Michelle looked at her phone. There were eleven messages—from Klaus, from Barbara, and even one from Juliet. She went into Adesina’s room. There was something obscene about that cocoon sitting on the bed, surrounded by the normal things found in a child’s bedroom. The bed adorned with pink floral sheets and stuffed animals. Posters of ocelots on the wall and even one of Joker Plague. Michelle had introduced Adesina to Drummer Boy once, and Adesina had liked him, but he was too old for her to have a crush on. Michelle couldn’t figure out why the poster was there, but sometimes she just didn’t understand her daughter.

There was a knock at the front door, and Michelle went to answer it.

Jayewardene stood in the hallway, the hall light shining on his bald head.

She stared down at him, bewildered that the UN Secretary-General was standing on her doorstep.

“Are you going to invite me in?” he asked. He said it lightly, but Michelle could tell he was vexed. Manners were important to him. Right now, she really didn’t care about his desire for protocol.

“I don’t know,” she replied tersely. “Depends on why you’re here. Actually, you know, I don’t care why you’re here.” She started to close the door.

He stepped into the doorway. “I am here about the Talas mission.”

Michelle shook her head. “This is insane,” she said. “I told Barbara and Klaus—I don’t know how many times—I can’t go.”

“Michelle, I understand, you’re worried about your daughter, but sometimes there are things that are bigger than the small realm of our personal lives. This is one of those times.”

Michelle cocked her head to one side and gave him her very best are-you-fucking-kidding-me look. “This is my family,” she said hotly. “Nothing takes precedence over that.” Then she pointed at the TV. The sound was still off, but the coverage of Talas was playing. “No one knows anything about what’s going on there! This could be some random bullshit. Or yet another PPA situation. You know how to handle those. You can do that without me.”

“Invite me in, Michelle,” he said. “I can’t stay out here. I don’t have any security with me.”

Michelle stepped back to let him in. “Whose goddamn fault is that, Jayewardene?” Normally, she would have done the polite thing and invited him into the living room and made her shitty tea and served some cookies on her cracked and mismatched plates. But this wasn’t normal and she’d had it with everything Committee related.

“We need you, Michelle,” he said earnestly. “You’ve had experience with this sort of fieldwork. You can lead and you can follow orders. You’re a team player and we need you to help with the new recruits we’re sending along.”

“Oh, God, you can get any number of other aces to help.” She was utterly exasperated. “You know what, let me show you why I can’t leave.”