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

misty breath evaporating within seconds. Emily saw it when the idea popped into June’s head.

“Drunk girls,” June hissed.

Emily’s lips creased, then she nodded.

Arms over shoulders, the two stumbled around the corner, blabbering loudly about a disagreement from the bar they’d just left.

“You’re crazy, girl,” June said. “That guy was totally into you.”

“I’m too old for him,” Emily drawled. “Come on.”

“You’re only…what, thirty-two?”

They stopped midway across the lawn, hanging their heads low to keep from being recognized. It was a slim chance, especially for June, but it was always prudent to be careful.

The two guards looked over at the sudden commotion, both reaching for weapons initially, then easing their stances as they realized it was two drunk women who’d accidentally stumbled their way into the backyard.

Emily looked into June’s eyes. “You are so sweet, girl. You know that? That’s why I love you.” She slurred the words as if she’d been on a nine-hour bender.

“I love you, too,” June said drunkenly. They wrapped their arms around each other in a firm embrace just as the two guards approached.

The closest guard stopped a few feet short of the huddle. The second guard halted next to him, watching with amusement. The two men could have been related, both sporting the same black hair cut at similar lengths. Of the few differences between them, height was the most pronounced. The guard on the right was easily three inches taller than the one on the left.

“You two can’t be here,” the first guard groused. “Get out of here, you drunks.”

“Take it easy,” the second guard cautioned. “Let’s see where this goes?”

The guard on the right turned this head to the other and rolled his eyes. “Seriously?”

“What’s seriously?” June asked, turning toward them as if just realizing they were being spied on.

“You two need to leave the premises right now,” the guard on the right ordered. “We are conducting a secure investigation.”

“Oooh,” June cooed, letting go of her friend, who pretended to fall down on all fours. June sashayed forward toward the guard on the left, while Emily crawled like a drunken fool. “An investigation? What kind of investigation? Because I think I’ve been a bad girl.”

June held out her wrists together, offering to have them cuffed.

“Not that kind of investigation. I’m going to need you to leave the premises immediately.”

These guys weren’t real cops or real federal agents. At least those types would have had the courtesy to call her ma’am. But June and Emily knew they weren’t legit agents. Dangerous? Probably. But they weren’t trained American assets. Not now, anyway.

“What kind of investigation is it, Officer?” June stammered while Emily continued to crawl forward, stopping short of the left guard’s feet.

Of the two, he was the one being swayed by their belligerent antics. June even caught him trying to take a peek through one of the loose buttons of her shirt just above the top trench coat button.

Some men were so easy, she thought.

June touched the top button of her shirt, and it magically came undone, revealing a little more skin at the base of her neck. “Oh, it’s chilly out here,” she said seductively. “Shame you boys have to be out in such cold weather.”

“Yes,” Emily said, giggling. She stopped at the left guard’s foot and grabbed his shin to brace herself.

The man resisted at first, but when she grasped his other leg in an effort to balance, he reached down to shake her free. Emily abruptly sprang upward, driving the top of her skull into his nose. He shrieked momentarily, but any sound he could make was cut off by a knife blade she jammed through his throat.

Confused and horrified, the other guard turned to avenge the killing, but he didn’t get a full step in before June stabbed him through the ear with her own blade. His eyes blinked once and then went blank. The body crumpled to the ground next to the other.

June and Emily knelt next to the guards, wiping their knives on the men’s clothing.

“You’re sure they weren’t real feds, right?” June asked, half kidding.

“Definitely,” Emily said, noting something on the left guard’s neck. She pulled back the collar of his jacket and revealed a tattoo. “Interesting,” she said, pointing to the other guard.

June took the cue and tugged on the second man’s collar. He, too, bore the same ink on his neck.

“Unlikely a couple of FBI guys would go out and get matching tattoos,” Emily mused.

“True.”

The two concealed their weapons again and hurried back around to the gate, then skirted the interior of the fence until they reached the front corner.

“Drunk girl again?” June whispered as they stood in the shadow of the house, just out of sight of the two men standing guard.

“No,” Emily said. “Let’s go with damsel in distress. We probably need to use the pistols this time. We can work faster, and if someone inside hears any kind of commotion, they’ll come check the front door.”

“That could put the hostages in danger,” June offered.

“Which is why the second we drop those two, you go around back and enter through the rear door.”

“What if it’s locked?” June wore concern on her face.

“It won’t be. They stationed two guards there. If they needed to get inside for something, it would be a pain to have to knock.” Emily sounded convincing, but half of that was to convince herself. If the back door were locked and June couldn’t sneak in from behind the targets, Emily would be on her own against four gunmen.

June accepted the explanation with a nod and drew her gun. Emily also removed hers from her jacket and slipped it into the right-front pocket. The subcompact pistol was just small enough to conceal in the deep pouch.

“Wait at the back door until you hear the commotion. Then flank them.”

“I don’t want to catch you in the crossfire,” June said, worry evident in her tone and mirrored in her eyes.

“Me either,” Emily admitted. “Will be risky. But it’s our best chance.”

With both agreeing to