If Hui had hoped he would back down, she was completely mistaken. A cold, frightening anger entered the colonel’s voice, the tone of someone used to wielding power – and who would not hesitate to use it. The archaeologist shrank back as he jabbed his finger at her, voice rising with each stab. A final outburst, almost roared into her face, then he shouted an order to his daughter. She hurried over, the soldiers who had forced Nina to the altar going with her, and they took up menacing positions around Hui.

‘What are you doing?’ Nina demanded. Hui might have been naïve – or wilfully blind – but she had still tried to stand up for her.

‘Colonel Commandant Wu has removed Dr Hui as director of the archaeological project,’ Major Wu told her stonily.

‘You can’t do that!’ She looked back at Hui. ‘You’re in charge! He doesn’t have the authority!’

But Hui, utterly crushed, had nothing to say. ‘Take her away,’ said the colonel – in English, to make it absolutely clear to Nina who was in control. Major Wu and a soldier led the scientist from the throne room.

Colonel Wu watched them leave, and was about to turn back to Nina when something caught his eye. He looked around the chamber. Nina did the same, seeing faint swathes of light in the shadows; the crystals in the walls had started to glow. Only faintly – but they were growing steadily brighter. ‘It’s happening more quickly than in the ice fortress . . .’

‘This place at meeting of many lines of qi,’ the colonel replied. ‘More energy here, it charge faster.’ He went to the tracker. The device was now fully set up, several cables running to the key upon the altar. A custom-made clip secured them to the artefact.

Gadreel spoke with barely restrained anger. Colonel Wu gave a dismissive reply, which Zan passed on with obvious nervousness. ‘He demands to see his people,’ the translator then told Nina. ‘The colonel said . . . he does not take orders from monsters.’

‘Yeah, I can tell that went down well.’ The Nephilim had the same look of cold fury Wu himself had displayed just minutes earlier – but rather than unleash his anger, he contained it, fuel for his next action.

And Nina knew he was planning that action, waiting for the right moment. But to do what?

One of the technicians ran a program on the tracker’s laptop. Status reports flashed up. She couldn’t read the text, but the numbers were clear – as were their colours. The majority of the results were in either orange or red, falling short of some desired level. The technicians exchanged worried looks, then reported their findings to the colonel.

He was not pleased, marching to the machine as if his glare could force all the numbers into the green.

‘Got a problem?’ Nina asked.