Dr Hui led the group into the research facility. They were met by a young lieutenant, who it quickly became clear was the senior officer present; most of the other soldiers had been recalled to face the threat in the city. He reacted in nervous bewilderment to the civilian director’s arrival. Hui gave him a brisk, firm explanation. The young man was clearly unsure how to take it, but settled for accepting the word of an authority figure, letting them pass.

‘He doesn’t know what has been going on,’ she told Nina and Eddie as they headed for the control centre. ‘The military is in confusion after Colonel Wu’s death.’

‘What about Major Wu?’ asked Eddie. ‘She’ll cause us the most trouble when she gets back.’

‘He said she is still in the city. But I do not think she will stay there for long. We will have to act quickly.’

They arrived at the control centre. The scientists hurried to greet Hui, both in relief that she was safe and to bombard her with questions, but after giving rapid reassurances, she waved them off and went to a workstation. ‘I will access the records of the qi tracker.’

It did not take long to find what she was after. ‘That’s what Gadreel saw,’ said Nina as the screen flashed up a world map overlaid with a complex network of red lines.

‘The flows of qi around the earth,’ Hui said. ‘Where was he looking?’

‘Down here.’ The redhead indicated the lower right corner. Southeast Asia, the great sweep of the Indonesian archipelago, Australia, New Zealand . . . and down at the very bottom, Antarctica.

‘Lot of ground to cover,’ Eddie noted. ‘And a lot of earth energy lines over it.’

‘It’s not the lines that matter,’ Nina told him. ‘It’s where they meet. We’re here.’ She indicated a spot in northern China where several thicker lines intersected. ‘They hid the fortress here because it had enough power to keep them in suspended animation. But the Veteres would have put their prison in the place with the most power, to keep the Nephilim trapped in Tartarus for eternity. So that would be . . .’ Her finger hovered over the screen, then tapped a specific point. ‘Here.’

It was in central Australia. Eddie frowned. ‘That’s a long way from where we found their settlement on the west coast. Australia’s nearly as big as the States – it’d be like walking from LA to Dallas.’

‘They travelled all the way from Africa to Antarctica,’ Nina reminded him, ‘and they had much longer lifespans than us.’ She took a closer look at the lines. ‘And to get that much power, they were probably pretty motivated. It must be one of the strongest confluences in the world.’

Macy also examined the screen. ‘I know where it is,’ she piped up. ‘It’s Uluru!’

‘You mean Ayers Rock?’ said Eddie.