‘Keep a tight hold, love,’ Eddie told his daughter, before looking back over the pilot’s shoulder. The fortress had briefly landed, but now ascended again, resuming its hunt. To his alarm, he realised the helicopter was approaching the hovering dragon almost side-on rather than curving around to come in from astern. ‘No, no! Get behind it – they can still shoot at us!’

But the Z-20 kept going, precious seconds lost as Cheng frantically translated the Englishman’s words. One of the fangs swung towards the helicopter. ‘Higher, go up, up!’ Eddie shouted—

The gun fired.

There was no flash, no smoke – rather a ripple, as if the air was being torn by intense heat. The pilot threw his aircraft into a hard turn as the energy blast rushed at them—

It tore past with a crackle. The aircraft lurched as the bolt clipped it, a loud bang and a flash of sparks coming from the tail boom. Macy screamed, the soldiers yelling in fear. Alarms shrilled in the cockpit.

Eddie clung to the back of the pilot’s seat. ‘Jesus! Are we hit?’

The gunner shouted a frantic report. ‘It’s blown a hole in the tail!’ said Cheng. ‘He says something’s leaking!’

Eddie couldn’t guess whether it was fuel, oil or hydraulic fluid, but from the pilot’s struggle to maintain control, it was something critical. Gleaming glass skyscrapers rolled into view through the cockpit windows. ‘We’ve got to land before we crash—’

The gunner screamed a warning. The pilot slammed the stick hard over. The aircraft rolled, throwing the unprepared Englishman against the cabin wall as another energy bolt tore past.

He recovered and manoeuvred himself around the soldiers, all clinging desperately to their seats, to look through the open hatch. The dragon had turned to follow them.

The helicopter levelled out – and started to descend. Both fangs tracked it. ‘No, up!’ Eddie yelled. ‘They’ll keep shooting at us!’

Cheng hurriedly passed the alert to the pilot, getting a harried reply. ‘He can’t keep it in the air much longer!’

The skyscrapers reappeared ahead. Eddie’s eyes locked on to a tall mirror-windowed tower with a matching but somewhat shorter neighbour. ‘Go up, land on its roof!’ he shouted, seeing the edge of what looked like a helipad above. ‘If we go higher, they won’t be able to bring their guns up, and we can get down in the lifts—’

He broke off as the minigun opened fire. Macy shrieked again, covering her ears. The gunner sent a blazing storm of metal at the pursuing fortress. The shimmering glow sheathing its hull flashed and rippled as hundreds of rounds hammered it.

The pilot was fully occupied with keeping the chopper airborne, but the co-pilot shouted into his mic. ‘Major Wu’s on the radio!’ said Cheng. ‘She says the fortress has a shield – but we can break through it with concentrated fire.’