Necropolis

got people there waiting for you. They thought you'd come through one of the doors."
    "I didn't."
    He told her his own story, or part of it, starting in Peru. It would have taken too long to tell her the whole thing, and he was still afraid of being overheard. From Nazca to London to Macao… It had been a long journey, and it was only now that they both saw how closely they had been following each other's paths.
    Matt finished by explaining how he had found his way to Wisdom Court. This was the difficult part. He had seen Scarlett's father die, and he had been at least in part responsible. How was he going to break the news?
    But she was already ahead of him. "That shirt you're wearing," she said. She had suddenly realized. "It's his."
    'Yes," Matt admitted.
    "Where is he now?" Matt didn't answer and she continued. "They've killed him, haven't they?"
    Matt nodded. He didn't want to remember what he had seen in the last moments before he had been taken out of Wisdom Court.
    Scarlett's face didn't change, but suddenly there were tears in her eyes. "It was all his fault," she said.
    "He thought he could make a deal with the Old Ones." She paused. "I don't know, Matt. I suppose that's the way they work. They get ordinary people to do evil things for them. They used him. He really thought he was helping me."
    The building shivered a second time. It wasn't as strong as it had been before, but they both felt it.

    'You know that Hong Kong is dying," Scarlett said. "The chairman told me. They're doing it deliberately. They want to turn it into what they call a necropolis. A city of the dead."
    "I saw some of it last night," Matt said. "It was horrible."
    "Don't tell me. I lived in it. I can't believe I didn't see what was going on." She sighed. "What will happen to us, Matt? Are we going to be killed?"
    "They don't want to kill us," Matt said. "It's complicated. But killing us doesn't really help."
    "Then what?"
    "They think they've beaten us, but they haven't. The others are still out there. And you and me…"
    "What about us?"
    "They put us together because they want to crow over us. But that's their mistake. Because —"
    He didn't finish the sentence.
    There was an explosion. It was loud and immediate — and it came from somewhere inside the building.
    "What — ?" Scarlett began. Then the light went out.
    SIGNAL FIVE
    Lohan had used the storm as cover, closing in on the prison through streets that had quickly emptied as the weather had become more intense. He had only been given one night to prepare the attack, but he had still managed to assemble a small army. He had a hundred men with him, all of them well armed.
    The Triads had been smuggling weapons across Asia for many years, supplying anyone from terrorists to mercenaries. Lohan had simply taken what he needed. He had plenty of choice.
    Meanwhile, Jet and Sing would be arriving at the Tai Shan Temple. They both had the rank of 426, Red Pole, making them fighting unit lieutenants. They had another fifty men with them, and both operations were to begin at the same moment. There was one door out of Hong Kong. The way there had to be cleared.
    Lohan knew where Matt had been taken because he had followed him. This was what Matt had been unable to tell Scarlett. He had played a trick on the chairman. Just for once, he was the one pulling the strings.
    Matt had contacted Lohan the night before, the call forwarded through the Kung Hing Tao firework company. The Triad leader already knew what had happened. Richard and Jamie were with him. The two of them had made it out of the water and over to Kowloon. They were standing next to him, worrying desperately about Matt, when the phone rang.
    "We have to find Scarlett," Matt had said. "And there's only one way to do it. We have to let the Old Ones capture me."
    "How will you do that?"
    "Paul Adams — Scarlett's father — will call them and tell them I'm at Wisdom Court. They won't suspect anything. They know that he wants Scarlett back, and they'll think he's still trying to help them."
    "And then?"
    'You have your men outside. You follow me wherever they take me."
    "How do you know they'll take you to Scarlett?"
    "I don't — not for sure. But my guess is they'll probably hold us together. I know the way these people think. They'll want to parade us, to boast about how they've beaten us. Having the two of us together will make it more fun for them. Anyway, I haven't got any other ideas, so we'll just have to risk