The Sixth Seal полностью

The eastern shoreline, while easily navigable on foot, would be all but inaccessible to anything larger than a human in boots. Regardless of where their target lay, the Sixth Seal would have had to have used some type of portable docking system to get goods and people ashore. Zahra pictured such a thing connecting their U-boat to dry land.

She approached the southeastern shore and noticed something promising. She also saw that they were now over a mile away from their Sno-Cat. She pushed aside the butterflies in her stomach and refocused on the terrain.

It was slightly inclined but ran straight and true, starting from the edge of the lake and continuing for another hundred yards until it dead-ended at the foot of a mountain.

Ritscher Peak?

“This could work,” she said softly.

“What?” Yana asked.

Zahra pointed at the ground. “This is what, two hundred feet wide?”

“Give or take.”

Hammet joined them but was quickly left alone again after both women started forward.

He caught up and fell in next to Zahra. “Find something?” he asked.

“Maybe,” she replied. “Could also be nothing.”

“She thinks it’s a loading ramp,” Yana added, earning a grin from Zahra. The Russian’s thought process was on the same wavelength as hers.

That was exactly what she believed.

Hammet looked back while continuing along. He didn’t say anything. No one did, not until they reached the base of the mountain. It was craggy, impossibly wide, and looked natural.

“Are you sure?” Hammet asked.

Zahra shook her head and eyed the rock. “Nope. Yana, do—”

Zahra turned and found Yana back some. She had stopped and was zoned in on the rock face, deciding to dissect it from afar instead. Something nipped at the back of Zahra’s neck. She abandoned her search and regrouped with the Russian.

“What is it?” she asked.

Yana grinned. “Look.”

Zahra did but saw nothing except cliff. “Okay, I give up; what am I looking at?”

Hammet met up with them and waited for Yana to indulge. He looked just as confused as Zahra felt.

“Draw a line from where we are standing to the wall,” Yana explained.

“Okay…” Zahra did. “Done. Now what?”

Yana pulled out her own binoculars. She looked through them and continued her instructions. “Now, extend out to, oh, one hundred feet in both directions.”

Zahra did. “Okay. Also done.”

“What are you getting at?” Hammet asked. “I don’t see anything.”

Yana waved him off, still looking through her binoculars. “Keep your shorts on; I’m getting there. Now, measure forty, maybe even fifty, feet high and visualize a long, skinny rectangle.”

“Yana,” Zahra started, “I—”

“Just do it.”

Zahra glanced at Hammet and shrugged. “Okay, I’m picturing it, but still don’t see anything odd?”

Yana growled in frustration. “Just trust me, okay? There’s something here. I can see it.”

“Does this girl cry wolf?” Hammet asked.

Zahra smiled but quickly erased it when Yana shot her with daggers.

“Don’t patronize me. I know what I see.”

Zahra trusted her people. “I believe you. Let’s get in for a closer look.”

They returned to the wall. Zahra felt around but couldn’t tell much about what she was feeling due to her heavy gloves. All she could feel was the rough exterior of a mountain cliff. She removed one glove and tried with her bare hand, but her fingertips grew too cold to feel anything at all.

“What are we looking for?” Hammet asked.

“Anything artificial,” Zahra replied. “I figure it’s safe to assume this entry point will be cleverly hidden. The Ahnenerbe were the best, right?”

Hammet nodded. “Yes. If they built a secret entrance into the mountain, then it will be difficult to find.”

Yana looped around the pair and moved left, dragging her hands across the surface of the cliff. “Then quit wasting time.”

Hammet moved opposite Yana and headed right. Zahra stayed somewhere in between and gave the middle section a heavy inspection. Nothing leaped out at her and screamed, “Look at me, secret door!”

Keep searching.

For a moment, Yana kept going, but then she stuttered to a stop. The assassin’s demeanor changed in an instant. Zahra was sprinting toward her even before Yana began yelling for them to join her.

Hammet was further away but hustling to catch up.

“I found something,” Yana explained. “Right here.”

Zahra gently pressed her hands up against a random rise of stone. “What am I looking for?”

“It moved.”

“It moved?” Hammet asked, breathing heavily.

Zahra leaned into it and felt something shift ever so slightly. Her eyes widened. “She’s right.” She stepped aside. “See if you can loosen it up some.”

Zahra had no problem conceding her efforts to the much larger and stronger German soldier. Hammet gripped the rock in both his thick hands, and he pushed and pulled in several different directions.

“You’re right. It does move!”

Yana grinned. “Told you so.”

“To be fair,” Hammet said between grunts, “I never openly doubted you.”

“But you did doubt—”

Click.

The sound was high-pitched and metallic. Hammet’s right fingers had depressed something around a corner. He gripped and pulled.