Nolan sipped his coffee and gave a slight shudder. The people in Poland made some of the strongest brew he'd ever tasted.

They'd decided to settle for the time being in a small ski town named Klausberg in Poland. There wasn't much snow yet, but it was still just above freezing. The café was located three buildings down from the hotel they were staying in.

Jim and Collin had called their worried families the moment they'd entered civilization. They'd decided to stay for the next week to help Nolan and Grace in any way possible until they went back home to their families.

Nolan was secretly hoping Maddie and James would shut it all down and be done with it...but knew there was a nearly impossible chance of that.

Toby had called and told him that Howard had agreed to help them...on the condition of their arrest.

How can I ever thank him? Nolan thought bitterly, taking another sip of his coffee and looking around. The café was petitely constructed of dark lumber and two of the walls were made of window-paned glass, displaying a beautiful view of a mountain range in the distance. He sat at a long wooden bar attached to it and ran a distracted thumb across the smooth surface.

The sun was just beginning to crest over the mountain peaks, casting brilliant pinks, yellows, and blues across the transparent sky. As tired as he'd been, he still got up early like he always had. It felt good to have a sense of normalization...he hadn't had it in a while.

The front door opened and the tinkling of a bell signaled the arrival of a customer.

Nolan turned to see Jim enter the café, wearing a thick black coat and gray beanie over his equally gray hair.

"Morning, Jim," Nolan called.

Jim lifted a hand in greeting. After he'd gotten a warm beverage himself, he took a seat on the padded stool next to Nolan.

"Sleep well last night?" Him asked.

"In a bed with that much cushion, it's hard not to," Nolan replied.

"Very true," He took a gulp of his coffee and cringed as he swallowed.

"Strong stuff, isn't it?" Nolan laughed.

"That'll definitely put hair on your chest," he said, placing the cup to the side. "How's Grace doing?"

"Haven't seen her in a day and a half," Nolan said. "She said she needed to "introvert" for a while...I guess that means staying in her room for twenty-four house. She's had a rough time."

"It sounds like it. Both of you have." Jim rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I know Grace has family back home, what about you?"

"I have a sister and a brother-in-law," Nolan replied simply, "Haven't seen them in almost twelve years."

"So you don't have much to go back to."

Nolan almost laughed. "I don't even have a home," he settled into silence, drinking his coffee. He was growing used to its strong flavor. "After ten years away from the world, you get a little detached, I guess. You walk in one way and come out a different person, in a world that's changed without you." He smiled softly to himself. "In the long run, this CIA offer was the best thing that could've happened." The sentence came out before Nolan really knew what he meant. "What about you?"

"I have three kids and one grandchild on the way," Jim took on a soft expression, "You know, my wife and I were in this business, working for the UN."

"Really? Does she still work there?"

Jim shook his head as he swallowed another gulp of coffee. "Oh no, she's been out for twenty years. When we had kids, they came first," Jim said, "and that'll change everything, friend."

Nolan chuckled as Jim got up to leave.

He clapped him on the shoulder before making his way down the chilly street back to the hotel.

Nolan was left alone again with his lukewarm cup of coffee. He'd never thought about joining the CIA being a good thing. Essentially, he thought it was his duty to protect American, and now foreign, lives. But yet it had done something for him too. It gave him hope in those people again...however small.

As he walked along the poorly made street, he passed by several cozy-looking businesses. Klausberg seemed to be the perfect Christmas town, all it was missing was colorful lights.

The Polish woman at the front desk of the hotel gave a friendly nod to Nolan as he passed. He made his way up the creaking stairs and decided he should probably check on Grace.

Her room was located three doors down from his.

He went to knock, but stopped.

Grace's voice filtered to his ears, sounding like she was straining to be polite. "Yes, I understand that, but if you could just move her out of the cold—''

She was interrupted, Nolan assumed, by the person on the other end. He wasn't usually nosy, but his curiosity outweighed his guilt.

