Page 209 of The Secret of Secrets

“We don’t,” she repeated, her voice firm.

“Ambassador Nagel,” Langdon protested, his voice rising. “Are you suggesting we give Sasha back to the CIA?”

“That is precisely what we will do. It is the only option.”

“Absolutely not!” Katherine exclaimed. “Threshold already killed one patient! You can’t send Sasha back into—”

“I can’t?!” Nagel interjected forcefully. “I will remind you both that inside this embassy, I am the ranking official, and I will ask you both to hear me out before telling me what I can and can’t do.”

The ambassador gave it a moment, and Katherine sat back, quietly shaking her head in defiance.

“These are the facts,” Nagel declared in an even tone. “Sasha Vesna requires highly specialized care—both physical and psychiatric. She has proven herself extremely dangerous, meaning whoever is involved with that care will need to take caution and also understand her situation completely. Considering the hardware in Sasha’s brain, the list of entities qualified to care for her is exceedingly short. Perhaps a list of one. When I reflect on what you told me about these advanced artificial neurons in her brain, I have to conclude that the only people qualified to give Sasha proper mental care are the scientists involved in Threshold.”

Langdon could see the logic in her argument, but at its core, the ambassador’s plan was essentially to entrust Sasha to the same people who had used her as a laboratory animal. Beside him, Katherine was still shaking her head, clearly not convinced.

“Make no mistake about it,” Nagel said. “I am not suggesting Sasha return to Threshold as it was. I will tolerate zero further testing on Sasha Vesna. Period. She will return as the program’s most valuable and cherished asset, to be treated as such, and to live well. Sasha is a triumph—she represents the program’s greatest victory to date, and her presence offers an invaluable research opportunity. I will stress to the director that Threshold’s experimentation on this woman’s brain most likely exacerbated her mental condition, if not caused it altogether. In other words, I will make him understand that Sasha’s mental well-being is the agency’s ultimate moral responsibility. In the end, Director Judd will be highly motivated to ensure Sasha’s overall health—especially knowing I will be watching with my finger on a trigger.”

A long silence fell between them, and Langdon found himself in the throes of the quintessential archetypal battle—the Apollonian-Dionysian conflict, as it was known in mythology—the ultimate internal struggle. Brain versus Heart. Langdon’s Apollonian brain saw order and reason in Nagel’s plan, while his Dionysian heart saw chaos and injustice.

“You paint a nice picture,” Katherine said, breaking the silence. “But Sasha never asked to have Threshold in her life.”

“Nor did you, Dr. Solomon, and yet here we are.” Nagel’s gaze was unflinching now. “We all must play the cards we are dealt. In order for Sasha Vesna to live a healthy life, she will need to interact in some capacity with Project Threshold. The level of her involvement can be her own decision, and perhaps only in those parts of the project related to consciousness research. But once Sasha’s mental state is stable, I have to believe that being part of a team might even provide her a purpose and a status unlike anything she has ever experienced in her life.”

Langdon felt wary. We all need purpose. But what Nagel was describing relied on the agency doing the right thing, and Langdon had little confidence in that.

“I realize trust may be hard to summon in this case,” Nagel continued, as if sensing Langdon’s hesitation. “Especially after all you’ve witnessed with the agency. But please remember, your experience was with Everett Finch. You will now be dealing with Director Gregory Judd. His mistake was giving Finch too much leeway, but I have always found Judd to be a decent man in a world of indecent options. If nothing else, he is honest.”

“Honest?” Katherine challenged. “You were his senior counsel, and still he lied to you—telling you Stargate had failed.”

Nagel gave a dismissive wave. “DBD protocol—disinformation by deception. It’s a common compartmentalization tactic. False narratives protect employees who don’t need to know the truth. We all lie better when we actually believe the lie we’re telling. And obviously Stargate was not the only classified project the agency lied about and then rebooted. If my trust in Director Judd is misplaced,” the ambassador concluded, “I will remind him of the sword of Damocles over his head, making it crystal clear that I have every intention of bringing it down should the agency not meet its moral obligations to Sasha.”

The three sat silently in the ornate office. “Not to mention,” the ambassador added, “in almost any other scenario, Sasha will be unprotected—and quite possibly detained and prosecuted for treason, terrorism, and murder.”

Katherine turned slowly to Langdon, her eyes still tentative, but a tired nod delivered a clear message. I will follow your lead on this.

Langdon pictured Sasha locked up downstairs, and his heart went out to her. Despite profound concerns about the ambassador’s plan, Langdon saw no better option. As hard as it was to admit, the absolute safest place on earth for Sasha Vesna was probably in Langley, Virginia. It felt paradoxical to Langdon that Sasha’s oppressors would now become her guardians…but it was also somehow…unavoidable.

Perhaps even ingenious.

The fact that Sasha had materialized outside the embassy made Langdon wonder if her mysterious golem guardian might already have thought all this through. He had provided Nagel the leverage required to take the upper hand…and then made the simplest of appeals.

Please help Sasha.

Now, as Langdon considered everything the ambassador had just proposed, he heard a single unanswered question echoing in his mind.

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Despite having never studied Latin, Ambassador Nagel recognized the question Langdon had just posed. It was the ubiquitous battle cry of antigovernment whistleblowers everywhere.

Who will guard the guards?

It was a fair question, and one asked with increasing frequency. In this case, the CIA would be watching over Sasha…but who would be watching over the CIA? Even if Nagel threatened to release the video in response to violated protocols, she would have no reliable way to know if protocols were being followed unless she had a trusted source right there…in the middle of it.

Who will guard the guards?

Nagel realized she already knew the answer, and when she spoke it out loud, she heard a purpose in her voice that had been absent for years.

“I will,” she said, raising her eyes to Langdon.