“How’s Malcolm doing?” I ask Sam. He made a short call to his dad after we got off the phone with Six.

“Mostly relieved that we’re alive. And very excited about my new . . . thing,” Sam replies, glancing around to make sure no one’s listening. “He and the FBI agents Walker left behind got scooped up by the government during the evacuation of Washington. I guess he’s getting the VIP bunker treatment. They’ve got him in the same underground complex as the president.”

“Maybe he could put a good word in for us.”

“I told him,” Sam says. “Right now, he says they think he’s some crazy scientist that specializes in aliens with a lot of pets.”

“The Chimærae.”

“Dad thinks it’s best if they pass as normal animals for now. I know we’ve decided to trust Agent Walker’s little group of rebels, but there’s more than just her crew in Washington. Some of the scientists down there, well, Dad thinks they might be a little too curious about alien biology.”

I think about how Adam rescued the Chimærae from Mogadorian experimentation. Much as I want to trust that the U.S. government is better than that, I don’t. “That’s smart,” I reply. “Keep them from getting dissected or something until we need them. In the meantime, they can look after your dad.”

“Yeah . . .” Sam trails off. I can tell there’s something else he’d rather be talking about, mostly because he hasn’t let up since we got off the phone with Six. “John, I still can’t believe you told them to stay down there.”

I’m planning to call Six back once I figure out how much support I can drum up from Walker and the government. At least until then, they’re staying put at the Sanctuary. They’ve got some time until Setrákus Ra shows up. “You honestly think Six would’ve retreated if I told her to?” I reply. “I don’t like putting them in danger either, Sam, but . . .”

“John, come on. The Anubis almost killed us yesterday! We were like ants against that thing. Not even there. What chance do they have?”

“Ella told me Setrákus Ra wants what’s inside the Sanctuary, which I’m assuming is this Loric Entity Six told us about. We can’t just let him go there unopposed. Nothing good can come of him getting what he wants.”

“But how are they going to fight him off? What good is going to come of them staying down there?” Sam asks, raising his voice. “They can’t even hurt him. Not without—”