Retrieval

HE SAT UP IN SUDDEN motion the way he always did on waking. "What is it you want, Malakai?" Her voice echoed from the dream. "You," he said in a whisper into the empty room.

What if you discover someone you trust is not of this earth?

The desert has always been home for Gillian. Hasn't it? The diner she owns gives her a good life, she thinks. Then a man calling himself Gabriel rents the room upstairs and hires on as her cook. Because of him, her ordinary world and everything she loves begins to shift into an unknown and frightening reality.

On the very day he arrives, fiery explosions streak across the sky, and everyone in the diner assumes it must be part of a military operation from the nearby base. But it is far more. Seven ships, starbreakers, have entered Earth's atmosphere. One of them crashes to the ground, scattering valuable and dangerous technology into the desert in its wake. Five of the starbreakers immediately depart before being detected.

Only one alien ship remains--the Menocai--for it must retrieve all lost debris before the local military can find it. And it holds, too, a darker purpose. Its self-absorbed commander seeks Gillian, as well. He won't leave until she is captured. He has sent his brother Inac, in the guise of Gabriel, to retrieve her.