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

streaks of blood stained them. As he turned his head, Dak caught a glimpse of the ankh tattooed on the man’s neck.

“An ankh,” Dak said. “Well, that makes sense. Thanks, idiot. You just told me who you’re working for.”

Fear ripped through the man’s gaze. “No. That’s impossible. No one outside the Fellowship knows its meaning. No one can know.”

“You sure about that? There are a few of us who know all about the Fellowship,” Dak lied.

He had no idea what the man was saying. He’d taken a gamble on the tat since the guy didn’t appear to have any others, though his body was pretty much covered in clothing. Still, the types of people who get neck tattoos were also the types to get lots of them. With only one, there had to be some kind of special meaning behind it. From the sound of it, his bet had paid off. “Maybe I’ll keep you alive and let the Fellowship know about your betrayal.”

“Thoth already has me in his grip,” the dying man said. “Soon, I will be with him in eternity.”

His voice faded, and he gurgled. The man’s body shook as it resisted the ultimate step into oblivion and then went limp.

With a grim look in his eyes, Dak stared at the dead man. He’d seen death like that many times, and most of the incidents hadn’t affected him. The only reason this one did was because of the strange things the man was saying.

Fellowship? Thoth?

He’d heard of the emerald tablets of Thoth but never put much into it since they sounded more like a hoax than anything. Maybe they weren’t after all.

Dak would leave that to the experts.

He checked the other two SUVs to make sure everyone else was taken care of. In total, he’d killed twelve men.

Who would send an assault team of that size out here into the hills of North Georgia to kill a couple of kids and lab assistants?

He secured his rifle and returned to the spot where he left the tactical bag and detonator. With his pack strapped to his back again, Dak trudged down the driveway to the house. He took out his phone, called Alex, and put the phone to his ear.

“Dak? You okay?” Alex sounded worried.

“You heard the blasts, huh?” Dak asked, almost sounding amused.

“Hard not to. They shook the whole cabin. We heard some gunfire too. The kids didn’t. They were in the back room playing some old video games that Mack keeps lying around. They heard the explosions, but not the gunfire.”

“What did you tell them?”

“Fireworks,” Alex said, clearing his throat of the half lie.

“That’s not entirely inaccurate.”

The cabin came into view around the last curve. “I’m coming up the driveway,” Dak said. “So don’t shoot me.”

Alex forced an awkward huff. “We won’t. And Dak? Thank you.”

“You’re safe for now. That’s all that matters.”

31

Cartersville

Dak stood near the door to the cabin while the fire flickered in the hearth, radiating its warmth throughout the living room. He took a sip from a white mug of coffee Helen had brewed earlier, never taking his eyes away from the window.

He’d been standing there since he entered the cabin, over forty minutes ago. The kids were tucked away in their beds for the night. Mack and Helen sat on the sofa, pistols to their sides and rifles leaning against the coffee table directly in front of them. Tara and Alex each sat in their own club chairs near the fireplace. They also kept pistols nearby.

“It’s approaching an hour since the attack,” Mack said, checking his watch. “You think they will send more after this long?”

Dak drew another long, slurpy sip from the mug, then nodded. “Maybe. I don’t mind sitting up a bit longer. We could do this in shifts if you prefer.”

“I suppose the question is, how deep are their resources?” Helen asked. As a former member of the Department of Defense, she knew how many of the inner procedures and protocols worked for her agency. But this was a different animal, a beast yet to reveal its spots or stripes.

“Based on the little I know, and from what I observed earlier, I’d say they’re well funded, supplied, and trained. I got lucky taking all of them out like that.”

“You had a good plan,” Tara insisted. “Don’t sell yourself short.”

“Could be,” Dak said. “Good thing I got here when I did. Those guys were armed to the teeth.”

“Were they being tracked?” Alex wondered. “Or will whoever they work for be expecting them to report in soon?”

“Probably, which is why it’s a good idea if we keep a rotating watch throughout the night, two-hour shifts each. I don’t mind taking the first one, unless one of you wants to.”

“Doesn’t matter to me,” Helen said. “But I agree, we should definitely keep watch.”

The words had just left her mouth when Dak noticed something out in the woods. He lowered his cup of coffee, setting it on a tall stool he’d pulled over from the kitchen. He leaned closer to the window, peering through the glass.

“What is it?” Mack wondered, noting the sudden shift in attention.

“Headlights,” Dak answered. “Sooner than I thought.”

Tara and Alex sprang to action and took up positions on either side of the living room window. Mack and Helen maneuvered to the kitchen window and peeked through it at the headlights creeping through the forest. The beams bounced and wobbled, indicating that whoever was coming had found a way to get around the firefight wreckage.

“Looks like only one car,” Tara announced. “I would have thought they’d send more.”

“They might have saved some for backup,” Dak said. “Or this vehicle is coming in to scout out what happened.”

Once the headlights were beyond the obliterated vehicles, it merged back onto the driveway and the beams stopped bouncing as much.

Helen sighed, checking her rifle. She slid open the window and got down on one knee. “Seems like only yesterday a gunfight destroyed our cabin. Now, here we are again, getting ready to