The third engine struggled and poured smoke, but it also started.
The fourth engine didn’t turn over at all.
Yana tried it again, but still, nothing. “Eh, good enough.”
“Good enough?”
She nodded. “We won’t get airborne, but we’ll still be able to get rolling.” Yana stroked her armrest. “I will call her Firebird.”
“Firebird?” Hammet asked. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t they seen as harbingers of death in your culture?”
“Yes, but not always. Sometimes they are a blessing.”
Hammet looked around the cockpit. “Well, let’s hope your Firebird plays nice.”
“Yes, let’s hope. She tilted her head back toward the hatch. “Come on. Let’s go check on Zahra.”
They descended the stairs beneath the nose of the aircraft and looked for Zahra.
“There!” Yana said. “She just made it to the control console.”
Chapter 67
Henri
The South Wing elevator safely returned him to the uppermost level. He took a deep breath, nearly tasting freedom. The stale air of the Underworld had become an unwelcome stench. He rushed right, bypassing dozens of small rooms in a blur. When he was directly beneath the southern archway into the wing, he was thrown to the floor as the entire facility shook with the force of an earthquake.
Henri’s forehead hit hard and was cut open, though he didn’t pay it any attention. He launched to his feet and made a mad dash for his former team’s Sno-Cat. It wouldn’t be the fastest means of exit, but it would still be a hell of a lot faster than his tired legs.
He hurriedly climbed inside and slammed the door, plopping down in the driver seat with a sigh of relief. But Henri knew better than to celebrate. He still had to make it outside before Ritscher Peak turned him into a pancake.
Henri gently laid his hand on top of his chest, feeling the slight lump in his chest rig’s admin pouch. He visualized the priceless remnant from a time past. Even if he couldn’t use it as a means to an end, he knew a few people who would pay handsomely for the information inside of it.
The key to unlocking everlasting life.
He started the engine and pulled away.
Chapter 68
Zahra
Zahra took the steps two at a time and made it to the top on the raised control console in what she believed was record time. She took in the state of the workstation and saw that she had chosen correctly regarding the east platform. The controls belonging to the southern bomber now wore a boulder as a hat. She didn’t need to look up and confirm where it had originated from. Zahra knew the ceiling was falling apart all around her.
She had dodged smaller ones on her way here, but nothing the size of the rock that had crushed one-third of the control console. Zahra skidded across the catwalk flooring and caught herself against a bolted-down chair. She counted eight individual buttons and had no idea which one to press. Then, she looked closer and saw the word for platform in the Sixth Seal language.
“Oh, that’s convenient.”
She mashed it with her palm. A hiss and chorus of grinding gears filled the air in front of her as she watched the gargantuan underground platform elevator activate.
The 140-foot-wide Geisterbomber rose off the ground.
Without me.
“Oh, shit.”
Zahra dove away from the console just as it was destroyed by falling debris. Her stomach lurched at the sight but settled. The plane continued to rise. So, she climbed forward and started off. She descended the steps down to the floor in a chaotic fashion. Luckily for her, the console wasn’t all that far away from the planes. Unfortunately for her, the hangar was coming apart at the seams — it wouldn’t be long before the entire thing caved in.
Boulders as large as her landed only feet away. She looked up and ran with her chin to the sky, watching for incoming subterranean meteors. She meandered left to avoid one, then spotted another as it detached and fell. She slinked back to the right, then immediately went back left.
“Zahra, hurry!” She wasn’t sure her voice could even be heard over the sound of the spattering engine, but when she glanced down, Yana and Hammet were waving her forward. The one consolation was that the lift didn’t move all that fast. A grinding noise picked up above them as the floor to the East Wing opened. Equipment fell as it did. It was clear to see that the Sixth Seal had not meant for them to open yet. The floor would have been clear of all equipment if it were. Luckily, nothing sizeable hit the plane.
Zahra was nearly there, but the plane was already fifteen feet off the ground. She wasn’t going to be able to reach it without a little help. She detached her grappling hook and gave the closed head some slack.
“Hammet! Get ready!”
He saw her, and he knelt. Hammet held his hands out in front of him, awaiting the special delivery. Zahra twirled the hook next to her, and after four rotations, she released it.
“Watch your face!”
Zahra had aimed right for Hammet’s nose.
It hit Hammet in the hands but pushed straight through them. Zahra had given it everything she could just in case she didn’t have a lot to give. He scrambled back for the hook’s head.
From somewhere out of sight, Hammet shouted, “Climb!”
So, Zahra climbed. But she also swung. The movement threw off her technique. Her pace was slow and filled with hesitation.
“Zahra! The ceiling!”
She stopped and looked up. There was only twenty feet to the ceiling, and she was still ten feet beneath the platform. If she didn’t make it in time, her cord would be cleaved in two, as could her body, depending on the timing of her ascent.
There were twin animalistic roars from above, and Zahra was yanked halfway up onto the platform. She lifted her right knee and rolled onto it with ten feet to spare. Both Yana and Hammet were, once again, holding the other end of her grappling hook.
Zahra climbed to her feet as they re-entered Sub-Level 5 of the Underworld.
“You two are making a habit out of saving my life.” The B-29’s prop wash partially drowned out Zahra’s words. Three of the four engines whirled like crazy. The outside engine on the left wing was lifeless.
She met Hammet’s eyes, then quickly looked away.
Yana nudged him. “See what I told you? This is her idea of flirting.”
The blood drained from Zahra’s face. What on earth had Yana told him?
The Russian grinned. “Come. Let’s get this bird ready for takeoff.” Yana headed inside.
Zahra’s mouth fell open, and she turned to Hammet. “She’s not serious, is she?”
“About the flirting thing?” he answered. “Well, you see, I’m on the road a lot, and I don’t get to go out much, and I’ve never been good with men…”
Normally, Hammet’s face was all business. But now, he looked like he was enjoying himself.
Zahra finally understood why.
“You were asking about the plane’s ability to fly, not my inability to flirt, weren’t you?”
Hammet smiled and tilted his head toward the stairs beneath the cone of the plane. “Let’s get out of here first, then we can talk about your inability to flirt.”
Either Hammet had just acknowledged he did have feelings for her, or he was screwing with her. For now, Zahra was going to assume that Yana had rubbed off on him and that he was full of shit. They had more important things to worry about right now.
She followed Hammet into the aircraft and was instantly transported back in time. Everything was how it had been during the war, or that’s what Zahra imagined. She could see the flight crew shouting at one another in preparation for their next bombing run. Zahra wasn’t sure if the flight crew wore headsets back then, and she didn’t care.