The Milestone Protocol

by Ernest Dempsey

  The snow continued to fall, accumulating on the ground, the rooftops, the walls, and the skeletal trees. It had a clean smell to it, though the scent of the huge city still tainted it somewhat. Snow in the countryside smelled different.

  Sean thought about the scarce few snows he’d experienced as a child growing up in Southeastern Tennessee. Every few years the area would be hit with a good one, but those were few and far between. The best—or worst, depending on your viewpoint—had been the famed blizzard of ’93. That storm dumped two feet onto the Chattanooga tri-state area, and while many people in the Northern States found that to be a laughable amount—a winter Tuesday for them—in the South, it had been the snowstorm of a lifetime.

  Every time Sean’s hometown or the Atlanta suburbs received a decent snow, he made sure to go outside and take long, deep breaths for several minutes, just to appreciate the way the air smelled. He’d been to other places, and the scent was always a little different no matter where he went. Still, it reminded him of those days of his childhood, the times when he was still innocent, made snowballs and went sledding, and spent more time with friends and family.

  All of it brought a very real concern to the front of Sean’s mind. As he was growing older, now in his early forties, he wondered how much time he had left, and if he were spending it the best way he could. He’d traveled around the world, probably saved it more than a few times, and yet he felt doubts deep down inside.

  He shook off the thoughts as they reached the street.

  They continued to a crosswalk, waiting for the light to turn, and then hurried across the busy road before it changed. Seconds after the light turned green for the automobile traffic, the vehicles zoomed by, drivers eager to get to wherever they were going, or perhaps just out of the snow that had continued to dump from the dark clouds overhead.

  The group made a left on the sidewalk and continued another three hundred feet until they arrived at the parking lot where they’d left the rental. There were several other cars parked there—most, Sean realized, were the same ones they’d seen on the way in, with few exceptions.

  They rounded the corner into the lot where a cluster of shrubs and a scraggly tree hugged a stone wall. Sean had only taken five steps into the lot when he heard the voice order him to stop.

  “That’s far enough,” the mysterious masculine tone commanded. “Move over to the wall and don’t turn around.”

  Tommy involuntarily twisted his head and saw a man with a black bandana pulled up over his face, all the way to his nose. Black sunglasses with dark-tinted lenses shielded his eyes, and a black beanie covered his head, though a dark patch of hair snuck out just over the right ear. The thing that caught Tommy’s attention most, however, was the Glock in the man’s hand.

  “I said don’t turn around,” the man warned. His voice was male but younger than everyone in the group. Sean placed him in his early twenties, but only because he doubted anyone following them would be younger. Then again, he was beginning to think nothing was beneath the Cult of Thoth.

  “Against the wall, between those two cars. Now.”

  The man wagged his pistol, lowering it to his waist to keep it out of sight from anyone passing by.

  Sean hesitated, cursing himself for letting this guy get the drop on him. Just when he thought he’d sharpened his game, too.

  Tommy and Tabitha did as they were told and shuffled over to the wall.

  Adriana paused as well, staring down at the snow while trying to find a weakness in their assailant through her peripheral vision.

  “You’re not moving,” the man said to her and Sean.

  “If you were going to kill us, you would have done it already,” she sneered.

  “I could have shot all of you, but there are cars driving by,” he said.

  Adriana’s ears pricked at the accent. Was it Greek? If not, it sure sounded like it, but perhaps it was another Mediterranean nation influencing his words. “And of course, I don’t want to accidentally shoot the gem. Now, stand against the wall, or I will be forced to shoot you in the head.”

  “So, we’re bickering over minutes and seconds at this point,” Sean commented.

  Adriana kept her head low, chin close to her neck, still staring down at the snow, searching for an angle.

  “I know what you’re doing,” the man said to her. “I know you’re armed. There is no way you or your friend here can draw your weapons fast enough to take me down. So please, don’t bother.”

  “Better to die on your feet than on your knees,” Adriana mused.

  She lifted her head and turned to face their would-be killer, defying his command.

  For a second, nothing happened. The man stared back at her from behind tinted lenses, giving no sense of what he was thinking or what he might do. Then, oddly, the gunman shook his head slowly.

  “No,” he said, disbelief flooding his voice. “This can’t be.”

  Adriana puzzled at the reaction.

  “This…this isn’t possible,” the gunman continued. “I thought….” His voice faltered for a second, as if choking back tears. “Is it really you?”

  Tommy looked back from where he stood by the wall. He wanted to say something, do something, but all he could manage was to gawk. Tabitha turned around as well, finally fed up with having her back to a gun.

  Neither Adriana nor Sean knew what to say amid their utter bewilderment.

  The gunman reached up to his mask with his free hand and pulled it down to his neck, revealing his mouth and nose. Then he pinched an arm of his sunglasses and pulled them from his face and placed them in a coat pocket. The last thing he removed was his beanie, tugging it away from a thick mop of black hair.

  “Do you not recognize the boy whose life you saved all those years ago?”

  Adriana’s eyes widened as the epiphany hit her like a ten-megaton bomb. “Niki?” she managed. “Is that you?”

