I drew in a deep breath, then sighed. “I don’t disagree.”

“But you don’t wholly agree, either?” Rain asked.

“I… believe in second chances. Not necessarily in every circumstance, though, which seems to be the direction a lot of people are going.”

“We should walk,” Rain said. “The sooner we get where we split off in different directions, the earlier Kenzie can head back to her parents’ and make it on time for dinner.”

“Yes, please,” Kenzie said, still looking down at her phone.

Sveta had an umbrella. I held it so Sveta could walk while leaning on me, the two of us sharing it.

There weren’t many cars on the road, and even with the overcast sky making it rather dark out for the late afternoon, there weren’t many lights on either. The route we were walking put us on a long stretch of road with small businesses and restaurants on either side. Most of the illumination came from store signs in bright colors that were reflected in the puddles.

“I didn’t get a great read on Chris,” I said. “He’s the other big set of question marks.”

“I like Chris,” Kenzie said, without looking up. “He’s crazy smart about some things and adorkably stupid about others. He’s hard to figure out but when he lets you in it makes you feel special.”

She said something like that with no compunctions, no reservations. I almost envied her.

Sveta reached out and placed a hand on top of Kenzie’s hood. “It would be unfair to share Chris’s story when he didn’t want to share it himself, Victoria. I only said what I said about Ashley because she’s open about it.”

“In fairness, I wasn’t asking or prying,” I said. “I was remarking.”

“Remarking with a question mark at the end?” Rain asked.

“Inviting an answer, but not pressing for one,” I said. “I can drop it.”

“Okay,” Kenzie said. She put her phone away. “All caught up. Stir fry for dinner, I’m going to pick up broccoli, and my workshop is warming up for later.”

“You’ve got a workshop, like a proper tinker,” I said.

“Absolutely,” Kenzie said, dead serious.

“Are you hiding a jetpack inside that raincoat, or are those rocket boots?” I asked.

“I wish,” Kenzie said. “I can’t do that stuff. I make cameras and inconveniently big boxes. My best stuff is inconveniently big, box-shaped cameras.”

“Big boxes?” I asked.

“The term in my file is emplacements. Terminals, tech, and computers big enough they’re hard to move around. Like turrets, but I can’t really make good weapons or defensive things.”

“I see. I can see why Watchdog wanted you.”

“Grr, arf.”

And I might be able to see why your supervisors wanted to keep you away from the front lines.