Chapter 5: Nadia Szabo's Confession

The apartment on Fehér utca had good light, which Nadia had considered a point in its favor when she rented it forty-eight hours after returning from Bratislava to find Bay Seven sealed with SHIELD tape and Viktor's coat still on its hook.

She had stood outside the cordon for four minutes, reading the signage, and then walked to the nearest tram stop and ridden it to the end of the line and back, which was something she did when she needed to think without her hands needing to be doing anything. The tram was mostly empty at that hour. She looked out the window at Budapest going gray in the early morning and conducted a silent, methodical inventory of everything she had brought into Bay Seven in the previous two weeks.

By the time the tram completed its circuit, she had reached a conclusion precise enough to make her feel ill.