“What do you want, Magnus?” Sean sneered. “You want me to say thank you?”
“A thank you would be nice,” the Swede said. “But no, I don’t require your gratitude. You have found what I have searched for most of my life, and what my predecessors failed to discover for centuries. What I want,” he clarified, “is for you to join us.”
“You can’t be serious,” Adriana spat.
“Ah, the lost child of the Shinobi,” Magnus groused. “Oh, don’t look so surprised. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out about your pitiful little band? They’ve been around as long as we have—well, nearly as long. Yes, I know everything about your father and your Shinobi master, Miyamoto. You hide your emotions well, though not well enough. I can tell from your reaction that you believed your father and Miyamoto’s secret to be safely kept. I assure you it is not. At this very 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 all must put down your weapons.”
“One question first.”
“Yes?”
“You couldn’t find the diamond all this time. But you’re showing your hand now.” Sean saw the realization hit Tommy and Adriana as their eyes simultaneously widened. “You know where the master control is for the pyramid network.”
“Astute, as always, Sean.” Magnus turned sideways as if he might pace back and forth, but it was only for a second, then he faced the others once more. “We were lucky, honestly. Svalbard is, after all, in a remote Norwegian archipelago. It was one of the last places I would suspect to house a great ancient pyramid, much less the one that activates all the others.”
“Svalbard?” Adriana whispered. “Because it’s so remote?”
“Yes,” Magnus said. “That’s what we suspect. We discovered it while expanding one of our diamond mines. Prior to that, I’d honestly had doubts about the entire story around the cataclysm engine. But once we found that, I knew it was real, and I knew I had to locate the lost keystone.”
“And it fell right into your lap when Dr. Clark found it,” Sean realized.
He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, but the abrupt buzzing didn’t startle him, and no one else in the room heard it.
“Okay, Magnus,” Sean surrendered. “You win.”
Tommy looked over at his friend with confused disgust. �
�No,” Tommy complained. “We can’t let this guy win, Sean.”
“You heard him, Schultzie. He has a team outside surrounding the house. There’s no way out except as his prisoners.”
“I’m hurt, Sean. I would never treat you as a prisoner. You two will build the foundation of history for generations to learn. Yes, you’ll be kept under close watch, but your work as historians and archaeologists will continue.”
“There’s nothing we can do,” Sean said in response to a pleading look from his friend. “He’s got us.”
Tommy hesitated, still fantasizing about a wild shootout that got all of them out of there with guns blazing. He could tell Niki was thinking the same thing and was still hurt by the comments. Tabitha and Adriana didn’t throw in the towel either, not at first.
“Trust me,” Sean said. “This is the only way, guys. We can’t let him kill Kevin.”
Tommy sighed. He knew Sean was right, even though he didn’t like it. He bent down and set his pistol on the floor. Tabitha followed suit, raising her hands in surrender.
Adriana waited the longest. With painful reluctance, she lowered her weapon to the ground and laid it at her feet. Her eyes, though, still fired arrows at Magnus.
“That’s better,” the Swede said.
As if on cue, the gunman released Kevin, who stepped forward, discarding the feigned look of fear he’d worn only seconds before. He drew a gun from his own coat and pointed it at Sean.
“Always so honorable, Sean,” Kevin drawled. “And so predictable.”
The epiphany blasted through the room like a hurricane.
“So,” Tommy realized out loud, “it was you.”
39
Russia
“Don’t look so surprised, Tommy,” Kevin said. “Honestly, I’m surprised you were dim enough to believe I had nothing to do with the killing of my team in Volgograd.”
“All those innocent people,” Tommy said, his voice distant. “You murdered them in cold blood. And for what?”
Kevin drew back his head in surprise. “Uh, for the single greatest, most powerful discovery in the history of archaeology. Not to mention safe passage when we start up the machine.”
“Dr. Clark has been an excellent addition,” Magnus praised. “The discovery of the lost keystone was all his doing. Giving him safe harbor for the coming storm was the least I could do. My bunker in Svalbard has enough supplies for two thousand people to live comfortably for more than twenty-four months.”
“Your ark,” Adriana said.
“Yes. And you four will be joining me. Well, you two,” Magnus corrected himself, pointing at Sean and Tommy. “I can’t have a Shinobi and a rogue MI6 agent in my bunker. That’s just asking for trouble.”
He turned to Kevin and the gunman. “Kill them both. Bring Sean and Tommy when you’re done.” Magnus looked Sean in the eyes. “I’m truly sorry, my boy. I didn’t want to kill her. I know how you feel about her.”
No tears formed in Sean’s eyes, and he made sure that Magnus noticed.
Niki started to make a move for his weapon, but the gunman turned and took aim at him.
“No,” Sean said, holding out his hand. “Don’t. He’s one of your own, Magnus.”
“He’s a street urchin and a traitor,” the Swede spat. Turning his attention to Niki, he blasted the young man. “I gave you everything. Everything!” Magnus shouted the last word, startling nearly everyone in the room. “I took you in as my own, and you betrayed me. Why? For what? You have become one of my best, Niki. Yet after all I’ve done for you, you folded within seconds. Why? What could they have possibly said to you to turn you against me and my will?”
Magnus turned to the gunman. “Kill him, too.”
