The white-clad Sixth Seal forward team had been lying in wait for the surviving mercenaries to return to their camp for over an hour. They needed all loose ends taken care of. Two men had escaped the botched attack on the LC-130. Those two men had just arrived on site moments ago.
“Leave them be, Lieutenant,” Henri Vogel replied, “for now.”
“What if they discover the entrance to the Underworld before us?”
Henri laughed. “Let them. If they succeed, the gas will kill them.”
“And if there is no gas?”
The commander didn’t reply right away.
“Either way,” he finally said, “we will be there to keep them from revealing anything to the world.”
“Yes, we will.”
“Keep your presence invisible, Lieutenant.”
The Sixth Seal strike team leader looked at the grounds outside the campsite. Antarctica had already swept away their tracks.
“Yes, sir. When will you be joining us?”
“Soon, but first, I need to see to something.”
Emil understood what he meant. There were survivors back at the LC-130. Henri had been keeping a close, watchful eye on the situation. They had hoped that there’d be no survivors at all, but the three operatives had proved very capable against overwhelming odds. Still, the Sixth Seal outnumbered them by five-to-one between the two teams present on the continent.
“Very good, Commander. See you then.”
“Yes, Lieutenant, it will be ‘very’ good. Keep the faith. This is what we’ve all been praying for. If the Underworld is accessible, we will finally be able to cleanse this world.”
“My faith in the Sixth Seal has never been a question.”
“I know, hence why you are here. If we are fortunate, you will be one of the first of us to bask in the glory of Himmler’s creation.”
Emil Becker grinned. He knew his commander better than most. Emil and Henri had both loyally served under Ulrich Krause for nearly twenty years and in a number of capacities. Most recently, Emil had been training operatives for combat back home in Germany, high in the snowy Alps.
While they preferred to run missions like this, Henri and Emil also oversaw operations centering on corporate and political espionage and straightforward assassinations. The one constant between them all was the continued progress and triumph of the Sixth Seal and all its affiliates.
If a politician unknowingly threatened one of Tobias Krause’s silent partners, then a small team was sent in. If a Fortune 500 tech giant attempted to purchase one of the Sixth Seal’s IT companies, then a fake story would be leaked to kill the buyout.
The Antarctic cold stung, but it also focused Emil. It focused him on their endgame. Heinrich Himmler and Dietrich Krause’s vision for the world had always been a beautiful one. With the revelation that the fabled Underworld might have actually survived, then Emil was thrilled to be on location and at the forefront.
The organization’s founder’s vision mirrored Hitler’s in a way but without the internal politics and power struggle. The Sixth Seal desired change, and they’d do it without remorse and without bureaucratic barriers. Hitler also had refused to bend when he’d been threatened. He had staunchly believed in his appointed leadership, that they would ultimately prevail. But then, the entire Nazi Party broke, and so did the war effort.
The Sixth Seal had survived for so long because of their willingness to switch gears and change operational procedures. They did anything to progress forward. Tobias Krause led with an identical iron fist, too, emphasizing the same “leader principle” as Hitler had used. The Führerprinzip urged underlings to follow orders with unwavering compliance.
Insubordination was not an option.
Ever.
Emil knew of several men and women who had been “disappeared” because of speaking aloud too many converse opinions.
Chapter 31
Zahra
It took them nearly three hours to reach the mountains. The Sno-Cat had chewed through the terrain, as it was designed to do, but it had been slow going. Most of the drive had been accomplished in silence. When someone did speak, it was about the mission and what they’d possibly find. Zahra had so much on her mind, but she didn’t know where to begin. So, she had kept it inside and did her best to sort through it herself.
Trust your allies, Zahra, she thought, scolding herself.
“Be ready for anything,” Hammet cautioned. His simple warning erased Zahra’s internal struggle. Now, she was on high alert — they all were.
The mountain range was small compared to others Zahra had seen on her map. She’d climbed much larger, too, but not in an atmosphere as inhospitable as Antarctica. The formations looped around to form a jagged letter “C,” and nestled into one of its ends were a trio of artificial lumps.
“See them?” Hammet asked.
Zahra lifted a pair of binoculars to her eyes. “I do.” She lowered them. “How do you want to do this? We’ll have no cover either way.”
“Slowly,” Yana replied. “They don’t know that we followed them.”
Hammet looked around, gauging the weather outside of the cab. “We can move closer, I think. The weather has worsened. They won’t be able to see us, and they most definitely won’t be able to hear us.”
“That’s really sketchy, isn’t it?” Zahra asked.
Hammet shrugged. “Like you said, we have no cover.” He knocked on the windshield. “This is built to withstand a beating. We should be safe inside.”
“Should…” Yana muttered. “I hate the word.”
Zahra sighed. “Don’t we all.” She bit her lip, deep in thought, but couldn’t come up with a better plan. “Okay, move us in closer.”
“Take it slow,” Yana added.
Hammet smiled and patted the dashboard. “Don’t you worry about that. The only thing this slug knows is slow.”
They crawled forward slower than they had before. They bounced around more, too. Faster speeds allowed travelers to skip over the uneven sections of terrain. Right now, Zahra felt like they were attempting to navigate over Olympic moguls.
When they were within a hundred yards, Hammet stopped. “Close enough.”
“Is no one home?” Yana asked.
Zahra had been wondering the same thing. She had honestly expected to meet quite a bit of resistance by now. Without a word, Hammet threw the Sno-Cat into park and popped open his door. Zahra and Yana followed him outside through their respective doors. She shouldered her AK, staying close to the body of the snow tracker. Yana looped around the rear of it and met them. Hammet looked at both women, then nodded.
The trio took off. They rushed forward, keeping their eyes peeled for the enemy. As they ran, the wind died down some. The natural cover the tip of the “C” gave them a much-needed respite from the unrelenting gale. It was the first time Zahra was able to hear the crunch of her footfalls. Hammet and Yana must have noticed the change as well because they also slowed to a quieter, brisk walk.
“Down,” Yana hissed.
The three-man team dropped onto their bellies.
“What is it?” Zahra asked, aiming her rifle forward.
“There,” Yana replied, pointing. “Thirty feet in front of the larger tent.”
“I don’t see anything.”
“Look at the ground,” Hammet said.
Zahra did, and she instantly saw what had spooked the Russian mercenary. “It’s a lump.”
Yana glanced at her. “No, it’s a body.”