She could hear the old excitement in his voice. His remaining eye sparkled with intensity, and she could nearly feel the energy pulsing from him. Yes, this is the way it should be with him …

“Barbara can’t go with you.” That was Jayewardene. His bald statement punctured the energy in the room.

“I need her,” Klaus said, glaring at the Secretary-General with an ice-blue eye as cold as ghost steel. Jayewardene sat placidly at the table, with what was almost a smile on his face. Barbara had also turned to look at him quizzically. “You can’t be serious,” Klaus railed. “What about the language problem? I need Babel there to make sure everyone understands each other, or to make sure that they don’t, if it comes to that. I—we—need her: to coordinate negotiations or just to talk to people on the ground there. She’s essential.”

Jayewardene shook his bald head. “Where she is needed more is here—to coordinate everything with the UN. I need someone who knows the Committee and its strengths, someone who will be in charge, who will be the general coordinating everything. Here. That’s where a general should be, not on the front lines. I need Barbara here … and so do you, Klaus. I know this.” He put quiet emphasis on the word.

“But Klaus is right,” Barbara said. “The language issue…”

“There are translators who can do that for the team,” Jayewardene said. “But there is no one else here who can do the rest of what is needed—here in New York. We have strategies to talk about and new reports to examine. Klaus, I agree with you. We can no longer wait. You have the decision you wanted, but we have much planning to do before we get there. Right now, Barbara, you’re more valuable in New York, where you can interface with me and the authorities we’re still in touch with in Kazakhstan, where you can make certain that everyone stays informed and in the loop, and where you can send Klaus whatever additional help he might need.”

“Ink can do all that for you, Secretary-General,” Barbara insisted. She wanted to scream, wanted to yell, wanted to shatter the placid calm on Jayewardene’s face even as she knew he was right. It was nothing she would admit, not to either of them, but the decision felt right, even though the thought of Klaus going into this uncertain hell without her threatened to tear her apart. She forced herself to keep her face calm, all the emotion dampened and held down.

She noticed that Klaus had stopped arguing, silently watching the two of them.