The next day, Arkady calls Court to his office so that he can rent him a room under his Nicaraguan alias. This will ensure that Court has a backup story in case he is discovered. As Court and Arkady discuss current affairs in Russia, the older man rues that most tenants in his building support the ongoing war against Ukraine. The only people Arkady trusts are his wife, Olga, and Su-Jin, the building’s maintenance man, who emigrated from South Korea 25 years ago.

Just then, one of Arkady’s tenants drops into his office, eyeing Court suspiciously. Arkady introduces Court as Jose Fonseca from Nicaragua. After the woman leaves, Arkady tells Court that he’s worried; the tenant is likely going to report Court’s presence to her son, a police officer.

Half an hour later, two FSB men arrive at the building to investigate Court. Court hands them his forged documents and rental lease, telling them that he’s in Moscow for a year. Though the men leave, Arkady is sure that they’ll cross-check Court’s credentials with the Nicaraguan embassy and return. Court knows that his cover will be blown and prepares to leave, apologizing to Arkady for possibly getting him in trouble. The older man tells Court that he’ll survive the FSB the same way he and Olga survived KGB torture and questioning in 1985. Court thanks Arkady, gathers his things from the basement, and departs.

As Court and Arkady anticipated, Court’s cover is exposed. The FSB alerts Baronov, and he rushes to Arkady’s building with his team in a motorcade. On the way, he gets a surveillance-camera snapshot of a tall, bearded man in a rust knitted cap, seen in the street next to Arkady’s building, and sends it out to all Moscow law-enforcement and intelligence agencies. He also sends his men to every train and bus station in the city.

Court is at the metro station next to Moscow State University when he notices a couple of men scanning the crowd. He rushes past them, overhearing the men mention that their target is a man wearing a rust-colored cap. Realizing that his clothing has been picked up by a security camera, Court runs onto the platform, discarding his cap and scarf as unobtrusively as he can. He catches the first available train and gets off a few stations later, but he soon spots a police officer and two FSB men there, too. An FSB man sees Court and asks for his papers. Court extends his papers to the officer and edges close to an approaching train. As the man reaches for the documents, Court twists his wrist.

The train comes to a stop a few feet away from Court. Court pulls the officer by his wrist so that he stumbles, and he tries to pull out the man’s gun with his other hand. However, the gun is stuck. Court pushes the man into his colleagues. As they reflexively catch him, Court darts sideways and grabs the gun from the police officer, pressing the gun to his head and dragging him away. He knows that the FSB men will soon shoot at him, even if it means killing the officer.

In a quick move, Court climbs onto the now-moving train with his hostage and shoots an FSB officer through the window. As the passengers around him scream, Court marches the officer to the conductor’s cabin. He pushes the officer to the floor and tells the conductor to keep going until they reach Park Kultury. Court strips the police officer to dress himself in his uniform. The train speeds up, and Court spots an entire battalion of FSB men running alongside the train in frustration.

Court tells the terrified conductor to stop at Pak Kultury only for five seconds so that the FSB men believe that the train bypassed that stop as well. Court jumps off at the station, and because he is dressed in a police officer’s uniform, the passengers don’t question him racing through the station. However, Court runs into an FSB officer. He punches the man unconscious and flees. Court races out of an exit, pretending to be an officer helping the employees shut the doors from the outside.

Court goes to a public restroom in a nearby park and changes out of the uniform into his last set of civilian clothes. Since Moscow is swarming with FSB men, Court knows he can only get out of the city with the Legion’s help. He gets a call from Hanley, who is already in Poland, saying that their operations are progressing rapidly. The Ukrainians want to conduct their raid on Sunday night, as bad weather is set to strike Mordovia the following day. Since it is Friday morning, Court only has 48 hours to make it to Mordovia. Hanley also updates Court about the layout of Yavas. Both Hanley and Court are sure that Zoya will be in the confinement wing because she would have tried to escape. Hanley’s intel shows that Nadia is also in the confinement wing.

Baronov is furious that Court has evaded capture. He gets a call saying that Arkady and his wife have been questioned, but they maintain that they had no idea about their tenant’s real identity. Baronov tells his team to let the couple go; he wants them to be available if Court contacts them. He asks for a 40-member platoon of the highly specialized Alpha Group troops to be moved into Yavas.

As if in answer to Court’s prayers, the Legion van pulls up as he stands at an empty street corner. His face is covered again, but by now, he recognizes Denis’s voice. This time, when Court is unmasked, he sees Denis with an unknown red-haired woman. He realizes that this is Katarina and asks about her grandparents. Katarina tells Court that her grandfather is safe for now, but he is being watched very closely by the FSB. She asks Court for a code name by which they are to refer to him. Court asks her to call him “Six” (his code name in team Sierra Six in the eponymous novel).

Katarina tells Court that she has been in touch with Court’s handler (Hanley) and wants to help Court free Nathan Yarovoy from Yavas. However, before she puts her people in danger on Court’s behalf, she wants to know his interest in the woman he plans to free. Though Court gives an evasive answer, Katarina understands that Court loves the woman deeply.

Satisfied with Court’s reasons for raiding Yavas, Katarina tells him that Denis’s team will be assisting him and takes her leave. Court tells Denis (whose code name is “Vanya”) that he can tell that Katarina likes him. Denis and Court have a drink together and plan their operations. Court learns that Denis has a day job as a grocery clerk because he needs a cover to protect his mother and sister.

