Julia slept through the night and on into the next morning. When she awoke, she stiffly pulled herself out of Nadia's guest bed and hobbled towards the kitchen. Nadia and Weiss were seated at the ceramic-topped table, eating eggs and toast.

"Hey," Weiss greeted her.

"Good to see you," Nadia said, smiling affectionately at her niece. "I'll get you some breakfast."

Julia slid into a chair next to Weiss.

"Your mom's being released from the hospital today," Nadia said. "And someone named Finch called here for you?"

"Finch called here?" Julia asked, surprised.

Nadia put a plate of eggs in front of her. "Yes, last night before we got home."

"Who's Finch?" Weiss asked. "A boyfriend?"

Julia grinned through her eggs. "No. Aimee Finch is a fellow hacking buddy from the NOCRS."

"You've got friends at the National Office of Computer Research and Studies?" Weiss asked in surprise.

Julia nodded. "They tried to recruit me last year. They would have paid my college tuition. Mom said no, but Finch still calls me when she's got a big job."

"They pay good?"

"I wouldn't know. I do it cause I like the work."

Weiss ate his final bite of toast. "Well, I'm going to go get Syd. We'll meet you at the office for the briefing."

"Aunt Nadia," Julia said as he closed the back door behind him, "what was my dad doing in Poland?"

Nadia put a plate in the dishwasher. "Well… I don't know if your mother would like me telling you. It's really not my business."

"Come on, Aunt Nadia. Last night the man saved my life but tried to kill my mother. I think I deserve to know." Julia spread jam on a piece of toast and looked up at her aunt.

Nadia sighed, wiped her hands on a dish towel, and sat down at the table. "Right after the fire, your father came to see you."

"He did?"

Nadia nodded. "He got a call from your mother and he came to see you. This was right after the fire, maybe an hour. They got to talking and he let it slip that he was involved with a secret branch of the AOCJ."

"Dad works for the American Office of Civil Justice?"

"He did. But he went renegade about two months later and joined the Society of the Closed Fist, which is based out of…"

"Peru," Julia breathed in awe.

"And they wanted the Scharpinsky Scrolls," Nadia said. "So they sent your father to find you, because the leader of the Society of the Closed Fist, this ex-military guy from Russia called Anton Dovbroyek, discovered Ovganova's security system and knew we'd be forced to bring you into this. Dovbroyek was responsible for the death of Greg Waters, who was…"

"The only other person who could hack the system."

"Exactly." Nadia took a long drink of coffee.

"Why do they want the Scrolls? I mean, why does anyone want them? What's so fantastic about them?"

"I don't know. Rumor has it they're the last great writing about the Chancellov Treasure," Nadia replied. "Besides Mr. Rambaldi, my father has been studying Chancellov more than anything else. He was actually ten days away from recovering the Scrolls when the Office of National Fortitude and Civil Responsibility in Krakow took them from London and removed them to the Kaplon Archives. He didn't want to miss this chance. So we took off."

She stood and put the coffee mug in the dishwasher. "We've got a briefing. Let's go."