‘If it kills him, we’ll have to seriously rethink the plan,’ Eleanor chided. ‘But everything provided by my Chinese source suggests it should work. So Professor Wilde will get that,’ a flick of her hand at the frozen figure, ‘out of there, then we’ll prepare Mr Chase for the experiment.’

‘Like fuck you will,’ Eddie growled.

Harhund stood before him and brought up his gun again, while Wintz and one of the security guards moved to flank the Englishman.

‘You should be honoured,’ said Eleanor. ‘You’ll effectively become humanity’s first time traveller, skipping over the period in stasis. Assuming you survive, that is.’

‘I don’t even know how to make that thing work!’ Nina protested.

Another nasty smile slit the old woman’s face. ‘Having your husband inside should give you an incentive to learn quickly.’

Eddie shook his head. ‘Typical. After fighting loads of evil billionaires, we finally met one who was half decent, then the next one’s right back to being evil!’

‘I resent that,’ Eleanor sniffed. ‘Wanting to ensure that humanity doesn’t disappear from the world like the Nephilim is anything but evil.’

‘The ends justify the means, huh?’ said Nina.

If she had hoped to land a stinging rebuke, she failed.

‘Always,’ the older woman replied. ‘History has proven that over and over. You of all people should know, Professor. Decorum and timidity achieve nothing – only strong, decisive action gets results.’

‘And if anyone’s killed in the process, it’s just their tough luck?’

‘There are people who shape history, and people forgotten by it. I intend to be one of the former. Now, use the key to open the sarcophagus.’

‘Wait!’ Harhund said urgently, glancing towards her. ‘The gas will leak—’

Eddie saw the mercenary’s momentary distraction – and leapt at him.

He collided with Harhund, both men reeling as he tried to grab his weapon. The gun went off—

The round lanced past the Englishman – and hit one of the gas tanks.

The bulbous cylinders were thick steel, strong enough to resist a bullet impact, but the shot struck the valve assembly on its end. It fractured a hose connector – and a shrieking jet of highly pressurised gas burst free.

Wintz threw himself clear, but the yellow rush caught the unprepared guard. He staggered, choking on the toxic miasma.

An alarm blared, amber warning lights flashing. Harhund retreated fearfully from the expanding cloud, Eddie moving with him – then letting go to deliver a punishing kidney punch. The Scandinavian fell. ‘Nina!’ the Yorkshireman cried, running for the exit.

She sprinted after him, weaving past Miller and the remaining guard, but their adversaries quickly overcame their shock. Guns came up—

Eddie shoved Nina sidelong as they cleared the chamber’s entrance. Shots tore through the opening behind them, hitting the console beyond the doorway. ‘Through here!’ he cried, heading for one of the lab’s side exits.