CIA Director Gregory Judd drives his wife’s Jeep at high speed toward Langley because he cannot wait for his usual driver. Although Judd dislikes Director Finch’s tactics, Judd believes the nation faces constant, escalating attacks that the public barely understands.

Judd reflects that foreign actors already use social media to influence elections and behavior, but he considers that threat minor compared to a coming “new battleground” focused on the mind. He sees Threshold’s technology as the edge in a three-way race among Russia, China, and the United States, and he worries about what Ambassador Nagel has sent to his secure server that could “hold the CIA hostage.”

Judd concludes Nagel is likely not bluffing and may have discovered what is happening inside Threshold; if she goes public, the consequences would be global and could trigger an uncontrollable escalation of the “psychic arms race.” Judd steels himself to do whatever is necessary to keep her quiet.

Deep beneath Folimanka Park, the Golěm rests against a heavy metal door, fearful of another seizure and determined to survive so he can release Sasha. He opens the door, steps into a frigid vault, and discovers a vertical steel conduit leading to a disguised surface exit.

The conduit terminates at a well-known “ventilation” structure in Folimanka Park—an old bomb-shelter vent repurposed as an emergency fail-safe to let something escape. Street artists have made the cap resemble R2-D2, ensuring no passerby suspects its true function.

Elsewhere, Faukman listens to rain and reviews a night of research into In-Q-Tel’s fractal-related investments, finding nothing that Katherine Solomon’s manuscript would plausibly compromise. Exhausted, he suspects the manuscript’s provocation is more significant than fractals.