“Whatever else we find here,” Hammet said. “This place must be destroyed — buried beneath the mountain.”
Just like Egypt, Zahra thought. That discovery, while incredible and historically significant, also needed to be destroyed and forgotten.
“Definitely,” Yana agreed.
They looked at Zahra.
“Yeah, yeah…” she held her hands up in surrender. “I know.”
“What will your superiors say?” Hammet asked.
Zahra shrugged. “They don’t have a voice down here. This is my op, and I say this place needs to be turned to rubble. The world will thank us.”
“No, they won’t,” Yana added. “No one outside of a few will even know this place ever existed.”
Zahra sighed. “Yep. But it’s for the best. No one needs what’s down here.”
Hammet turned to the door at the back of the hangar. “Speaking of which…”
“Let’s go,” Zahra said, descending the other side of the control center. “Let’s see where the next rabbit hole takes us.”
“I don’t like rabbits.” Yana’s comment had come under her breath.
“Really, why?” Zahra asked. “I think they’re cute.”
Yana waved her off. She wasn’t getting into it.
Now, Zahra really needed to know why the hardened mercenary didn’t like them.
“Were you bit by a bunny?”
Hammet snorted a laugh but immediately held in another when Yana shot him with a deadly gaze. “I have killed men for less, Herr Braun.”
Zahra didn’t doubt that, but she knew Yana meant it in jest. They were a team down here. They all needed each other.
Zahra grinned and began humming “Little Bunny Foo Foo.” She made sure it was just loud enough for Yana to hear.
The only reaction the Russian gave her was a guttural growl and an increase in foot speed. She had enough of Zahra and Hammet for the moment and left them in the dust.
Hammet leaned in closer to Zahra. “You antagonize her?”
Zahra shrugged. “Why not? She’s a big girl. She can handle it.”
“She is also a trained killer.”
“I ain’t no southern belle either, you know?”
“Believe me, I know.”
With that comment, Hammet picked up his pace and fell in line beside Yana. He left Zahra alone with her thoughts and the lack of a proper comeback. So, she swallowed her pride and moved on.
“Stupid jerk…”
“What was that?” Hammet asked, stopping and staring at her.
Apparently, she’d said it loud enough for Hammet to hear.
“Nothing,” she replied quickly. She sighed. “It was nothing…”
Chapter 49
Henri
The west elevator came to rest on Sub-Level 4. Henri and Luka were already kneeling. Both men waited for someone to jump out and ambush them, but it never came. Henri silently stood and motioned for Luka to follow him. He would have rather had Emil by his side, but he trusted the lieutenant more to lead the hunt for Kane than he did the master chief.
In truth, Luka was just the next best option.
They stepped off the platform and went right, toward what must have been Krause’s aforementioned offices. It bothered Henri that Krause knew so much about this place. The details the man possessed were unnerving, as if he’d been here before. But there had never been any proof of that.
Until now.
Henri knew that the Underworld had been fully operational as of 1937 and then abandoned in 1960. Everyone in the Sixth Seal knew that. And considering Krause’s age, he might have actually been stationed here at one time. Simple math placed Krause in his thirties when the facility shut down. But if that were true, then why not tell anyone? The obvious answer was that he would have become a wanted man had the knowledge gone public. Nazi hunters would have had a field day arresting a man like Tobias Krause.
That doesn’t feel right, Henri thought. But still, he didn’t abandon the hypothesis altogether.
Even with this newest revelation, Henri didn’t think it was possible for Krause to have been in the Underworld. Krause would have been too busy building his empire in Stuttgart back then to be all the way down here. There was too much evidence of him being present in Germany during his younger years. Krause’s office contained pictures of him with powerful leaders around Europe dating around the same time.
The facts were the facts. But they aren’t, are they? The Sixth Seal was the best when it came to changing history. They created their own version of it regularly, actually.
Maybe he was involved in the day-to-day, but from afar. Hmmm…
“Commander?” Luka asked.
Henri saw that they had arrived outside the offices. He nodded. “Take point, Master Chief.”
“Yes, sir.”
Luka moved fluidly and with purpose. Emil had trained him well. But Henri also knew that the young soldier had worked incredibly hard on his own to be here. Not everything was because of the soldier’s superior.
Henri lifted his rifle and followed Luka inside.
“Clear!” Luka shouted.
Both men relaxed their aim, bringing their weapons into the low-ready position, and quickly searched the room. Henri stopped his search shortly after beginning it, deciding that this wasn’t where some prized journal would be kept. There would have been too many eyes here.
He moved to a door in the rear of the room. It had been forced open. One of Kane’s crew had shot out the lock and kicked in the door. Henri led the way this time, but it was obvious that no one was present. All was quiet, as it had been since entering the Underworld.
“Start looking,” he ordered.
“Yes, sir.”
He and Luka scoured the place clean, focusing on the bevy of bookshelves lining the walls. Their subjects covered everything from medicine to geology to history. Whoever had been here first had let them be. The layer of dust that was present showed no signs of disturbance.
They arrived at the lone desk together and observed the damage wrought behind it. A framed map of the continent had fallen to the floor, the frame smashed, and the desk’s bottom-left drawer had been ripped free and destroyed. Henri knelt and examined both.
The map looked was just a map, nothing more. The only oddity he saw was a small hook in the wall behind where the map would have hung.
What hung here?
The drawer bothered him greatly. It had clearly contained a false bottom. Half of that bottom was still in place. The other half had been splintered and torn free. The corner of the desk sported a fresh wound, too.
She destroyed it and found her prize. But had she already known about it? Was she specifically looking for it?
Henri didn’t think so. Even he had only just found out about the journal’s existence. No, Zahra had been thorough in her investigation, as Henri knew she’d be. The few times he’d talked to her, she had come off as brash and unprofessional. But it was all a cover. Zahra was experienced and incredibly clever. Her aptitude for language confirmed it.
“They have it,” he said, standing. “Kane has the journal.”
“We must get it back!”
Henri agreed, but he still wanted it for himself first before he turned it over to Krause.
He looped around the desk and headed for the door. “Yes, we must.”
“Sir?” Henri stopped and turned. Luka was still standing beside the desk. He reached down and plucked a facedown, framed photo off of it. “Is this who I think it is?”
Henri returned to the master chief’s side and looked over the family photo. His eyes went wide, and he snatched it out of the man’s hand.
“It can’t be…” He looked up from the photo and eyed the desk chair. “It’s Josef Mengele.” He looked at his partner. “He was here.”