The chapter opens with the Japanese legation marching out, singing a patriotic song that Sachiko Nishimura translates for June Hudson as a parting gift. As luggage transfers proceed and staff prepare for the hotel’s return to normal operations, June resolves to carry out her counter-plan rather than the government's orderly handoff.

The Italian legation departs with mixed courtesies; the journalists follow, with Lieselotte Berger already hospitalized and destined for release into America upon recovery. June and Tucker confirm Sandy Gilfoyle is in position. On the staircase, Friedrich Wolfe addresses the German legation in German; Erich von Limburg-Stirum looks away, and both Friedrich Wolfe and Lothar Liebe give the Nazi salute, shattering the pretense of luxury for staff and guests alike. Sabine and Hannelore Wolfe appear late; Sabine has been crying, while Hannelore is expressionless.

June approaches Sabine with a final offer to help. After a moment of shock and a fairy-tale framing to soften the reality for her daughter, Sabine says yes and passes Hannelore’s hand to June, telling Hannelore to be gentle. As Tucker and Calloway distract Liebe and Wolfe over the confiscated gun, Griff Clemons removes the dogs to clear the way.

June leads Hannelore to the grand lobby’s sweetwater font and instructs the girl that it is all right to scream. She plunges their hands into the water. A brief recollection shows how the sweetwater once calmed June in her youth, teaching her to find order and agency. Returning to the present, June silently signals her staff to trust her and bids the water to be free.

The hotel begins to flood: water beads on the ceiling, seeps from walls, bursts from pipes, and pours from fonts, accompanied by the scents of decades of hotel life. A crash from the Wolfes’ former suite underscores the building’s distress. Federal agents, Border Patrol, staff, and guests surge to evacuate as planned by June, leveraging the chaos to upend the exchange.

In a parallel sequence, Tucker fights through the dark, flooding corridors toward the storage room holding Sebastian Hepp. The lights fail, but Tucker is unafraid, trusting the water’s alignment with June. A torrent rips the storage door from its hinges, and Tucker tells Sebastian to change his name and disappear, giving him wet cash and warning him that the law wants him dead. As the water’s roar grows unstable with rising panic in the hotel, Tucker retreats; Sebastian is gone.

Back in the lobby, now emptied by the evacuation, June asks Hannelore if she hears what the water is saying: run. Hannelore, transformed by the moment, appears wild and alive. With sweetwater cascading down the stairs, June leads Hannelore away to begin their escape.