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Nicole wakes in the Carpitz safehouse as Elijah gathers Nicole, Ada, and Garth. Elijah warns that Gilead pressure on Canada is mounting, Carpitz could be targeted next, and Mayday may need to evacuate. Options for foreign refuge have narrowed as nations shut their borders or avoid provoking Gilead.

Elijah and Ada explain that killing Baby Nicole would damage Gilead’s image; they prefer her alive and recovered. Mayday once anticipated Gilead’s moves thanks to an unknown inside source who sent accurate intelligence but has now gone silent after The Clothes Hound burglary and the deaths of Melanie and Neil.

Elijah details the microdot system: the source hid images of documents on Pearl Girls’ Baby Nicole brochures, which Melanie passed to Neil for viewing and reply. With the camera seized and the Upstate New York route rolled up, Elijah expects mass reprisals and acknowledges Mayday’s network has been crippled.

Despite setbacks, Elijah outlines a fallback plan previously sent by the source: a convert can still enter Gilead, and only Baby Nicole is acceptable to carry a promised cache of documents said to expose and destabilize the regime. Without Nicole, the cache won’t be delivered; without the cache, Gilead endures and recent sacrifices are wasted.

Nicole balks at posing as a convert, but Elijah and Ada promise training in prayer and self-defense. They assert that Nicole’s capture would not result in her execution due to her iconic status. They also reinterpret Aunt Adrianna’s death: she worked for the source and was likely killed by her Pearl Girl partner during a confrontation, underscoring Gilead’s fanatic violence.