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

“Did you hear what happened at the Brown Mountain site?”

Desmond tapped something on his phone and then turned it around so Diego and Corin could see.

Their curiosity turned to shock.

“What happened?” Diego asked, concern in his voice. He stared at an article from a news website. The headline declared an accident had occurred on Brown Mountain that resulted in an explosion. He read down a few paragraphs until he’d reached the bottom of the screen, several seconds before Corin.

She’d always been better at math and science, while he excelled in reading and language arts. Their educational interests merged with history.

“The article says it’s unclear if anyone was there, and if there were people there, if there were any survivors.” Corin’s statement hung like a fog in the room.

“Yeah, I know,” Desmond said.

“But there were supposed to be lots of people working on that site,” Diego insisted. “Mr. Schultz told us they were going to send in a bunch of archaeologists to study the place.”

“That’s true,” Desmond said. “He did say that.”

The collective mood in the room turned definitely more somber.

“It seems like I overheard my parents talking about something up there, about a new group or team of researchers taking over. I only remember because they sounded annoyed about it, like someone with the government was kicking out the original team that was there and putting someone else in their place.”

“Any idea who?”

Desmond shook his head. “That’s all I got out of it.”

Diego slipped off the couch and wandered over to a desk in the corner. His sister had one in the opposite corner. He removed a tablet from the surface and switched it on. “Where did you find that article?” he asked, returning from the corner.

“I looked it up. Just do a Google search, and you should be able to find it.”

Diego did as instructed, but none of the search results displayed an article from that source, and none of the others were even close. Everything he saw was from the discovery they’d made, and the follow-up information about how the IAA would continue the research efforts.

“I’m not seeing it,” Diego said. He turned the screen toward his friend. Desmond scanned through the results and frowned. “No, it’s definitely not there. This one is from the newspaper in Asheville, North Carolina. Here.” He tapped on the URL and expanded it.

Diego noted the web address and entered it in his tablet’s browser. A 404 page popped up, displaying an error message. It read, “Sorry, the page you’re looking for isn’t here.”

Desmond’s frown deepened into a bewildered scowl. “Is something wrong with your tablet? Maybe it’s the internet.”

Corin had evidently had enough of her brother’s ineptitude. She hopped off the couch and stood next to him. “Let me see it,” she said with a derisive sigh. Corin plucked the device from his loose grip despite his protesting “hey” and began scrolling through the previous search results.

“Desmond, show me that website again.”

He did as instructed, turning the phone’s face toward her.

She stared at the web address, committing to memory as she typed it into the tablet’s browser. When she tapped the Return key on the digital keyboard, the website reloaded and pulled up the same 404 page that Diego found.

“See?” Diego gloated. “It wasn’t me. I’m not an idiot, you know.”

“I know you’re not an idiot,” she defended. “Excuse me for trying to play the role of Geek Squad.”

“That’s so weird,” Desmond confessed. “Maybe I should refresh the page on my phone.”

“No!” the siblings said, much louder than they intended. “Don’t.”

Corin put out her hand to stop him.

“What?” he asked, elevating his shoulders. “Why not?”

“Because we might lose it completely.”

“So? Maybe it was just a fake article. Or the information was incorrect. If the newspaper took it down, there must be a reason for it.”

“Possibly,” Diego agreed in part. “But look at the date.”

“It’s today,” Desmond said. “So?”

“Don’t you think it’s weird that they would publish a piece and then take the page down on the same day?”

“Yeah, I guess. Maybe it’s your internet.”

“No,” Corin disagreed. “It’s not. Look.” She entered a different web address and was taken to the History Channel’s website. She twisted the tablet around so the other two could verify. “See? Nothing wrong with the Wi-Fi here.”

Desmond stared at the screen for a few seconds, then looked back at his phone. “Why would they take down an article about an accident at the dig site on the same day they ran it?”

“I don’t know,” Diego admitted. “But take a screenshot of that article.”

“What for?”

“We need to send this to Mr. Schultz.”

“Why?” Desmond puzzled. “I mean, don’t you think he probably knows about it already?”

“Maybe,” Diego hedged, “but it wouldn’t hurt to let him know just in case. Maybe he can fill us in on what happened. Aren’t you curious?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”

“Diego’s right,” Corin said. “We should send that screenshot to Mr. Schultz and see what he says. If he already knows about it, he’ll tell us and maybe fill us in on what happened. If he doesn’t know, it might be we just found ourselves a new investigation to take on.”

The two boys exchanged a concerned, sidelong glance, then looked back to her.

“You’re not saying we should go up to Brown Mountain, are you?” Desmond asked. “I doubt our parents would let us go, and Sam probably wouldn’t take us.”

Diego chuckled. “Yeah, I think your parents’ head of security might be getting a little tired of driving us around, babysitting on our adventures.”

“Nah,” Desmond passed it off with a dismissive hand. “Are you kidding me? He has way more fun with us than he does with that boring job with my parents.”

“Maybe,” Corin said, “but it’s nearly winter. Christmas is right around the corner, and it does get cold up in those mountains of North Carolina. The roads might even be slippery with ice or snow right now. I say we reach out to Tommy and see what he says.”

“And if he doesn’t know