A flash at the reflection’s foot, liquid lightning shooting from the skyscraper’s base – and every window in the bottom twenty floors blew apart in a blast of seething energy. Huge chunks of concrete and pretzel-twisted girders flew out amongst the glittering debris . . .

And the tower started to fall.

Its back broke ten storeys up as the devastating release of earth energy tore apart its concrete core. Slowly, but with gradually increasing speed, its upper half toppled towards its smaller companion.

Eddie slipped, falling on his back. He dug his heels into the carpet to slow his descent, but couldn’t find enough grip. ‘Daddy!’ Macy cried. He hoisted her onto his front as they skidded towards the offices.

The glass wall rushed at them. He jammed one foot down hard, knowing it wouldn’t stop him – but it could still steer him. He swung sidelong to thump against a support pillar.

Cheng and one of the soldiers also managed to catch the framework – but the wounded man hit the glass. It shattered, bowling him over the frame as huge jagged shards fell on him. Screaming, trailing blood, he rolled onwards through the empty office – to hurtle helplessly through the broken exterior window into the void below.

Another soldier made a desperate snatch for the lower frame. He caught it, clinging on with one hand despite a glass dagger stabbing into his palm. The man behind him grabbed a pillar, but the co-pilot bounced off another with a crack of breaking ribs and fell to his death outside.

Eddie heard the rapidly fading screams, but could do nothing except grip Macy tightly as he fought to keep his hold. The ground at the other tower’s base rolled into view through the windows, the skyscraper falling ever faster—

It hit the second building’s roof.

An earthquake-force roar almost deafened him as the top quarter of the smaller tower was smashed into rubble by the toppling structure, the latter’s uppermost floors shearing off and plunging into oblivion. But the remainder survived, the central core holding despite massive damage. The intact section between the tenth and fiftieth floors now formed a sagging bridge, sloping from the taller building’s base across to the crushed summit of its neighbour.

Intact did not mean secure, though. The hanging section swayed sickeningly, overstressed girders squealing and screaming. The small number of unbroken windows shrank rapidly as the mirrored glass shattered.

Eddie drew in a fearful breath and took stock. He, Macy, Cheng and three soldiers were still alive. Beyond that . . .

‘We’re screwed,’ he muttered. All the panes in the internal glass wall had broken. The floor was canted at a forty-five-degree angle, impossible to traverse. Any slip would send him helplessly out of the exterior windows – and despite the tower’s slant, they were still over twenty floors up.