In Cape Town, South Africa, junior CIA officer Matt Weston is serving as a "housekeeper", an operative in charge of securing and maintaining a local CIA safe house in case of an operation. He calls his mentor and immediate superior, David Barlow, and inquires about a station in Paris, where he hopes to follow his live-in girlfriend Ana, a French medical student about to start her residency. Barlow tells him he is likely underqualified for the position, which frustrates Matt as he has not had a "houseguest" during his year long tenure, and thus has been unable to gain field experience. Barlow promises to revisit the issue in a few months.