"You can still go home." Nolan said, taking a drink from his water bottle. "You said it yourself; you're not up for another mission, and I don't blame you."

Grace broke off a piece of crust from her sandwich and rolled it into a tiny ball between her fingers. "This is what I do, and I've been doing it for almost ten years now. I'm exhausted, drained, and my brain feels like pudding, but I know the weight of this operation." She tossed the little bread ball back onto her plate. "Toby was right; if we fail and mess up the CIA's plan, we wreck everything. It'll be our fault."

Nolan nodded. "True." He waited a few moments before asking, "So you've been held hostage three times?"

She looked up at him sharply and then shrugged. "Yeah. The first time was just political. In fact, it was the Bolsheviks that captured us. But it wasn't too bad, we were all held in a room for five days until the U.S. sent over some troops to make negotiations." She took in a long breath and relaxed into her seat. "And the second time was when we found information about Bin Laden, which no one seemed happy about. That was rough. Almost none of us made it out of that. Then, of course, you know about the third time. It wasn't bad physically...until they started shooting everyone." Her tone was dry and lifeless as if she'd taken these events as a fact of living.

"I take you to the finest deli in all of Austria and it turns out you're the most depressing company I've ever had." Nolan remarked.

Grace looked up at the broken pipes on the ceiling and the floor that was slick with grease. "Mmm, "finest" isn't exactly the word I would use, and you were the one who wanted to know. And just for future reference, guys can't just ask a lady about their hostage situations."

Nolan laughed. "Oh really? Well, do forgive me. It's been a while since I've talked to a lady."

"What? Seriously?"

"Pretty much, actually. The women in jail weren't exactly...ladylike, if you know what I mean. They were pretty terrifying. Have you ever seen two serial-killer women fight? The MMA has nothing on something like that."

Grace's eyes widened. "So there weren't any nice ones? Like, at all?"

Nolan raised an eyebrow. "Mentally unstable isn't exactly my type, if that's what you're asking."

Grace tried to suppress it for a brief second, but a laugh escaped nonetheless. When she laughed, it was like her whole face was affected by it and Nolan found himself chuckling too.

"That's not what I was asking." She said, wiping away a tear from the corner of her eye. After a few more slight giggles, she'd calmed herself.

"Come on." Nolan said, a grin still lingering on his face. "We'd better get moving."

She nodded and got up. "You're right."

As they walked to the car they'd rented, she asked, "So this is kind of awkward. What are we going to do about all of this?"

Nolan unlocked the door of a small Toyota and got into the right side. "What do you think about Egor?" He asked, instead of giving an answer.

Grace buckled her seat belt. "I think he's still alive." She shrugged. "He had plenty of time to get away from the missile...I did. And if I survived, he's twenty times smarter than I am, so he could've hidden...if he wasn't out of the area already."

"My thoughts exactly. So, we find and kill him." Nolan backed out of the parking lot. He always hated driving in Europe. "The CIA wants to get to the root of the problem by destroying the EMPs themselves, but I think the root of the problem is Egor. He's the leader, and the millions of terrorists are followers."

"So if we take out the leader," Grace said, "it'll at least stall the plans. Not to say he doesn't have a second-in-command, but it should still slow them down."

"Exactly." Nolan came to a stop underneath a traffic light. "But we don't know where he is."

"I might have an idea." Grace said, pulling out the flash drive. "I still have all the maps and everything on here. I was just going to clear it when I sent it to Howard so I could have a fresh drive in case something else happened, but thankfully...I didn't."

They didn't waste any time in finding a local library with Wi-Fi access. They sat down at a cubicle tucked in a corner, surrounded by dictionaries and encyclopedias. The library was all but empty except for two or three employees pushing around carts full of books.

Grace's fingers flew over the keyboard before she entered the flash drive.

A plethora of files came up. "Let's see...no, that one's stupid...okay, here we go."

An image popped onto the screen depicting a map of the world. There were many red circles around specific areas, including Kavala.

"So our options are still pretty broad." Grace said, resting her chin on her palm. "Do you think Egor would go to another small area or head for one of the big ones?"

Nolan sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. "That's the thing. No other EMP has gone off since Kavala, right?"

