Kenzie protested, “In really tough fights, Victoria can go all out and hit full strength. In really tough information warfare, why can’t I do the same? This stuff is maximum importance, and now we can do more with less!”

“We might,” I said. “But we talk this sort of thing out first. This is the exact opposite of what we’re trying to do.”

Kenzie nodded, smiling.

“We should talk restrictions,” Sveta said. “Make sure we don’t make anyone suspicious. What if we waited a while before visiting again?”

“What?” Kenzie asked. “You’re joking.”

Sveta said, “We just dropped some tech off at their place and compromised their systems—”

“It’s not going to get caught. I guarantee you.”

“Just to be safe,” Sveta said.

“You’re punishing me.”

“I’m being safe,” Sveta said. “If it’s unreasonably safe, maybe it’s because I don’t like my team doing things behind my back, and I’m uneasy.”

“I’m—really sorry,” Kenzie’s voice had unexpected emotion in it. Her expression was a contrite half-smile.

“Good,” Sveta said. “Apology accepted.”

“I really thought this would be best. We can get info to and from there without it being stuck behind paperwork, or super difficult to get there and back. We’re so behind on everything, and—”

“And we communicate,” I said. “Please.”

Kenzie smiled and nodded.

Damn it. I’d have to figure this out, in a time and place where I wasn’t putting her on the spot. Smooth things over, make sure she wasn’t too upset.

“Speaking of communications,” Chris said. He was on a computer. “We have a peek at their systems.”

“Stay away from classified files,” Tristan said. “We’ve torn past enough boundaries today already.

“Nothing classified,” Chris said. “Employees make notes of frequent callers and people who request visits. We’ve got some threads to follow.”

“Cheit?” Sveta asked.

Chris tapped the screen, before stepping back.

Rather than us go to the computer to look, Kenzie changed the display, broadcasting the image of yellow text on a black background onto the wall.

The self-proclaimed Blue Empress was wanting to see people within the prison. She had been refused a few times. For good reason.

She went by other names. The Woman in Blue. Goddess. She’d taken over a world single-handedly. After Gold Morning, she’d been left in our world, where she’d lurked on the fringes. Something or someone in the prison had piqued her interest, and now she was exerting pressure, trying to get inside.

What to even say? On the one hand, to dismiss this would be madness. On the other hand, to mark it as important when doing so would only encourage Kenzie…

Pieces were almost falling into place.

“Chris, can you find information on Crystalclear? Requests, communications?”

“Yeah,” Chris said. “I can try.”

I folded my arms, looking at the image on the screen, the moving text, the slow-moving query.