Nina hesitantly put her thumb and forefinger over the Gulf on the Mercator projection and slid them apart. The map expanded. The CGI globe followed suit, the world turning to bring the Middle East to the sphere’s centre. Even through the glass, she heard Gadreel make an exclamation. A moving picture was impressive enough, but an interactive one was on another level entirely. She pointed out the enclosed waters. ‘Is this the sea?’

‘Yes,’ came the reply. ‘From it, we travelled east.’

Nina zoomed back out. Gadreel gazed intently at the map, taking in the shapes of the coastlines and the paths of energy crossing them. She had an idea and scrolled to Asia, then downwards to reveal Antarctica. ‘This is where the Veteres hid their city,’ she told him. ‘Where your fortress was trapped in the storm.’ There were several places on the frozen continent where major lines crossed each other: confluence points. From past experience, she imagined that if she moved the map to Europe, she would see another over Glastonbury in southern England.

‘Go up,’ the giant ordered. She dragged the map back towards the equator. ‘Stop.’

Australia, the vast island chain of Indonesia and the Philippines, and the Malaysian peninsula were now on view, more confluences dotted amongst them. ‘Do you recognise it?’ she asked.

Another long pause, Gadreel absorbing the image before replying. ‘We passed many islands when we travelled to Antarctica. But I do not know these places for certain.’

‘Show him where we are now,’ said Major Wu. ‘See if he recognises it.’

Eddie, standing with Macy and Cheng at the lab’s rear, offered another suggestion. ‘Better idea – show him where you lot found the fort at the nuke test site. If that was like an outer defence for his main fortress, he’d know how far apart they were, and in what direction.’

‘Good idea,’ said Nina, before turning to the Chinese. ‘Where was it found?’

Zan reached over to scroll the map. China came into view, along with parts of the surrounding nations. He pointed out a particular spot in the country’s west, then returned to his computer, speaking in the Nephilim’s own language.

Gadreel examined the map thoughtfully. It was some time before he replied, and he did so carefully, mind still hard at work. ‘The fortress’ – Nina noticed that he now used a word she recognised, vimana – ‘is to the east. It is . . .’ the translator used a calculator app to make a unit conversion, ‘ninety-five kilometres from it, at the foot of a mountain. It was placed . . .’ Zan hesitated again, this time frowning as if unsure he had chosen the correct word, ‘at the meeting of several lines of qi.’

‘He must show us,’ Colonel Wu demanded.