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

one would hear gunshots—suppressed or otherwise. No cries for help would fall on sympathetic ears. Sean’s gut wrenched into knots with the overwhelming feeling he’d just walked right into a trap. He subtly darted his eyes around, checking for an ambush on either side, but as they parked the car next to the Maserati, no gunmen appeared, and no shots were fired from the cover of tall field grass, or from the hundreds of good shooting spots around the property.

If they were here to be executed, though, Sean knew the killers could be—and probably were—waiting until they exited the vehicle. His instincts told him to get out of there and speed away, but Sean didn’t deter his friend behind the wheel.

When the car had stopped, no one moved right away, even though Niki had exited his sedan. Sean, Tommy, Adriana, and Tabitha lingered in their seats, all thinking the same thing.

“Well,” Sean said, “if we just walked into a trap, I don’t think there’s any getting out of it now. I’d rather look down the barrel of the gun than sit here like an idiot.”

He pulled on the latch and opened the door. Leaving the warmth and safety of the car’s interior behind, Sean stepped into the icy embrace of winter once more. The others joined him and looked around the property, each expecting to catch a bullet at any second.

The only one who doubted it was Adriana. She’d put her faith in Niki, trusting that her kind act all those years ago still weighed heavily on the young man’s heart—despite all his benefactor had done for him.

Niki noticed the group looking around. “You don’t have to worry,” he reassured them. “No one knows we’re here. This is a safe house for the organization. We have them in locations outside of nearly every major city in the world. Usually, they sit unused for long stretches of time—as far as I know. Occasionally, there will be meetings in them, but only for mission briefings.”

Tommy momentarily considered asking what kinds of missions, then thought better of it, realizing he probably already knew.

Niki motioned toward a door on the side of the house and led the way over to it. He entered a code on a key panel and then stepped inside, holding the door open for the four newcomers.

The inside of the farmhouse was cold and bare. An antique wooden table and chairs sat off to the side of a kitchen that looked like it was from the nineteenth century, perhaps early twentieth. The only two appliances appeared to be relics of the 1950s—a refrigerator and a gas stove.

Firewood was stacked next to a hearth in the living room beyond the kitchen and dining area. An old leather couch sat in front of the fireplace with two recliners on either side.

“This house is off-grid,” Niki said. “I’ll start a fire to warm it up. We do have solar panels in the back that power the fridge and lights. It’s going to get dark pretty soon. There are three bedrooms plus this couch,” he indicated the sofa.

“So,” Tommy said, finally starting to settle in a little, “I guess we should try to figure out what this thing is.” He took the red diamond out of his jacket and held it out for the rest to see.

Niki spied the gem with only mild curiosity. “It’s the last of the twelve sacred gems of the Fellowship. In the Fellowship, it’s known as the lost keystone. They have been searching for it for centuries, ever since it was lost.”

“Stolen,” Adriana mused.

“Yes,” Niki said, surprised. “You know the story?”

“I do now,” she said.

“Then you know it was taken from one of the harbingers of the Fellowship.”

“Yes, though I must admit I don’t know much about the harbingers.”

“Ah,” Niki said. “Well, I’m fairly new to the order; at least I was. But from what I know, they were the ones who initiated the extinction events in the old days. You probably have heard or read about the stories of strange beings in dark clothes appearing outside of villages just before the Black Death struck.”

“We have,” Sean said.

“Then you know that those stories were the foundation for many grim-reaper legends,” Niki continued. “Thoth’s harbingers were messengers, catalysts that have jumpstarted biological and military catastrophes for thousands of years. And they all carry one of those.” He indicated the gem in Tommy’s hand. “May I?”

Tommy flashed a questioning glance at Sean, then nodded before handing the diamond to Niki.

The young Greek turned the gem over in his hand, inspecting every angle. Then, he turned to a candle and a box of matches on the kitchen counter. He carefully set the diamond next to the candle, plucked a match from the box, and struck it. In seconds, the candle glowed with a still, burning yellow flame. Niki blew out the match and set it down, then picked up the diamond and gently lowered the gem down over the candle. In the dim kitchen light, the group was immediately treated to an incredible show.

The candlelight spewed out of the tiny holes drilled into the diamond, casting what looked like a minimal planetarium view of the stars across the ceiling, walls, and cabinets.

Niki gingerly lifted the candle while holding the diamond and moved it to an island in the center of the kitchen. There, the view of the glowing dots played out more evenly across the ceiling.

“It’s just like the container,” Tabitha realized. “But what does it mean?”

“Looks like stars,” Tommy commented absently.

Niki remained oddly silent.

“They aren’t stars,” Sean disagreed. “It’s a map. An atlas, actually.”

“Yes,” Niki confirmed, breaking his silence. “These are all of the pyramids on Earth, both known and unknown to historians.”

“Known and unknown?” Adriana wondered.

“Yes. Many have remained undiscovered, but as we understand it, they are still capable of being activated. We estimate there are at least six more in the Amazon alone.”

Sean didn’t like the sound of that word, activated. He envisioned pushing a button to start a