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Bull raised his voice with the final question, looking for a cheer froan to drift back toward their various tasks Holden squeezed Naomi’s uninjured shoulder and rabbed Amos by the arm

“Anna,” Holden said “Do you remember A, Red?”

“Amos will be here to protect you and the others,” Holden continued “If you need anything, you let hiet in here to stop you fro as he’s alive”

“That’s the truth,” Auys,” someone called out from the doorway “Look what followed me hoave Aful look Protect this one with your life Auely offended

He left the for the door The security officer Corin, Bull’s new second-in-corin

“Come on in, boys,” she said, and four Martians with military haircuts came into the roo over every inch of the room Holden had known someone who always entered a roo she were here The eant Verbinski,” Bull said to one of thenized the

“Sir,” Verbinski said “I heard you’re about to start a fight to get us all out of here”

“Yeah,” Bull said “I am”

“Sounds like a noble cause,” Verbinski replied “Need four grunts with nothing else to do?”

“Yeah,” Bull said with a growing smile “I really do”

Chapter Forty-Four: Anna

T

hey’d failed

Anna watched the busy men and women in the radio offices as they strapped on body arrenades from their belts, and she felt only sadness and despair

A history professor at university had once told her, Violence is what people do when they run out of good ideas It’s attractive because it’s simple, it’s direct, it’s almost always available as an option When you can’t think of a good rebuttal for your opponent’s argument, you can always punch them in the face