The flight to Moldavia lasted seven hours. Julia and Marshall went over and over the security program. Sydney and Weiss looked over blueprints and drew maps. Dixon and Nadia prepared for their aliases, Pierre and Anastasia Volkryod, wealthy business owners from southern Spain. They would be attending Nathalia Ovganova's "Roller-Skating to the Oldies" party that evening.
At last Sydney looked up from the blueprints and saw how pale her daughter was. "Marshall, that's enough. Julia needs to rest up for tonight."
Julia closed her eyes gratefully, and Sydney shifted in her seat until she could gently smooth her daughter's hair. "You're going to do just fine," she murmured, although Julia was fast asleep.
They landed at five-thirty in the province of Allerbie. Dixon and Nadia left to attend the party. The rest of the team parked outside the warehouse and waited.
"All right, we're got a visual on Ovganova," Dixon murmured as he approached the man, who was tall and balding in a polyester leisure suit.
"Ouch," Weiss murmured. "What color is that?"
"I believe it's called puce," Marshall said helpfully, his eyes locked on the video screen.
As they watched, Dixon slipped a drug into Ovganova's Triple Alligator while Nadia distracted him, skating with the man to "Pinball Wizard." They finished skating, Ovganova took a sip, and immediately fell to the floor, clutching his heart.
Sydney glanced at Julia. The teenager sat against the farthest wall of the van, looking fairly calm. She did not appear to be worried about the events occurring on the video monitor. Her fingers were moving, and Sydney surmised she was practicing the key sequence.
"Got the key card," Nadia said. "Heading your way."
A few breathless minutes later, Nadia and Dixon came running around the corner and ducked into the van. Nadia reached into her gold evening bag and pulled out the key card, which she handed to Sydney. Dixon swung into the van beside Marshall, who was busily hacking into the warehouse security camera feed. "You're clear for four minutes, starting…" He hit a key. "Now."
The spies leapt from the van and darted for the warehouse's steel doors. The key card in Sydney's hand opened the doors smoothly, and they were inside.
"Keep Julia between us," Sydney ordered Weiss. "Julia, be prepared to run."
The teenager nodded nervously. "Okay."
Weiss led the way down a long corridor to a small, starkly white room at the far end. It took a harried moment of lock-picking, but the door swung inward and Julia came face-to-face with the largest computer system she'd ever seen.
"Okay, honey," Sydney said tersely, her eyes alert for enemies. "You get four minutes, no more."
Julia sat down at the computer, flexed her fingers, and closed her eyes. Unbidden, an image of her father floated into her mind.
"Julia? Now, honey."
Julia started at the sound of her mother's voice, her fingers leaping instinctively to the key. She took a deep breath and began to type.
Sydney looked at Weiss, who was glancing around nervously. He checked his watch.
Julia's fingers flew over the keys. The computer beeped and whirred, responding to her commands. She took a deep breath and tapped the keys furiously. Then the computer beeped three times in rapid succession, and Julia's eyes grew wide. "How long?" she asked.
Weiss checked his watch again. "Three-seventeen."
Julia smiled and scooted back from the computer.
Sydney and Weiss leaned over, breathless. On the screen was the map to the Kaplon Archives. Sydney memorized it instantly, but just to be safe, she hit "print" and a copy of the map scrolled out of the oversized printer. "Here," she said to Julia. "Put this in the lining of your coat."
Julia looked confused. Sydney reached for the dark blue jacket her daughter wore and fumbled with the lining. In a few seconds, she had unzipped a pocket in the inside of her coat and stuffed the map into it. "Let's go."
They exited the stark white computer lab and headed for the stairwell at the far end of the west corridor. Gunshots rang out as they rounded the corner and voices yelled in Moldavian, which to Julia's ears sounded like German. "Mom?" she asked worriedly.
"Come on, Julia," Weiss said from behind her, drawing his gun.
Sydney's eyes darted around wildly. "Julia, I want you to run down the hallway to your left. Get outside and find the others."
A man appeared at the end of the hallway. He shouted something in Moldavian and two more appeared.
"Julia. Now." Sydney's voice was firm.
"Go on," Weiss murmured.
Julia ducked into the hallway and ran, her feet pounding the ground. She could see a door at the end of the hall, and, hands outstretched, she moved towards it. Before she could get there, the door was yanked open from the outside. Julia gasped and half-turned, prepared to run in the opposite direction.
"Nightingale!" a voice said.
Julia looked back at the doorway. It was Dixon. Of course it was Dixon, she thought. Who else would know her code name? "Come on," Dixon said, and grabbed her, propelling her towards the door.
"But… Mom," she managed to say.
"They'll be fine," Dixon assured her.
Once out in the night air, Julia's eyes adjusted to the darkness. Dixon threw open the van's door and she blinked at the bright light.
"Hey, kiddo," Nadia said. "How'd you do?"
Julia smiled, a little dazed. "Good, I think."
Dixon slammed the door. "Phoenix, what is your position?"
"Heading for the south exit. Rendezvous in three minutes."
Dixon started the van. "Hang on, guys."
"Hey, hey, hey, Julia," Marshall said. "Did it… did it go okay?"
Julia closed her eyes and saw her father again. "Yeah," she said, but her voice sounded very far away.
"Hey, kiddo," Nadia said, but her voice sounded like it was coming form the end of a train tunnel.
Julia hazily tried to open her eyes, but a tidal wave of crushing darkness overcame her.