The rules are simple. Seven contestants will enter. Only one will leave. With his daughter in his arms, Swain is plunged into a terrifying fight for survival. He can choose to run, to hide or to fight – but if he wants to live, he has to win. For in this contest, unless you leave as the victor, you do not leave at all.
Ice Station
THE DISCOVERY OF A LIFETIME
At a remote ice station in Antarctica, a team of US scientists has found something buried deep within a 100-million-year-old layer of ice. Something made of metal.
THE LAW OF SURVIVAL
In a land without boundaries, there are no rules. Every country would kill for this prize.
A LEADER OF MEN
A team of crack United States marines is sent to the station to secure the discovery. Their leader – Lieutenant Shane Schofield, call-sign: SCARECROW. They are a tight unit, tough and fearless. They would follow their leader into hell. They just did . . .
Temple
Deep in the jungle of Peru, the hunt for a legendary Incan idol is under way – an idol that in the present day could be used as the basis for a terrifying new weapon.
Guiding a US Army team is Professor William Race, a young linguist who must translate an ancient manuscript which contains the location of the idol.
What they find is an ominous stone temple, sealed tight. They open it – and soon discover that some doors are meant to remain unopened . . .
Area 7
A HIDDEN LOCATION
It is America’s most secret base, a remote installation known only as Area 7.
THE VISITOR
And today it has a guest: the President of the United States. But he’s going to get more than he bargained for on this trip. Because hostile forces are waiting inside . . .
HIS SAVIOUR
Among the President’s helicopter crew, however, is a young marine. His name is Schofield. Call-sign: SCARECROW. Rumour has it, he’s a good man in a storm. Judging by what the President has just walked into, he’d better be . . .
Scarecrow
IT IS THE GREATEST BOUNTY HUNT IN HISTORY
There are 15 targets. And they must all be dead by 12 noon, today. The price on their heads: $20 million each.
ONE HERO
Among the names on the target list, one stands out. An enigmatic Marine named Shane Schofield, call-sign: SCARECROW.
NO LIMITS
And so Schofield is hunted by gangs of international bounty hunters, including the ‘Black Knight’, a ruthless hunter who seems intent on eliminating only him.
He led his men into hell in Ice Station. He protected the President against all odds in Area 7. This time it’s different. Because this time SCARECROW is the target.
Hover Car Racer
Meet Jason Chaser, hover car racer. He’s won himself a place at the International Race School, where racers either make it on to the Pro Circuit – or they crash and burn.
But he’s an outsider. He’s younger than the other racers. His car, the Argonaut, is older. And on top of that, someone doesn’t want him to succeed at the School and will do anything to stop him.
Now Jason Chaser isn’t just fighting for his place on the starting line, he’s racing for his life.
Hell Island
It is an island that doesn’t appear on any maps. A secret place, where classified experiments have been carried out. Experiments that have gone terribly wrong...
Four crack special forces units are dropped in. One of them is a team of Marines, led by Captain Shane Schofield, call-sign: SCARECROW.
Nothing can prepare Schofield’s team for what they find there. You could say they’ve just entered hell. But that would be wrong. This is much, much worse.
Seven Ancient Wonders
AN ANCIENT SECRET
Two thousand years ago, it was hidden within the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Now, in the present day, it must be found again . . .
ONE HERO TO FIND IT
Captain Jack West Jr – part soldier, part scholar, all hero. The odds are stacked against him and his loyal team: nine brave companions taking on the most powerful countries on earth.
AN ADVENTURE LIKE NO OTHER
From the pyramids of Egypt to the swamps of Sudan, to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the boulevards of Paris: the desperate race begins.
FOR A PRIZE WITHOUT EQUAL
The greatest prize of all: the power to end the world or rule it.
AND SO THE GREAT ADVENTURE BEGINS
The Six Sacred Stones
THE END OF THE WORLD IS COMING
A mysterious ceremony at a hidden location has unlocked a catastrophic countdown to world annihilation.
ONE HERO
Now, to save the world, supersoldier Jack West Jr and his loyal team of adventurers must find and rebuild a legendary device known as ‘the Machine’.
SIX FABLED STONES
The only clues to locating this Machine are held within the fabled Six Sacred Stones, which are scattered around the globe. But Jack and his team are not the only ones seeking the Stones, there are other players involved who don’t want to see the world saved at all . . .
