“What happens then?” I ask.

“The UN convenes,” Walker explains. “Conveniently, the president won’t be able to make it, so Sanderson will appear in his stead. He’ll be there to introduce Setrákus Ra to the world. A nice bit of political theater about how the sweet little aliens mean us no harm. There will be a motion to allow the Mogadorian fleet safe passage onto Earth, let them dock here, be good neighbors in the intergalactic community. The world leaders he’s bought off already will support it. Believe me, they’ve got a majority. And once they’re here, once we let them in . . .”

“We saw one of those warships in Florida,” Six says, giving me a grim look. “They’d be hard enough to take down even with an army that’s ready for battle.”

“But there won’t be a battle.” I say, finishing her thought. “Earth won’t even put up a fight. And by the time they do realize they’ve let in a monster, it’ll be too late.”

“Exactly,” Walker says. “Not everyone in the government is on board with Sanderson. Of the FBI, CIA, NSA, the military—about fifteen percent are for MogPro. Lots of powerful friends, they made sure of that, but most people are still entirely in the dark. I figure the Mogs established the same ratio in other countries. They know how many humans they need to control to get this done.”

“And you’re what? The one percent that’s fighting back?” I ask.

“Less than one,” Walker replies. “It’s a lot to go up against if you don’t have superpowers and—what was that out there? An army of wolves? Anyway, my crew have been staking out Ashwood, waiting for a chance to strike or, I don’t know, do something. When we saw you take the place over—”

“All right, Walker, I get it,” I say, cutting her off and setting aside the file. “I believe you, even if I don’t really trust you. But what are we supposed to do? How do we stop this?”

“Get to the president?” Six suggests. “He has to be able to do something.”

“That’s one idea,” Walker says. “But he’s one man, and seriously well guarded. And even if you could get to him, explain to him about aliens and bring him around to your side? There’s still plenty of MogPro pricks waiting to stage a coup.”

I stare at Walker, knowing she already has a plan and is just stringing us along. “Spit it out. What do you want us to do?”

“We need to win over the people who’re still in the dark. To do that, we need something big,” Walker says, totally cavalier, like she’s talking about taking out the trash. “I’d like you to come with me to New York, assassinate the secretary of defense and expose Setrákus Ra.”

CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

I WATCH FROM THE OBSERVATION DECK AS THE warship approaches, at first just a dark speck against the blue Earth but steadily growing larger until it blots out the planet below. The warship slows once it’s relatively close to the Anubis—relatively because we could be miles apart up here, the vastness of space making depth and distance hard to figure. I’m far away from Earth. Far from my friends. That’s the only distance that matters.