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

behind the slides until they were certain it was the two researchers from the IAA.

“That’s them,” Corin determined. “They said they would be in an old black Camaro.”

“How can we be sure?” Diego asked.

His sister and Desmond looked at him with a scathing glare.

“Seriously? How many black 1969 Camaros do you think happen to show up at this exact middle school playground this time of night, precisely when we asked them to meet us?”

“Good point.”

The three emerged from their hiding place and waved to the two inside the muscle car.

Tara and Alex climbed out and hurried over to the three kids. They met near the fence.

“You guys okay?” Tara asked, sounding like she expected the worst.

“We’re fine,” Desmond answered. “But we need to get out of here.” He looked back toward the forest. “There were some agents at my house. They drove what looked like government SUVs, and there were two guards standing outside the front door.”

Tara and Alex shared a concerned glance.

“Are your parents in some kind of trouble?” Alex asked.

“No, I don’t think so. They’ve never done anything illegal in their lives. Except for speeding.”

“And that’s the issue,” Diego added. “Why would those agents be there?”

Alex looked around the playground and motioned to the car. “Come on. We should probably get out of here and discuss this on our way.”

“On our way where?” Corin pressed.

“Somewhere safe. Outside the city,” Alex answered. “Let’s just say you weren’t the only ones who got a visit from some strange federal agents today.” He kept going before the kid could ask more about that. “We have a few friends in Cartersville. Coworkers, actually. Just so happens that they’re home from assignments right now.”

Desmond’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead. “How many people you got working at IAA, anyway?”

Alex chuckled as they reached the car. He opened it and pulled up the front seat so the kids could climb into the back.

“Nice wheels,” Corin said, running her eyes over the length of the vehicle.

“Thanks,” Tara said with a wink. “We keep it on hand in case of emergencies. Harder to track the older rides like this one.”

Once the kids were in the back and buckled, Tara slipped into the driver’s seat and revved the engine. To the audience in the back seat, the growling motor sent a shiver through their spines as the thrill of riding in a real muscle car coursed through their veins.

Tara steered the vehicle out of the parking lot and onto the road.

“So,” Alex resumed the previous conversation, “did you see any of the other people who claimed to be feds?”

“No,” Desmond said. “We only saw the two guards. Their SUVs looked like something the FBI would drive. And the jackets the guys outside the front door wore had those big yellow letters on them. I figured they were legit.”

Tara smirked at the use of the term.

“But you think maybe they aren’t really FBI?” Alex continued.

“Don’t know.” Desmond shrugged. “But what I do know is my parents don’t do anything illegal. Why would they?”

“Fair question,” Alex admitted. He chewed on his bottom lip as he considered the issue.

“Just because the FBI was there doesn’t mean they were arresting your parents,” Tara offered. “You didn’t see them come out in cuffs, did you?”

“Well, no,” Desmond drawled. “But why the two guards out front? I don’t know. It didn’t feel like they were just there to ask questions.”

“But you guys don’t even know the worst part,” Diego chimed. He waited for a couple of seconds to make sure he had everyone’s attention. Tara turned onto another side street and passed a sign pointing the way to the interstate. “They showed up after we sent Tommy something about the explosion at Brown Mountain.”

Tara and Alex passed each other a questioning glance.

It didn’t slip by any of the kids in the back.

Corin addressed it first. “You two didn’t hear about that either?”

“No,” Alex said. “What explosion?”

Desmond fished the phone out of his pocket and produced the image of the article they’d seen earlier. He handed Alex the phone and sat back.

Alex looked over the bits of the article he could see as concern darkened his face. “I can look this up on my phone to see the rest of it.” He started to hand the device back to Desmond, but the kid shook his head.

“That’s just it. You can’t. The article was deleted shortly after we noticed it.”

“Makes you wonder,” Corin offered. “Why would they delete an article like that?”

“Could have been a mistake,” Tara countered. “Fake news happens all the time, and all over the world. Usually, it’s used in a political way, a method to dismantle opposition. In this case, though, there is no opposition. Not that we know of.”

“Exactly,” Diego agreed. “It’s just a weird archaeological spot where we found those glowing…things.” He didn’t know what else to call the anomalies, so things felt right.

“The Quantium,” Tara clarified with a grin.

“Yes. That stuff.”

“It does seem strange,” Alex surrendered. “Everything we’ve studied and learned about Quantium doesn’t suggest it spontaneously combusts.”

“Aside from what happened in Bolivia,” Tara said.

“True. But in that case there was a bunch of it around, and the whole portal thing probably caused the explosive reaction. Too many variables to reach a definitive conclusion yet.”

They stopped talking and realized that three pairs of wide eyes were staring at the two of them from the back of the car.

“Um, Alex?” Tara whispered.

“Yeah,” he said, looking into the back seat. “So, any chance you three didn’t hear any of that?”

The three kids absently shook their heads at the same time.

“Right. Of course you heard it.”

“Wait,” Corin said, “that glowing blue stuff from Brown Mountain explodes?”

“And you found some in Bolivia?” Desmond added.

“And what did you mean by portal?” Diego asked.

Tara pressed her lips together knowing she and Alex had backed themselves into a corner there was no way out of.

She turned right onto a ramp and accelerated onto the interstate heading north toward Chattanooga, Tennessee.

“Okay,” Alex said after a minute of