  “Yes,” he said with a nod. His lips trembled, and she knew it wasn’t from the cold. “It’s me.”

  37

  Moscow

  For what seemed like hours, no one said anything. Sean, Tommy, and Tabitha merely stared at the two, their eyes bouncing back and forth between Adriana and the young man named Niki. Without his mask, sunglasses, and hat, he looked younger than they initially thought—perhaps still a teenager; in the strictest sense of the word. His face was chiseled, though it still displayed signs of inexperienced youth and the faintest trace of innocence.

  Adriana wanted to rush to the young man and embrace him, but he was still holding a pistol, and she was still uncertain if he was going to kill her or not.

  Distraught and obviously grappling with the same question, Niki looked around, checking the road and sidewalks for any wandering eyes. He lowered his weapon to his side, keeping it out of view from anyone other than his four marks.

  “What…what happened to you?” Adriana asked, her words faltering amid a vortex of emotions.

  The young man considered the question, laboring over how to answer it. “When you set me free, you told me to run. So I did. I took the path back to the road and eventually found my way into the nearest town.” Tears threatened to streak down his face, but he somehow held them back. “I was lost on the street and ducked into an alley. I didn’t know where I was going to go, how I was going to eat. I probably would have died.”

  Adriana and the others listened intently. Sean didn’t dare move. For all he knew, this guy had assumed the persona of Niki and was luring them into a trap. But why? He’s already sprung the trap, Sean reminded himself. Still, he couldn’t help but feel like they were listening to a serpent spewing lies about his past.

  “But you survived,” she said.

  “Yes. I survived. Thanks to the kindness of a stranger.”

  “Assassinating a group of people in a parking lot hardly seems like a good way to repay that kindness,” Sean said.

  Niki’s head barely inclined in acknowledgement of the statement. “It was that kind s
tranger who ordered me to kill you.”

  Sean noticed the gun in Niki’s hand raise slightly. Adriana saw it too, as if a terrible conflict raged inside the young man’s mind.

  “Doesn’t seem so kind when you put it like that.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Tommy added cautiously.

  “Who’s the stranger?” Tabitha asked.

  Her brazen question didn’t distract Niki. He kept his eyes firmly locked on Adriana, not oblivious to potential danger from others, rather, a deeply rooted emotion kept him focused on her.

  “The All Father found me that day,” Niki said. “He taught me everything I know. Through his teachings, his training and instruction, and through his blessings, I have become what you see now—an instrument of righteousness.”

  Sean and Tommy shared a concerned sidelong glance.

  “Righteousness?” Sean questioned. “Don’t get me wrong, but that sounds a little like cult talk.”

  “Some call it a cult. Perhaps that was what it was before. We prefer to call it a Fellowship.”

  Adriana felt her heart sink. The little boy she’d freed from a madman all those years ago had become a killer for a deep state threatening to destroy civilization.

  “Niki,” she said smoothly, “who is this man you call All Father?”

  “It’s a reference to Odin from Norse mythology,” Tommy answered.

  “Tommy,” Adriana snapped, whipping her head around to fling a burning glare at him.

  “Sorry.” Tommy slinked back.

  “I know the mythology, Niki. Who is this All Father?”

  “Your friend is right,” Niki answered. “His name is Odin, and he controls everything that happens.”

  Sean arched an eyebrow at this response. “You’re saying he’s immortal?”

  “I did not say that. Odin is not immortal. He is named after the All Father and does his bidding.”

  Tommy huffed. “Sounds like you may have crossed the streams there a little bit, son. Norse mythology is very different from the cultures Thoth and Hermes came from.”

  “Is it?” Niki asked, his tone as mocking as the derision in his eyes. “Or perhaps they are all the same.”

  “Uh, what?”

  “Niki,” Adriana interrupted, ignoring the sideshow conversations. “We need to get out of here. If you’re truly working for the Cult of Thoth, then the mere act of telling us as much as you have could forfeit your life.”

  “They are not watching us right now,” Niki said, brimming with confidence. “I am the only one here.”

  “Someone’s always watching, kid,” Sean said. “First rule you should have learned from…Odin or whoever this guy is.”

  “Come with us,” Adriana said, gradually extending her hand.

  The movement caused Niki to reflexively raise his pistol.

  Adriana froze with her arm still out. “We mean you no harm,” she added quickly. “But he’s right. We need to get out of here. It’s only a matter of time until your benefactor comes for us.”

  She could see the conflict still raging in his eyes.

  “No,” he said, tightening his grip on the pistol. “I appreciate what you did for me. You saved my…You….” He broke down, and the gun slumped next to his hip.

  “It’s okay,” Adriana said. She risked an easy step toward the young man, then another. Like a prowling cat, she moved to him until she was inches away. Then she reached out and wrapped her fingers around the gun’s barrel and wriggled it free from him as he sobbed.

  “Everything is going to be okay now,” Adriana promised.

  She lifted his chin with her free hand and stuffed the pistol into her belt with the other. Looking into his eyes, she smiled at him and then wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tight.

  Tears poured from her eyes now, and from his. At first, Niki didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t been hugged since the last day he saw his mother, and even then it had been superficial at best. His parents had never doted on the boy with physical displays of emotion, which had made his transition into a hardened killer that much easier for the man who’d saved him from the streets.

