“Yeah, that was never a problem for you, was it?” He turned away before she could reply, looking out of the huge floor-to-ceiling window behind Yuen’s oversized desk. Below, the rear wall of the Ycom building dropped away in its long sweeping curve. At the base of the structure was an ornamental lake. Fountains swelled within it, lit from below the water by slowly pulsating colored lights.

There was a bleep, and he looked around to see Sophia opening the safe. She held up a maroon British passport with a triumphant wave, then took out a couple of other items and went to the desk. A quick tap on the keyboard recessed into the desk’s surface woke up a computer, a trio of large flat-screen monitors smoothly rising from slots in the black marble. Chase noticed that a list of folders in a window on the central monitor was sorted by names of politicians, including Victor Dalton, but then his gaze switched to the small white object Sophia held. “What’s that you’ve got?”

“Flash drive. I’m pretty sure this is how Richard obtained the files I saw, but I want to check.” She reached under the desk and plugged in the drive. “The password I have to the copies on the server only has read privileges-I can’t copy or e-mail them.”

“Guess you couldn’t get everything you wanted, then.”

As the computer accessed the drive, Sophia fixed Chase with a hard-but also somewhat pleading-look. “Eddie, please, can you put your problems with me on hold for now? I know you can’t resist making your sarcastic little comments at every opportunity, but try. This is too important.”

“Okay, I’ll try,” said Chase, feeling uncomfortably chastened. On the screen, a new directory window appeared. “Is that it?”

Sophia quickly scanned down the list of files. “These are the files I saw, yes. And here’s the one on you.” She pointed a glossy red nail at the title of one of the documents: CHASE, EDWARD J.

Chase was more concerned by the file below: WILDE, NINA P. But then his attention was seized by something else on one of the other monitors-a live feed from a security camera. It showed the marble lobby outside, and four uniformed men cautiously entering it from a side door. All were armed. “Uh-oh.”

“What?”

“Company’s coming. Time to go.” Sophia unplugged the drive and put it in her handbag along with her passport. On the screen, one of the men looked into the bathroom, then reacted with alarm as he saw the unconscious Deng. “Well, I guess strolling out casually’s not an option now. Are there any other exits?”

Sophia shook her head. “Just the lift and the emergency stairs. We can go up to the helipad, take Richard’s helicopter-”

“Can you fly a chopper?”

“No.”

“Nor can I.”

She looked dismayed. “I thought you could!”

“Learning’s on my to-do list,” Chase quipped. The guards moved out of frame on the monitor; he heard the doors at the far end of the suite open. “You’re still the boss’s wife. They won’t shoot you.”

“They might! What if they’ve been told what happened at the opera, that I helped you escape?”

“Trust me, when they see you looking like that it won’t be their guns they’ll be shooting. Just buy me a few seconds. Go!” He ducked and headed for an adjoining room.

“Lady Sophia!” came a shout from outside the office. “We know you are in here. Please, come out-Mr. Yuen has asked us to bring you to him.”

Sophia stepped into the hall, coming around one of the hanging metal art pieces to see the four men waiting for her. Their guns were in their hands, but not aimed at her. She advanced slowly, slinkily, one high-heeled foot in front of the other as she swayed her hips in the tight red silk dress. That caught the attention of three of the security guards, at least.

The fourth was more professional, however, looking cautiously into the nearby rooms. “Where is the man?”

“What man?”

“You came here with a man. Where is he?”

“I don’t know.” That was true; she had completely lost sight of Chase.

The guard sidestepped an installation piece and came towards her. The other men followed a few paces behind, on the other side of the hanging artwork. “We do not want to hurt you, but Mr. Yuen has told us to use force if you do not cooperate. Where is the-”

A noise to one side-

The guards looked around as Chase leaped from a side room almost at ceiling height, having jumped from a table. His outstretched arms grabbed the rail from which the artwork hung as he slammed his feet against the metal sheet.

It rang like a gong, swinging upwards with the force of Chase’s weight behind it and sweeping two of the guards off the floor. One of them hit another installation piece, wrenching it from its hangings. It landed with an enormous bang, then toppled over and flattened him beneath it. The other man crashed against the wall so hard that he almost broke through it, embedded unmoving in the plasterboard beneath the expensive wallpaper.

Chase dropped to the ground, rolling to avoid the metal sheet as it swung back. Another startled guard there-he scythed up with his legs at the man’s knees. The guard pitched onto his back with a yelp. Chase was already up, fist driving a sledgehammer blow into his face. The man instantly went limp.

The remaining guard aimed his gun at Chase-

Sophia swept aside the front of her dress and delivered a hard kick up between the guard’s legs. The hefty platform toe of her shoe crunched into his crotch. He made a high-pitched keening noise, face contorted in agony, then dropped to the floor and curled up in a ball.

“I see you still know how to take care of yourself,” said Chase, kicking the other guards’ guns away.

She picked up the fallen weapon from the sobbing man at her feet. “Shanghai’s a tough town.”

“Come on.” He took her hand and pulled her after him, heading for the elevators.

They only got a few steps into the lobby before an alarm shrilled, red warning lights flashing. The display screen of the elevator flashed Mandarin characters. “The lift’s locked down!” Sophia gasped.

“They’ll already be on their way up the stairs,” said Chase grimly. Cut off, and the only remaining escape route led to an aircraft they couldn’t fly…

He turned and hurried back into the suite of offices. “We can’t get out down here!” Sophia protested.

“Then I’ll have to do some DIY.” He stopped at the fallen art piece, one end of which had bent upwards when it hit the floor. Chase looked down the hall to Yuen’s office at the end, the sloping windows…

“Give me a hand!” he ordered, grabbing one corner of the metal sheet and dragging it down the hall. Sophia obeyed, confused.

They passed the guard she’d kicked, who was showing signs of recovery. Sophia jabbed a spike heel between his legs. He curled up even tighter, tears streaming down his face.

“Stop enjoying yourself,” Chase told her. They pulled the metal sheet into the office. “And take off those bloody shoes!”

“What are you doing?” she asked as she tugged at the straps and kicked off her stilettos. “There isn’t a way out in here!”

Chase took the gun from her and fired several shots at the window, the glass exploding. “There is now!”

“What do you-” Realization crossed her face, followed a moment later by genuine fear. “Oh my God! Are you insane?”

“It’s been suggested.” He dragged the metal sheet to the window, a cold wind blowing through the shattered hole. Sophia didn’t move.

“We-we can go up to the helipad! You could pretend to take me hostage, demand a pilot-”

“They already know I came to rescue you, not kidnap you!” Chase leaned out of the window, looking down. The slope of the building’s side was at least seventy degrees to the vertical on the floor below, but it became shallower as it descended, almost horizontal at the bottom…

Sophia stared at him in horror. “Eddie, we’ll die!”