The pressure suddenly eased. She drew in a painful breath. The Nephilim’s eyes went back to the soldiers – who had moved closer, raising their guns. He looked from one man to another, gaze flicking over their weapons . . . then his hand opened.

Nina fell to the floor, weak and breathless. An order from Wu, and two men dragged her through the door.

Eddie was already there. ‘Get off her!’ he growled, shoving a soldier aside to pick her up. ‘I’ve got you.’ He carried her clear.

‘Mom!’ Macy wailed, running to them. ‘Mom, are you okay?’

‘Jury’s . . . out,’ Nina gasped. ‘Jesus! I thought . . . he was gonna . . . kill me!’

‘He did too – until he saw the guns,’ said Eddie, looking back through the window. The giant and the soldiers remained in a stand-off. ‘How the hell would someone from a hundred thousand years ago recognise an assault rifle?’

Nina had no time to ponder the question. Hui issued rapid commands. Zan Zhi hurriedly worked his laptop, donning a headset. A window opened on the screen; he checked it, then spoke. The language was not Mandarin, the words glottal and strange.

The Nephilim looked in surprise at the voice coming from loudspeakers in the ceiling. Zan spoke again, a longer sentence. The giant gave the soldiers a wary glance, then advanced to address the Chinese man through the glass. Nina saw words flash up on the screen, one set in the Nephilim alphabet, the other in simplified Chinese. The computer was translating the ancient being’s speech.

Zan didn’t need the machine to understand, replying before the full translation had appeared. The Nephilim regarded him with evident suspicion, but his anger lessened.

‘What’s he saying?’ Eddie demanded as Hui joined Zan.

‘He wants to know where he is, and where the rest of his people are,’ Zan replied. His English was as fluent as Cheng’s.

‘Probably best not to tell him they’re at the bottom of the Antarctic Ocean.’

‘I told him that he’s safe, and in China. Near the Nephilim site we found, I mean – I wanted to see if he recognised the name from the records. He wouldn’t know what China is.’

‘Did he recognise it?’ Nina asked, recovering her breath. Her throat felt bruised, aching from her attacker’s grip.

‘I think so, but—’ Zan broke off as the Nephilim spoke again. The tone was commanding, but less hostile. The translator replied, nodding, then hurried across the lab to a water cooler.

‘What are you doing?’ Hui demanded.

‘He asked for water.’ He filled a cup, then a second. ‘He’ll be very thirsty after all this time!’

‘You’re going in there?’ asked Eddie in disbelief. ‘He just tried to kill Nina!’

‘No, this is good,’ said Hui. ‘It will establish trust. Take it to him, Zhi.’