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

a collection of shadows moving down the sidewalk toward the hotel.

Tabitha and Tommy joined him. They also saw the encroachers.

Sean turned to Tabitha. “Friends of yours?”

She shook her head. “No.”

Sean then rounded on Magnus. “Then I suggest we leave. Magnus, you told the person on the phone you’d see them in the back. I assume you have a way out of here?”

Magnus flashed a devilish grin. “Of course.”

17

Madrid

Adriana looked stunned. Her shoulders slumped, and she turned toward the far wall. She paced across the room and didn’t stop until she was back at the scroll again.

She couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. Her father and Miyamoto had just explained the cult’s plan regarding the devastation of the human population, but they lacked one significant detail. Neither Diego nor Miyamoto knew how the cult was going to do it, but they had a theory. They suggested that the delivery system to wipe out a huge chunk of humanity could be wired into the pyramids that circled the earth on nearly every continent. After what Adriana had seen in Alaska and in the Sahara, she knew that was certainly possible. Those pyramids were emitting strange energy waves, and in one case they were being harnessed. If the energy signatures were altered, it was possible that something similar to what she’d seen in India could happen, but on a global scale. Then again, that was a stretch, and she knew it.

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” her father said. “And it doesn’t seem plausible. But you must trust us, Adriana. The Cult of Thoth is making their move. They just killed one of their own in Prague this week.”

“What?” She looked up in surprise.

“Valentin Svoboda, a Czech billionaire, was found dead along with his mistress the other night. The police are calling it a murder/suicide. It most certainly was not that. They were both murdered, and it was made to look like a lovers’ quarrel.”

“How does that have any bearing on this?”

“Because Svoboda was a member of the cult,” Miyamoto answered. “He was a midlevel acolyte but had risen quickly through the ranks due to his business leadership, a quality the cult values highly. We believe he was trying to warn his mistress of the coming mayhem, to get her somewhere safe so she could ride out the storm, though it is unlikely that would have been possible. Based on ancient prophecies from various religions and cultures, we estimate that a full third of the world’s population will be eradicated if this thing is activated. We’re not sure how it works.”

“Or where the on switch is located. Until now, we have operated from the assumption they do not know where to activate it. Along with one other piece.”

“The gem,” Adriana realized. She was still rocked by the thought of one-third of Earth’s population being wiped out in a sudden, cataclysmic event.

“Yes,” Miyamoto confirmed. “The gem must be the key, and if they can locate that, then the cult is one step closer to achieving their goal.”

Adriana shook her head in an attempt to deny what she was hearing. “It just doesn’t seem real,” she said, for what felt like the hundredth time. Deep down, however, she knew she was wrong. It felt as if she were in a strange dream, in a dense fog with no way to see through.

“I know,” her father said. “But it is. And we have to stop them. Our family has been given this task. It has been our duty for centuries to watch the Cult of Thoth and counter them if possible. They would play God, choosing who lives and dies. Throughout the ages, we have fought them, but they are powerful. Many of our ancestors were killed in the war against the cult. Some died in outright battle. Others were assassinated. They are vicious and evil and will stop at nothing to complete their mission. Now, more than ever in history, they are pushing harder to uncover the secret left by the ancients, the key to unlocking the most devastating weapon ever created. In the last year, over one thousand CEOs of major companies and startups retired. Why? Their businesses were thriving. Some of them are names you know, names that regularly appear in the headlines of major media outlets. All of them, mysteriously, resigned their positions. Since then, most have gone silent. Sure, you see one or two sending out a message via social media, but no one knows where they are.”

“Do you?” she asked bluntly.

“Some, yes.” He gave a curt head bob. “Most of them have built bunkers they believe will save them from the attack. They bought land in remote areas, many in New Zealand, which we think might be out of the band of the energy surge or whatever it is this weapon creates. Others have gone up into the northern lands of Canada, Alaska, distant locations where there are few, if any, people.”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. But Adriana knew that her father wasn’t crazy, and Miyamoto was one of the wisest, most objective people she’d ever met.

For the two of them to be saying these outlandish things, they had either both dipped into something a little stronger than the Villa wine cellars, or they were telling the absolute stone-cold truth.

“How do we combat an organization like this? It sounds like they have their tentacles everywhere. Who can we trust?” Her thoughts drifted to President McCarthy. She hoped the woman wasn’t working for the cult, at least consciously. Adriana got the feeling that, willing or not, most of the world was doing the cult’s bidding—based on what she’d learned so far.

“Trust no one,” Miyamoto said. Then his expression eased. “Well, except for us, of course.”

“Your friends at the IAA, your husband, they are good people, hija,” Diego added. “Keep them close. I fear that not everyone will make it out of this war alive. But we must do everything in our power to stop the