The Russian flinched and grabbed the stick to keep from slipping off the seat. The display around Yana flashed red, and then a symbol popped up that, of course, no one could read.
“And that’s my cue,” Yana said, throwing her right leg over the seat and leaping down.
“How many did you press?” Hammet asked.
Yana winced. “All of them?”
Zahra closed her eyes, dipped her head, and shook it. “Wonderful.”
“We need to go,” Hammet said.
Zahra opened her eyes and shouted, “Ya think?”
There was no telling what Yana had pushed, but either way, it wasn’t good.
The trio ran for the exit but stopped when the floor began to tremble. They stopped and looked at one another. Zahra figured it out first.
“Um, I don’t think that was the weapons systems.” She eyed Hammet, then Yana. “I think that was the flight controls.”
A voice spoke with a sound like an amalgamation of many voices at once — a whisper, a deeper male voice, and a sort of gravely scream. The language, of course, was alien.
Hammet backed away. “Is it just me, or does that sound like a countdown?”
“A countdown to what?” Yana asked.
Zahra pushed them forward.
“A countdown to what?” Yana repeated.
Zahra met eyes with her as they moved. “To launch.”
They hustled out of the room and reentered the hallway.
“All the way down here?” Hammet asked.
“At this point,” Zahra replied, “I wouldn’t put anything past these things.” She backhanded his shoulder. “But hey, on the bright side, looks like we’ll destroy this place after all.”
“And ourselves!” Yana retorted. Her face was frozen in terror. “Why are you so cheery about it?”
Zahra tried and failed to extinguish her maniacal smile. “Oh, I’m not. I’m terrified!”
Chapter 57
Yana
Yana and Hammet led the way back into the central corridor. Yana focused on the cables running along the center of the wide floor. The worst thing she could do was get turned around and lost. She kept to the left of them, and Hammet kept to the right.
At the halfway point, Zahra was still lagging behind them both but had quickly come out of her mental funk. She’d been through a lot, and Yana couldn’t blame her brain for taking a nap.
Yana looked back and stumbled. She grabbed for the left-hand wall to brace herself, and when she touched it, it vanished, and she fell. The wall hadn’t been a wall at all — but rather a door.
She landed hard on her left side. “Dammit.”
“You okay?” Zahra asked, reaching down and gripping her coat. She helped Yana up.
Then they froze.
“Oh, shit,” Zahra whispered.
The contents on the other side of the room definitely qualified as an “oh, shit” moment. The two women, still clutching one another, stepped inside.
“We don’t have time for this,” Hammet hissed. But even his voice trailed off at seeing what they had.
“It’s an onboard lab!” Zahra said.
But this lab hadn’t belonged to the owners of this spacecraft. This was man-made. The room had been hijacked by the Sixth Seal and turned into one. And there, in the center of it all, were two hospital gurneys, though one was much larger than the other.
And they were occupied.
Yana stepped closer, but Zahra didn’t let go. “We don’t—”
The Russian ripped out of Zahra’s grip. She looked at her. “I have to see this.”
“We—” Hammet started.
Zahra held up a hand, silencing him. She nodded at the German before turning back to Yana. “Quickly.”
Chapter 58
Zahra
From just inside the doorway, Zahra and Hammet quietly watched Yana cross the laboratory. Unlike the pod chamber and the bridge, this room was of regular size to Zahra, like a gigantic walk-in closet, not that it mattered. The bodies were what currently held everyone’s attention.
The floor quaked harder now. Zahra knew she and Hammet should have dragged Yana down the hallway kicking and screaming, but something told her to let the Russian do this. Her eyes had been laser-focused, and her face had been sincere.
Yana really did need to do this.
“Project Fleshgod?” Hammet asked.
“Yeah. I think this might’ve been the ground floor.”
“Mengele’s lab?”
She nodded.
Hammet stepped back. He was as uncomfortable as anyone being here.
Probably more, Zahra thought. Hammet hated the Nazis more than Zahra or Yana ever could.
Yana stepped up to the larger body first.
“What do you see?” Zahra asked.
“Definitely one of the aliens,” Yana replied. “Probably from the open pod.” She pointed at its right side and sneered in disgust. “I think its arm is missing.”
Yana continued around to the two subjects’ heads. She stepped closer, reached out, and gripped the heavy sheets lying on top of them, one with each hand.
“Here we go…”
She lifted the sheets.
Even from here, Zahra watched the Russian assassin’s eyes go wide in terror. Then, she let go of the sheets, covered her mouth, stumbled backward, and retched. Zahra hurried over to her side and consoled the now blubbering woman. This time, Yana gladly accepted Zahra’s hug.
“Oh my God,” Yana cried.
“It’s okay,” Zahra said, stroking her back. “Everything is fine.”
“No…” Yana pushed away from her. “No, it isn’t.”
Hammet joined them. Yana gazed at the man through wet eyes. “They really were monsters.”
Hammet nodded. He didn’t verbally add anything. What could he say?
With Yana slowly coming down from her emotional distress, Zahra decided it was her turn. She’d seen some awful things recently. How much worse could this be?
She reached for the alien’s sheet.
“Don’t!” Yana cried out, grabbing her wrist and squeezing like a vise. She looked deeply into Zahra’s eyes. “Please, don’t.”
Zahra gave her a nod of agreement. She wouldn’t look.
The room shook.
Hammet stepped closer. “We need to go.”
Zahra stepped away, but Yana didn’t. She stood as still as a statue and stared at the veiled test subjects.
“Yana?”
The Russian’s eyes hardened. She wiped away her tears and sneered. “This place needs to burn.” She stormed past Zahra and Hammet. “These people need to die.”
Chapter 59
Henri
Henri fell to his knees, uncaring that five of his men were watching him. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The room was filled with an angelic golden light, and its source was, at first, incomprehensible. He was too amazed to think it through clearly. The only thing he could do was tear up and whisper three words.
“It is them.”
He replayed the countless late-night conversations he had with Ulrich about this very subject. The interest in Antarctica had always encompassed two specific subjects for the Nazis: to build an impenetrable stronghold and aliens.
Himmler had been obsessed with the latter subject, whether his people knew it or not. Dietrich Krause had been brought into the fold because of the need for a covert installation.
Why didn’t you tell me any of this, Ulrich? Then Tobias Krause’s face appeared in his mind’s eye. Because Krause never told you!
He felt the blood beginning to boil beneath his skin. Tobias Krause. You need to answer for all of this!