Even from here, Zahra watched the Russian assassin’s eyes go wide in terror. Then, she let go of the sheets, covered her mouth, stumbled backward, and retched. Zahra hurried over to her side and consoled the now blubbering woman. This time, Yana gladly accepted Zahra’s hug.
“Oh my God,” Yana cried.
“It’s okay,” Zahra said, stroking her back. “Everything is fine.”
“No…” Yana pushed away from her. “No, it
Hammet joined them. Yana gazed at the man through wet eyes. “They really were monsters.”
Hammet nodded. He didn’t verbally add anything. What could he say?
With Yana slowly coming down from her emotional distress, Zahra decided it was her turn. She’d seen some awful things recently. How much worse could this be?
She reached for the alien’s sheet.
“Don’t!” Yana cried out, grabbing her wrist and squeezing like a vise. She looked deeply into Zahra’s eyes. “Please, don’t.”
Zahra gave her a nod of agreement. She wouldn’t look.
The room shook.
Hammet stepped closer. “We need to go.”
Zahra stepped away, but Yana didn’t. She stood as still as a statue and stared at the veiled test subjects.
“Yana?”
The Russian’s eyes hardened. She wiped away her tears and sneered. “This place needs to burn.” She stormed past Zahra and Hammet. “These people need to die.”
Henri fell to his knees, uncaring that five of his men were watching him. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The room was filled with an angelic golden light, and its source was, at first, incomprehensible. He was too amazed to think it through clearly. The only thing he could do was tear up and whisper three words.
“It is them.”
He replayed the countless late-night conversations he had with Ulrich about this very subject. The interest in Antarctica had always encompassed two specific subjects for the Nazis: to build an impenetrable stronghold and aliens.
Himmler had been obsessed with the latter subject, whether his people knew it or not. Dietrich Krause had been brought into the fold because of the need for a covert installation.
He felt the blood beginning to boil beneath his skin.
When Henri returned to Stuttgart, he was going to have a very private sit down with the Sixth Seal head.
“What about Kane, sir?” Emil asked.
The mention of Zahra reined in some of Henri’s overflowing emotions. He sniffed back his welling tears and stood. “Master Chief, search the room.”
“Yes, sir.”
Henri faced the three sharpshooters, pointing at two of them. “You and you, go with him.” He pointed at the third soldier. “You, guard our exit.”
They quickly dispersed, leaving Henri alone with his lieutenant.
“The journal, sir. What if we are unable to recover it?”
It had always been a distinct possibility. So far, Zahra had stayed one step ahead of them. Still, they must have been somewhere on board the ship, or else Henri’s team would have run into them by now.
Emil picked up two of the papers. “Sir, these involved Project Fleshgod.”
Henri turned and found Emil reading one of the documents. He then handed it to the commander. Henri quickly read it over and saw that it was a report on a recent experiment.
“Gather them together. We’ll take them all.” Emil nodded and got to work collecting the reports. “But we still need to be on the lookout for—”
The floor vibrated, cutting off Henri’s words. Emil paused what he was doing and looked up at him. They stared at one another for a moment. Then the floor shook again.
“Commander?”
Henri turned toward the exit. He waited, holding his breath.
The floor shook again.
“What is it, sir?”
Henri looked over his shoulder. “Nothing good. Call the men back. We’re leaving.”
They made it back to the central intersection in record time despite the rolling waves of turbulence beneath their feet. Zahra thanked their lucky stars that the ship apparently took forever to gain enough steam to do…
Her bet was still on a launch.
Yana and Hammet darted left, back toward the entrance. At first, Zahra followed them, but then she saw something that gave her pause. Shapes bounced back and forth further down the corridor, leading toward the pod chamber. The gold pinprick of light became intermittently blocked by the shifting silhouettes.
Yana turned and rejoined her, but then Zahra realized what the apparitions were.
She shoved Yana backward. “Go, go, go,” she hissed. “They’re here.”
The surprised Russian staggered back into Hammet. Yana’s face went from confused to enraged. She stepped
“What are you doing?” Zahra whispered.
“We stay and fight.”
“No, we don’t. We don’t even know how many there are!”
“She’s right,” Hammet added. “Plus, we still need to evacuate.”