"Then give her more blankets!" Grace continued, forfeiting her polite tone. After a few moments, she huffed and said, "Can I speak with her, please?"

There was a pause.

"Mom?" Grace's voice was immediately softer, but carried a slight hesitation. "It's me—it's Gracie. Your daughter."

Nolan strained to hear her next words.

"Dad told me they've been leaving you outside in the cold, are your nurses taking care of you? ...it feels like summer?" Grace laughed. "Well, I wish it was summer over here!"

They went on with idle chat for a while longer and Nolan was about to leave when Grace took on a panicked tone again. "No, this is your daughter—Grace. Mom, there's no one in your room, it's okay. If you don't feel safe just call your nurse, I'm sure everything's fine. Mom? Hello?"

Nolan heard a deep sigh come from the other side of the door as Grace hung up.

He back away from the door silently, figuring she could use some privacy, and made his way to his own room. Just as he was about to sit down on the bed, his phone buzzed. It was a text from James.

-Meeting in ten minutes, I'll call you. Good and bad news.

Nolan gathered Jim and Collin and told them to wait in his room. He hesitantly knocked on Grace's door. A few moments passed before she answered. Her face showed no sign of her previous conversation. She even looked rested for once.

Her hair was tied in a ponytail and she was wearing a wide-necked t-shirt with cartoon pajama pants.

Nolan couldn't help but snicker.

"What?" She said, poking him in the chest.

Nolan flinched as her finger jabbed into his ribs. "Oh, nothing at all. I just missed the memo about it being fourth grade pajama day."

"Ha ha. Did you come for any other reason than bothering me?"

"Yes, actually." Nolan replied. "We got word from the Winlows. James called a meeting."

Grace's countenance fell. "I hope it's good news."

They made their way down the hall. Nolan said, "He said it was good...and bad."

Grace folded her arms as Nolan opened the door for her.

Jim and Collin were sitting on both corners of the bed, looking anxious. Grace took a seat in the armchair and Nolan remained standing.

The phone rang and when Nolan answered, he put it on speaker mode.

"Hello?" He said.

"Hey Nolan!" James said cheerfully. He asked them how they were and chitchatted for a few moments (Nolan assumed it was just to annoy them) before he said, "Well, I'll get right to the point. Maddie and I disabled the EMPs for two weeks."

Relieved laughter filtered through the room. As much as they'd all hoped that the EMPs would be shut down completely, they knew that there had been a huge possibility of not disabling it at all.

"That's amazing!" He said.

They all listened as James told them about how they had hacked into the EMP in London...and what they'd seen. Egor had killed fifteen people just as examples of his power.

"After further research...we've come to the conclusion that we need to do something...not so good." James continued.

Everyone held their breath.

"We need to take a hostage."

Nolan frowned. "Who?"

"Xavier Halberg. He's a former Soviet officer who worked on the first Russian spaceship, Sputnik, in 1957. He's an engineer and physicist...we think he's the one who helped build the EMPs."

"So you think he'll know how to reverse it?" Grace asked, leaning on her knees.

"It's our best option."

"How do we find him?"

"That's the thing. Howard's agreed to help us, but this won't exactly be...approved by the government. Howard said that if we have to do it, no one can know. So we have to take care of this as quietly as possible." He drew in a long breath before continuing, "Halberg doesn't live a quiet life...he's a governor in Russia. We've found out that he's having a party to promote his re-election in two days."

Jim pinched the bridge of his nose.

"So what do we do? Just kidnap him from his own party?" Collin asked, dumbfounded.

"That's the thing," James said, "His two sons run most of these get-togethers. Halberg is 75 years old and has a few health problems, so he typically retires before the second round of drinks are served."

"Got it," Nolan murmured. He groaned inwardly. This could only end in disaster...and prison.

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

Nolan checked his watch.

5:30

It was time to set their plan into action. James had gone into Halberg's digital guest list and added Nolan and Grace to the attendance. They'd flown the 3,000 miles from Poland to Russia in a day.

