Safely removed from Hooper—he was two floors above them at the other end of the building—Emmeline felt no stirring of the freakish sexual magnetism she and the other female staffers suffered with physical proximity to the man. Even so, she didn’t think they were being entirely fair to him.
“I don’t think he’s a bad man,” she said. “He’s just…he just…”
“Does bad things?” Heath finished for her.
“All the time?” Compton added.
Resistance was futile and she gave up. “Most of the time.”
Hooper let rip with a Godzilla snore and Compton leaned across the table to turn down the volume on the monitor.
“So we need a plan.”
“For defeating Sauron, or Dave?” Heath asked, only half smiling.
“Both,” said Compton, before adding, “or for beating the Horde and controlling Hooper at the very least.”
He leaned forward and dropped his voice.
“We’re not the only ones in this game. He is an asset and he’s in play. I don’t need to tell you that there are some people who would simply remove him from the board if it improved their position.”
“If they come to see him as a threat?” asked Heath. “You mean the Russians or the Chinese?”
“And the rest. You know how this works,” said Compton. “If Hooper isn’t on your team, he’s against it. We need him to understand he’s on our team.”
Emmeline looked at the video of the man sleeping two floors up.
“But are we on his?” she asked.
This is the end of A Protocol for Monsters.
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Dave Hooper will return in Stronghold.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, this book was a collaborative effort. Thanks to my Beta readers, to my editor Deonie Fiford for cleaning up the original manuscript, and Patricia Lye for proofing the final.
The cover art is by William Heavy and formatting by Guido Henkel.
And thanks to you, for taking the time to read. I do appreciate it.
Published by John Birmingham
PO Box 437
Bulimba, Queensland 4171
Australia
First Edition published 2016
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Copyright © John Birmingham, 2016
Cover design by William Heavy
Ebook formatting by Guido Henkel
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the author. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10% of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency (Australia) under the Act.
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Table of Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A Protocol for Monsters: Dave vs the Monsters Page 10