“Look at the cables,” Yana said, gesturing up at the ceiling. “Why are there so many?”
She was right. Every square inch of the ceiling, except for the underside of the three wings’ floors, was covered in cables of all sizes. Zahra recalled the cables running down into the floor from the throw switch back up at ground level.
“Whatever is still powering this facility is down here somewhere. I bet these cables snake through the entire Underworld.”
“They continue into the center of the room — the hangar — too.”
Yana was right. Zahra spotted several groups of them running down the walls and across the floor, using canal-like depressions to do so. Then, they met in the middle and disappeared beneath a raised platform.
“Are you a pilot?” Hammet asked Yana.
She nodded. “Helicopters mostly. It all depends on the flight controls, but I can get almost anything in the air.”
“Can you get them back on the ground?” he asked. “Without killing everyone inside?”
She looked away. “…uh, still working on that part.”
“Still, you seem to know planes well,” he continued.
“Only the famous ones.”
Now, it was Zahra’s turn. “These are famous?” She wasn’t an aeronautics enthusiast.
“Yes,” Yana replied. “The B-29 Superfortress bombed both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. To this day, it is the only aircraft to ever drop a nuclear weapon in combat.”
The trio fell into silence until Zahra noticed something odd about the planes. As more and more lights kicked on, the Geisterbomber’s hulls began to blur.
She rubbed her eyes, but didn’t help. “Tell me you see that too.”
“I do,” Hammet replied.
“As do I,” Yana said.
The only way she could describe what was happening to the planes was that the ambient light was bending around them. It was as if the light was allergic to them.
“Cloaking…” Yana muttered. “This is what they talked about when they mentioned cloaking.”
“What’s causing it?” Hammet asked.
Yana shrugged. “I have no idea. Some kind of special coating?”
“From eighty years ago?” Zahra asked rhetorically. “We don’t have that kind of tech now.”
“Look!” Hammet said, pointing at the nearest B-29. “The tail, it’s gone!”
He was right. The tail of the bomber slowly blurred. Then it vanished. The lower they traveled, the more the plane faded from view. Suddenly, it reappeared as their line of sight shifted again.
It was the craziest thing Zahra had ever seen.
Or maybe that title is still reserved for the Temple of Anubis?
“Can you image if these were set loose during the war?” Hammet asked.
“The war?” Zahra blurted. “Screw the war! Can you imagine what would happen if they went airborne today?” She swept her hand over the hangar. “We still can’t fight this! A plane that’s actually invisible? It may show up on radar, but I’d bet they’ve figured out how to hide from that, too.”
“How did they do this?” Yana asked. “And how did they do this eight decades ago?”
Zahra saw something across the room that gave her pause. She removed her binoculars and peered through them to be sure. “I think I see another door.” She pointed at a black splotch on the far wall. She handed the binoculars to Yana. “Look.”
“Another one?” she asked, accepting the eyewear.
“Where could it lead?” Hammet asked.
Zahra eyed them both. “The Reliquary?”
“Could be…” Hammet said, his voice trailing off.
“Something on your mind?” Yana asked, returning the binoculars to Zahra.
“Yes. A lot.”
Zahra patted him on the shoulder as the lift came to a rest.
She stepped onto solid ground and marveled at the aircraft in front of her. The overall shape did look familiar, but its hull was covered in strange octagonal panels that linked together to form a kind of skin.
“They really were enormous,” Hammet said.
“That they were,” Yana agreed. “That they were… I’d love to fly one.”
Fly.
Zahra looked up. “Oh my God.”
“What’s wrong?” Hammet asked.
“The floors. Well, the ceilings. Look.” They all craned their necks back. “Remember the splits we saw? I know what they were.” She brought her eyes down to Yana and Hammet. “And the oversized entry ramp.” She hurried over to the first plane and confirmed a rising suspicion. “See. They’re on lifts.”
“They are?” Hammet asked.
“Yeah, look at the platform. Whattaya bet this is an elevator?”
Yana snorted. “There’s no way I am betting against you right now.”
Zahra gazed back up at the ceiling, at the three, two-hundred-foot-wide circular cutouts above them. “The floors were meant to separate and allow the bombers to be lifted through.”
“But how?” Hammet asked.
Zahra shrugged. “I don’t know, cables?” She started around the plane now. “Unless they’re pushed up from below, though that would take one hell of a hydraulic system.”
Yana followed closely. “And the entrance?” she asked.
Zahra stopped and looked back at her. “It’s an underground runway.”
Hammet’s hands found his hips, and he looked at the ground. “She’s right. The dimensions make perfect sense now. So does the intersection of passages with the eagle emblem. Why build the tunnels so large unless it was required? It would be a waste of resources if it were just for looks.”
“Speaking of wasted resources…” Yana said.
“Yeah, I’d imagine that’s why they want it back so bad,” Zahra said. “The time and cost of constructing this place only to never have its creations come to light…”
“Can you grasp the dangerous drive these people must possess?” Hammet caught up to the two women. “Even after so much time, they are still fighting to take back what was lost.”
“Yeah,” Zahra said, “and to me, that makes them extra dangerous. Believe me, I’ve dealt with zealotry like this recently.”
“Your cousin?” Yana asked.
“Yeah, him,” she replied softly.
Zahra started back up, heading around the Ghost bomber.
Chapter 47
Henri
The two men positioned atop the Sno-Cat’s roof dismounted first. They took up positions on either side of it and waited. When no one engaged them, Henri ordered the rest of his men to exit. He was last to step foot into the four-door room. Really, they weren’t doors. They were grand archways.
“Commander, look.”
Henri turned and found Emil staring at an enormous carving of their organization’s emblem, the Reischsalder grasping an overturned globe.
“And this,” Luka said, pulling Henri’s attention away from the eagle.
The other three corners of the intersection were covered in script.
“The Book of Revelation.”
“Sir?” Luka asked.
Henri read the text to himself; then he explained what it was. “Chapter six, verses twelve through seventeen. This is who we are, Master Chief.” He brought his eyes down to the young man. “This is what the Sixth Seal is meant to be.”
Emil stepped up next to Henri. He stood at attention, filled with pride. “We are to wipe the world clean.”
“Forward,” Henri ordered.
The seven-man, masked team moved with purpose, walking heel-to-toe with light feet. They entered the South Wing and slowed as its contents came into view. Every soldier here had waited years to see this. Some soldiers, like Henri and Emil, had waited decades.