"Right."

"Why? He's sent the world into a panic and has caught everyone off guard. Why would he wait in between attacks?"

Grace nodded. "That doesn't make sense. And he would have to have people stationed around the world to detonate the EMPs."

"So we're back to square one." Nolan sighed. He tried to remember every word of their conversation for any indication of Egor's plan. Egor didn't want to kill massive amounts of people, he wanted to bring down the government. How could he achieve that most effectively? Maybe setting off all the EMPs at once was a bad tactic.

What would I do?

"He's waiting on purpose." Nolan said.

Grace lifted an eyebrow. "Go on."

"Think about it. He's set off one of the minor EMPs and now everybody knows his plans. So what is the government going to do about it?"

"Um, make a counter-plan?" Grace guessed.

"Right. And what is that counter-plan?" Nolan didn't wait for her to answer before saying, "An attack that will harm thousands and thousands of people." He couldn't think of the words fast enough.

"Slow down." Grace said with a nervous laugh.

Nolan exhaled and spread his hands out on the table. "Egor was waiting for us to respond." He explained carefully. "When people find out that the government is going to acid-bomb them, they'll revolt...even if that's what's best for them. Egor could use that. He won't be the bad guy anymore...the government will be."

Grace eyes widened with realization. "So the reason he hasn't set off more EMPs is because...he's wanting to turn the world against itself. Why use the EMPs when the people rebel against the government themselves?"

"Exactly."

"Do you think the EMPs are a bluff, then?"

Nolan shook his head. "I'd hate to assume that. I wouldn't put it past him to have them in his back pocket so he could set both plans into motion if one didn't work."

Grace slumped back into her chair, running a hand through her dark hair. "Well, great. This sucks...epically."

"We have to tell Howard."

Grace handed Nolan her phone. "You talk to him."

"O-kay." Nolan took the phone and dialed Howard's number.

He had to try seven times before Howard finally picked up.

"This better be important, Clay." He growled irritably.

"Oh, it's incredibly important and potentially vital to the situation, but, you know, I could call later..."

An exasperated sigh could be heard from the other end. "I don't have time for this. Get to the point."

"Egor's going to use your acid attack to turn the people against you. He set the EMP off in Kavala to run everyone into a frenzy of counter-attacks so you'll be the bad guys."

Howard was quiet for a moment before he said, "And how did you come across this information? You took leave of this mission."

"Yeah..."

"If you're still doing research into this, why didn't you stay?"

"Um..." Nolan locked gazes with Grace. "Does that matter right now? I just gave you a crucial piece of information."

"It isn't plausible."

"Hey—"

"We have a lot on our plate right now, Clay." Howard said, "Even if your theory has some solidity, we have to eliminate those EMPs. We just can't take the risk of doing nothing."

Nolan clenched his jaw. "You're making a mistake—"

"I have work to do. Get some rest."

Nolan held the phone in his hand for a couple heartbeats before tossing it onto the table with a few choice words.

"I'm guessing it didn't go well?" Grace asked cautiously.

"No. Howard is such a—"

"Just tell me what he said."

Nolan told her.

"Well then, I guess it's up to us." She yanked out the flash drive and closed all of the files on the computer. "I just remembered someone I think can help."

Nolan got up and followed her outside. "Seriously?"

"She lives somewhere in Germany. She worked with us two years ago on an assignment gathering intel about some hackers."

"We should've started with that." Nolan grumbled.

"Um, excuse me, sir, but you should be grateful I even remembered." She retorted.

                                                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They pulled up to a narrow apartment complex constructed by pale bricks. It reminded Nolan of the houses he'd seen in Brooklyn.

"This the place?" He asked, although he already knew the answer, as he made a jerky maneuver to parallel park.

"Yep." Grace unbuckled her seatbelt and was about to get out when she paused. "Nolan?"

"Hmm?"

"Let me do the talking."

"Okay, why—"

She'd already slammed the door shut.

They walked up the leaf-covered driveway and Grace knocked on the door.

A dying cat sound could be heard from the other side before an elderly woman answered.

"What can I do for you?"

