At Random House Tower in Manhattan, night watchman Mark Dole is startled when two unfamiliar men in black military gear enter the lobby using a key card. One claims an emergency involving the building’s tuned mass damper and urges evacuation, then suddenly attacks Dole, holds him at gunpoint, steals the master key card, and zip-ties Dole’s hands while the second intruder uses the card to access the elevators.

On the fourth floor, Jonas Faukman reaches the steel door to the Data Security Center and is let in by PRH tech Alex Conan, who looks exhausted and paranoid. Alex delivers immediate relief: nobody was killed, and Alex was wrong to think an author had died; he now believes Robert Langdon is alive, based on a call with the Four Seasons in Prague, though Langdon may be in trouble with authorities.

In the humming security center, Alex begins explaining how he panicked after losing contact and tried to locate Katherine Solomon, Faukman, and Langdon by hacking into their phones. Alex says he could access Langdon’s data because Langdon reused a weak password (“Dolphin123”), allowing Alex to reach Langdon’s FindMy and see that Langdon’s phone went offline after showing a last known location in the Vltava River; Alex interpreted the movement pattern as possible drowning.

Faukman presses to learn who attacked them digitally, and Alex starts describing how the hackers reused code that could be traced. Before Alex can reveal more, Alex thinks he hears the door, checks, and returns blaming paranoia. Faukman, however, realizes someone is likely present and listening, prompted by a faint blue dot of light reflected on framed glass in the room.

To avoid speaking aloud, Faukman uses the workstation’s browser to type messages to Alex: first warning that they are not alone, then asking who is responsible for the hack. Alex silently types a strange hyphenated name and then an acronym; Faukman recognizes the implication with shock, and he pivots to thinking about how to handle the situation through careful dialogue and the difference between misinformation and disinformation.