‘Thank God,’ Jack said. ‘That’s one less threat to deal with. We deserve a break.’

Which was precisely when, with a loud crunching sound, the silverman wrenched its feet out of the solidified greystone, stood up and turned to face them . . .

. . . and started striding after them . . .

. . . at the exact moment that the two stone ‘statues’ on either side of their doorway began to crack open from within as silvermen inside them awoke.

‘Shit!’ Jack called. ‘Run! We can’t stop!’

With the original silverman advancing up the long bridge and the two new ones smashing out of their stone shells, Jack, Zoe and the three palemen dashed inside the doorway to the skyscraper, chasing after Lily and Easton.

A day earlier.

Sphinx gazed out over the same vast space from the mouth of his entry tunnel.

The gigantic cavern was silent.

There were no screams, no fighting.

He was unhurried.

For he hadn’t triggered the sliding stone in his tunnel: he knew from Imhotep’s instructions—kept by his advisor, Cardinal Mendoza—to step over the booby-trapped metal stair, not on it.

He was joined at the tunnel’s mouth by Cardinal Mendoza, his three Knights and the eight Vandals he had brought along.

He eyed the walls of the cavern.

Deeply carved glyphs ringed the space, level with all five entry tunnels.

‘My Vandal friends,’ he said. ‘Lie in wait in some of these tunnels. Feast on whoever enters through them.’

He released four of his Vandals and they climbed like monkeys around the curving wall to two of the other tunnels, using the deep glyphs as handholds.

Sphinx himself then jumped across to his bridge, the middle one of the five, defended by its own silverman. He was followed by his people.

As the silverman registered their presence, it stood fully erect and stepped forward to block them, only for Sphinx to hold up his Ring of Command.

The silverman immediately went still, bowing its head to the man bearing the Emperor’s ring.

Sphinx strode past it, across the bridge and through the ancient trapezoidal doorway leading into the inverted skyscraper.

THE INTERNAL WELL-SHAFT

The Well-Shaft

Lily and Easton arrived at the core of the upside-down skyscraper.

Easton lit the space with the beam of his pistol’s barrel-mounted flashlight.

They were inside a circular chamber with five tunnels coming together at it and a well-shaft in the middle of its polished floor.

The wall ringing the space was made of a mix of stone and metal, and it was covered with engraved runes and glyphs.

Lily saw ancient images she had seen before: including one of the Great Pyramid being hit by a shaft of light from the sun and another depicting the symbol of the Machine.

‘This is where the five entry tunnels and bridges converge,’ she said. ‘And the only way to go is down.’

She stepped to the edge of the well-shaft and peered into it.

What she saw was dizzying.