Monster Hunter Nemesis Read Online Free PDF

back grinning. “Thank you, stewardess . . . What?”
    “That’s why you’re assigned to Franks. Myers figured you had charm enough for both of you.”
    “Hey, I’d seduce a congresswoman if it furthered the mission. Don’t ever say that I’m not willing to take one for the team.”
    The interior bay was large enough to carry a tank and had seats down the sides. There were two other armored MCB agents already strapped in and waiting. Of course there were no nameplates on a mission like this, but Archer knew one of them. The muscular guy was Radabaugh. Like many members of the MCB recruited from the military, he was a former spec ops badass. Radabaugh was a long time member of the Strike Team and had even been in Natchy Bottom. That was the sort of thing that earned an agent some street cred. Archer shook his hand. “Good to see you here.”
    “Hey, Henry,” he shouted back. “Grant. You guys Franks-sitting too?”
    “Afraid so,” Grant answered before turning to the last agent, who was a rather average-looking young man with thinning blond hair. He wasn’t very tall, and a little overweight for an agent, which meant he probably wasn’t from the Strike Team. “I don’t know you. What department are you in?”
    “Thomas Strayhorn.” The young agent stuck out his hand to shake. “I was transferred over from the Marshal’s Service. I’m still unassigned.”
    “Nice to meet you, Agent Strayhorn.”
    “ Probationary agent. He got out of the academy a week ago,” Radabaugh said. “I’m his TO.”
    “Still in training and you’re on Franks’ detail?” That was surprising. Archer shared a nervous glance with Grant. From the look on his face they were thinking the same thing. The last time Franks had been put with new agents it had been to smoke out a mole. That op had exposed the traitor Torres, but it had gotten Herzog killed in the process.
    “A week, huh?” Grant asked suspiciously. “Isn’t that something? Is he cleared on Franks?”
    “He’s cleared, but he’s not had the full briefing yet, just the sanitized version from the academy. I just got the word from Myers half an hour ago to be here.”
    “You must have either impressed the hell out of him, or really pissed Myers off somehow. Welcome to Franks duty, Strayhorn. It’s a real joy to work with him. Most bosses you have to guess if they really like you or not, but with Franks that’s never in question. He hates everyone. Our job is to run interference, be the public face—”
    “Fetch him snacks. Rub his feet,” Radabaugh said. “Basically we do whatever he says all while trying to keep stupid people out of his way.”
    “Franks especially hates stupid people, and he thinks everybody is stupid.” Archer sat next to the new guy. He’d ridden in plenty of C-17s, and compared to some of the other military aircraft the MCB routinely commandeered it was a pleasant ride in comparison. Conversation was even possible if you didn’t mind yelling. “A rookie, huh?”
    “I spent three years in federal law enforcement—”
    “The sooner you get through your head that means jack shit when dealing with monsters, the better,” Radabaugh corrected him. “That’s Henry Archer you’re talking to. Don’t let the flattop fool you. He may look like Vanilla Ice but he’s the real deal. Archer here took point on the New Zealand op. You heard of the Arbmunep?”
    “Oh.” That got his attention. “They talked about that in training. Impressive.”
    “That tree was a mean son of a bitch, but it was a team effort.” Monster Hunter International had done a lot of the heavy lifting on that one, but since MCB agents’ opinions on that company ranged from MHI being cowboys deserving a little grudging respect all the way over to them being a bunch of money-grubbing, borderline criminal cutthroats, Archer didn’t want to open that particular can of contractor worms.
    But Radabaugh did anyway. “And Grant here is former MHI. He dealt with