“Great,” I said in a voice that revealed I thought it was anything but. “Let’s get going.” After our failure this afternoon, I’d decided that Henry needed to go undercover. Tracking the Mazikin wasn’t working, but if he could get himself recruited …

Henry hefted a ragged pack on his back and adjusted the cap on his head. “Ready.”

I drove us to Roger Williams Park at the south end of the city. We’d agreed Henry should walk from there, as we didn’t want him seen with me and Jim. I parked at the very edge of the lot.

“Thank you for doing this,” I said, suddenly worried for him. I’d been forcing myself not to think too much about what I was asking of him, focused entirely on being a strong Captain, but now that wasn’t so easy. What if I was condemning him to an eternity of suffering in the Mazikin city? After what Rita said today, that seemed like a distinct possibility. And knowing Henry had someone who was waiting for him to return, someone he was desperate to get back to, made this even harder.

Henry gave me a ghost of a smile. “Malachi told me what that wild-haired Mazikin said to you. I won’t let it happen to me, Captain.”

I nodded. If he got trapped in their nest, he’d be hopelessly outnumbered. In the dark city, the Mazikin had been on foot, and it was much easier there to peel off and escape them after being led to their nest. But here, they were driving around, and I was betting they were picking up victims in that van or other vehicles. Sneaking away would be difficult—especially if they were parking in a garage near the nest.

I swallowed and tried not to fidget. “You take care of yourself. Stay alert.”

Henry stared at me, his face half in darkness, half lit up by the streetlamp above us. “I spent over sixty years in the Wasteland, Captain.”

He let that sink in for a few seconds, the idea that he had been there, that he had belonged there. But it also meant that he had survived there, and if he was a Guard, the Judge must have seen something in him, something beyond a corrupted, evil soul. Henry read my thoughts in my expression. “Don’t think I’m soft because of what I told you. And don’t think I’m better than I am.”

“You don’t want to kill. You said it yourself.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m not capable of it. Or that I haven’t done it willingly, many times.”

“We’re all capable of it, Henry. That’s why we’re here.”