“Are your friends with you?”
Zahra looked at Yana and then Hammet. “Yes, sir, they are. Is that a problem?” Both of them turned their attention to Zahra.
“Quite the opposite, actually. Can you put me on speaker?”
Zahra was confused. “Uh, sure?”
“It’s fine, Zahra. I think we are in safe company at this point.”
“Okay…” She removed the phone from her ear and activated the correct function. “Okay, sir, you’re on speaker.”
“Hello again, Director,” Yana said.
“Hello, Ms. Fedorov.”
Hammet leaned in closer to the phone. “Guten tag, Director.”
“And hello to you, Mr. Braun. First things first, thank you for keeping my agent alive.”
Hammet’s eyes darted up from the phone to Zahra. “You are most welcome, though I suspect that she stayed alive mostly due to her unwillingness to die rather than anything we did.”
“I’m sure that’s also true. The reason I’m calling is to let you three know that we are going to release some of the intel you gathered to the public.”
“Is that wise, sir?” Hammet asked.
“Fair question. I want the Sixth Seal to know they are known if that makes sense. I want their leadership to run and hide. And when they do, hopefully they’ll stir up enough dust for us to take notice.”
“You plan to pursue them?” Zahra asked. “I didn’t think that was something TAC did.”
“It’s not, Zahra. If they are to be hunted, it won’t be by us.”
“That’s a shame,” Yana said.
“Yes, it is. But we don’t get involved in global manhunts.”
Zahra stood straighter. “Sir, I’ve been thinking. What if we did do that?”
“I’ve already put considerable thought into this, Zahra, but…” He mumbled something off-mic. “Okay, Zahra. Go ahead, I’m listening.”
“We could absolutely follow this lead and see where it takes us,” she explained. “I think it’s fair to say that no one knows more about this than Yana, Hammet, and me. If the Sixth Seal is to be tracked down, it would only benefit the cause if the three of us were involved. Am I wrong?”
“Not at all, Zahra.” Raegor spoke off-mic again, no doubt discussing something with Eddy. “Take us off speaker, Zahra.”
Yana and Hammet got the hint. They pushed away from the bow railing and gave Zahra some privacy. She turned and watched them quietly speak to one another while they walked away.
“Okay, sir. You’re good.”
“Hey, Zahra,” Eddy said. “Happy to still have you around.”
“Thanks, Eddy. And thank you for watching over me. The director should take more time off in the future. You did great.”
“Yes,” Raegor said. “I’m sure Eddy would love that…”
“Not a chance, Solomon!”
Zahra grinned. She loved their back-and-forths.
“Zahra,” Raegor said, “I need you to understand that if this is going to happen, it would be highly irregular for TAC. We don’t do task force stuff. We protect history. We don’t hunt Nazis.”
“Technically, this is history, sir.”
“Yes, well, touché.”
“We’ve never asked anyone to do anything like this before,” Eddy explained. “The risks—”
“Are absolutely worth the reward! These people need to go down.” She sighed. “And let’s face it, who else can we trust right now besides ourselves? Kyle Ford showed us that.”
“She’s right, Solomon,” Eddy said. “We can only trust one another with this.”
“Unfortunately, I agree with you both, but like I always say, I will leave it up to my agent on the ground to decide.”
“Oh, you can bet your ass I’m in.”
“Colorful… What about Yana and Mr. Braun?”
“I trust them both with my life. They saved my butt several times since I left Levanzo. We need their connections. We need the U.S., Germany, and Russia working together on this.”
Something was happening on the other side of the call.
“What’s wrong, Solomon?” Eddy asked.
“What’s wrong is that I agree with her!”
“Sir? I’m a big girl. I can handle myself. You don’t need to worry so much.”
Raegor breathed out heavily. “Oh, Zahra… The reason we are a successful organization is ‘because’ I care so much about this — and you. I’m nothing without my field team. I was once the man who knew he was possibly sending his men out to die. I’ll never be that man again.”
“I appreciate that.”
He laughed. “I’m sure you do. Give us a moment, Zahra.”
She could tell that the other end had been muted. Now, it was just Zahra and her thoughts. She turned and leaned back against the rail. She spied Yana and Hammet looking at her.
Yana held up her hands, silently asking, “Anything yet?”
Zahra waved them off.
“Zahra?”
“I’m here.”
“Okay, here we go… You’ve got a deal. From now until this business is over, you will lead a task force, codename PAINTED WOLF.” Zahra snickered. “Yes, Eddy thought you’d like it. The ‘painted wolf’ is more commonly known as the African wild dog and is the most successful hunter in all the animal kingdom.”
“Well, let’s hope the name brings us some luck.”
“Agreed. And because of your inability to properly vet anyone right now, I’m also giving you full authority to fill out your team. I need you to be one hundred percent sold on whoever you bring in; is that clear?”
“Crystal.”
Raegor sighed. “We’ll talk again once you’re back on solid ground. I’ll have more directives and debriefings once I’ve had the time to process all of this. Some first assignment, huh? Raegor out.”
“Goodbye, Zahra,” Eddy added. “And congratulations. We are truly in uncharted waters.”
Zahra looked out over the Southern Ocean. “Thanks, Eddy.”
The line went dead.
Zahra pocketed the device and took a deep breath. That must have signaled Yana and Hammet to rejoin her.
“What did he say?” Yana asked. “We need to do something. It was clear that this Vogel wasn’t the man in charge. This doesn’t end in Antarctica.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Hammet agreed, looking very unhappy.
“Yeah, about that…”
Yana and Hammet looked at one another.
“About what?” Yana asked.
Zahra stuck her hands in her pockets and looked down at her feet. “I don’t suppose you two would want to, you know, hunt the Sixth Seal out of existence or anything?”
“Absolutely,” Yana replied, eyes alight with excitement.
Hammet stood at attention. “It would be my pleasure.”
Zahra had been building her task force roster in her head the moment she was given clearance to do so. Two more members were easy yeses, and she knew both of them would happily join up, including a certain pilot friend of hers.