  His arms felt heavy, but he managed to wrap them around her and pull. He squeezed her back as tight as he could.

  “I wondered for years what happened to you,” Adriana confessed, waterfalls dumping from her eyes. “I prayed you were safe, that someone good took you in and gave you a good life.”

  Niki choked on the statement. He breathed heavily, trying to get a foothold in the chaos of his mind. Finally, he stepped back and looked at her, then cast his gaze around at the other three who’d gathered around while he hugged Adriana.

  “You must get out of here,” Niki said. “It’s not safe.”

  “That’s what I was trying to suggest earlier,” Tommy chirped.

  “Not helpful, Schultzie,” Sean drawled, ignoring his friend’s ire.

  “You don’t understand. Something big is coming. What Odin has planned,” Niki shook his head, looking down at the ground for a heartbeat, “it’s going to be bad.”

  Adriana’s eyes softened, and she put her hand on his shoulder. “We know what he has planned, Niki. And we’re trying to stop him. That’s why we’re here right now.”

  His eyes drifted down to her jacket pockets, then back up to meet her gaze. “I have to take the gem back to Odin. He saved my life, too. I have spared yours. I still owe him a debt.”

  “Saved your life?” Adriana scoffed. “Only to make you his slave? He is going to kill people, Niki. Billions of innocent lives will be lost. You can help us make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  He tilted his head to the side and puzzled over her statement. “It must.”

  Adriana scowled. “What? No, it doesn’t have to, Niki. We can stop it.”

  “The planet needs healing. Humans have been poor stewards of it and its resources for far too long. If we want to keep this place, and what we have built, many must fall. We must reset the balance.”

  Sean felt like he was listening to a brainwashed cult member. In short retrospect, he was—at minimum—half right.

  “I understand what you’re saying,” Sean said. “Eventually, the planet is going to be too populated to sustain everyone here. If we don’t get our technology and knowledge advanced fast enough to maximize what we have, we will lose everything. Mass starvation, disease, pestilence, droughts, warfare, chaos…all of it will consume the planet. Billions will die if we go that direction, too.”

  “Yes.”

  “So, either way, there’s going to be a bad ending. Or is there another way?”

  Niki frowned at the question. “What do you mean? There is no other way.”

  “There is if we give humanity the chance to figure it out. I know we’ve spent the last twelve thousand or so years screwing things up, and that we aren’t always the most adaptive species, but when the chips are down, the human race rises up and gets the job done to keep pushing forward.” Sean gambled a step closer to the younger man, locking eyes with him. “All we’re trying to do is give humanity that chance.”

  “Humanity has had plenty of chances.”

  “True,” Sean agreed easily. He turned and took a leisurely step in one direction as if he might pace for a while, then he wheeled around. “When I was growing up in the late 1970s and in the 1980s, everyone told us we would have jetpacks by the time we were grown-ups. By the end of the 1990s, we believed that there would be flying cars everywhere, and people zipping around through the sky, getting places faster than humans had ever managed before. There were books about that fantastic future that awaited all of us, one where space travel was as common as hopping on a plane to visit another country.”

  “And what happened? None of it came to fruition,” Niki said. “Unfulfilled, unrealistic dreams.”

  “Perhaps,” Sean hedged. “But look at what we have done. Watches you can use as a phone, a calendar, a fitness tracker, and a million other things. Phones that take better video than majo
r motion picture cameras did just a decade ago. You can pick up your handheld and call someone wirelessly on the other side of the world. We’ve made tremendous strides in the fields of medicine and agriculture. We’re investigating renewable energy resources more than ever. Heck, we just passed a bill to allow five percent more ethanol in gasoline, which will result in cleaner air and more money invested into farming.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “The point is that people must be given the chance to thrive, to survive, and to adapt. If Odin activates the cataclysm machine and wipes out billions of people, he could also be killing the ones that are our best hope for advancement.”

  Sean stopped talking and took a few breaths while Niki pondered the statements.

  He looked over his head at the cars driving by and nodded toward the rental sedan. “We should get out of here. It isn’t safe to be out in the open.”

  “Does that mean you’ll help us?” Adriana asked. She looked hopeful.

  “You ask a big thing of me. You ask me to betray the man who took me in as his own, educated me, trained me, and made me into what I am now.”

  “What kind of man wants to slaughter women and children, grandmas and grandpas, innocent people all over the world?” Adriana’s question hung in the air among the drifting snowflakes. “Odin has used you, Niki. That’s all the leaders of Thoth’s clan have done for thousands of years. They use people and then throw them away.”

  “How do you know so much about the Fellowship?” Niki wondered. “What do you know of the All Father and those who follow him?”

  Adriana paused, considering her next words carefully.

  All eyes focused on her. Sean was the only one who knew the answer she held back, considering what it might mean for her to share the truth.

  After a deep breath, Adriana exhaled. “Because I come from an ancient order of Shinobi created to stop the cult.”

  Niki tilted his head upward and looked down at her over his bottom eyelids, assessing her along with the preposterous statement. “I know nothing of such an order.”