The Gold Thief
Ned and the magical Circus of Marvels are back in a second rip-roaring, page-turning adventure!Ned and his family are trying to be ordinary except for the small fact that they AREN’T. AT ALL. Because on the run up to Christmas everything is ruined when all the world’s gold goes missing, along with its leading scientists. Which doesn't really have anything to do with Ned… until it does. When an oily thief and his pet monster turn up at Ned's door, Ned finds himself on the run again… and racing to find out what this new villain wants.Meanwhile, in the shadows, a machine with a mind of its own vies for power, and mysterious men in grey suits are watching the Circus of Marvels' every move. Together with his best friend Lucy, his clockwork mouse and his shadow, Ned must use his growing magical powers to try to uncover a secret that could end them all…
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Childrenâs Books 2017
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Text copyright © Justin Fisher 2017
Cover illustration © Marcus Šumberac
Justin Fisher asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
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Source ISBN: 9780008124557
Ebook Edition © 2017 ISBN: 9780008124564
Version: 2017-03-06
For M and D
Forever
x
Contents
44. Whispers from the Iron City
53. The Viceroy of St Albertsburg
United States Bullion Depository, Fort Knox, Kentucky
3.32am
Beyond their fences and walls and barricades, a president is being woken, and powerful men in charge of a nationâs currency, its digits and its dollar bills are meeting and shouting and blaming.
Far below the chaos and the panic of the search, Shwartz and Greer sit in a bare grey cement room. It has no windows and no discernible features of any kind, except for the small surveillance camera in the far corner and its pulsating amber light.
Private Marvin L. Shwartz, slumped in one of the roomâs two plastic bucket-chairs, is in considerable trouble and the man he reports to, Staff Sergeant Greer, on the other side of the bare metal table, is losing his patience.
âNo, sir, I donât remember. I have no idea how the vault was opened. I was walkinâ and then I wasnât and the next thang I knew I was here, sir, with you, sir.â
âShwartz, you are in an inordinate amount of doo-doo and there ainât a damn thing I can do to help you, till you start explaining how half of this nationâs gold reserve just up and vanishes in less than an hour!â
The Bullion Depository at Fort Knox was protected not only by the United States Mint Police, but also by the 16>th Cavalry Regiment, the 19>th Engineer Battalion and the 3>rd Brigade Combat Team of the 1>st Infantry, along with their tanks, attack helicopters and artillery. A force totalling well over thirty thousand men. The actual gold, all four and a half thousand metric tonnes, lay behind a one-of-a-kind, twenty-one-inch thick door, proofed against drills, lasers and explosions, designed by the Mosler Safe Company. It was monitored by twenty-four-hour orbital satellite and ground-sweeping radar. Automated machine guns covered every possible entry point, and it was rumoured that the entire surrounding grasslands were carpeted with land mines, a rumour Greer had been careful to encourage.
