted. Her voice was becoming hysterical again. "You've got to help me, you've got to help me!"

"We'll help you," Lily soothed. "Just give us a minute to find a safe place for you. Breathe. You're all right. We're not going to leave you. We're right here with you."

"We don't have a damn thing in that part of town," Simms murmured.

"The Germans do," Lily answered. "They've got a safe house four blocks from there."

Control raised one eyebrow. She knew that exactly how? But he didn't ask. The Germans were technically allies. The rookie wasn't carrying anything that would be compromised. "You have the number?"

She reached for his pen and scrawled a telephone number on his paper. "But we have to find out where she really is." She leaned forward again. "Nancy, I want you to look around. Tell me what buildings are around you."

"I … I … there's a church across the street."

"What kind of church?"

"It has a dome. A gold dome."

"Orthodox," Control muttered. "One or two?"

"Is there more than one dome?" Lily asked.

"There's … there's two. Two domes. One big and shiny and one smaller, older."

Lily and Control nodded in unison. They both knew where she was. The rookie hadn't run north; she'd gone east. She was closer to the safe house than Lily had hoped. "Okay," she said, "okay. Give us just a couple minutes, we're setting something up, just hang in there with us, we're right here, we're not going anywhere …"

She was very good at the chant. Control nodded his approval, took the number and stepped out to Sue's desk. He was back in ninety seconds, nodding.

"Okay," Lily said again. "Nancy, I want you to listen to me. We're going to send you to a safe house. It's German, but they're expecting you, okay? They'll take care of you until our own people can come get you. You understand?"

"German … okay."

"All right. I need you to listen to these instructions, and then I need you to go. You're going to leave the phone booth, you're going to cross the street and walk north past the church two blocks. There's a gray stone house on the right side of the street. Go to the side door and knock, they'll be waiting for you. All right?"

"I can't."

"Nancy, you have got to move. You're not safe there. Just cross the street and …"

"I can't."

"Nancy," Simms attempted, "you have to move. They can't come and get you. You have to make your own way to the safe house."

"I can't," Nancy wailed. She began to cry again.

"Why not?" Lily asked calmly, though her hands were balled in white-knuckled fists.

"Vince's … he's … his head, his brains … I was talking to him and he … and he … on my shirt, on my … his brains …" Her voice spiraled into a high-pitched wail. "It's all my fault! It's all my fault!"

Lily took a long, slow breath. Her head felt suddenly light. The rookie couldn't leave the phone booth because her training officer's brains were splattered all over her shirt. Any lingering hope that Vince Norris wasn't really dead was gone. There was a hand on her shoulder, firm and supporting. She glanced up, surprised. Control was still in his seat; it was Simms, standing behind her, who tried to comfort her.

She met her lover's eyes for an instant. Then she looked away. There was too much that he couldn't say, or even show, right now. The distance between them hurt too much.

Besides, if he was kind to her, she was going to cry.

Nancy's hysterics began to wind down. Lily took a deep breath. "All right, Nancy, do you still have your backpack with you?"

"My … what?"

"Your backpack. Do you still have it with you?"

"Y-y-yes."

"Turn it over. See the zipper compartment on the bottom?"

Assured that she was together, Simms released Lily's shoulder and sat back down.

"Yes," Nancy sniffed.

"Open it. There's a flat nylon packet, square, blue or red."

"Uh-huh."

"It's a windbreaker. Unzip it, unfold it, put it on."

"I … I …"

"Just do it."

There was a long pause, with a lot of shuffling and movement. Finally, Nancy came back to the phone. "Okay," she sniffed.

"Okay," Lily breathed. "Cross the street, go north of the church. Two blocks, gray house on the right. Got it?"

"I got it." There was another pause. "I'm so scared."

"I know you are, sweetie. Two blocks, and then you're safe. Okay? Just go. Don't think, don't look around, just let the phone hang and go."

"'kay."

The phone fell silent.

The three in the office slumped back in their chairs in unison.

"Well done," Control said quietly, to both his subordinates.

"The Germans will call us when they have her?" Simms asked.

Control nodded. "And our own team is out to retrieve Norris, if they can." He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Lily. I know you were close."

She shrugged, her eyes carefully blank. "What happened?"

Control looked to Simms, who shook his head. "I don't know. There was no warning, no sign of trouble. Whether they made Norris as a courier … I don't know."

"Talk to his contact," Control said. "And the station chief."

Simms nodded.

They fell silent, waiting for the phone to ring.

"This sucks," Lily pronounced.

"Welcome to my world," Control murmured.

They waited, in silence.

Finally, the phone rang. Control snatched it, listened, hung up. "They have her. She's a mess."

Lily sank back even further, dropped her chin to her chest and closed her eyes. "And Vince?"

"Still waiting."

"What are we going to do with her?" Simms asked. "Nancy?"

Control sighed. "Review her file. See if she can be salvaged."

"She went to pieces in the field," Lily said grimly, her eyes still closed. "There's no getting past that."

"She was wearing her training agent at the time," Simms pointed out.

"No chance."

"Spend some time with her," Control said. "Let us know."

Lily opened her eyes narrowly and regarded him darkly. "Pardon?"

"You're her new training agent."

"I am not."

"You are," Control pronounced, leaving no room for argument.

"I'm not trained to be a training agent."

"She's only got three weeks left," Simms countered. "A little paperwork. Nothing to it."

Lily glared at him. "Whose side are you on?"

"If she can be salvaged," Control said, "we need her."

"If she can't?"

"Then we'll put her on a desk somewhere. But she had potential. Spend some time with her. See."

Lily sat up straighter. "You want me to decide if she can go back to the field?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Romanov," Control said precisely, "I'm not asking you."

Lily glared at him, too, but she sank back in her chair. "I'm not trained for this," she muttered.

The phone rang again. Control answered, listened, hung up. "Norris is confirmed," he said grimly.

Simms stood up and straightened his jacket. "I'll get the requests for info in before I go tell the family. The usual story?"

"I'll go," Control answered quietly, firmly.

The lieutenant opened his mouth, then closed it and merely nodded his gratitude.

"I'm going with you," Lily announced, with equal firmness.

The men looked at her, surprised. "His kids know me," she explained. "His wife knows me." She hesitated. "I owe him this much."

"I don't think …" Control began.

"And if you're sticking me with his trainee, you owe me this one," Lily answered.

He considered. "Get your car. I'll meet you out back. Twenty minutes."

She nodded and left.

Simms waited. "There's no chance, you know."

Control nodded. "There's one chance, and she just left this office."