The Milestone Protocol by Ernest Dempsey (best books to read in your 20s txt) 📕

“You don’t know that.”

Adriana appreciated his support, his willingness to let the world burn just to help her and her father, but that wasn’t something her father would want. It wasn’t what he’d spent his life preparing her and himself for.

“It’s going to be okay,” Adriana said. She didn’t really believe it, not for her father. For all she knew, he was already dead. “We have to get to Svalbard and stop Magnus.”

“Svalbard?” a husky voice said from off to the right. The group turned and saw Dak approaching with a long rifle slung over his right shoulder. “What’s in Svalbard?”

“So, you’re Dak Harper,” Sean said. He offered his hand. Dak shook it firmly, noting the equal strength in Sean’s grip, perhaps even stronger.

“Depends on the day of the week,” Dak answered dryly.

“Touché.”

Dak looked around the group, his emerald eyes searching them for answers. He threw up his hands. “Seriously, what’s in Svalbard? That’s a Norwegian island, right? Way up north?”

“We believe there’s an ancient pyramid there,” Tommy answered. “And if there is, it’s probably the control center for a doomsday machine that will kill two-thirds of the planet’s population. We have to get there, stop Magnus, and shut it down.”

Dak tilted his head to the side as if pondering the information. “Sounds like a fun challenge,” he said. Then he looked out at the dozens of bodies strewn across the backyard and around both sides of the house. “So, are we going to clean this up or just leave it for someone else?”

Sean surveyed the carnage. “Let the birds have them. Thoth was the bird god, after all. We have a plane to catch.”

“And probably a boat or two,” Tommy added.

The group started toward the road, but Sean lingered back with his wife. When the others were out of earshot, he looked deep into her dark brown eyes. “Are you going to be okay?”

She fought back a tear, the way only she could. He knew she was stronger than him when it came to such things. When his parents had been threatened, Sean plowed through the emotions as best he could, but what no one else saw after the ordeal was how the stress affected him. He was a wreck for days, but eventually got through it knowing that his parents were okay.

In this case, there was no way to know if Diego was all right. He considered calling his father-in-law, but if the man were knee deep in defending the family land, he wouldn’t answer. And a phone call might be a distraction that ended his life.

“I’ll be fine,” Adriana said. “My father can take care of himself. I don’t care what Magnus says. He could throw an army at Papa, and he would come out okay.” She took a deep breath and exhaled. When she’d finished, she felt much better. “Come on. We have to stop Magnus.”

“We won’t be able to just chase him down,” Tommy said. “That man controls everything. His order has infiltrated everything, probably right down to the street cameras in cities all over the world. Their resources are infinite. Even with the IAA plane, I don’t think we could slip by his net without being detected. For all we know, he could tell some foreign military entity that we’re a terrorist threat and have us shot out of the sky.”

“That’s not our only problem,” Niki added. Everyone turned to face the young man. He spoke with the confidence of a man ten or twenty years older. “As he said,” Niki indicated to Tommy, “there is no way that you’ll be able to fly your private jet to Svalbard, partly because of the reasons he highlighted but also because the airport there is controlled by the Fellowship. Odin…Magnus,” he corrected, “has most of the customs officials and security personnel chosen from his ranks. There’s no way we could get through without detection. They’ll be looking for most of us.”

“Not us, though,” Tara said, motioning to Alex.

“Perhaps,” Niki hedged, “but if you’re associated with them”—he pointed at Tommy and Sean again—“then they are already running a list of people who fit that category. You two would be on that list.”

The group fell silent. Snow flurries fluttered from the gray sky above, drifting around the group and between each of them.

“I may know someone who could be of assistance,” Dak said, speaking up. Everyone looked to him expectantly. “He was in Portugal, but right now he’s in Germany. I believe he could help us with some papers, false identities, disguises, that sort of thing. If we want to get into Svalbard, that might be our best bet.”

Sean liked the idea, except for one big problem. “You said he’s in Germany? What city?”

“Heidelberg.”

Tommy sighed. “That’s too far away. He’ll never get here in time.”

“I have another idea,” Emily chimed. “First, I need to make a call. I have a friend in Helsinki that might be able to get us to Svalbard. They run a cargo business exporting goods to Russia and Estonia. Short flights back and forth. If he’s willing to help us, I’d say he’s our best bet to get to the island.”

“We won’t have much time,” Sean said. “Magnus took the diamond. And he has a head start.” He looked at Emily. “Make the call. We need to mount up and get back to Moscow.”

41

Spain

Diego knew the attack was coming before the trucks and a long line of SUVs encircled the estate. With security cameras positioned all around the property and two miles up the road in both directions, there was little that escaped his detection. From his underground control room, he watched as the veritable army of Odin’s men clambered out of their vehicles and took up a formation around the front gate.

“No aerial assault?” Miyamoto asked, standing just behind his old comrade.

Diego passed over all the screens in front of him. Sitting on the edge of his desk chair, he