Michael Harris arrives at Sasha Vesna’s apartment, ashamedly aware he has come here many times before. Finding the door unlocked, Harris enters and calls for Sasha and Professor Langdon, but hears only silence and sees Sasha’s cats, Harry and Sally.

In the kitchen, Harris notices three cups set out for tea and a kettle steaming, suggesting recent activity. As Harris turns away, a floorboard creaks behind him and he is struck by a Taser blast to the back, collapsing paralyzed on the floor.

Harris tries to call out to Sasha, but a deep voice tells him Sasha cannot hear him “not where she is now.” The attacker presses the stun gun to the base of Harris’s skull, fires again, and Harris loses consciousness.

The Golěm stands over Harris’s body and suffocates him by pulling a heavy plastic bag over his head and twisting it tight. After Harris dies, the Golěm steadies himself against a gathering “Ether,” using his metal wand to delay it, insisting, Not now.

The Golěm writes a short letter on Sasha’s kitten-decorated stationery, seals it, and addresses it to U.S. Ambassador Heide Nagel. He drops the envelope onto Harris’s corpse, leaves Sasha’s door unlocked, and departs, noting Sasha has been locked away until the Golěm is ready for his “final step.”