The Sixth Seal полностью

Yana finally conceded. “Fine. I’ll just have to kill them outside then.”

“Whatever floats your boat.” Zahra shooed Yana away. “Now, go. Toropit’sya.”

They hauled ass for the exit. Not only was the ship about to go light speed directly into the Earth’s crust, but they also had a squad of militant soldiers coming up quickly behind them.

Zahra dashed across the shifting bridge, nearly losing her balance during the largest quake so far. She used the bridge’s safety railing for what it was designed for and grabbed it, dragging her hand across it for the last fifteen feet. They didn’t stop until they were all on the elevator. Zahra smashed the button with the base of her fist and got them moving.

They waited. There was nothing else for them to do.

To the left of the door, a large chunk of ice cracked and fell free. The ice wall wasn’t a wall at all. Beneath its entire one-thousand-foot length was the spacecraft’s outer hull.

It’s the size of a cruise ship!

“We definitely do not need a bigger boat,” Yana quipped.

“It’s not a boat,” Hammet said, utterly ruining the moment.

When they reached thirty feet, the door across the abyss opened. Six white-clad, heavily armed soldiers stormed out. Their cold-weather fatigues would make them nearly impossible to locate when topside. They stopped and aimed their rifles up at the rising platform, but they didn’t fire.

A single man stepped forward.

Yana gawked at the man. “Is that…”

It was.

Kyle Ford smiled. “Hello, Zahra. Leaving so soon?”

His accent was German.

“Kyle?” she asked.

“You have something I want!” The imposter had to shout his words now.

Zahra was angry, but she also saw that there wasn’t much he could do about it. “Sucks to be you, don’t it?”

“Oh, don’t you worry about us! We’ll be up in a moment to retrieve it!”

Zahra snorted. “Not if we disable the elevator first!”

Yana leaned forward. “Rot in hell, you bastard!

They disappeared into the upper stone shaft. They were nearly back to the room behind the oversized hatch. Zahra felt betrayed, but she also felt good to tell that asshole off. Kyle had lied to them about everything.

Which means the survivors back at the LC-130 are dead.

Zahra was disgusted when she recalled Kyle telling her that people stationed in remote areas like this tended to form a tight bond with one another. They formed a real community.

Yeah… Tell that to Ethan, prick.

When they reached the top, Zahra’s head swam. She was exhausted, and she’d just learned that the fourth member of their covert team was really a high-ranking member of the Sixth Seal. The revelation that Zahra had helped them, and on TAC’s behalf, was enough for her breathing to grow shallow. She needed air.

She hyperventilated and backed out of the now cut-open hatch.

As soon as she re-entered the hangar, she felt cold steel on her temple.

Someone had just put a gun to it.

“Move and die.”

Yana and Hammet wheeled around and brought up their rifles.

Zahra held out a hand. “Don’t!”

The soldier sidestepped behind Zahra, using her as a human shield. He shouted past Zahra for Yana and Hammet to put down their weapons.

“And do it slowly,” he added.

They followed his instructions and tossed aside their AKs. All Zahra could do was stand with her arms out beside her and watch as the elevator platform reactivated and disappeared. Kyle’s warning was about to come true. He was only minutes away from retrieving the Mengele journal.

She silently urged the Reliquary engines to come to life.

Come on, baby. Mama’s only got one life. Get your ass in gear!

Six of the Sixth Seal’s best stepped off the platform and back onto solid ground. Henri led them, moving quickly and quietly as they closed in on the hole where the hatch used to be. He kept to the left side, using the wall next to the doorway as cover. The strategy drastically cut down on his field of view, but it also cut down his enemy’s field of view. He kept his eyes peeled for signs of a fight, but there were none.

There was quite the opposite.

The only noise he heard came from below.

Where are they? he asked himself. Then, he snuck a peek around to the left, seeing something that pleased him deeply.

“Clear,” he announced, stepping into the hangar casually.

Zahra, Yana, and Hammet were on their knees with their hands on their heads. The soldier Henri had left behind to guard the exit had done his job beautifully. He’d captured those they sought.

Henri wasn’t in the mood for games, but he couldn’t hide his smug smile.

“I know, I know,” Zahra said, staring daggers into him, “I told you so, right?”