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((The Mon/Wen/Fri Double -- page 2 of 2))
The Secretary's frown remained exactly where it was. "But if it was the monster, then why did it not come for us as well? I was wondering that previously, yet now I feel foolish for not having realized it sooner."

Stoutamire chimed in again. "Sadly, I think you may be right, ma'am. And if that's so, then might it not be safer to remain here? With Lord Goffe?" He addressed Hector directly. "Your offer to give us your plane is incredibly kind of you, but now I can't help worrying that the real danger for the Madame Secretary may not come from this mysterious Beast at all."

Hector cocked an eyebrow. "Just like that, you think the monster isn't real?"

"Oh, no, it may well be," said the Ambassador, "but so may the threat on the Secretary's life be. I cannot speak for the rest of us, of course, but I feel much safer now that you are here, and to be quite blunt, I would rather not leave your side just yet. What if the Beast is somehow able to bring down the aircraft?"

That pulled a couple of disquieted whispers out of the man's unnamed associates.

Hector made no response, though. He supposed the guy had a point. They didn't actually know what the monster was capable of. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility that it could attack the airplane, especially if it could alter the weather.

But Hector still couldn't help mistrusting Stoutamire's words a little. There was something in his mannerisms that Hector found slightly unsettling. Perhaps it was the lack of genuine fear in the man's eyes. The Ambassador somehow looked happy about having an excuse to stay.

Hector tried not to rush to judgment, though. He probably shouldn't base his decisions off of things like "the look in someone's eyes," eh? The fuck did that even mean, anyway? He may've been a lord now, but it wasn't like he'd suddenly gained lie-detecting powers or anything.