Jet Flashfeet, Chuck Cobracrusher, Donnie Dragonjab, and Bruce Willowhammer . . . Together they are THE CLAN OF THE SCORPION! Armed to the teeth with ninja know-how, this ultimate fighting force has one goal―to thwart the evil Ringmaster's plans for world domination. Ninja-Boom! A tiger is missing from Hong Kong Zoo, but this is no ordinary big cat―and she won't be found by sticking "Lost!" posters on lampposts. When the meerkats find a clown-shaped Clue in the Poo at the zoo, it can only mean one thing: the Ringmaster and his Circus Goons are in town. It's time for the Ninja Meerkats to leap into action! “Fast, funny and charming.” ― Kirkus Review “Equal parts silliness and action.” ― Publishers Weekly “Perfect idea for boys who love martial arts or action packed adventures.” ― sbroadhurstreviews.blogspot.com “This is an exciting new series from . . . award-winning author Gareth P Jones. The Clan of the Scorpion are Jet Flashfeet, Chuck Cobracrusher, Donnie Dragonjab and Bruce Willowhammer--these are names to conjure with! . . . Appealingly laid out, pacy and fast-moving, with lots of illustrations and clear font, this is ideal for encouraging boys to read.” ― Amazon.co.uk, Top 500 Reviewer “What is with the sudden love for meerkats?? They started out on that TV advert and now they are everywhere!! Here they are hitting the high street book shelves in their latest hit on market dominanation! . . . I think this book would be great for young boys, gaining confidence in reading alone or sharing with others. It would appeal to fans of martial arts or boys who want to read about something other than football and cars.” ― Amazon.co.uk, VineVoice “Another cracking book by Garteh P Jones--buy this now! The Clan of the Scorpion introduces the amazing ninja meerkats and their cunning skills to keep the evil ringmaster at bay and all done with great comedic moments, for kids and adults to both enjoy. A truly original book.” ― Amazon.co.uk Gareth P. Jones is author of the Dragon Detective Agency series, The Thornthwaite Inheritance, and the Ninja Meerkats series. He also works as a TV producer of documentaries. He lives in London with his wife, Lisa. Luke Finlayson is the illustrator for the Ninja Meerkats series by Gareth Jones. CHAPTER ONE THE MISSING TIGER From the outside, the Clan of the Scorpion’s secret base looked like one of a number of meerkat burrows in the Red Desert. But while some of the neighboring meerkats had welcomed wildlife documentary makers into their homes, the Clan had to be more careful about who they let in. You see, film crews do not expect to find a central chamber filled with fighting staffs, swords, throwing stars, nunchucks, and a whole range of other gadgets at the heart of a meerkat burrow. So the Clan kept nosy filmmakers at arm’s length for fear of their true identity being revealed.… Actually, further than that, as a meerkat’s arm is hardly very long at all. Jet Flashfeet had just entered the central chamber. He had his trusty nunchucks in a specially designed holster, and was carrying a book under his arm called, 101 More Martial Arts Moves by Kara T. Kick. “Hey, who wants to try out this new move I just read about?” “Not me. I’m busy with this,” replied Donnie Dragonjab, tapping away on a touchscreen phone he had recently acquired from a careless documentary maker. Bruce Willowhammer looked up from the middle of the chamber, where he was doing one-armed push-ups. “What is that, Donnie?” he asked. “It’s a Bluetooth, WAP-enabled mobile device,” replied Donnie. Bruce stopped mid push-up and stared at him blankly. “It’s a phone,” explained Donnie. “We’ve already got phones,” said Bruce. With his free arm he pulled out the mini cell phone that Donnie had made for each Clan member so that they could keep in contact during missions. “You’ll be able to throw away that old thing once I’ve figured out how to reduce this down to a more usable size,” said Donnie. “This can surf the Internet and give us up-to-date news from around the world with a simple click of a button. It’s going to completely revolutionize the way we work.” Jet rolled his eyes impatiently. “Sounds great. Now, Bruce, will you try this new move with me?” “All right, but can I have a snack first? I’m starving.” “You’re always starving. Can’t you wait? The helicopter leap will only take a minute,” replied Jet. “The what?” said Bruce. “The helicopter leap. We link paws and spin around, then I count to three and we jump together and—Ninja-boom!—we fly up into the air like a helicopter.” “Why would we want to do that?” “Because it’s cool and it might come in handy.” “That’s good enough for me. Let’s do it,” said Bruce. “I have to see this.” Donnie swiveled around to watch. Jet and Bruce moved to the middle of the room. They stood on their hind legs, looked from side to side, then bowed to each other in the usual manner. They held paws, leaned back, and began to move slowly around in a circle. “Shall