The Expats

Shortly after Dexter’s staged confession, Kate decides to tell her husband that she used to work as a field agent for the CIA. She went into espionage fresh out of college, thinking that she would never be capable of love because of her tumultuous family life. Meeting and starting a family with Dexter changed those expectations. She ultimately realizes that she and Dexter had the same reasons for keeping secrets. She regrets withholding the truth, but after she quit her job, she found it more harmful and irrelevant to admit to it at all. Dexter accepts her apology.

Kate explains how her work largely involved convincing Latin American leaders to cooperate with the agenda of the US. She also admits that sometimes she had to make good on threats to coerce those leaders to cooperate. While she is ashamed to admit the number of people she has killed, she confesses about killing Torres to protect their family, especially since Torres had threatened her and Jake. She quietly recalls the aftermath of that assassination—being seen by the woman and the child who were living with Torres in his suite. Kate granted her mercy when she recognized that the woman and the baby were around the same age as Kate and Jake. Soon after, Kate transferred from working in the field to working as an analyst.

Before they return home, Dexter apologizes to Kate, allowing her to realize that neither of them has admitted the full extent of their secrets to the other.

Back at home, Kate sees a figure watching them from outside. The observer is Bill, who made a recent discovery that bolsters his resolve to watch the Moores. Later, Kate asks Dexter to choose between her and the money. Dexter immediately chooses her but wonders why they wouldn’t just use the money. Kate answers that she wants to keep it in escrow for fear that someone may come and want it back from them.

The following morning, Kate walks through town and arrives at an empty observation deck where she finds Julia. She tells Julia to leave her and Dexter alone. Julia theorizes that Kate has found the stolen money. Kate slaps Julia, and a fight ensues. Julia manages to overcome Kate, holding her down at gunpoint. Kate’s gun is pointed back at Julia. Julia then nods at Kate, which puzzles her, and leaves.

A few days later, Kate happens to eavesdrop on Jane and learns that Bill and Julia have left Luxembourg. As summer approaches, Kate and Dexter feel their lives quieting down. Having seemingly evaded the scrutiny of the FBI and Interpol, they decide that they no longer have to settle in Luxembourg. Kate becomes enamored with Paris, and the family soon moves there.

After Bill and Julia recount what happened to Colonel Petrovic, Kate asks why they felt the need to tell them about the colonel and the end of their investigation in person. Julia cites their friendship.

Kate recalls Julia’s photo in Dexter’s yearbook, so she asks Julia what she plans to do with her share of the money. Julia feigns ignorance, but Kate knows that Julia is the mastermind who manipulated Dexter into stealing the money from the colonel, leveraging her knowledge that Kate was a former CIA agent.

Kate explains her theory that Julia and Dexter met in college. They maintained their friendship in private until graduation. Years later, Julia was investigating cybercrimes when she bumped into Dexter. Together, they discussed the possibility of hijacking financial transactions to steal money. Julia then spent the next few years watching Dexter, leveraging his lack of wealth and grudge against his brother’s murderer to spur him into carrying out her plan. However, Kate implies that Colonel Petrovic’s involvement in Daniel’s death was only half-true.

Kate correctly theorizes that Julia fed Dexter false information while Dexter was considering Julia’s proposal. Julia admits to this and reveals that she was Dexter’s inside contact, adding that the name “Niko” means “nobody” in Croatian.

Julia explains that Dexter was merely one of many candidates she attempted to enlist in her scheme. She manipulated several other hackers and chose Dexter when he discovered the right method first. When Julia discovered that Dexter was married to a CIA analyst, she told him about Kate’s employment so that he would maintain an extra level of secrecy around her. Dexter would be the only person to whom all the transactions were traceable, allowing him to function as Julia’s scapegoat in case anything went wrong.

Julia ensured that she would be given the assignment to investigate Dexter, allowing him to evade arrest. She reminded Dexter, however, of all the serious crimes she could charge him with. As for Kate, Julia worked to ensure that she could believe the investigation was legitimate so that she wouldn’t foil Julia’s scheme. Julia admits that Bill initially knew nothing about her plan and that she created a fake office for Bill, leading Kate there to manipulate her sense of curiosity and motivation.

At this point, the novel reveals that Kate has hidden a transmitter in the sugar cube container, allowing Hayden to listen in on the conversation. Julia reveals that Lester was indeed her and Bill’s boss, visiting to see the suspect for himself and moving to close the case. It was when Bill and Julia revealed their purposes to Kate that Kate mentioned the 25 million euros that had been stolen. Having expected her to say 50 million, Bill clearly understood that something was amiss. Kate realizes then that Bill has been manipulating Julia as well.

The novel flashes back to Kate’s meeting with Hayden earlier that day, where she negotiates an arrangement to reenter employment with the CIA. She explains that she wants to work to fill the emptiness of her current life. Hayden asks her about Torres, but Kate deflects, offering to give him the thief who had stolen the 50 million euros from Colonel Petrovic in exchange for her old job. Hayden agrees, but Kate adds an extra condition: immunity for her and Dexter. Hayden declines.

Kate and Julia talk about the rumor that Kate used to force the Macleans out of town. They returned to Washington without any further leads, humiliating Julia and forcing her to resign. Bill resigned from his post as well to follow Julia, and they went from being a fake couple to a real one. Julia reveals that they are currently engaged, though Kate is unsure if Bill is exploiting an opportunity to take his share of the stolen money, or if he is actually in love with Julia. Kate slowly reaches for her gun when she notices Bill reaching for his own. As she second-guesses her theory about Bill, wondering if he had played into Julia’s desire to start a family, Kate realizes that Julia is pregnant.

The novel flashes back again to Kate and Hayden’s meeting. Hayden demands to know why Kate wants immunity. She reveals that it involves the robbery of 50 million euros. She justifies that the robber stole from the kind of person that the CIA would have tried to neutralize anyway. She then implies that an FBI agent is involved in the robbery. Kate offers to return the money through Hayden, then asks if he is willing to accept her terms.

In the present, Kate lets go of her gun, understanding that Bill is merely trying to protect Julia and their baby. She becomes sympathetic and wants Julia and Bill to freely raise their child. Kate remembers once more the day she killed Torres. Most of her guilt stems from the fact that she also killed the woman and left the baby alone.

Kate knows that her end of the deal is to have Bill and Julia admit their role in the robbery, not to ensure their arrest. She asks Julia what they need, so Julia asks for the account number to access the stolen money. Just before Dexter can give it to her, Kate reveals the transmitter and destroys it. She denies Bill and Julia access to the money but offers them a chance to run from Hayden. Bill and Julia accept, leaving at once and disappearing into the night.