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

of his best men and killed them like they were common, everyday street thugs.

It had been the right call to hang back and observe, both to command the situation and to keep a safe distance.

One of the things Niki had learned during his training was to never underestimate an opponent. Now, that fact’s irony stewed inside him. Odin sent him here, giving him four men and a thin amount of information regarding the mission and its targets.

Given what Niki knew about Wyatt and Schultz, he realized that those two men alone would be dangerous. With the proper precautions, he could have eliminated them, but the fact that Wyatt had split off from the group, only to show up minutes later at their car, could have been fatal for Niki. There was no way to know if he’d have been savvy enough to prevent the second ambush from occurring.

He liked to think he was smarter than that, but doubts lingered in his mind.

The one certainty behind the deaths of his four men was that Wyatt must have realized they were there. It was the only explanation for the kitchen knives the former government agent used to eliminate two of Niki’s men.

There’d been another strangely troubling part of the failed ambush.

As he watched from the shadows of his hiding spot, he caught himself staring at the dark-haired woman.

There was nothing on her in his dossier, except "possible wife of Sean Wyatt", though that could neither be confirmed nor refuted. Not in the scant time Niki’d been given.

Something about the woman, however, struck him. Her profile, the hair, her figure, even cloaked in winter clothes…all of it resonated deep inside his brain. Who was she? Her face had turned so quickly that Niki couldn’t get a good look at her, and he’d been searching for the fourth member of the group by the time she turned his way. By then, his own men had blocked his view, and Niki didn’t dare move, not with a member of the target group on the loose, the one who just happened to be the most dangerous of the four. She’d covered her face with a scarf before they pulled the corpses out of view from restaurant workers or new customers.

Still, despite not clearly seeing her face, there was something strangely familiar about the woman. Niki couldn’t pinpoint why, but he felt a strong connection to her, as if he’d seen her before. It was more than a memory, and yet less, too. Like a hint at a past life that he’d never been aware of, she lingered in his mind as he watched Wyatt and his crew drive away after dumping his men’s bodies on the other side of the short ridge.

Niki waited patiently until the car was out of sight before stepping from the shadows and into the full brunt of Russia’s early winter cold.

He barely felt the sting of the air on his face as he traipsed through the tall, brown grass toward his car on the other side of the barn. He puzzled over the woman until he reached the black Land Rover, where he opened the door and retrieved his phone. Niki tapped on the contact from his last call, and the phone started ringing.

“What news?” Odin’s voice grumbled.

“Just as I suspected, sir. They killed all my men. And they didn’t have the stone.”

“What?” The older man sounded surprised at the report. “Killed?”

“Yes, sir.” Niki tried not to sound amused about it.

It wasn’t that he didn’t care about the soldiers under his command, but there was also the part of him that appreciated an equal adversary. It was possible he’d found that in Sean Wyatt, and the thought was intoxicating. Niki loved a challenge. Perhaps it was because of the challenging childhood he’d experienced. Or maybe it was the way he was raised in Odin’s house, always being put to the test in one way or another.

Either way, he shared the information with his benefactor without fear of reproach or punishment, when others may have cowered under the powerful man’s accusing, all-seeing gaze.

“Are you going to explain what happened?” Odin asked after waiting patiently for details.

“We cornered the targets at a restaurant on the side of the road, out in the country. I’m still on the scene now, about to leave. The men ambushed the group, but there were only three of them. It was too late for me to call the team back when Wyatt snuck up and executed them.”

“Wyatt killed all of them by himself? My men? The men I had trained by some of our best?”

“Yes,” Niki said, admiration tickling his voice. “All of them.”

“And why do you not sound upset about this?”

“They didn’t have the gem, sir. I listened to the entire conversation. Fabian asked for the gem. They claimed to not have it.”

“And you simply believed them?”

Niki had anticipated that question. “Yes. I do believe them. They looked like they were in a hurry to leave. Knowing the IAA’s propensity for solving riddles, and the numerous adventures they’ve encountered, I would say they found a trail. I suggest I follow them down it.”

Niki waited while his benefactor pondered the proposition. The only sounds the younger man heard were of the breeze blowing across the field and the subtle breathing of the man on the line.

“So, this was a strategic move?”

“Definitely.”

Niki knew he didn’t have to mince words with the man for Odin to understand what he was saying. He’d just confessed to sacrificing four of his own men to get vital information regarding the mission. Rather than fear the repercussions, Niki brazenly offered the strategy as confidently as a seasoned military officer. For a young man of his age, it was remarkable. And perhaps a little terrifying.

“I can see I have created a monster,” Odin said at last. “I would encourage you to be judicious about sacrificing the lives of our people. But I trust your judgment, Niki. You have been trained well, in all aspects of