The Five Greatest Warriors
THE END OF THE WORLD HAS ARRIVED
Jack West Jr and his loyal team have been separated, their mission is in ruins, and Jack was last seen plummeting down a fathomless abyss.
OCEANS WILL RISE, CITIES WILL FALL
After surviving his deadly fall, Jack must now race against his enemies to locate and set in place the remaining pieces of ‘the Machine’ before the coming Armageddon.
WHO ARE THE FIVE WARRIORS?
Jack will learn of the individuals who throughout history have been most intimately connected to his quest, but not before he and his friends find out exactly what the end of the world looks like . . .
Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves
THE SECRET BASE
It is a former Soviet base known only as Dragon Island. It houses a weapon of terrible destructive force . . . that has just been re-activated.
A RENEGADE ARMY
The island has been seized by a brutal terrorist force calling itself the Army of Thieves, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
ONE SMALL TEAM
There is an equipment-testing team up in the Arctic. It does not have the weaponry or strength to attack a fortified island held by a vicious army. But it is led by a Marine captain named Schofield, call-sign: SCARECROW. And Scarecrow will lead the team in anyway, because someone has to.
The Tournament
The year is 1546.
Suleiman the Magnificent, the powerful and feared Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, issues an invitation to every king in Europe:
YOU ARE INVITED TO SEND YOUR FINEST PLAYER TO COMPETE IN A CHESS TOURNAMENT TO DETERMINE THE CHAMPION OF THE KNOWN WORLD.
The English delegation – led by esteemed scholar Roger Ascham – journeys to the glittering city of Constantinople. Accompanying Ascham is his pupil, Bess, who is about to bear witness to events she never thought possible.
For on the first night of the tournament, a powerful guest of the Sultan is murdered, and against the backdrop of the historic event, Ascham is tasked with finding the killer.
Barbaric deaths, unimaginable depravity and diplomatic treachery unfold before Bess’s eyes, indelibly shaping her character and determining how she will perform her future role . . . as Queen Elizabeth I.
EVEN A PAWN CAN BECOME A QUEEN
Troll Mountain
‘For a long moment Raf stood on the summit of the hill, caught between two worlds: the familiar world of his valley and the unknown world before him.
Suddenly he doubted his mission and considered going back . . .
No. He was going to do this.
He was going to do this for his sister.
And so, with a deep breath, Raf turned towards the Badlands and stepped out of his old world . . . ’
A young hero.
Barbaric monsters.
An impossible quest.
In a remote valley, a tribe of humans is being killed off by a terrible disease.
There is a rumour that the trolls of Troll Mountain have a cure for the illness: a miraculous elixir.
When Raf’s sister gets sick and his tribal leaders refuse to help him, he makes a courageous decision. He sets out on his own for Troll Mountain ... to steal the elixir.
The journey to the mountain has begun . . .
The Great Zoo of China
AN IMPOSSIBLE DISCOVERY
It is a secret the Chinese government has been keeping for forty years. They have found a species of animal no one believed even existed.
THE WORLD’S GREATEST ATTRACTION
The Chinese are ready to unveil their fabulous creatures in the greatest zoo ever constructed. VIPs and journalists, including reptile expert Dr Cassandra Jane ‘CJ’ Cameron, are invited to see the beasts for the first time.
ONE FALSE PROMISE
The visitors are assured by their Chinese hosts that they are perfectly safe, that nothing can go wrong.
Of course it can’t . . .
This is a work of fiction. Characters, institutions and organisations
mentioned in this novel are either the product of the author’s
imagination or, if real, used fictitiously without any intent to describe
actual conduct.
First published 2016 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000
Copyright © 2016 Karanadon Entertainment Pty Limited
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
This ebook may not include illustrations and/or photographs that may have been in the print edition.
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available
from the National Library of Australia
http://catalogue.nla.gov.au
EPUB format: 9781925479966
Typeset by Post Pre-press Group
Printed by McPherson’s Printing Group
Image of Newton's Mountain sourced from the public domain
All other internal illustrations and endpapers by IRONGAV
Extract on page 1 Copyright © Sean O’Brien, 2006, taken from DANTE’S INFERNO:
A Verse Translation, published by Picador, London. Reproduced with permission.
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The Four Legendary Kingdoms: A Jack West Jr Novel 4 (Jack West Junior) Page 32
