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

am proud of you, of the men you’ve become. After all, you two helped make this possible with all those wonderful discoveries you’ve made. Oh, sure, some were dead ends, but there were others that truly helped me put all of this together. So many pieces to the puzzle may have gone unfound if it weren’t for you two.”

Sean wavered for a second. He glanced over at his friend, and both shared a look of doubt for half a second.

“Yes, that’s right,” Magnus went on. “Your agency helped lay the foundation for this next step in human evolution, Tommy. In a way, I’m glad the two of you are here to see it.”

Sean kept the pistol extended, unwilling to surrender.

“You can kill me if you want to, Sean,” Magnus said when silent seconds ticked by. “But it won’t save all those people. Nothing will. This is the only way to make sure they don’t suffer.”

Sean shook his head slowly, inching it side to side. “No, Magnus. Humanity deserves a chance. People deserve a chance to dig themselves out of the hole we’ve created. No one made you judge, jury, and executioner of our entire species.”

“Quite the contrary, my boy. I am all of those things. As I’ve said before, I do not want this task, Sean. But it must be done. For the good of humanity.”

Sean’s finger tensed on the trigger. “You’re right, Magnus!” he shouted.

The Swede regarded him with suspicion.

“I can’t stop you from activating the machine.”

Magnus smiled at the comment.

“But you’re wrong about one thing.”

Magnus cocked his head to the side with mocking interest. “Oh? And what might that be, my boy?”

“I am that good of a shot.”

Sean’s finger twitched as it had done so many times before. The muzzle flashed, and a pop echoed around the chamber.

He held the pistol still after the recoil, keeping it aimed upward, toward where Magnus stood. The Swede snorted derisively at first, then started outright laughing.

“Was that supposed to be your dramatic moment, Sean? Your time to shine where Sean Wyatt rides in on his horse to save the world?”

Kevin stirred at Tommy’s feet, but a swift kick to the temple knocked him senseless again.

“Something like that,” Sean said.

Magnus shook his head, still chuckling. “But you missed.” He dropped the red diamond into the hole and held his hands out wide, showing that the deed was done.

“No,” Sean corrected. “I didn’t.”

Magnus searched Sean’s face for a lie, but he found none. He hadn’t been struck by the bullet. Then he realized Sean’s angle was slightly twisted to the right, his left. Horror stretched across Sorenson’s face as his eyes fell on the pillar where the green gem had been placed. A bluish green light sprayed out from the shattered remains of the precious stone, spilling the rays out onto the hieroglyphs to the right.

“No!” Magnus yelled. “No!”

Sean took a deliberate step forward and squeezed the trigger again. Another gem exploded. Then a third. With every stride, Sean picked off one after another until they were all obliterated, save for the one behind Magnus—the red diamond.

The Swede grappled at the shattered gems, desperately hoping they could somehow be repaired. With panic in his eyes, he turned back toward Sean, who held the pistol aimed squarely at his old benefactor’s chest.

Magnus fumed. “You fool! You’ve killed us all! Don’t you see? The world is going to consume itself. And we are going to die here in this mountain!”

The humming the men heard outside the pyramid pierced the walls of the megastructure and filled the chamber with an almost deafening sound, like the roar of an approaching freight train. The blue cube’s rhythmic pulsing quickened, and the light shooting up to the ceiling brightened.

“Maybe,” Sean said. “Or maybe we gave humanity a chance.”

Sean lowered his weapon and turned around. He strode back toward the door, passing Tommy.

“Sean Wyatt! I made you! I made both of you! And I can end you!”

Magnus drew a .45 pistol from the folds of his jacket and raised it.

Sean saw Tommy’s movement and whirled around.

The two friends were quicker, and they squeezed their triggers in rapid succession.

Sean’s pistol clicked when the last of the magazine was empty. Tommy fired two more times just to make sure the deed was done.

Then the two lowered their weapons as Magnus stared down at the bullet holes in his torso and legs only a second before he fell to his knees.

“Goodbye, old friend,” Sean said.

Then Sean and Tommy turned and ran out of the room.

50

Svalbard

Adriana fired her pistol and ducked back behind the door next to Niki.

“I think I have two left,” she said.

Five of the gunmen lay dead at the head of the passage, but some still remained.

“And I’m out,” Niki added. “What should we do?”

“Make them come to us,” she said, looking into the room behind them. “We hide out in there, surprise them, take them down in close quarters."

The room she indicated was full of ancient artifacts. Most of the relics were unlike anything she’d ever seen. Strange vases, pictures, weapons, and tools filled the shelves and tables all around the vast space.

“That’s a good idea,” Niki agreed.

They were about to enter the storage room when a deep thud roared from somewhere in the mountain. It shook the facility’s foundation. Lights flickered overhead. Then the building trembled again.

“What was that?” Niki asked. He looked to her for answers, but she had none. Except one.

“I think we’re too late.”

Then a woman’s robotic voice echoed through the corridor.

“Warning. Warning. Containment protocol breached. Evacuate immediately.”

The message continued repeating as red lights flashed in the corner of the storage room.

Niki and Adriana shared a concerned glance, then heard a shout as the door at the end of the corridor burst open.

“Run!” Sean appeared through the opening and sprinted toward the elevator.

He saw the two huddled by the door and then looked down the hallway where the five bodies were. Realizing there could still be trouble, he raised his pistol, ejected the magazine,