Free The Guard by Pittacus Lore

I discover is a wealth of information about MogPro and the specifics of the Mogadorian involvement with the US government. As I work, Mark finally manages to get in contact with Sarah. As Mark thought, she’d been traveling with the Garde. She’s an invaluable source of information, and the link to my people here on Earth that I’ve been searching for.
    Things seems to be going smoothly.
    Which is why I shouldn’t be surprised when everything falls apart.
    I’m installing a new power line in the ship that will use the primitive fuel sources on this planet when I get a message from Mark saying that he’s screwed up and thinks the Mogs might have a lead on Yellowhammer. He asks if he should abandon it completely or go backfor his notes and files. I tell him it’s his call.
    He heads back to the ranch with Sarah to pack up. I’m left to wait for word from him. I pull up the cameras at Yellowhammer just in time to see him and Sarah rush inside and start packing.
    Then everything goes black. I can’t reestablish a connection. All I’ve got are monitors full of static.
    My heart falls into my stomach.
    Every second that passes makes me more impatient, more worried that I should have told him to leave everything and run from Alabama. As I wait, I pull up a program on one of my monitors: the controls to the bomb planted underneath Yellowhammer Ranch. At what point should I assume the worst and detonate the fail-safe, keeping the Mogadorians from getting any of Mark’s notes? What if I set off the bomb too early and end up killing Mark and Sarah in the process? In that moment, alone in my safe house, all I want in the universe is to see Mark’s name appear on my cell phone. He’s been my eyes and ears for the past few months. We’ve been in constant contact.
    I can’t lose him.
    Nor can I believe that JOLLYROGER182, the “Aliens Anonymous” user who referred to Mogs as “janky-looking assholes from another planet” in his first message to GUARD, has become a valuable asset not only to the Loric cause, but to me personally.
    The clock ticks. I stare at the button that will destroy Yellowhammer. I wonder if I have it in me to press it after all this time. Would I risk sacrificing Mark and Sarah to keep information from falling into Mog hands?
    Relief bursts through my skull when my phone dings. It’s a text from Mark, saying they were attacked but are all right.
    I call him back on one of my burners that has a voice modulator built in. My voice comes out electronic, distorted on his end of the line.
    “How far are you and Sarah from the house?” I ask when he answers.
    “I don’t know. Maybe a mile? I can still see it in—”
    I click the button. There’s static on the line as Mark’s microphone picks up the sound of Yellowhammer Ranch exploding.
    “That should take care of any Mogs remaining on the property and thoroughly wipe our tracks,” I say.
    Mark doesn’t sound too thrilled about the fact that he’d been sitting on top of a bomb all this time, but I’m too focused on typing to pay much attention to his concern. Instead, I tap into his truck’s built-in GPS and input the coordinates to the Georgia safe house.
    It’s time to move forward in the fight against the Mogs. To join my fellow Loric.
    The first step is to finally reveal myself to Mark and Sarah.
    When Mark and Sarah show up, they look stunned—likely due to a combination of seeing me, the ship and the automated weapons that target them when they trip my security system. The incredulous silence doesn’t last, though, as they begin to ask a million questions. I assess the situation and prioritize; Mark is feverish, and the bullet wound in his arm is completely infected. The first thing I do is give him a shot of the antibiotics I’ve got stashed away with other medical supplies. He’s fine with that. The next part, less so.
    “Motherffffff—” He holds out the “f” as I splash the injury with rubbing alcohol.
    “Is he okay?”