An hour later, its landing lights blazing in the night, the Air France 737 landed on a military runway in rural Pennsylvania, in the lee of a grim low mountain dotted with skeletal trees.

The big airliner landed of its own accord, guided by an unknown pilot flying it remotely.

It rolled to a halt in the darkness.

Floodlights lit up the runway all around it, illuminating a bunker-like concrete tunnel that delved into the heart of the mountain.

The floodlights also revealed the forces waiting for the plane: ten armed Delta Force commandos and a formation of at least two hundred bronzemen, all standing to attention.

At the head of the regiment of bronzemen was a Knight of the Golden Eight.

Pooh Bear, Stretch, Tracy and Lynda looked out at them nervously from the airliner’s cockpit.

Suddenly a voice barked from their radio: ‘Send out Sir John! Then come out with your hands up or you will be fired upon!’

They did as they were told.

They cut the royal banker’s flex cuffs and opened the forward door for him to leave.

As he stopped in the doorway, massaging his wrists, Sir John Marren said, ‘I do hope you all remember what I told you earlier. Screaming and begging.’

With a final snort, he exited the plane, joining the armed commandos on the floodlit tarmac.

Then, with deep breaths, Pooh, Stretch, Tracy and Lynda disembarked behind him, stepping out into the chilly night air with their hands raised above their heads.

As he stepped out of the plane and stood atop the airstairs that had been rolled up to it, Stretch gazed at the landscape around them.

The stark mountain rose above the airstrip, a bulky shadow against the night sky. The trees on it were leafless and bare. The concrete tunnel disappeared into its base.

They’d been brought to Raven Rock, as he’d suspected.

Raven Rock—or Site R as it was known in government circles—was part of America’s ‘Continuity of Government’ plan in the event of war, a terrorist attack or a nuclear strike.

Like Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, it could operate as a remote version of the Pentagon, controlling and coordinating U.S. forces all around the world, while also accommodating over three thousand people in its vast underground complex.

Rumour had it that a network of road tunnels connected Raven Rock to nearby Camp David and from there reached all the way to the Pentagon down in D.C.

The four heroes descended the airstairs, walking slowly toward the ring of Delta Force commandos.

Stretch eyed the Golden Knight in front of the rows of bronzemen, noting the ring of command that he wore on his right hand.

‘Well, I just gotta say it,’ Lynda said to Stretch, ‘you were right. The Mossad taught you well, Benjamin, made you a good predicter of human behaviour.’

Stretch kept scanning the area, especially one thing.