The Great Zoo of China Read online

  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.

  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.

  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, are used fictitiously without any intent to describe actual conduct.

  First published 2014 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited

  1 Market Street, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2000

  Copyright © Karanadon Entertainment Pty Ltd 2014

  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: 9781743518366

  Typeset by Post Pre-press Group

  Jacket and internal text design: Sandy Cull, gogoGingko

  Jacket images, endpapers, maps and internal illustrations: IRONGAV

  Internal China map by Pat Naoum

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  Table of Contents

  Cover

  About The Great Zoo of China

  Title page

  Contents

  Dedication

  Map

  Epigraph

  Introduction

  Half-title page

  Prologue

  FIRST EVOLUTION: The Unknown Destination

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  SECOND EVOLUTION: The Legend of the Dragon

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  THIRD EVOLUTION: The Undiscovered Predator

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter Thirty

  FOURTH EVOLUTION: The Known Predator

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Chapter Thirty-two

  Chapter Thirty-three

  Chapter Thirty-four

  FIFTH EVOLUTION: Into the Zoo

  Chapter Thirty-five

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  Chapter Thirty-nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-one

  SIXTH EVOLUTION: The Time of the Dragon

  Chapter Forty-two

  Chapter Forty-three

  Chapter Forty-four

  Chapter Forty-five

  Chapter Forty-six

  Chapter Forty-seven

  Chapter Forty-eight

  Chapter Forty-nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-one

  Chapter Fifty-two

  Chapter Fifty-three

  Chapter Fifty-four

  Chapter Fifty-five

  Chapter Fifty-six

  Chapter Fifty-seven

  SEVENTH EVOLUTION: The Battle for the Outer Dome

  Chapter Fifty-eight

  Chapter Fifty-nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-one

  Chapter Sixty-two

  FINAL EVOLUTION: The Last Confrontation

  Chapter Sixty-three

  Chapter Sixty-four

  Chapter Sixty-five

  Chapter Sixty-six

  Chapter Sixty-seven

  Chapter Sixty-eight

  Chapter Sixty-nine

  Chapter Seventy

  Chapter Seventy-one

  Chapter Seventy-two

  Chapter Seventy-three

  Chapter Seventy-four

  An Interview with Matthew Reilly About The Great Zoo of China

  About Matthew Reilly

  Also by Matthew Reilly

  Copyright page