On the screen, Wu Shun issued orders to the soldiers. Cheng looked at Eddie with sudden hope. ‘She didn’t say anything else about my mom – and she told the captain to call the airbase and get more men out there. He’s the only officer here who knows my mom’s not in charge any more—’

‘And he’s got more important things to worry about,’ Eddie finished as the captain made a frantic phone call. ‘You think we can hitch a ride?’

Cheng nodded. ‘If I tell the pilot my mother authorised us to go, they should believe me. I hope.’

‘Only one way to find out.’ Eddie spoke quietly to Macy. ‘Normally I’d want you to stay here where it’s safe. But right now, I don’t want to let you out of my sight! So do you fancy a helicopter ride?’

‘Not really,’ she admitted. ‘But I want to help Mom.’

‘Me too. Let’s see what we can do.’

Cheng surreptitiously checked that the military personnel were not paying him any attention, then they followed him to the exit.

Nina blinked as daylight flooded into the throne room. The dirt covering the windows slid away – to reveal that the fortress was now above the ground.

High above the ground. ‘Oh my God!’ she said, running to the nearest window. ‘We’ve taken off!’

The fortress hovered some sixty feet up. Colonel Wu gestured for the guards to watch Gadreel, then hurried to see for himself, uttering a shocked exclamation.

Gadreel spoke. Nina and the colonel turned as Zan translated. ‘You have seen what our fortress can do. This is the power of qi – the power of the Nephilim. Now you will honour our agreement, and help me wake my people.’

Colonel Wu’s initial response was a mocking chuckle. He then gave his reply, which Zan dutifully relayed to Gadreel.

Nina sighed. ‘I don’t even speak Mandarin, and I know that was not a big helpful yes.’

‘Did you think I give this . . . caveman anything?’ sneered Wu.

‘Oddly enough, no. And I don’t think he did either.’ Gadreel’s expression was not outrage at the betrayal; rather, it was almost . . . expectant.

Wu didn’t notice. ‘It does not matter. Fortress is ours. It can fly? Good! He fly it to Cangliang. If he not do as I say, I have his people destroyed, one by one.’

Zan passed on his words. Gadreel’s face tightened. ‘I knew you would say that,’ the Chinese translated. ‘So I . . . prepared—’

Before Zan could finish, the giant brought his hands together – and snatched the wrapping from the hidden object.

The colonel saw the movement and shouted a furious command to the guards. Their guns came up—

Gadreel curled the first two fingers of his left hand around a piece of crystal inside an adamantium spiral. He aimed it at the soldiers – and pressed his thumb against an exposed facet.