And with that, Yana exited the Sno-Cat.
Zahra unzipped her coat and slipped the plate carrier over her head. She inserted the detachable chest rig, pulled the wings of the cummerbund forward, and velcroed them down, tightening the carrier. Then she flopped her chest rig back into place, securing both pieces together. She was confident that it wouldn’t slosh around if and when she was forced to move quickly.
Hammet also slid into his plate carrier. He looked like he had a million thoughts banging around in his head.
“What do you think we’ll find?” Zahra asked.
“I’m not sure,” he replied, “but considering all the trouble the Sixth Seal is going through, I think it’s safe to say that it’ll be quite impressive.”
Zahra gazed out over the frozen lake. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I mean, an underground Nazi bunker in Antarctica. This is a big deal.”
Hammet sighed. “One the world will never know about.”
It hurt Zahra to think about it in that way. But Hammet was right. “Especially with the work they were doing out here… whatever it was.”
“Black Sunset,” Hammet said. “What do you think it is?”
She tipped her head toward the lake. “Why don’t we go find out?”
He smiled, grabbed his backpack, and exited the vehicle. Zahra did, too. She was blasted by the cold but not the wind. The air was still here, except for the occasional breeze funneling in off the tundra. The cold wasn’t as unruly around the lake. Zahra looked up at the Gruber Mountains and mentally thanked them for their shelter.
They headed off and joined Yana at the northern edge of the lake. She knelt, scanning the area for signs of life through her binoculars. She stood when her teammates approached.
“Anything?” Zahra asked.
“No,” Yana replied. “All is quiet.”
Zahra gave the landscape a look of her own. Nothing moved.
Hammet stepped toward the lake. “Can you imagine seeing a U-boat surfacing here?”
“I have witnessed a submarine punch through the ice once back in Russia,” Yana said, “but this is something else.”
Zahra pulled out her own binoculars. “So, where do you want to start our search?” She scanned the shoreline. “I see a couple of spots where sailors could come ashore. A good chunk of the coast is too steep, though.”
“We’ll follow you,” Hammet said.
Zahra removed the binoculars from her eyes and pocketed them. She gave him a nod and set off around the flat expanse of ice. Lake Untersee wasn’t terribly big. It measured a mile and a half across at its widest point. The hike didn’t bother Zahra, but leaving the Sno-Cat behind and unattended did.
Relax, Zahra. No one is stealing your ride.
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.”