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

As predicted, the next wave entered with greater caution. Additional men emerged from the elevator and opened fire at the tables directly ahead, plunking rounds into the dense metal surfaces with no impact beyond.

Dak slid to the right and stabbed his pistol out from the far side. The attackers were focused on the center where the others huddled for cover, which made it easy for Dak to pick off three more before the others reacted and opened fire at his end.

Taking his cue, Tabitha scurried to the opposite end and blasted the gunmen from the other flank. The men fell through the entrance, dead before Emily and June even had to fire a round.

Dak and Tabitha ejected their magazines and replaced them, ready for the next attack. They both slid back to the center and looked to Alex.

“Any progress on that energy reversal thing Sean mentioned?” Dak asked with hope in his eyes.

“Maybe,” Alex said. He held the screen at an angle so Tara could see it. “These hieroglyphs were taken from the pyramid, based on the notes. It appears that—”

More gunshots popped, and Dak immediately poked his weapon over the edge of the table and took out two more men on the right side of the short corridor as they tried to sneak in and take out Emily.

“You were saying?” Dak urged as he ducked back behind their cover.

“These images—I think—are instructions on how to use the mechanism. You see this one where there is only one gem?”

“Yes,” the other three said together.

“Well, notice how this image is different than the one with twelve?”

The others nodded.

“My guess is, if we destroy the other eleven gems and leave in the red diamond, it will change the flow of power through this cube,” Alex pointed at a blue square in the picture.

“Will that be stable?” Tabitha asked.

“Probably not,” Tara answered for him. “But it looks like the only way.”

Alex agreed with a nod. “Yeah. I think so.”

“Call it in,” Dak ordered.

He popped back up and opened fire again, while Emily and June gunned down four more brave villains as they tried another mad charge into the control room. A thick haze of acrid smoke hung in the room, covering the piles of bodies accumulating at the entrance.

“Only a matter of time until they use tear gas,” Dak said. “Assuming they have it.”

“Tear gas?” Alex looked worried. “Okay, yeah. I’ll let Sean know.”

He pulled up the radio and pressed the button on the side.

Sean and Tommy cautiously stepped off the elevator, sweeping the corridors to the left and right. Adriana and Niki moved forward and down the hall toward the door at the end that led to the gigantic pyramid.

The debilitating sound of the alarms tempted everyone to cover their ears, but they pressed ahead quickly, desperate to reach the pyramid before Sorenson activated the machine.

Just as the group passed a pair of doors, one on either side of the hall, something slammed open behind them. Niki spun around in time to see a group of Sorenson’s goons rush around the corner from one of the other hallways.

“Trouble,” Niki said to the others as he flung open the metal door on the right a second before the men behind them opened fire.

Their suppressed weapons spit bullets by the dozen at the intruders, but the door proved a worthy shield, absorbing every impact with only scratches and minor dents to the surface.

Niki stabbed his pistol around the door and squeezed the trigger. He half aimed, hoping to get off quick shots that would drive back the enemy, rather than take any of them down. It would be a bonus if the latter happened.

The eight men ducked back around the corner near the elevator, taking cover from the counterattack.

“Go on,” Niki ordered. “We will hold them off as long as we can.”

“Not leaving you—”

“Go!” Niki shouted. “Take out Sorenson for me.”

Sean knew that was difficult for the young man to say. He’d been betrayed by the man, the father figure who’d taken him from the streets and molded him into something strong, powerful.

“I’ll stay with him,” Adriana offered.

“Wait. No.”

“I wasn’t asking.” She cast him a commanding stare.

“But this is your family’s task,” he protested. “It’s your mission.”

Another round of muted pops barreled through the corridor. Bullets pounded the door again. One struck the glass window in the top center and sprayed shards onto the floor, as well as onto Sean’s left shoulder.

“These men are going to be a bigger problem than Sorenson. You take the easy way for once, Sean.” She winked at him and then smacked him on the rear. “Go get ’em, tiger.”

He shook his head as she stuck her pistol around the door and fired. One gunman fell to the floor by the corner. He clutched at a wound near his collarbone that leaked blood onto the shiny white floor. The rest of the attackers fell back once more.

“Go,” she ordered again, this time more sternly.

With a nod, Sean and Tommy took off down the corridor at a dead sprint.

More clicks and pops followed. Bullets zipped by them and struck the wall and ceiling. Reaching another door, Sean reached out and yanked it open, pulling the door stop down in one fluid motion to keep it ajar. The farther they ran, he knew, the better angle the shooters would have. But Sean and Tommy had the advantage of distance, and by opening more doors along the way, they would be nearly impossible targets.

Sean heard Niki and Adriana return fire again with the doorway at the end only twenty feet away.

The two friends were nearly there when a random round tore through Tommy’s left shoulder. He groaned and dove into the corner as their allies fired back once more, driving the goons out of sight.

“You okay?” Sean asked, peeling away his friend’s fingers to examine the wound.

“It hurts,” Tommy said. “But I’ve had worse.”

Sean scowled at the wound. “I’ve had worse from a bicycle accident when I