She led the group into a lobby area painted in an institutional pale green. A security barrier stood a short way beyond the elevator bank, armed guards watching their approach. Hui merely waved at them, and the barrier opened. Corridors led off in different directions, but she headed for a set of large doors straight ahead.

‘How were you able to get it to work?’ said Nina. ‘And if you did, why do you still need the key, and me?’

‘We still could not make it function. But we repaired some items. We think the key now will make them work – if you are willing to help us.’

‘Well, we’ll see,’ said Nina. ‘You’ll need to convince me to trust you. I don’t like being deceived.’ A pointed look at Cheng, who wilted a little.

‘I apologise,’ his mother told her. ‘But we did what needed to be done. As we did with what you are about to see.’ They reached the doors, Hui entering a code on a keypad before opening them. She led them into a large, brightly lit chamber.

‘Why, what am I—’ Nina began – before halting in shock.

She had seen the object it contained before.

Chapter 23

23

The room was occupied by a slightly flattened sphere, over twenty feet across. Its skin of red-tinted gold gleamed under the banks of overhead lights. A door was open in its side, revealing tantalising hints of what lay within.

It was the vault she had discovered in Turkey, a repository for one of the Atlantean spearheads, the crystalline bombs trapping particles of antimatter within. It had been buried beneath a hilltop overlooking the ancient city of Gobekli Tepe; the Atlanteans had hidden a doomsday weapon on the doorstep of the rival civilisation that could be activated by an emissary of Atlantis should its adversary pose a threat – and only be deactivated upon total surrender, the alternative being complete destruction.

How it had been removed from the hillside was a worrying mystery in its own right. The Turkish government had grudgingly allowed the International Heritage Agency to oversee the site’s excavation – but the night before the IHA was due to begin work in earnest, the entire hilltop was dug out and the vault removed. Since it weighed in excess of twenty tons, the effort needed to carry out the raid would have been phenomenal.

There were few groups in the world with the necessary resources . . . but the Chinese government was one of them.

‘You!’ Nina cried accusingly. ‘You stole the vault from Turkey!’

‘We did,’ Hui admitted. ‘After the IHA became involved, China, as the agency’s biggest source of funding after the US, was informed of what you had found. We immediately realised the crystals inside it were the same kind used by the Nephilim – but these were intact. We had to have them. So an operation was carried out to bring the vault here.’