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It was the marriage news that had required such an off-book meeting, he'd bet money on it. For all they pretended to be above the machinations of C-listers who needed to date somebody to score enough notice for their causes, Grace and
Martine knew what it meant when the American Face was planning an alliance with a country that had risen so quickly through the ranks. Suyana was going to become an ally or a threat, and they were in there deciding which.

“So, before you became a snap and were still crawling around after Suyana,” Kate's voice came over the comm, “how many Faces did you actually introduce yourself to? Is this the end of the list, or are there twenty more who would wave at you if they saw you coming?”

“As soon as it costs me a scoop instead of getting me better access to information, I'm sure Li Zhao will be very put out about it all,” Daniel said, and turned off the comm.

Bo tapped him on the shoulder half an hour later.

“You're relieved,” he said. “They kept trying to tell you, but your connection was down. You can't just take it off-line when you're angry.” He looked like a disappointed schoolteacher, which was probably unfair, but so was asking Daniel to keep his comm on all the time if Kate was at the other end.

Then he realized what it meant if Bo was here, and frowned. “So where's Margot?”

“At home. She's covered. Kate apparently had some things to say about you, and I didn't want to listen to it until your time was up. You're off for the night.”

“Oh.” Daniel's mind was racing. Something was wrong. Someone was missing. “When does Suyana get back?”

“She lands tomorrow morning, early. You're back on duty six a.m., LaGuardia. Get some rest.” Bo's mouth thinned to a single line. “And maybe work a little on keeping a safe distance.”

“We can't all be invisible,” he said.

“It's not their notice we're worried about. It's their handlers hunting us down.”

We. Sure. Daniel tried to look solemn. “Okay. I'll stay back from the happy couple. Grace is still up there. No idea if they have plans to leave—Martine's schedule has been strange, but they've been seen in public recently enough that they might not need more visibility. Seventh floor, third window from the left.”

Bo nodded, eyes already forward. “Get going. Keep in touch. We'll call if something comes up.”

Daniel slid on his baseball cap and took the route that approached Margot's building from the park, where there were more crowds and better cover. Margot's windows faced the courtyard and the garden, but the front door and the freight entrance both faced the street. Any coverage would come from there.

Li Zhao was sitting at the coffee shop at the far corner, sipping on a cappuccino and pretending to read a book, and he knew the line of her back a block before he ever reached her.

He'd thought she considered herself above fieldwork. He'd definitely thought she considered herself above a camera implant. He'd never for a moment imagined she'd ever leave Paris just to keep watch on someone who cut a trip a few days short. This whole story must be something pretty big.

It was nice to feel right about something.

“Martine lives across from a jewelry store,” he said quietly, when he was close enough. “Suyana's across from an office and a bank. I'd kill for a coffee shop cover.”

“Goddammit,” said Kate over the comm, and when Li Zhao turned around, Daniel was still smiling.

“Hey, boss.”

Li Zhao was smiling too, that impeccable lipstick tipped up on one side. “Daniel. You look tired.”

“You made me look after the Queen of the Night for two weeks, of course I'm tired.” He gestured at the farthest seat before he took it, as much warning as he was willing to give. In her office he'd never dare sit without being asked, but the streets of a neutral city felt like a compromise, and his legs were beginning to shake.

“That's why I sent Bo to relieve you.”

“I've never been relieved and then told to go home. Do you know how suspicious that sounds?”

She sighed. “I didn't expect Bo to be quite that obvious about it, but that would explain why you're here.”

“Sure.” He grinned. “But not why
you're
here.”

“We have twenty-seven employees in New York. There's been a lot of upheaval. I wanted to make sure nothing fell apart before Paris.”

He was too aware of his lips against his teeth. “Yeah, but this is Margot's place, not your office. I think Bo's at Martine's building because something's going to happen soon, and you don't want anyone else hunting your favorite big game.”

Li Zhao finished her coffee and tucked her hair behind her ear, fingers pressing her temple.

“Kate,” she said, “turn off the incoming sound on Daniel's equipment. I'll contact you to reactivate.”

Of course her own equipment could be turned off locally. The benefits of running the place.

“Are you sure?”

“Thank you, Kate, that will be all.”

“I'd be nicer to her,” he said after a few seconds. “She's mean, but she's loyal. She's been helping you since you changed your name, right?”

Li Zhao kept her eyes on the doors of Margot's building, but she sat back a few inches in her chair, until Daniel could just see a sliver of her profile, and could tell when she looked at him because the white ice chip of her iris would turn suddenly black.

“And don't tell me—you know what name I changed it from.”

What a flattering assumption. He wished Bo were here
to listen to Daniel moving up in her estimation. He also wished he had an amazing theory, some detective work he could unfurl to make this moment actually worth it. But after a year of watching Suyana work, he'd learned the difference between noticing things and making connections—the latter was above his pay grade.

Still, he could do what Suyana did, and suggest whatever would get the most out of the mark. Daniel should know how to do that; he'd watched Suyana do it enough.

“No idea. But I figure Margot could probably tell me who you used to be, if she ever saw you.”

Li Zhao shifted her weight slightly, uncrossing her ankles for more balance.

“Probably not,” she said, after he'd given up hope of an answer. “I didn't make it very long, and Margot doesn't waste a lot of time on Faces who lack stamina.”

He knew she'd been IA material—he'd known for a while—but hearing was always another thing.

“I lasted eight months before China went to war with Russia. Nobody told me. My handler nearly fainted when she heard. And Russia had a trade agreement with Norway—it was a long time ago, I forget what it was, maybe a relationship contract or maybe just some understanding. Margot had gotten onto the Peacekeeping Committee already, before the
war even broke out.”

Daniel glanced up at the sleek tower. Margot was on the far side, free of any prying eyes. She planned ahead.

