“Oh, great,” Walker replies. I can hear her mutter to the driver. “We’re depending on a bunch of horny teenagers to save the world.”

Better us than people like Walker, I think, but pretend not to have heard her snide remark.

The phone rings five times, each one causing my heart to beat a little faster, before Sarah answers, narrowly evading the dump to voice mail.

“Before you say anything,” she begins, not even saying hello, her voice shaky, “I just want you to know that I’m okay.”

“What happened?” I ask, trying to keep that first rush of panic out of my voice. I can hear the sound of traffic in the background. Sarah’s in a moving car.

“We went into town for supplies and had a run-in with some Mogs,” Sarah says, still catching her breath. “I guess they tracked us down somehow, not too happy about the They Walk Among Us thing. Don’t worry, we’re all fine. Bernie Kosar handled them.”

“Are you somewhere safe?”

“We will be soon,” she replies. “Mark’s hacker buddy GUARD gave us directions to his home base in Atlanta.”

Mark had some details about GUARD in one of his emails to Sarah. He’s another conspiracy junkie, like one of those guys from the old version of They Walk Among Us. But he’s also an excellent hacker and, according to Mark, has access to a surprising amount of information. It makes me a little nervous that Sarah and Mark are headed to meet him without us knowing his identity.

“What does Mark know about this guy?” I ask.

Sarah repeats my question to Mark. I can’t quite make out his reply over all the noise from the road.

“Mark says he’s probably some nerd hiding out in his mom’s basement,” Sarah repeats dryly. “But that he’s a ‘solid dude’ and that we can trust him.”

I roll my eyes at Mark’s scouting report. “That’s heartening. Just in case, I’m going to text you the location of somewhere safe. It’s a base in Washington that we took over, loaded with government guys who are on our side. If you need somewhere to run to, you could head there.”

I hear two engines rumble to life behind me. I turn around to see all of Walker’s agents piled into the cars. Nine and Sam still stand outside our SUV, waiting for me. Nine makes an impatient wrap-it-up motion.

“What’s going on there?” Sarah asks me. “On your way to do something stupid but possibly world saving?”

“Pretty much,” I reply, allowing myself a faint smile. “Did you get those documents I sent you?”

“Yeah,” Sarah replies. “We’ll have a chance to upload them once we’re in Atlanta.”

“Perfect. I’ve got a feeling They Walk Among Us is about to get a lot more hits.” I pause, reluctant to get off the phone. “The others are waiting for me. I’ve gotta go.”

“Mark says to go kick some ass. And I love you.” Sarah catches herself, laughing. “Mark didn’t say that last part. That was from me.”