The Silent Protocol: Another high-stakes cyber-thriller in The Last Message Trilogy

A city still scarred. A signal that could end everything.
Twelve years after the VEGA incident, London teeters on the edge of chaos. When investigative journalist Maya Dalton finds encrypted files hinting at a top-secret operation—Protocol Silence, a plan to blackout global communications—she becomes a target. DS Bhatti warns her: a kill order is out. Meanwhile, Alex Rennie, living under a false identity, receives a chilling message: "Protocol activated. Berlin. 48 hours."
Forced out of hiding, Alex reunites with Maya and plunges into Berlin's hacker underworld, where the ghosts of VEGA rise again. Tech mogul Lionel Gage is back, orchestrating a "digital coup" to hijack satellites and reboot VEGA in a new, decentralized form. A rogue ex-Stasi cryptographer offers their only chance to stop it.
As the clock ticks down, betrayals cut deep. MI5 may be compromised, and Alex's own dark past—code-named 'Nightfall'—comes to light. Their mission hurtles toward a rooftop showdown, where one must make the ultimate sacrifice.
The satellites are watching. The silence is coming.
And behind it all, a darker force waits to be revealed.

Stephen Bentley is an award-winning author. Of his first true crime novel, UNDERCOVER, screenwriter and novelist, writer of 'Julie' BBC Drama, Rob Gittins, said, "The fascinating and extraordinary inside story from the man who was actually there."
Of his later fiction works, British crime author, Pat MacDonald said, "I knew when I read the author's first book 'Undercover: Operation Julie' although non-fiction that he could make the transition to writing fiction; I was right. He has an ease of language that lends itself to storytelling; he tells it as if he was there in the plot and why shouldn't he having been an undercover cop in the real world? Not that Steve Regan is meant to be him, but having the experience means he can do whatever he wants with his fictional characters, and they will always be believable."
Like some other authors, his life experience is broad and unconventional. He spent 30 years in the legal system, first as a detective for 15 years then as barrister plying his trade as "a wig for hire" in London and the English provinces. He was a pioneering undercover cop on Operation Julie and as a barrister defended in trials involving murder, rape, drug importation, other serious crimes and defended soldiers at courts-martial.
He worked in a warehouse. Rode a big motorbike as a London courier. He drove big articulated trucks and taught how to drive them. He also worked as a hospital porter twice. He drove chilled delivery vans in London in the 1990s to fund his law degree and bar school studies. He spent the last two years of his working life driving plant and operating heavy filtration machinery for Europe's largest water company. His work mates soon recognised his advocacy skills and elected him as their shop steward.
He has now written over twenty books. Two of them have been optioned and in development; one as a TV drama series, and one as a drama doc.
You can find Stephen at stephenbentley.info
His wife is a better person than him in all regards and is a source of support in his goal of entertaining readers. She has also made him a better person.