Jim and Collin were stationed to watch the premises and were equipped to make a quick exit. They were already on their way to Halberg's mansion in Murmansk.

Nolan glanced at his black tuxedo in the mirror. It was hot and stiff...but he couldn't deny the James Bond flare it had, even though he was wearing a tie. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd worn a suit, although he hoped he wouldn't have to wear one again any time soon.

He grabbed a waist holster and tied it discreetly underneath his vest, making sure the chamber of the pistol was filled with ammunition.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the hotel room door and stepped into the freezing air. The inn they'd booked was all but tumbling down and only had one story of rooms, all of which were facing outside.

He went next door and knocked against the chipped red paint.

"One...second!" Grace panted from the other side. He heard a yelp.

"You okay?"

"Yeah...I just burned my forehead with this curling iron..."

Nolan lifted an eyebrow and leaned against the wall impatiently. He remembered his sister taking an hour to get ready for school every morning. He'd slink out into the hallway at 6:30 in the morning, only to find the bathroom door locked, so he'd curl up on the soft carpet and sleep until she was finished. He smiled at the memory.

Finally, the door opened and Grace walked out.

She wore a black 1940's style dress that flared slightly at the waist. Her long sleeves were made of black lace that matched the trim on her bodice.

Her hair was gracefully tied up with a few curls framing her face.

Nolan blinked, speechless. "Grace, you look—"

"Beautiful?" She interrupted, looking a bit perturbed. "Well, thank you. It only took three hours. I just don't understand modern society," she said, closing the door, "For people to think someone looks nice, they have to do all of...this..." she gestured to herself.

Nolan chuckled. "If it's any consolation, you looked just the same in a bloody jacket or cartoon pajamas. I have to say your makeup looks like you took a stroll through a clown circus, though..."

Grace swatted his arm, "Shut up. I look amazing."

He shook his head and led her to a sleek black Mercedes parked in the front of the hotel.

"Wow, this is a little much," Grace commented, opening the passenger door and sliding in.

Nolan hopped into the driver's seat and turned on the engine. "I thought if we had to look stylish, we should ride in style too."

Grace snickered. "You just wanted to drive a cool car, didn't you?"

"If we get arrested tonight, at least I can say I've done it."

They drove down the highway as the sun was beginning to set. It ignited the forest around them on fire, it seemed. The leaves were plaited with sparkling gold and the sky was frothy with pink clouds.

"How's your mom doing?" Nolan asked. Then he cringed at himself. He knew it wasn't a good idea to get personal with someone who was at risk of dying at any time. But he felt like Grace was different. She was more than a partner now...which was extremely dangerous territory.

Grace cast him a curious glance, as if she were surprised by his question too. "She's about the same. She sees things that aren't there, gets angry at nothing...getting farther and farther away from us." Her voice was soft, but her face showed no emotion as if she'd told herself this a million times before. "It was nice to hear her voice after so long. My dad and brother were so worried about me, but I told them everything was fine."

She kicked off her high heels and folded her legs in her seat, gazing thoughtfully out the window. "I know you probably get lonely sometimes,"

Nolan blinked in surprise, but Grace continued before he could respond, "I couldn't imagine not having my family to talk to. But sometimes it would be nice not worrying about them," she smoothed out a crease in her dress, "In Poland, one of the terrorists said that they knew where mom was. I know it was a stupid threat, probably a bluff. But still. Sometimes I wonder if it's all worth it."

"Maybe after this is all over you can go back and get out of this crazy business. Have a normal life again." Nolan offered.

Grace looked at him with a faint smile. "And maybe you can build a new one."

The rest of the trip was spent quietly. It seemed like both of them were trying to enjoy their last moments of peace before the chaos began again.

Just as the sky faded from pink to purple, they arrived at the governor's mansion.

Lush green grass spread across the front yard, as well as about fifty other cars.

