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

sudden pain in his lower back as an elbow drove him against the car next to Tabitha.

Adriana whirled around before her attacker could strike. The man held a gun in his hand, aiming it carefully at her head. Her eyes blazed with hatred, but there was nothing she could do. The gunman, a man with dense, dark hair and tanned skin, stood at the perfect distance to keep her from attacking and depriving him of his weapon.

If she made a move, he would pull the trigger and end her. The suppressor on the muzzle would keep anyone from hearing it, and with the only patrons at the restaurant parked out front, there would be no witnesses.

“What do you want?” Adriana asked.

Another man swaggered up next to the gunman and grinned. He stared at her from behind dark sunglasses, as if trying to find an answer in her eyes that he couldn’t get any other way.

“There were supposed to be four of them,” the man said, vaguely speaking to the one holding the gun.

“That’s what I was told as well, sir,” the gunman replied.

“Where is the other one? And where is the artifact?” This time, he addressed Adriana directly.

“Bend over, and I’ll show you,” Tommy said.

“You think you’re funnyman.” The leader’s voice was smooth and full of condescension, despite speaking in slightly broken English. “Where is the other one? Tell me, and we’ll make this quick.”

Adriana kept her breathing calm, rhythmic. She blinked only when she meant to, never wavering in the face of certain death. “We split up,” she said plainly.

“Split up?” The man removed his sunglasses and peered at her in confused irritation.

“He found another lead. Had to check it out. Said he would meet up with us.”

She could tell from the look on his face that the leader didn’t believe her, but for her intentions, he didn’t have to believe her. He only had to hesitate, and that purpose had already been achieved.

The man drew his own weapon from the folds of his coat and pointed the long barrel at her.

“You’re not going to tell me I have to the count of three, are you?” she asked. “That’s so cliché.”

Tommy chuckled, but Tabitha couldn’t find it in her to laugh during such a dangerous moment.

“I can’t believe you’re laughing,” she grunted, squirming against the force from behind her. She directed her next statement to the assailant. “And do you realize you’re assaulting an MI6 agent?”

“That’s not going to do anything for you,” Tommy managed before the man behind him pushed hard enough on his back to shut him up.

“No counts to three,” the leader said. “Tell me where he went, or I kill your friends, then you.”

“Oh, that old line,” Adriana soured. “Do you want to know how many times I’ve heard that one?”

“Very well,” the man started to sweep the gun toward Tabitha when he heard a crunch on the snow-dusted gravel behind him.

He and the other gunman spun in time to see the kitchen knives tumbling at them. It was the last thing they saw before the blades pierced their eyeballs and sank into their skulls with mortal force.

Their faces grimaced as they fell—an instinctual reaction initiated before death. Sean swooped in, snagging both pistols from the dying men’s hands before they hit the ground.

The two men holding down Tommy and Tabitha loosened their grip and turned to see the commotion. Their last visions on earth were of two pistol muzzles popping. The twin headshots ended both would-be killers, and their bodies slid off the sedan and onto the gravel.

Sean lowered the pistol in his left hand and passed it to Adriana, grip first, before he swept the area, making sure the threat was eliminated. He saw no one else in the vicinity. The parking lot was empty, as was the hill behind it. The skeletal trees offered no danger, either.

Satisfied that they were safe for the moment, Sean lowered his weapon and moved over to the sedan.

“You guys okay?” he asked.

Tommy looked down at the bodies by the car, then over at the other two. “Yeah, we’re fine.”

“Fine?” Tabitha protested. “He just killed four people.”

“I’d prefer to keep it to four if it’s just the same to you,” Sean said in an easy tone.

“Is that some kind of joke?”

“No.” He shook his head lazily. “But the longer we stick around here, the more likely it becomes that we could face more trouble. And next time, I don’t think it will be a variety we want to deal with.”

“He means the cops,” Tommy whispered, leaning close as if sharing a secret.

“I know what he meant,” Tabitha snapped.

“Just clarifying because a second ago I think you thought he was insinuating killing you too.”

“Would you just shut up?” she fumed.

“Seriously, though,” Sean said, “we need to move. Someone will park back here sooner or later. Or someone’s shift will end.”

“You’re not going to leave the bodies out here, are you?”

Sean sighed, already regretting the fact the MI6 agent was with them. “Well, yeah. I’m not going to dig them a grave. And we know they’re not cops.” He pulled back the coat on one of the collars to reveal the same tattoo that had become obligatory with their attackers.

“Again with the ankh,” Tommy murmured.

Sean could see there was no getting around disposing of the bodies. Tabitha made that clear with the way she peered at him through slitted eyelids.

“Fine,” he said. “But it would have been simpler to just let them kill you.”

“That supposed to be funny?” Tabitha asked.

“I don’t know. Did you laugh?”

Sean winked and grabbed one of the corpses by the ankles. “I suggested you each take one. We’ll hide them behind that hill, and hope that no one sees us dragging four dead guys across the parking lot.”

35

Russia

Niki watched from the shadows of a barn just over the small rise behind the restaurant. He’d remained there during the ambush, watching in mesmerized, and somewhat amused, horror as Sean Wyatt snuck up behind four