Nina led the way around the curving passageway. The fortress’s interior was indeed a scaled-up replica of the one in the iceberg. Doorways opened into the same barracks-like rooms she had seen there, except these were larger, with more beds. If the similarities continued, she would soon reach the armoury. Was Gadreel deliberately taking them that way so he could grab a weapon?

But she was certain Colonel Wu was planning something too. The qi tracker’s presence proved that. What was he so keen to find that it couldn’t wait until the archaeological team had checked the entire fortress?

She put that question to the back of her mind as she reached a new opening. The armoury, as expected, her flashlight beam dancing across unsettling forms within. Towering suits of armour loomed over her, the black voids inside the helmets somehow more unnerving than faces.

Colonel Wu let out an exclamation, pushing past Hui to see for himself. Each suit was different, custom-made for an individual warrior. Some were dark metal, raw and unadorned; others were brightly painted with elaborate patterns worked into the plating. Helmets bore spikes, wings, horns, even the faces of grotesque beasts sneering down at the new arrivals.

Hui gasped in pure exhilaration. ‘These look like the “shining armour” of the Song dynasty!’ she cried. ‘The plate design, the decorations – they are very similar. Bigger, of course.’

‘The Chinese armour might have been a throwback to an earlier civilisation,’ Nina mused. ‘I’ve seen it before – like the carved ceiling in the Alhambra in Spain. The artwork was Islamic, but the actual design was taken from an Atlantean piece.’

Gadreel gazed at the armoury’s contents. Zan now needed no prompting to translate as he spoke. ‘They have not been used. My people have been safe for all this time, waiting for my return.’

Colonel Wu took an interest in something beyond the hollow platoon. ‘Wŭqì!’

Nina and Hui added their lights to his. A rack held dozens of the spear-like weapons Hui had called qiguns. ‘Baraka,’ said Gadreel.

Zan was apologetic. ‘It . . . it’s a word I don’t know.’

‘I do,’ Nina said, to the surprise of the others. ‘It’s a lot like the ancient Hebrew word for lightning.’

‘Hebrew?’ said Major Wu dubiously. ‘You mean the Jews?’

‘Nephilim is a Jewish word itself,’ the redhead pointed out. ‘Or more likely, it was a word the ancient Hebrews adopted to describe . . . giants.’ She indicated Gadreel. ‘Their name lived on even after they disappeared.’

‘They disappeared, but now we have found them again,’ said Hui. She spoke into her headset – but received no reply. ‘The radio is not working!’

The announcement raised alarm. The major took out her phone and saw it had no signal, then took a walkie-talkie from a soldier. Nothing came from it but static. ‘The same thing happened in the ice,’ said Nina. ‘As soon as we went inside, we got cut off from our ship.’