She was short and round and wore giant 90's-style glasses, with a homemade floral skirt that was caked with cat hair.

Grace gave a nervous laugh. "You probably don't remember me, but—"

"Grace? Is that you?" The woman squinted hard at the figure before her before her already magnified eyes widened even more. "Ah, it is! I remember you and I cracking that spyware program to pieces...good times." She turned her squinting gaze to Nolan. "And I see you've got married! Can't say he's too bad on the eyes, although I think you could've done better—"

"We're not—" Grace started.

"I remember when Trent and I got married. We met at a Microsoft convention in Chicago—that was before we moved to Germany—"

"Sylvia—"

"Glad he kicked the bucket, though. I was getting tired of his—"

"Sylvia!" Grace almost shouted. "We need your help."

The next half hour was spent lightly explaining everything to a very talkative Sylvia.

Nolan hung back while they chatted and noticed that there were at least ten cats wandering around. The lighting in the apartment came from only two sources; a lamp in the corner and panels on the ceiling of the kitchen.

The floor was cluttered with clothes, old PCs, hard drives, and spots of gray sand.

What that...?

Nolan didn't want to think about it because he could tell by the ripe odor that this place wasn't exactly clean.

"So you're wanting me to locate a guy out of nowhere?" Sylvia asked incredulously.

"Um...yes?" Grace replied.

"I'll see what I can do, but no promises." She led them to a musty back room the size of a large bathroom.

Three monitors sat on an old desk with wires creeping along every inch of the wall behind it. Corkboards of pictures and newspaper clippings were also nailed to the wall.

Nolan took a closer look as Sylvia sat in an office chair and rebooted her computers.

There were various shady photographs of Bigfoot as well as images of Iranian men.

"She's into conspiracy theories." Grace whispered next to him. "But she knows what she's doing."

"Here we are!" Sylvia chortled from her seat.

Nolan and Grace gathered behind her.

"Check the areas near Kavala, I'll run a coordinated scan over here." Grace said, bending over a keyboard located next to Sylvia's.

Nolan stood there awkwardly, half wishing he could help, but also wishing he could escape this cat sanctuary.

He watched as several files popped up onto each screen.

"Alright, I'm getting access to the security cameras in Thessalonica." Sylvia said. "You have the picture?"

On Grace's screen was the image of Egor. It looked to be an older one, but Nolan immediately recognized it. She clicked around a few times. "Sent."

The picture transferred to Sylvia's computer. "Okay, we're just waiting on a face match..."

After a couple minutes, the results came back negative.

Nolan waited quietly as they ran a few more scans in different towns and cities.

He watched as they occasionally giggled over something he didn't understand. Were all women like this? How could anyone find clicking buttons and watching an animated screen enjoyable?

Weird.

"Got it!"

Sylvia's shrill voice made Nolan jump.

"On the outskirts of Turkey...there he is on the sidewalk."

Nolan leaned in over her shoulder to peer at the screen. Unmistakably, Egor was weaving in and out of a crowded street, but his gait was clumsy and slow.

"He's hurt." Grace murmured, reaching over Sylvia, and typing something to make the screen bigger.

"He has bandages from his arms all the way across his chest." She pointed towards his wrist. "He has sleeves on, but you can see some gauze under his sleeve. That bomb must've got some parts of him."

"Do have the location?" Nolan asked.

Grace held up her phone. "Already on the GPS."

Sylvia stood up. "Keep in touch, you two. I have to walk my babies this afternoon, but I'm usually free."

"Your what?"

Grace slapped his arm. "Her cats, Nolan, don't be rude." She flashed a smile at Sylvia. "Thank you so much. You have no idea—"

"Tut tut, my dear. Don't mention it. Now go on before those EMPs go off in Germany."

Soon they were back on the quiet road, heading to Turkey.

"Do you think Egor knows we're going to be after him?" Grace asked suddenly.

Before Nolan could respond, they got their answer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey everyone!  Sorry this chapter is so short (it's kind of a filler chapter), but I promise it's really going to pick up after this (finally!). So I hope you stick around next week ^_^

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Thank you SO SO SO much for reading! {Don't forget to comment, vote, and share!}