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

moment, your family estate in Spain is surrounded by my soldiers. It will be razed to the ground, and everyone within its walls will be killed. Unless, of course, all of you agree to join me.”

He turned to Sean, whose eyes burned with the raging heat of an erupting volcano.

“You can’t be serious,” Sean fumed.

“Why not?” Magnus raised his palms upward. “Sean, this planet is dying. It has been for a long time. Our task is to make sure the Earth survives long enough to sustain humanity until such a point when we can—”

“Colonize other worlds or make better use of this one,” Sean interrupted. “Yeah. We already know the story.”

“It’s not a story, my boy. It’s a sacred mission.”

“It’s genocide,” Tommy sneered.

Niki watched the back and forth, uncertain what he could do or say.

“Tommy,” Magnus said, sounding like a parent whose child told them they hate them. “Do you honestly think I enjoy wiping out so much life? No leader of the Fellowship has ever enjoyed their task. It is the heaviest of burdens, the ultimate sacrifice to be laden with this decision. But if we do not carry it out, billions will starve. Humanity will consume itself and regress back to the Dark Ages. All the knowledge, the technological advancement, will be lost. There will be far more suffering. Just like when hunters aren’t allowed to harvest deer every season. Unregulated, the deer population takes over, devours crops, and becomes a nuisance to the human population. And when hunters don’t kill the deer, other predators do. Have you seen a wolf hunt down a deer and kill it? I promise you, the deer suffers more when another wild creature kills it than when a human puts a bullet or arrow through its heart.”

“Interesting way to justify killing billions of innocent people, Magnus,” Sean said. “If that’s even your real name.”

Tabitha, like Niki, continued to watch the conversation, never lowering her weapon.

“Odin is a title,” Magnus clarified. “You know the real me, Sean. Both of you do. I swear, if I could have done this any other way, I would have. You two were like the sons I never had.”

Niki’s face flushed red with anger, resentment, disappointment.

“I shaped your lives. Think of all the good you two have done. I was the one behind every step you’ve taken in the last two decades.”

Sean’s mind flooded with memories. All the people he’d killed over the years: the targets when he was with Axis, the villains he’d encountered with the IAA. How many of them were actually working for Magnus and the Cult of Thoth? There was no way the Swede would answer him truthfully. Except, perhaps, for one.

“The Rosicrucians,” Sean said. “It was you behind that, wasn’t it?”

“Ah, the Rosicrucians. A difficult group to control,” Magnus said, his words fading into a milieu of thoughts. “The one who called himself the Prophet took control of the Rosicrucian council. None would stand against him. I had originally put him in that position, but his power and financial influence grew too quickly, got out of control. He forgot for whom he worked and replaced our true purpose for some ridiculous religious fanatical scheme. But yes, the virus our company had engineered was designed to be the next controlled extinction event. Two-thirds of the population would have died had we been able to use it. Now, however, we have something more effective and much cleaner. Not to mention it will cause far less suffering.”

“How merciful,” Adriana growled.

Magnus barely regarded the statement. “Sean, I’m giving you all the chance to join me. We will be safe in my ark. I’ve built over fifty underground bunkers and ships that can withstand the coming cataclysm. Based on our research, the machine will have done its job within thirty days. It will be another few months before we can return to land. There will be, unfortunately, a significant body count, but the carrion should take care of most of the problem. It will be worse in the cities, but many of those will be leveled to rebuild and redesign for a better, more efficient future.”

Tommy wanted to vomit at the way the man spoke of ending billions of lives like they were nothing more than insects. He was glad when Sean responded on his behalf.

“Yeah, so we’re not going to do that,” Sean said in his usual smart-aleck tone. “I would have thought you’d know us better than that, Magnus. After all, you helped make us who we are. Unfortunately, we kill guys like you.”

Sean raised his pistol and pointed it at Magnus’ head. “Goodbye, old friend. Thanks for covering tuition for me.” Sean’s finger tensed on the trigger.

“That is…unfortunate,” Magnus pined. “I’d hoped you would be more forward thinking than that, Sean. I really did.” He turned his head slightly. “Bring him.”

Two more figures appeared from the dim shadows around the corner. One of them was Kevin Clark. The second was a gunman with thick, dark hair swept to the left. His broad jawline was set firm as he corralled the hostage toward Magnus. Clark stopped a few feet behind the Swede. Then the gunman pressed a suppressor muzzle to the side of his head.

“As I said, Sean,” Magnus began, “you are completely surrounded. There is no way out of this farmhouse except with me or in a body bag. My cleaners have the bags in a truck outside, so either way, you’re leaving with me—dead or alive is up to you. But you’ll all live if you lower your guns and come with me. All I want is your allegiance.”

“You want us to be slaves,” Tabitha corrected.

“She’s right, Magnus,” Sean agreed. “There’s no way you’ll ever be able to trust us, to put us in a place where you’re not always monitoring us.” He lowered his weapon to the surprise of everyone else. “But I can’t let you kill Kevin.”

Magnus allowed a crease to form at the corners of his lips. “I won’t. But you