At that moment, Niki’s heart broke. He’d been living a lie for all those years since his parents’ murder. The man he looked up to like a father had just ordered his execution. It was the ultimate betrayal.
“She saved me,” Niki said, torment filling his words.
Magnus had begun to pivot away from the group, but the young man’s words froze him. He twisted his head, wearing a scathing expression on his face. “What did you just say?”
“The people who killed my parents. They imprisoned me. She was the one who set me free that day you found me on the streets of Corfu.”
“And because she opened one door for you, that’s reason enough for you to ignore all the other doors I opened for you? Is that it?” Magnus looked over at the gunman and nodded. “Kill him. Bring Sean and Tommy with us.”
“Big mistake, Magnus,” Sean said coolly.
The Swede rolled his eyes. “And why would you say that, Sean?”
The answer came in the form of a thunderous boom from outside the farmhouse. The unexpected sound vibrated through the building, startling Magnus so much that he visibly winced and ducked at the same time.
“What was that?” Kevin shrieked, ducking his head and raising his shoulders.
The gunman’s response wasn’t as panicked, but he was still caught off guard by the sudden blast of gunfire.
Sean, expecting the distraction, bent down to scoop up his gun. The movement refocused the gunman, and he turned his pistol from Niki to Sean. He squeezed off a muted shot as Sean dove behind the kitchen island.
More gunfire erupted from outside, and from seemingly every angle of the house. Some shots were similar to the first, big and heavy, while others sounded more like staccato pops. Sean knew the latter were pistols or semi-auto submachine guns. The big, thumping bursts, however, were from an AR15.
Niki, along with the others in Sean’s group, all dove for their weapons amid the chaos. The gunman, seeing he’d lost control of the situation, fired wildly in seemingly random directions, barely coming close to any of his targets as he retreated around the corner after Magnus and Kevin. Those two, suddenly out of their element, fled toward the door.
The guard stuck his weapon around the wall’s edge and fired at the corners of the island. It was suppressing fire more than anything, but it did the job. He turned and aimed at Tommy and Adriana, who slid behind the kitchen island close to Sean just a fraction of a second before they could be hit. Niki ducked behind the far end of it, nearest the side door. Tabitha was on her own, but had the safety of an open walk-in pantry to back into.
Sean risked a look around his shield, extending the pistol out and aiming where the gunman had been just seconds before. He was gone, and the sound of a door slamming shut told Sean the two men had made a run for it.
He stood and strode forward, keeping his gun steady as he swept the living room, then around the corner.
Adriana joined him with the other three close behind.
“Fan out,” Sean said upon seeing the living room was empty. He pointed at an open door in the near corner, and then one in the far corner. His instincts told him that Magnus and his guard had run out of the building, but it was possible they’d dipped into one of the other rooms for cover.
A gun battle raged outside as the mysterious attackers continued to fire. The forces that Magnus brought with him returned fire, but Sean knew they would be in the open, exposed and easy targets for even a novice shooter. And those firing were not novices.
Adriana rushed to the far bedroom door and stepped inside, while Niki and Tabitha checked the near door. Tommy hustled over to a stairwell and aimed his pistol up the corridor, but saw nothing. They would have heard two men clambering up the steps, even amid the cacophony of the battle raging outside, but Tommy knew enough not to take the chance.
Sean pushed ahead toward the front door that hung open, but he couldn’t see much through the inch-wide gap that the two men left on their way out. He stopped and pressed his left shoulder to the wall near the doorframe, then flung the door open and waited.
The others joined him at the entrance and hung back, Tommy to the right side of the door and the other three behind Sean.
“Who is that out there?” Niki asked, confused at the diversion. “The one's shoo
ting at Odin’s men?” He wasn’t sure he needed to clarify, but did so anyway.
“That’s the cavalry,” Sean answered.
“Emily?” Tommy asked.
“Yep. And a few others.”
Sean peeked around the doorframe and looked outside. The return fire from the bad guys had already lessened. And as he peered through the opening, Sean could see why. No less than a dozen black-clad gunmen were strewn across the front yard in a crooked half circle. Magnus hadn’t been joking when he said they had the place surrounded, but their decision to stand out in the open had left them completely exposed on every flank. The first victims never saw it coming. Those who were fortunate enough to react hadn’t been able to do so fast enough.
“Let’s help them out,” Sean said.
He stepped out before anyone could protest and turned to find two gunmen taking shelter behind a couple of rocking chairs on the porch. The men saw him appear through the doorway, turned to defend themselves, and caught bullets through their foreheads as Sean executed them both in under two seconds.
Tommy and the others spilled out of the building and followed Sean’s lead around the porch to the far corner. Adriana took up the rear, watching for an attack from behind.
The gunfire coming from the invisible attackers slowed.
Sean knew Emily and her team had taken out most of the cult’s men and were now in cleanup mode for those taking cover or trying to run.
He rounded the corner and found three more men hiding behind two barrels. One of the men happened to have a pistol pointed Sean’s direction. He fired, and Sean ducked back just in time to dodge the bullet as it shattered the wooden corner panel. Sean motioned for Tommy and Adriana to circle around the back of the building. They nodded and scurried back the other direction and into the house.
The Milestone Protocol Page 33
