Two weeks later, Ian sat in the back seat of the family's government-issued sedan, watching the Washington D.C. landmarks disappear behind them as they headed toward the private airfield where a chartered jet waited to carry him to his new assignment. His luggage was perfectly organized, his academic records were impeccably manufactured, and his psychological weapons were honed to surgical precision.

Beside him, Emilia stared out the window with the kind of nervous excitement that suggested ...