“Good.” I make a pointed glance at the officers gathered down the pier. “I need to get to Mexico, Walker. We’re talking in the next couple hours. There’s going to be a battle down there that I can’t miss. I need whatever support they’re willing to give me.”

“Is there an ‘or else’ you’re waiting to drop on me?” Walker asks, her expression darkening. “I’ll do what I can, but I already told you the military’s position. That comes direct from the commander in chief.”

“Yeah, well, tell them the parts they need to beat the shields? They’re sitting on a runway in Mexico. So they better scramble some damn jets and get me down there.”

Walker holds up her hand, letting me know she’s heard me. “All right, all right. I’ll do my best. But we’ve got other crap to deal with before we go jetting off to your special Loric safe zone or whatever the hell it is.”

“Whoa,” Sam says. He’s wandered closer to the railing and is staring into the water. “They’ve got a submarine out there.”

“Yeah,” Walker replies. “Before you go anywhere. John, I want you to take a look at this.”

She slides up next to me and clicks play on the tablet, starting a video. It’s shaky footage from earlier this morning, when the Anubis left Manhattan and glided over the Brooklyn Bridge. The camerawork is jittery and the audio is convoluted with screams and soldiers shouting orders to each other. Eventually, the sinister warship passes out of sight.

“What am I supposed to be looking for, Walker?”

“That’s what I said. I missed it the first time, too,” Walker replies, running the footage back again. “Apparently, the thousands of highly trained military personnel didn’t notice this happen in real time either. Watch the river now.”

Sam leans in next to us, squinting at the video. “Something falls off the ship,” he states flatly, pointing at the screen.

He’s right. A round object about the size of Setrákus Ra’s pearl-shaped getaway ship drops from the warship’s belly. It hits the East River with a large splash and immediately sinks out of view.

“Ever seen anything like that before?” Walker asks.

I shake my head. “I’d never even seen one of the warships until the Anubis attacked New York.”

Walkers sighs. “So we’re still in the dark.”

“Are they sending that sub down to look for whatever that was?” Sam asks.

Walker nods. “The river’s only about a hundred feet deep, but they don’t want to risk sending divers down in case it’s some kind of weapon or trap.”

“What else could it possibly be?” I ask Walker, putting my hands on my hips and turning towards the river. Add this mysterious object to the long list of things I’ve got to worry about.