Tobias Krause knew the truth, though hardly anyone else did: he was dying.
His failing health had forced him to dive headlong into Dietrich’s most prized work. One of the Underworld’s projects had its sights set on exponentially elongating a human being’s life. But that goal had been lost due to time and available technology. The man in charge of that particular project had left behind a large chunk of his research — research that had been lost to time but that he had every intention of retrieving.
Even with his information being incomplete, Tobias’ scientists in Germany had still been able to develop an injectable serum that slowed the decaying cells associated with growing old.
“It won’t last, Herr Krause,” one of his doctors had argued. “Your body is already building an immunity to the treatment. Soon, the serum will do nothing. Death, it seems, really is inevitable.”
That doctor’s life ended three hours later.
But he’d been correct. The original formula had only remained effective for a few years. Luckily, Tobias was himself, a gifted scientist. Over the decades, he and his team had produced dozens of new permutations to stave off Death’s cold hand.
But now, Tobias’ latest serum was only measuring twenty percent effective. Soon, he’d be forced to try again.
With what? he asked himself. There is no next permutation!
He and his chief scientists were at a dead end.
What he really needed was the knowledge lost in Antarctica.
But how?
He had personally received a communique entailing what had happened to the Underworld. The foundation had shifted and caused subterranean cracks beneath the facility. Reports stated that dozens of men had been buried alive and the entire facility infected with deadly gas.
There were no files to raid.
Five years ago, Tobias had sent his own son to infiltrate a Swiss clinic that had been working on a similar project to Tobias’. Ulrich failed when his father needed him most. He had died during a city-wide police chase. Not only had the loss of the Sixth Seal Field Commander demoralized the organization, but it had also driven Zelda, Ulrich’s teenage daughter, to the brink of mental destruction.
After learning of her father’s fate — a man she had idolized — she had never been the same. There was a harshness, a coldness, to her now.
As the months progressed, and as Tobias grew sicker and sicker, he became desperately aware that he needed the secret facility’s forgotten research. And if he were successful, he would also salvage the Underworld’s other covert operations, including Project Black Sunset.
“Grandfather? Your medicine? It’s time.”
Tobias blinked out of the daze. He glanced up at the window to a reflection of the striking young blonde waiting for him to speak. Zelda was always hounding him about taking his medicine. She wasn’t one who let go of things easily, either. Stubbornness apparently ran in the family. She was also one of the most lethal operatives inside Tobias’ inner circle, the top-secret organization founded by two great men: Heinrich Himmler and Dietrich Krause.
The Sixth Seal, he thought. My kingdom.
Tobias held up his hand. “Leave me.”
“But, Grandfather, you must—”
“Do nothing!” he hissed, cutting her off. The outburst caused Tobias to break out into another fit of coughs. Zelda went against his wishes and rushed to his side. If Ulrich had been her hero, then Tobias was a close second.
When he got himself under control, Zelda stepped back and bowed slightly. “As you wish, Grandfather. I will come back and check on you later.” She turned and headed out.
The sicker Krause became, the more paranoid his thoughts grew. His doctors had warned him of the lasting effects his serum could have on him, both physically and mentally. But Krause didn’t care. Staying alive was all that mattered. He’d worry about the quality of his life when the time came.
He'd even begun to question Zelda’s motives. Why was a woman of her talents still here and not out with the other agents? She was the heir to the Sixth Seal, after all. She, more than most, had a reason to want Tobias dead.
He remembered the unconditional love he once felt for her. Maybe she really was just looking out for him?
No, she’s plotting against me…
He blinked and shook his head, clearing his thoughts. The mental fog subsided some. “Zelda?” He watched her in the reflection. She turned and faced him again. “I’m very proud of you, you know that, yes?”
The driven, unemotional killer broke character and gave him a small smile. Then she bowed again and left.
When the door shut, Tobias cranked back on the joystick of his motorized wheelchair and rolled away from his office window. This was where he spent most of his time, staring out over the grounds of his grand estate and thinking back to when he was young and able.
Tobias continued around to the back of his ultra-elegant desk and slid himself beneath it. His desk phone rang. No one owned this number that wasn’t involved with his personal business.
He quickly answered it. “Yes?”
The news came fast and without pause. Tobias respected the undercover agent’s ability to deliver information so effectively. The entire call lasted less than a minute. When Tobias hung up his phone, his hands shook, and his eyes widened.
This news was interesting, to say the least. Though the information hadn’t been made public yet, Tobias’ contact had gladly clued in the family patriarch. He owned similar contacts throughout the world’s governments, militaries, tech conglomerates, and social media kingpins.
This one happened to be inside the American Department of Justice. Six decades earlier, several Sixth Seal voices had pushed to institute a series of regulations that would forbid all military presence in Antarctica. Unknown to most, the reason for the Antarctic Treaty wasn’t to preserve the untainted continent’s ecosystem but to keep people away from the Underworld’s ruins.
“Could it be?” he muttered. He picked up his desk phone again and dialed.
The line rang for an eternity before finally being answered by a man he trusted most — he fully trusted no one, of course, as he had been trained, but this man was the one he had shared the most with over the years.
“Yes, Herr Krause?” Henri asked, speaking the language of their birth on the other end. Not everyone within the Sixth Seal was German, as the American DOJ agent had proved, though most were. Most operatives were descendants of original members.
Commander Henri Vogel wasn’t just a trusted confidant but also a deadly operative and the current field commander for the entire Sixth Seal. No one held higher authority than Henri did.
No one except Tobias, of course.
World War II had taxed several superpowers heavily, including the United States and the Soviet Union. Back then, both parties, like Nazi Germany, had contained people that did not see eye to eye with their own regimes’ leadership. No one, not Truman, not Stalin, or even Hitler, knew what was happening behind the scenes.
A select few knew enough, however, and these powerful men could move mountains at the drop of a hat.
They were the true leaders of the world.
“Prepare to move out. There is news coming from Antarctica that I need you to look into.”
“Yes, sir. I will see to it.”
Tobias grinned. “Good. If this is what I hope, then it’s what we’ve been waiting for.”
“This is wonderful news, sir.”
Tobias appreciated Henri’s enthusiasm. Like Tobias and numerous others, he had been waiting in secrecy for decades to bring the Sixth Seal into the light. That had always been the goal, but their success in working from the shadows had altered their course, as did the loss of projects like Black Sunset.