"DNI Ware is here to speak with you, sir," said Nina.

"Send him in," said Russell.

"Good evening, Russell."

"Evening Ephraim," said Russell. He looked up from the report he had been reading, "you're about to ruin it for me, aren't you."

"Well," Ephraim took a seat, "It's hard to see this as bad news, but it's… jarring."

"Ok…"

"As you know, Russia recently returned several US spies they had in long-term holding as part of the new amnesty deal."

"Right…"

"Most of them had long been presumed dead, including a woman by the name of Suzanne Adams."

"Should that name be familiar to me?"

"Suzanne and her husband Benjamin Adams were presumed dead after going missing on a short-term op in Hungry 40 years ago. At the time the CIA told their two children, William and Elizabeth, that they had died in a car crash."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"No. Suzanne Adams is President McCord's mother."

"And she's alive?"

"Yes, and in remarkably good health for a 75-year-old woman who spent the last 40 years in a Russian prison for espionage."

"Where is she right now?"

"Langly. I have an agent walking her through all the developments of the twentieth century, though I told them to avoid any mention of Elizabeth."

"Great," Russell massaged his forehead, "I don't suppose Elizabeth at least knew her parents were in the CIA?"

"I don't know, but I think Conrad would. He had been at the CIA for almost six months when they went missing and was working as a junior analyst on their team."

"Then I guess I'll just have to call our former boss," he frowned, "Do you have a copy of the Adams' files?"

"I do," he pulled two old files out of his briefcase, "This is everything there was under their names at the CIA."

"Thanks," he takes them and stands, "I want you to handle Suzanne Adams yourself, and keep as tight a circle as you can on this until the President has a chance to weigh in. I'll talk to her soon. Then you'll bring her to the White House."

"Yes sir," Ephriam stood and walked with Russell to the door.

"Nina, have the residential staff prepare a guest room for tonight. Discreetly. Then you can go home."

"Ok," she said as she looked down at her watch.

Russell closed the door, sat down on a cushioned chair, and opened the files. He figured he had an hour tops before he absolutely had to talk to Bess, so he only skimmed. They both seemed to be reasonably impressive spies, with a couple dozen successful ops each. It was more or less what Russell would have expected from the parents of Elizabeth McCord. He picked up his phone.

"Hey Russell."

"Conrad," said Russell, "There's something that I need to ask you about."

"Ok."

"It's about Suzanne and Benjamin Adams."

"… Oh…"

"Just… I need to know if Elizabeth knows her parents were in the CIA."

"I… we never talked about it, but I know she suspected. It's possible that she pulled their filles at some point without me knowing."

"Does she know that you personally knew them?"

"I don't think so."

Russell rubbed his forehead, "Conrad… you two have been friends for over thirty years. How could you have never mentioned that?"

"I didn't want to open up old wounds."

"Well, it's going to be a lot worse now than it would have been thirty years ago. Or even two years ago."

Conrad didn't respond right away, "Why do you need to tell her at all?"

"Besides the fact that this isn't the sort of thing that you keep from the President?" Russell sighed, "It's about the most recent Russia deal."

"The amnesty deal?"

"Yes, except it also included a provision that both countries return all the spies that they currently have in their custody. As it turns out, Russia's habit of faking a spy's death extends way beyond Dmitry Petrov."

"Are you saying the Adams are alive?"

"Just Suzzanne."

"My God."

"Yep."

"Is she… is she alright?"

"Ephraim said she is. I haven't seen her myself yet."

There were several beats of silence, "That's a lot to process."

"Just imagine how Bess is going to take it."

"If anyone can handle it, it's Bess," said Conrad, "Do you think I could talk to Suzanne?"

"Not before Bess," said Russell, "but I'll make sure she gets your number."

"Thank you."

"Of course," said Russell. He looked down at his watch, "look, Conrad, I need to go."

"Right. Take care."

"You too," he hung up and started drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair.

There was a knock on his door. Henry McCord stuck his head in, "do you have a minute?"

Russell sighed and gestured for Henry to come in and have a seat, "not exactly, but I needed to talk to you, anyway."

"I just wanted to apologize."

"What?"

"Today at the Mets game, I could have been more civil about what I said-"

"Oh," Russell cut him off, "I can take it. There's something else that I want to read you in on before I bring it to Elizabeth."