‘Of course,’ Shan Yuan said disdainfully, ignoring the sweat that streaked his brow.

‘Without burning down the entire building?’

‘That might be more difficult,’ Shan Yuan conceded. ‘We should hurry.’

Bombarded by blaring sirens and warnings to evacuate immediately, and without using the lifts, they made for the roof. Shan Yuan’s flames cleared their way, and roaming squads of guards and panicked civilians fled the walls of fire that surrounded them. Fortunately those same walls of fire hid the fact that Shan Yuan was leaning on Kai for support. The effort of moving the blaze ever onwards, against a background of chaos, drained him.

They staggered out onto the roof together – a landing zone marked into separate quadrants by artificial foliage and bordered by garages. Kai only saw a few parked aircars, and those were being fought over by panicked citizens. Multiple fire escapes offered safe routes to the roofs of other buildings – but it seemed that some refused to leave without their cars, or were taking advantage of the situation to do some looting.

‘That one,’ Kai said, pointing at the nearest – a sleek gold two-seater. Shan Yuan raised a hand. Flames blossomed from the halo that surrounded them, flowing across the tarmac like oil to circle the aircar. The fire forced back the pair who’d been about to seize it, and Kai grabbed the key card from one of the distracted opportunists. Another burst of flames caused them to flee, as Kai dragged Shan Yuan into the passenger’s side before jumping into the driver’s seat.

Kai stared at the rows of controls. A keyboard. A screen. Multiple buttons. Key-card reader. Close enough to aircars he’d flown before. He waved the key card at the reader hopefully, and was delighted as the controls all fired up. He spared just a moment to wonder if the card was a counterfeit or genuine, meaning they were stealing the aircar, then shrugged. Their need was great and the screen was glowing in readiness, showing what looked like a local map. He tapped a building, and the screen helpfully suggested various speeds and routes to reach it.

The fires were dying down without Shan Yuan to boost them. Emergency vehicles had now converged on the building, some pouring foam through open windows. Kai hit the choices for high speed and direct route, mentally urging the aircar to hurry. It rose, drifting into the air like an overweight pigeon trying to remember exactly how one went from pavement to airborne. It steadied a couple of yards up then rotated, before plunging into motion.

‘Good job,’ Kai said, relaxing for a moment. ‘Well done, brother.’

‘You were quite competent yourself,’ Shan Yuan said, gracing him with a thin smile.

‘Next stop the cathedral,’ Kai said triumphantly, touching their real target this time – the Sagrada Familia – on the screen. Other aircars from the roof were heading in all directions, merging into what might be regular traffic flows. The emergency vehicles were fully occupied with the still-burning fire, darting around the building to squirt foam at the flames.

But the expected routing options failed to materialize. ‘Unacceptable end point,’ the aircar’s voice unit said, sounding less friendly than earlier. ‘Sagrada Familia is not a permitted destination. Please state new travel end point.’

Somehow, Kai wasn’t too surprised. The reports on the stolen laptop had indicated the place was closed. He hunted for the manual override and turned it on. Luckily this was indeed like aircars he’d driven before. Two levers, a bit like joysticks, slid out from a concealed recess. ‘Things may get a little bumpy from here on,’ he warned his brother.

‘Is that car approaching us?’ Shan Yuan asked, pointing. The vehicle heading towards them was a sleek black with silver trim. It had red lights on its sides and looked worryingly official. Kai ignored it. Then the vehicle opened fire. The two dragons ducked in their seats as bullets came hammering through the roof, sides and windscreen; fragments of glass cascaded down upon them. Their pursuer slid sideways to draw level with them, matching their pace, and a rough amplified voice roared, ‘Stop your car and maintain position or be shot down!’

‘Right,’ Kai said, a vicious smile curving his lips, and began to get creative. He urged the aircar into a rapid dive, dropping away from their pursuer. Then he curved to the right, ducking under a stream of traffic to slide between two skyscrapers.

‘They’re following us,’ Shan Yuan shouted unhelpfully, as though this might assist Kai rather than distracting him. ‘Do something!’

‘This airborne business would be a great deal easier if we were in our proper forms,’ Kai muttered between gritted teeth. He yanked on the vertical lever, pulling the aircar upwards. More glass came loose from the edges of the shattered windscreen, falling behind them in a glittering trail. ‘This thing has no style . . .’

More bullets chattered through the air to their left. Kai swung to the right, wishing for a gun of his own. ‘Do you think they’re police, or the ones who were keeping us captive?’

‘Does it matter?’ Shan Yuan was huddled down as far as was possible in his seat, and clearly hating every second of this undignified crouching. ‘Get us to that building and out of the air!’

Kai shared Shan Yuan’s eagerness. They were weaponless and being shot to pieces up here. ‘We’re getting there,’ he reassured his brother, putting the aircar through a couple of quick turns, then gliding under another traffic stream. He could see their target now. He just wished he had more idea of what they’d do once they arrived . . . besides the obvious Rescue Irene and dispose of all enemies.

‘Halt or be shot down!’ came the blast of another loudspeaker. Kai bit back a curse as a second vehicle came swooping in to join the chase. He yanked a joystick, forcing his aircar to climb, but he could feel the drag of air and wind.

The building ahead came into full view and for one moment, even mid-chase, he was distracted. It was glorious. He’d only seen images of the Sagrada Familia up close, and they were now perfectly positioned to admire it. Or would have been if they weren’t under attack. The illuminated cathedral had the beauty of a living, organic creation – as fair and elegant as a coral reef, or a grove of trees, or one of his father’s palaces. Dark stone curled upwards into glorious spires like singing poems, etched and patterned with designs that made him ache to see them properly in daylight. Ornate glass windows glowed with rich colours, lit from inside the building. The beauty of their burning hues ached against the darkness. He could have hung there in mid-air and stared at it for hours.

Their aircar shook with the impact of a bullet. ‘Warning,’ the pleasant female voice said from the console, ‘fuel tank integrity is damaged. Please land and inspect your vehicle. Warning, fuel tank integrity is damaged . . .’

‘Do all your escapades end up like this?’ Shan Yuan demanded sourly.

‘Make helpful suggestions, or stay quiet,’ Kai replied, gauging their options. It was reassuring that Shan Yuan trusted him to handle this and hadn’t just grabbed for the controls himself. He wasn’t going to disappoint his brother now.

They could land outside the building, but their airborne pursuers could easily shoot them down. And he could see guard posts and security patrols down there. If they wanted to avoid being shot and get inside the building, he could think of only one way to do it. Kai felt an almost physical pain at the thought of what he was about to do. Any damage could be repaired, of course, but . . .