The Milestone Protocol Ernest Dempsey (best short novels of all time .txt) 📖

here. No one to bother you except neighbors you already know.”

“Yes. In this isolated, sometimes desolate place, there is a measure of what it feels like to truly be free.”

Kevin looked at the man, perplexed.

As if reading the archaeologist’s mind, Magnus chuckled. “Oh, you think that the man in charge of the order that runs the world isn’t free? Sure, I can go where I want, do what I want, but heavy lies the crown, Dr. Clark.”

“You’re worried about someone trying to assassinate you?”

“I wouldn’t say I’m worried. I have good people around me, people I can trust.”

Kevin thought back on the man Magnus had executed at the salvage yard. He wondered how anyone could work for the Swede, knowing that, at any moment, they could be murdered without warning.

“Besides,” Magnus went on, “they have no reason to betray me. Still, it could happen. A government entity could revolt against our control. There are any number of things that could occur, but out here”—Magnus looked out at the aurora borealis—“all is peaceful. There is no hidden threat lurking in the shadows.”

That brought Kevin to his biggest concern. “What about Wyatt and his friends? Do you think they made it out of the farmhouse alive?”

“Yes, I do.”

The blunt honesty of the response caught Kevin off guard. “You don’t seem worried about it.”

“I’m not,” Magnus said.

“But they know about this place,” Kevin motioned around with one hand. “They know this is where we are going.”

The convoy rounded a long curve, and up ahead the earth dropped away to the left. Kevin peered through the window at the chasm next to a tall, snow-covered mountain.

“I thought diamond mines usually went deeper than that,” Kevin said, noting the hole only appeared to be a hundred feet deep—though it was still imposing.

“This mine was abandoned. The original owners believed there were diamonds here and ignored most of the geological experts’ counsel on the matter. After more than a year of digging and burrowing into the mountain and around it, they never found any diamonds. They did, however, find something interesting.”

“A lost pyramid.” Kevin’s answer came in a reverent, hushed breath.

“Not quite,” Magnus corrected, to his companion’s surprise. “They found a chamber that served as the entrance to tunnels connecting the surface to the pyramid. The ancient door was only a few dozen feet underground. It was surrounded by hieroglyphs that predate anything in Egypt, and are more closely related to ancient Sanskrit. Of course, the moment I heard about the discovery, I purchased the land from the owner at more than a fair price and extinguished any reports that might have come out regarding the find.”

Kevin wondered what the man meant by extinguish, but he didn’t care to ask. He already had enough blood on his hands, and while the smattering of guilt racking his chest may have been a difficult burden to bear, he knew that it still beat being dead—which had been the other option. At least this way, he could survive. He justified his actions, too, by telling himself he would be the one to build new perspectives on history once all of this was over. The thought, however, caused visions of billions dying—children, women, innocent people who were simply trying to live their lives. Soon, all of them would be gone. Kevin hoped that they wouldn’t suffer, that whatever this machine did to them would be quick and merciful. An ache tightened in his chest at the thought, and he forced himself to think about something else. Fortunately, there was plenty on his mind.

He noted a series of lights hanging from tall posts at the base of the mountain ahead. They lined the road and then spread out around a series of buildings and shipping containers. In the bright artificial light, Kevin could see the hole cut into the mountain, surrounded by steel scaffolds and an inflated tunnel leading into the mine’s entrance.

“So, what did the hieroglyphs say?” Kevin asked, trying to divert his guilt-riddled mind back to the conversation.

“I’ll show you. We will be there soon.” Magnus passed him a look of tempered excitement.

Kevin settled into the heated leather seat and peered through the windshield. Tiny snowflakes blew across the glass and the SUV’s hood. A harsh wind cut across the vehicle and howled along the door seams. This was the coldest place he’d ever been. Down in the tunnels, though, it would be much warmer. He reassured himself with that, though the thought of being deep underground did little to comfort him.

The convoy rolled up to the entrance of the mine where two guard shacks stood on either side of the inflated awning that stretched out from the mountain.

A guard clad in several layers of clothes emerged from the shack on the left. He held up a device to the window and then motioned the vehicle through. The guard stood there waving his hand for the others in the procession to continue ahead through the gate as it rolled open to the right.

The bright lights were stunning to Kevin’s vision, and he was grateful for the tinted windows on either side of the vehicle.

Soon, though, the vehicle was beyond the lights and under the shelter of the temporary tunnel as the convoy continued into the mine entrance.

Kevin hadn’t realized that the opening would be big enough to drive a car through, much less five SUVs. “Bigger opening than I thought,” he admitted, ending the silence that had taken over inside the cabin.

“Yes,” Magnus said. “People often think of the old mine shafts from the gold rush days or from silver mining. In this location, they tried a combination of pit mining as well as shaft mining, though both proved fruitless. Once we owned the property, we bored a wider berth into the mountain and made some additional modifications.”

“I suppose you’d have to if you wanted to build your bunker down here.”

“Correct. And as you’ll soon see, there is enough room for a small army down here, and supplies to