Anthony Horowitz - Necropolis

And all the time Scarlett was thinking – what is real and what isn’t? Which of these people are shape-changers? How many of them are looking for me? She walked on between Jet and Sing, trying to behave normally but knowing all the time that there were a thousand eyes searching for her. She was already beginning to sweat with all the padding pressing down on her. It made it difficult to breathe.

They passed the Peninsula Hotel. Just a few days before, Scarlett had gone there with Audrey Cheng. They had sat down for tea and sandwiches. It felt like a lifetime ago. They turned into a wide avenue and she found herself walking past a police station. Two men came out, chatting together in dark blue and silver uniforms. Both of them carried guns. Scarlett remembered what Lohan had told her. The Old Ones controlled the police as well as the government and the civil service. These two men would have her description. If they recognized her it would all be over before they got anywhere near the ship.

But they didn’t. They continued past and it was only when they had gone that Scarlett realized she had stopped breathing. She felt completely defenceless, waiting for someone to shout her name and for the crowd to close in. A few inches of padding and a handful of make-up was all that stood between her and capture. She was terrified that it wouldn’t be enough.

Harbour City lay ahead of them. It was just another shopping centre, though much bigger than any she had visited with Mrs Cheng. They strolled in as if that was what they had always intended to do, as if they were just three friends out for an evening’s shopping. The interior was very ugly. It was brightly lit with small, box-like shops standing next to each other in corridors that seemed to go on for ever. They were selling the usual goods: jeans and T-shirts and sunglasses and souvenirs, with fewer famous names than could be found in Hong Kong Central and presumably lower prices.

They continued past a luggage store and there, ahead of them, Scarlett saw a neon sign that read TSIM CHAI KEE HERBAL REMEDIES and knew that they had reached the place where the exchange would happen. The shop was directly in front of them. It was filled with cardboard boxes and glass bottles. Three people were standing with their backs to the front door. A man, a woman and, between them, a boy.

The woman was plump with grey hair, dressed in black. The man was smaller than her, laden down with shopping bags, with a camera around his neck. Their son was dressed exactly the same as Scarlett. They were waiting while the shop assistant wrapped up a packet of tea.

Scarlett walked in. Jet and Sing didn’t follow her but continued on their way. At the same time, the boy walked forward, further into the shop and disappeared. The man and the woman stayed exactly where they were so that as Scarlett entered, there was a space between them. And that was it. A moment later she was standing between them. The woman paid for the tea. The shopkeeper handed over some change. The three of them left together.

A mother, a father and a son had gone into the shop. A mother, a father and a son walked out of it. As they left, Scarlett glanced up and noticed a TV camera in the passageway trained down on them and wondered if there was anybody watching and, if so, whether they could possibly have seen anything that might have aroused their suspicions. But for the first time, she was feeling confident. She was no longer on her own. She was part of a family now. She would be joining hundreds or even thousands of tourists returning to the Jade Emperor. Even the Old Ones with all their agents would be unable to spot her.

The family left Harbour City through a set of huge glass doors that brought them straight out onto Ocean Terminal. And there was the ship, tied to the quay by ropes as thick as trees. The Jade Emperor was massive, with at least a dozen decks, each one laid out on top of the other with two smoking funnels at the very top. The lower part of the ship was punctuated by a long line of tiny-looking portholes, but further up there were full-sized sliding windows that probably opened onto state rooms for the multi-millionaires on board. The Jade Emperor was entirely white, apart from the funnels which were bright green. Crew members, also in spotless white, were hurrying along the corridors, mopping the decks and polishing the brass railings as if it were vital for the ship to look its best before it was allowed to leave.

Scarlett examined her surroundings. The ship was on her left, blocking out the view over to Hong Kong, with a single gangplank, slanting down at its centre. On the right, running the full length of the quay, was a two-storey building lined with flags. This was the back of Harbour City, the shopping centre she had just visited. Between them was a strip of concrete about ten metres across, which they would all have to walk along if they wanted to go on board.

The way was blocked by a series of metal fences that forced passengers to snake round to a control point where half a dozen men in uniforms were checking passports and embarkation slips. The sun was beginning to set now, and although it still sparkled on the water and glinted off the ship’s railings, the actual walkway was in shadow. So this was it. Five minutes and maybe fifty paces separated Scarlett from freedom. Once she was on board the Jade Emperor, it would be over. Matt was waiting for her. Help had finally arrived. She would set sail and she would never see Hong Kong again.

The woman acting as Scarlett’s mother, Mrs Soong, said something and reached out for her hand. Scarlett took it and they began to walk towards the barrier. Nobody stopped them. Nobody even seemed to glance their way. They passed a restaurant with floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows and tables and gas umbrellas outside. It was too late for lunch and too early for dinner so there was hardly anyone there, but as they continued forward Scarlett noticed a man with grey hair and glasses, sipping a glass of beer. He was partly obscured by the window but there was something familiar about him, the way he sat, even the way he held his glass. She stopped dead.

It was Paul Adams.

Maybe if she hadn’t stopped so abruptly, he wouldn’t have noticed her. But now he looked up and stared at her. Even then he might not have recognized her. But they had made eye contact. That was what did it. Even with the spectacles and the contact lenses, the strange clothes and the short hair, the two of them had made the link.

And Scarlett was glad to see him. For the past week she had been worrying about him, wondering if he was dead or alive. She had hated the thought of skulking out of Hong Kong without letting him know and if there had been any way to warn him what was happening, she would have done so. This was her opportunity. She couldn’t just leave him behind.

A second later, he burst out of the restaurant and onto the quay. He still couldn’t decide if it was really her. The disguise was that good. But then she smiled at him and he came over to her, his face a mixture of bafflement and relief.

“Scarly… Is that you?”

Scarlett felt Mrs Soong stiffen beside her. Mr Soong stopped, his face filled with alarm. None of the guards at the passport control had noticed them. Tourists were streaming past on both sides, taking out their documents as they approached the fence. Scarlett knew she would have to be quick. She was risking everything even by talking to him but she didn’t care. She felt a huge sense of relief. Her father was alive.

“Scarly…?” Paul Adams spoke her name again, peering at her, trying to see through the disguise.

“Dad…” Scarlett whispered. “We can’t talk. You have to leave Hong Kong. We’re in terrible…”

She didn’t finish the sentence.

To her horror, Paul Adams grabbed hold of her, dragging her hand up as if to show her off. His face was flushed with excitement – and something else. He looked demented. There was a sort of terror in his eyes. He was like a man who had just committed murder.