At an important meeting between Hanley, members of the NRC, and Ukrainian military personnel, Chairman Didenko of Ukrainian intelligence lays out the plan for Sunday’s attack. The code name for the attack is Operatsiya Yalta, a name chosen to deliberately confuse Russian intelligence about the target.

On Saturday morning, Ukrainian forces will create a diversion by trying to break through a weak spot in Russian defense at far-off Chasiv Yar. As Russian troops are pulled to Chasiv Yar over the next day and a half, the Ukrainian forces will use weapons and aircraft supplied by the US and the NRC to launch their true attack from Kharkiv, a Ukrainian base 30 kilometers from the Russian border.

The plan is to use drones and aircraft to target Voronezh, a third of the way between Kharkiv and Mordovia. When Russian assets are fully engaged with the short-range drones and missiles at Voronezh, long-range drones and missiles fired from Sukhois and MiGs (Russian-made fighter planes) will shoot toward Mordovia. As Russian radar systems go down, aircraft, including the V22 Osprey with Zack’s trainees, will fly to Mordovia. Soldiers will rappel down the V22 and break into the men’s prison to rescue Yarovoy, while Hanley’s man (Court) will break out Nadia.

Hanley thinks that the plan is audacious but just might work. He asks the Ukrainian chairman the reason for their involvement in the operation. Didenko tells him that they want to free Yarovoy because, upon becoming the next president, he will stop the war against them.

Later, Hanley informs Zack about the plan and tells him that, although he is to get to Kharkiv with his trainees, he must not cross the border into Russia.

A Legion team heads out of Moscow toward Mordovia in a camper van with Court and a cache of weapons concealed in a cubbyhole. The van is stopped at checkpoints along the road and given a pass. However, at one of the checkpoints, Legion member Tatyana catches an officer’s attention because of the gash on her arm (sustained during the railway station explosion); she went to a clinic to get it treated, and the clinic reported her.

As Tatyana and the others are asked to get out of the van, Court grabs a machine gun and points it at the door of the camper van. An officer opens the door to check the van, sees Court, and freezes. Court tells him to report that the back is clear. This gains Court some time while Sasha, Dima, and the others turn on the officers outside to keep them from taking Tatyana. Court kills the officer at the back of the van, and they head to a designated safe house in Babayevo, east of Yavas, where Denis and dozens of Legion members are located.

Baronov learns about five officers dying in an attack by rebels on the highway to Mordovia. Though his juniors insist that the attack involved only Legion members, Baronov knows from the efficiency of the killing that Court was there. He orders even more Alpha troops into Yavas.

At the safe house, Denis and Court discuss their modus operandi. Court tells Denis that only some of the Legion members, such as Sasha and Dima, are ready for warfare. Most of the others have much to learn. Denis chides Court for running down people who are putting their lives on the line for him. Court acknowledges his error and tells Denis that he will keep an open mind while selecting Legion members to accompany him on the raid. He will also try to train people quickly in ops over the next day. Once in Yavas, Court and the Legion members will blow up the prison gate with Semtex from the weapons cache and then head to the confinement wing to free Zoya and Nadia. After their meeting, Court checks in with Hanley and learns about the Ukrainian plan. Hanley tells Court that he is to bring Zoya and Nadia to an Osprey craft waiting for him right outside the prison.

Zoya is hatching another escape attempt. She steals two long sewing needles from the workstation and hides them by pushing them into the skin of her forearm. She mops up the blood with toilet paper, pretending it is from a nosebleed. Later, Zoya is called to Maximov’s house. She fears that her theft has been discovered, and her anxiety amplifies when she sees Baronov in the office.

Zoya keeps a nonchalant front before Baronov. To her shock, Baronov tells her about a rogue American agent who has been in the Balkans for the last two months, intent on getting into Russia. She realizes that this is Court. When Baronov suggests that the agent’s objective is Zoya herself, a disbelieving Zoya cannot understand how Baronov knows about her connection to Court.

Baronov reveals what he had meant when he said he knew Zoya before Yavas: He was one of the officers who ordered Zoya’s torture and interrogation in Lefortovo. Zoya was drugged with enough truth serum to kill her during the interrogation; she survived and, in a barely conscious state, told Baronov about her relationship with the Gray Man and how he would stop at nothing to save her. Because the serum was so overpowering, Zoya was left with no memory of the event.

Baronov tells Zoya that he tipped off the CIA about her location, knowing the information would be passed on to Court. Further, Court’s entry into Russia was part of his plan. In the process, Baronov discredited the GRU, his rival agency. Now, Court will come to Mordovia and be killed. His connection to the CIA will be revealed, which will please Peskov since his narrative has always been that the US foments trouble in Russia. Baronov’s position in Russia will be cemented. A distraught Zoya is filled with guilt that she may have led Court to his death.

After the meeting concludes, Zoya is taken to the cage for her daily exercise, where she thinks about her next steps. She knows that the time to be afraid is over. Now is the time to act. She notes that Nadia is in the cage next to her and tells her that an American is arriving to break her out, with the support of the Legion. They will need to help him when he gets there. Zoya has the means to break out of her cell, and when she does, she will come for Nadia, who must stay ready.