The floor dropped once more . . . and this time did not stop.

The parking lot opened out before him. He reached the edge – and leapt into open air.

The gap rushed past below as he arced towards the concrete expanse. The tower’s slow-motion collapse had eaten several feet out of his fall, but it would still be a hard landing—

His feet hit solid ground – and he rolled to absorb the impact. Even so, it felt as if someone had whacked his ankles with a crowbar. But he couldn’t stop. He dragged himself up, running painfully towards the trucks.

A terrifying crackle split the air behind him as both towers fell.

The precariously suspended section of skyscraper finally succumbed to its wounds and split at the middle. Both halves swung down, smashing through the faces of the structures at each end, and hit the plaza between them like a barrage of blockbuster bombs.

The pounding shocks flung Eddie into the air. He landed hard on his side, the rocket launcher digging into his back as he rolled over it. Groaning, he looked up – to see the end of the parking structure drop away amidst a cloud of dust. Thousands of tons of falling debris had demolished its eastern end.

The collapse started a chain reaction. Huge concrete slabs flipped up like playing cards and disappeared into the maelstrom – each nearer to Eddie than the last. ‘Arse chives!’ he yelled, panic overpowering pain. He ran again, sections dropping behind his heels, getting closer—

The slab underfoot tipped backwards. He threw himself up the steepening slope, hitting its top at waist height. Flying rubble struck his shins and knees. He dragged himself over the edge, feeling the floor shuddering, about to collapse . . .

The vibrations faded.

Panting, he rose to his knees. Half the parking structure was gone, stubs of support pillars poking up through a swirling dust cloud. Beyond, where two gleaming skyscrapers had stood, was nothing but a vast, chaotic pile of smoking wreckage.

The two Chinese soldiers could not possibly have escaped. All he could hope was that Macy had. He ran to the side of the car park to look for her.

She and Cheng were nowhere in sight – but the fortress now hovered over the park below, its closest point just metres away. It turned as it slowly descended, facing him. For a moment he thought it was going to finish the job and bring down the rest of the structure with its guns, but then it continued around, pointing back the way it had come, and halted, underbelly about ten feet above the ground.

Several Nephilim warriors in colourful armour ran towards it from the north. They headed for the hovering dragon’s midsection, where part of the craft’s edge curved down to just a few feet above the ground, forming steps up to the top of the hull where the open hatch awaited.