Eddie’s search for anything useful hit a blank – until he noticed a hatch set into the wall at the empty office’s far end. He couldn’t read the Mandarin on it, but the red-and-white graphic beneath was an international standard: a fire hose.

An idea formed. He didn’t like it, but it was all he had. ‘Okay, Macy,’ he said, ‘you stay here. Keep hold of this pillar.’

‘Where are you going?’ she asked, afraid. ‘You can’t leave me!’

‘See that hatch? It’s a fire hose. If it’s long enough, we might be able to climb down it.’ He was simplifying his still-fluid plan for her benefit, already certain the hose would be too short to reach the ground – but the other building might be a different matter. ‘I’ll go and—’

The tower shook.

This was not another shudder of straining steel and concrete. Something had hit it, the impact a sharp hammer blow – followed by the pounding roar of multiple explosions. The broken glass wall’s framework rattled.

The soldier clinging on with one hand cried out, blood running down his wrist as the glass carved deeper into his palm. He flailed at the frame with his other hand, but couldn’t quite reach—

He fell away down the steeply sloping floor. A last futile attempt to catch the outer window frame, then he was gone.

Macy pushed her face into her father’s chest, crying. Eddie swore silently, realising the cause of the explosions. There had been a rising rumble of jet engines, but now everything was eerily quiet. One of the planes must have crashed into the tower, its ordnance blowing up with it.

He had to act now. ‘Stay here,’ he told Macy, carefully standing and bracing himself against the pillar.

‘What are you doing?’ called Cheng.

‘Seeing if I can reach that hose.’ He started across the tilted floor, using the glass wall’s base as a precarious foothold.

‘Wouldn’t it be easier if you left your guns?’

The Type 95 and the rocket launcher were still slung from his shoulders. ‘I might need the straps.’

A deep, strained moan from somewhere above. The central core was strong – it had to be to support a skyscraper’s weight – but it had gone beyond its limits. The structure was succumbing to the impossible stresses upon it, and when it finally failed, it would do so in catastrophic fashion.

The thought quickened his pace. He reached the far wall; now he had to get to the hatch, ten feet below. ‘Cheng!’ he called out. ‘I need help. The guy who’s still got his rifle – tell him to get over here.’