Agent Hemingway was at the office when Julia and Jack arrived. With her was a squat, balding man in suspenders and an incredibly tall, slim teenage girl with chin-length light brown hair and a disdainful expression. "Good, you're safe," Agent Hemingway said briskly.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Julia asked in a tone that bordered on snide.

Agent Hemingway started, "Well, first things first, you ungrateful…"

"Mariel!" Jack snapped. "Now is not the time. Agent Freeman, please take Julia to where Agent Finch is."

The squat man moved to comply with Jack's request. Julia followed him down the hallway to the conference room she had worked in previously. Finch still sat before the monitor, fingers flying. "We intercepted a phone call from Anton Dovbroyek to Bolivar Lanu," Finch said, her fingers not pausing. "They've met to agree to ambush the French Collective to retrieve the Paschal Reader. We have to stop them. Unfortunately, the French Collective's closed for renovations and we can't get an answer there. And trying to set up remote surveillance is a bear."

"Nadia, Dixon, and Weiss are on their way to Rue Voignine as we speak," Jack continued. "If the Society of the Closed Fist gets their hands on the Paschal Reader, they'll be able to find the second set of Scrolls."

The teenage girl Julia had seen in the hallway poked her head into the conference room. "Mr. Sloane wants to know if the R-VAC is up yet," she said.

"No," Finch said. "It won't be up til maybe five-thirty."

"Okay." With that, she disappeared.

"Who's that?" Julia asked.

"Lena Hemingway. Did you think you were the only genius daughter of a CIA agent?" Finch grinned.

"She's Agent Hemingway's daughter? She seems way too nice. No, forget that. They seem exactly alike."

Finch rolled back from the computer. "Anyway, since I just hacked the French Collective's system – in French – you can set up the R-VAC. I'm going to get some coffee. Don't turn on the R-VAC until you get the signal from Nadia."

"Ay, ay," Julia agreed. She slid into a seat at the computer and turned her attention to the screen. Finch rolled out of the room.

Only a short amount of time had passed before Julia heard someone else in the room. She turned around and faced Agent Hemingway's daughter. "What?"

"What are you doing?" the girl demanded.

"I'm hooking up the R-VAC," Julia replied.

Lena came into the room and took a seat at the table. "So you're Agent Bristow's daughter. I've heard stories about you, Julia Irina."

"Like what?" Julia asked disinterestedly.

"Like you're the youngest hacker ever to work at NOCRS. And you were born in a Peruvian jungle while your mom was on a spy mission. And your dad's involved with the Society of the Closed Fist." Lena sat back in her chair, twirling a strand of hair around her finger.

Julia was about to ask Lena Hemingway exactly where she'd heard such scandalous stories, but Nadia's voice crackled over the com link. Julia checked her Piglet watch. It was exactly 5:30. "What is your position, Night Rider?"

"We are in position at the French Collective, Nightingale. R-VAC is in place. Awaiting your signal."

Julia typed busily, checking the camera's angle and focus. "R-VAC is a go," she said.

Nadia spoke a few words to someone else, then said, "Nightingale, the voice activation has been shut down from a remote location. We will need a switchover to manual run."

Julia groaned. The VA in R-VAC stood for "voice activated." The camera wasn't supposed to be controlled any other way. She hit a few keys and looked up at the two video monitors. "All right, Night Rider. You'll be clear for manual in twenty seconds."

As Nadia, Dixon, and Weiss waited, thousands of miles away, Julia leaned forward and switched on the joystick. She watched as the R-VAC's video monitor came to life.

"Night Rider, you are go for manual run."

"Releasing the R-VAC," Nadia said.

Julia sat up straight in her chair, forgetting Lena. She worked the joystick experimentally and found that it was operating. "Down the hall 400 yards," Nadia said.

Julia turned on the measuring parameters and drove the camera down the hall according to Nadia's specifications. When she reached the 400-yard mark, the computer beeped.

"Now turn at a 45-degree angle and proceed 20 yards." It was Dixon's voice coming over the com link, and Julia smiled. She did as he directed. "Good. Thank you."

"What now?" Julia asked.

"Now use the retrieving arm and raise it four meters. Direct it forward one meter. Close around the Paschal Reader."

Julia took a deep breath and raised the arm.

"Gentle, gentle," someone murmured. She thought it was Weiss.

She took a deep breath and pushed the joystick forward. The arm accelerated forward. She clamped it around something. There was an audible sigh of relief, and she realized Finch had come back into the room.

"Come back six meters," Dixon continued. "Sidewinder is standing by to retrieve the Reader."

Julia did as directed, and Weiss's feet appeared on the video screen. He leaned down and picked up the Reader, which was resting on the R-VAC. "Reader recovered," Weiss's muffled voice said.

"Good work. Head on back," Dixon said.

Julia shut down the R-VAC and turned to face Finch, who was smiling broadly. "I knew you could do it!" Finch exclaimed.

Jack and Sydney appeared in the doorway of the conference room, Marshall on their heels. Sydney smiled at Julia, who smiled back. Marshall rushed over to the computer system and began speaking in rapid techno-babble. "Did the R-VAC's primary algorithmic descending arm retract the -…"

"They have the Reader," Finch said, laughing.

"They're on their way home," Sydney added. "We just received confirmation of their takeoff. Good work, Julia."

Julia pushed back from the computer. "Can I have some coffee?" she asked shakily.

Finch laughed. "Yes, you can!"

Julia left the conference room and went into the break room. A plastic coffee butler sat on the counter, and she unscrewed the top and poured a bit of the brew into a coffee mug.

Without warning, Lena appeared. "Think you're pretty smart, huh?"

Sipping the coffee, Julia couldn't think of anything to say.

"Think you're something special?" Lena tried again.

Julia swallowed. "What do you want from me?"

Startled, Lena was silent.

"I'm not anything special or great or amazing. I'm just trying to help the people I love. And this is the best way I know how." Julia caught Lena staring at the scars on her arms and deftly pulled down her sleeves. "Is that it?"

Without waiting for an answer, she stormed out of the break room and back down to the conference room.