“After it was over, the Peacekeeping Committee recommended the Faces from China and the Hong Kong Territories be retired, and no new ones be appointed for two years. While those seats were inactive, the Trade Committee passed as many sanctions as they could. Took us ten years to crawl out of that hole.”

Daniel's throat was dry. Suyana was in a plane flying across international lines, coming back to present herself as a threat to Margot.

He managed, “As in, retired? Or . . .” There was another inflection you could give
retired
that meant something else entirely, but he couldn't make his lips move. It didn't matter. Her handler had taken her into the middle of nowhere a long time ago, and either Li Zhao had been sent to safety by a sympathetic soul, or her handler had tried to retire her, and he could guess how that had gone.

She raised her hand, asked for another coffee from the waiter when he arrived, smiled at him; her smile alone explained why the young man wouldn't be staying long enough for a coffee of his own.

When they were alone, she said, “Go home.”

“I'm not tired.”

“If you're not there to cover Suyana at six a.m. when she
lands, you've lost the assignment and I'll give her to someone else. Don't pretend—stop
looking
at me, watch the doors.”

But he couldn't move. The hair on the back of his neck was standing up. “You're not following Margot just for the hope of some candid shots when some scandal breaks, are you?”

The coffee came. Li Zhao shook two packets of sugar into it, took a sip, added another.

“Li Zhao—”

“She's excellent. The best there's been since the Assembly was formed, maybe. Born for it. She looks like the sun whenever you hand her a problem. Have you noticed?”

He'd followed for a few hours once, a long time ago. “Yeah.”

Li Zhao wiped her lipstick off the rim of the cup without looking at it, one clean swipe. The coffee was half gone.

“But she made a mistake, building the Central Committee into such a monopoly and putting herself at the head. Now there are liaisons for agriculture and public relations and environmental concerns and peacekeeping who all do nothing. And the Intelligence scarecrow retired ten years back, and she thinks no one noticed when she started taking that over, but she's wrong. A dictatorship only ever ends one way.”

For the length of a breath, Daniel's nose filled with the smell of glass cleaner from the audience balcony above the
International Assembly audience hall, where he'd stood for the better part of a year at the far edge of the first row because that had the best view of Suyana's seat, and it had the best view of Margot when she turned to look at Suyana like she was waiting for poison to take hold.

“And that's what we're selling.”

“The revolution will sell itself,” said Li Zhao. “People won't even notice what it does to their countries. They'll just read the news and look for relationships that appeal to them and make bets about who wins.”

And a year ago, Suyana had caught their attention out of nowhere when she made a move on the American Face, and Li Zhao got a glimpse of her ambition.

“Wait. You think it's going to be Suyana?”

Li Zhao set down the coffee carefully and spared him a glance—as much as she could without losing the mark.

“No. Whatever secret you two are keeping, it's bigger than her place in the IA. She'll be a martyr. She looks good for that.”

A car drove by. It felt like the first car in a long time. How long had they been sitting in silence? The streets were wet; was it raining?

“Does Bo know about all this?”

“Of course. We have to be prepared to record whatever happens.”

Of course—Bo knew exactly what had happened to
Suyana, and who was behind it. He'd seen more than any of the rest of them had. And since then Bo had kept him in sight and in line, so he would be calm when the mutiny started and Daniel was following around the first person they expected to die.

Kate didn't know. Kate was sitting in a basement in Paris right now, in silence, waiting for the word that she could start listening again. Was she even waiting? He wouldn't have waited for permission to listen in; Kate wouldn't either. He had to get to her. Or to Dev–Dev might give in and tell him what he needed to know. Dev could help. Someone had to help.

“Bullshit.”

“Which part?”

“You didn't fly here from Paris just to take a few night shifts with Margot,” he said, and then halfway through he realized and finished, “Because you were already in New York.”

Her smile was less victorious than it could have been. “I don't think anything will happen until Paris, but after the last-minute arrangements, I thought something might be happening that Margot was trying to get away from. As it happened, she was making other plans, but still, it's good to see New York again.”

Other plans. He'd seen the pictures of Suyana accepting the proposal. Ethan looked almost as confused about why he
was proposing as he looked confused about why she'd ever say yes. Suyana hadn't looked confused, not for one second; when she'd reached up to kiss him afterward, she'd wrapped her arms so tight around his neck you couldn't see her face at all.

The coffee cup was empty now, and far down the avenue Daniel could see a glimpse of neon, where some diner or some drugstore was open late. Margot's building blotted out the moon.

Daniel stood. “Well, enjoy your evening.”

Li Zhao looked up at him then, the full force of her gaze like he hadn't seen since the first time she'd brought him into her office and threatened his family until he could be convinced to talk business.

“Don't think you can warn her that she's trapped. It's too late.”

Daniel went rigid. “Because it's bad form to alert the wildlife?”

But Li Zhao wasn't angry. She looked surprised, and maybe a little disappointed. He didn't know why—he'd never been
a strategist like some.

“Because,” she said, “Suyana already knows.”

They landed ten minutes early. By six o'clock they were already on the ground with the door open and the first of the flashbulbs going off from the ground, and it was too late to take off again when Magnus sucked in a breath through his teeth and said on the wobbly exhale, “Oh my God, they've struck the facility.”

“What,” said Suyana, though it wasn't really a question. It was barely a word.

The American handlers were out of their chairs as soon as he spoke, headed down the stairs to try and make the cameras scatter. Stevens was trying to get Ethan out of his seat, saying, “We should get you inside,” and Suyana was vaguely aware of
Ethan's face solidifying into something like determination as he said, “What's happening?” without moving a muscle to leave.

“Chordata,” Magnus said to him, and then, with a look at Suyana, “They struck the facility while we were on the plane. A security guard's in the hospital.”