Vik let out a breath. “It doesn’t work that way. You can only remove a memory if you know the exact time segment. If she’d done it then, it would’ve been gone and I never would’ve been the wiser. Since she didn’t, I’ve had months to think about it over and over, and I’ve thought about stuff related to it. We’d have to spend a few days with the census device to hunt down everything that would need to be cleared out, and I bet I’d notice the blanks. It’s too late. My whole point is, I think we need to take things more seriously. You need to take things more seriously.”

Tom made sure the other trainees had disappeared into the elevator, then he suggested, “We can rescramble Yuri.”

That stopped Vik short. “What?”

“We can do it,” Tom said. “I bet he’d even let us. We’ll talk to him. He’ll talk to Wyatt.”

Vik blinked. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“Just like that.”

“Just like that.” Tom hit the button for the elevator, avoiding Vik’s gaze. “I know this might seem a bit insane, or wrong, or whatever, but I’ll throw something out there. And don’t get paranoid or nervous or read too much into this, but, well, I’ll say it. What if I’m no longer completely sure he’s not a spy? Not for the Russians, of course, but, uh, maybe for a Russian. A. Singular.”

He glanced at Vik and knew from the way Vik was gaping at him that he was, indeed, going to be paranoid and nervous and read too much into it.

Tom’s head throbbed. Great.

“WHAT’S GOING ON?” Wyatt demanded when she met them in the Census Chamber.

“Tom has a secret life,” Vik said, from where he was sprawled with his back against the chair beneath the census device.

Tom chose not to comment. Vik really had no idea.

“I thought he didn’t know about all that memory stuff,” Wyatt said to Tom. “You told me not to say anything.”

Tom flushed, realizing she’d misunderstood. Wyatt was thinking about the census device footage.

Vik was perturbed. “What, more stuff I don’t know about?”

“No, no, no,” Tom said. “Vik, she means something entirely unrelated. Something not important.” He turned to her. “And you, he means something I’m going to tell you right now. About Yuri.”

“What about Yuri?” Wyatt said.

“What’s the memory stuff?” Vik persisted. “Tell me, and I can tell you if it’s unrelated. I don’t like being let in on stuff after it’s already blown up into a huge problem.”

“What’s blowing up into a huge problem?” Wyatt cried, anxious.