Barbara wondered if the New Shining Path’s leaders realized that their complicated, three-legged relationship mirrored that of the aces before them: Secretary-General Jayewardene, Lohengrin, and herself. Jayewardene had the legal authority, but it was the shining, ghost steel–clad Lohengrin who, in the eyes of the public, was the leader of the Committee that underlaid and supported the UN’s power. As for herself … to most, she was a secondary figure, but with both men she often felt like the only adult in the room. Klaus, despite her love for him, had only one tactic: go striding in with sword blazing and dangerous aces arrayed behind him; Jayewardene was Klaus’s opposite, bound tightly by rules and regulations and trying desperately to placate the agendas of all the countries and all the powers that had put him where he was, and as a result—at least in Barbara’s opinion—often moving too slowly and too timidly.

It was Barbara who often had to hold Klaus back when he wanted nothing more than to jump into blind action; it was Barbara who had to prod and poke Jayewardene to move when the man wanted to sit and wait and ponder.

As Barbara and Klaus sat, flanking Jayewardene, her gaze moved across the table from Cocomama and Curare to President Fujimori, General Ramos of the Peruvian army, and the assorted high-ranking officers who sat with them. The Secretary-General remained standing. He tugged at his suit jacket as he took a long, slow breath, and one brown hand reached out to rest on the thick document placed on the tablecloth in front of him.

“I congratulate you, President Fujimori, and you, Curare and Cocomama,” he said. With Babel’s ability, each of them heard Jayewardene speaking in whatever passed for their own native language. “What we have accomplished here is nothing less than historic, and when this agreement is signed, Peru will be well on its way back to stability and prosperity, for everyone in your great country.”

With that, he picked up the pen placed alongside the document, and with a flourish signed his name to the paper. He slid the document to Klaus, who also signed it, then in turn passed the bound papers down the line until the signature page faced President Fujimori.

The president had a polite smile plastered on her face. Cocomama’s frown, Babel noticed, did not match President Fujimori’s smile, while Curare’s lipless, amphibian’s face was impossible to read. The New Shining Path had been the most difficult of the opposing sides to bring to the table. They, after all, had the option to slide back into the mountains and the jungles from where they’d come and hide away once more. Babel wondered if Cocomama, especially, had reconsidered the agreement they’d finally hammered into final shape the night before.

Neither Klaus nor Jayewardene seemed to be aware of how Cocomama’s frown deepened as President Fujimori now stood and returned Jayewardene’s opening volley with her own flowery predictions of harmony and peace. Babel continued to regard Cocomama as Fujimori finished her speech, as the cameras chattered and video cameras panned the assembly. As the president finished her short speech and also signed the document, as her people in turn slid the document around the table toward Curare, in the myriad languages in her head, Barbara heard Cocomama whisper to Curare: “Fujimori is right there. You could reach her before anyone could stop you. Grab me, and leap through this tent canopy. We could be away before they know it.”