They're all fancier than mine, Nolan thought grudgingly as he pulled up to the towering black gates and showed his ID that Maddie had conjured up for him to the officer admitting people into the area.

He found an empty parking spot and brought his car to a stop.

Grace unbuckled her seatbelt. "So the plan is to monitor Halberg until he retires to his room. Then we'll make him give us the information and kidnap him if necessary, right?"

"More or less," Nolan said, getting out and going around to the other side to open her door, "We'll see how it goes, anyway."

Grace stood up and placed a handgun in her clutch. "We're not killing anyone, right?"

"Uh...we'll see how it goes."

They made their way across the grass, following a stream of glittering guests into the yellow-lit mansion.

Nolan offered his arm and Grace took it. This was much more intimidating than he expected.

The entrance was decorated in white tulle material intertwined with Christmas lights that swung from rafter to rafter, leading into the house itself.

There was a buzz of black-clothed people all around them, jabbering mostly in Russian, but Nolan heard a few English voices as well.

They were ushered into a spacious ballroom that had tables filled with petite food items. Men in bowties carried trays of champagne to the guests as they mingled. Several tables held pamphlets advertising Halberg's political propaganda, but was intentionally placed discreetly around the room.

Nolan caught sight of a tall, wiry man approaching them. He looked to be about thirty or so with a swaggering gait and a smug expression.

Nolan didn't like the way his eyes examined Grace from head to toe before greeting them.

"Dobro pozhalovat!"

"My amerikanskaya." Nolan replied bluntly.

"Ah, Americans!" The man said jovially. "What a delight. My name is Fredrick Halsberg, the son of Mr. Halberg. And you are?"

"Jonathan White."

"I see," He turned to Grace and gave a low bow, scooping up her hand and placing a smooth kiss on it. "And you, my lady?"

Grace jerked her hand back and for a moment Nolan was afraid she was going to spit on him. Instead, she gave a curt smile and said, "Olivia...White."

Fredrick gave Nolan a measured stare and Nolan sensed a challenge in his eye. "I see. Well, hopefully I'll make your acquaintance again later in the evening."

When he'd walked away, Grace muttered, "Hopefully not."

They made their way to the beverage station. "So, Mrs. White, eh?" Nolan asked with a smirk.

Grace glared at him over the rim of her water glass. "Don't take it as a compliment. He just...gave me the creeps, so I figured I'd cover my tracks."

Nolan scanned the crowd mulling about before him, noting their fake laughter and purposed conversations. "I wouldn't trust him anyway," he said.

He spotted Xavier Halberg, the governor, mingling with a group of older-looking guests. He was a portly man with a red face and white hair; Nolan recognized him from all the pamphlets strewn about. He'd have to keep an eye on his comings and goings, but keep his distance to avoid suspicion.

For the remainder of the party, there was nothing to do but wait and pretend to be a part of the atmosphere. Grace and Nolan decided to split up so they wouldn't be associated together just in case the officers following the kidnapping interviewed any witnesses.

Nolan put on a smile that matched everyone's around him. He was surprised at the smooth way he talked about absolutely nothing. These people were simply putting on a façade to emphasize their own political agenda. Two hours passed and Nolan's head was spinning. He'd realized that Grace was right about modern society's superficiality. Everyone dressed up for others to mask who they really were...to hide what they really wanted.

That's when he realized that he hadn't seen Xavier in a while, or his son...or Grace.

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

Hello friends! Thank you so much for reading! So I had a bit of a dilemma this week. I had a lot planned for this chapter, but it came out to be around 5K words...a little too long for one chapter. I'm hoping to post the rest in a separate chapter Thursday or possibly Friday. Stay tuned!

~ What do you think of this new plan to get the code?

~ Cute Nolace moment, just saying ^_^

~What do you make of this Fredrick guy?

~ What do you think Grace has gotten herself into?

Again, Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! (Don't forget to comment, vote, and share!)