y the time Mr Fox’s wing of Chinooks had returned to base, it was long after sunrise on the British coastline, near the cliffs of Dover. It was only when the helicopters touched down and their blades stopped that Ned understood where the BBB’s base actually was. As he stepped on to the tarmac, he was met by Mr Fox, closely followed by Whiskers and Gorrn. Benissimo went over to debrief George and Lucy and what it was – exactly – that they should all be telling Terry and Olivia Armstrong.
Suddenly the whole compound, with its warehouses and lorries, started to tremble. Every inch of tarmac, every lamp post and every brick slowly and noisily lowered.
“What’s going on?” breathed Ned.
Mr Fox looked worn out from the journey, but still managed to smile. “We may not have a Veil, Ned, but we do have a few surprises of our own. You are standing on the single largest ‘lift’ ever made.”
Ned watched in wonder as the entire compound lowered into the earth, foot by foot, floor by floor, of the BBB’s hidden base. Each concrete level was at least fifty yards high and housed different machines, from jump jets to tanks, jeeps and transports, and each and every floor cut deep under and into the British countryside.
“It’s amazing, but don’t people ask questions – you know, about the sinking?”
“We’re in a military zone, Ned – regular people don’t get to see it. Our ‘lift’ is for satellite surveillance. Seen from space it looks as though we haven’t budged an inch.”
“Clever.”
“I’m glad you think so,” said Mr Fox, who began to whistle as the giant lift sank further into the ground. It was a strange sort of a tune, not really a tune of any particular sort, but both soothing and jaunty nonetheless.
“Mr Fox?”
Mr Fox stopped.
“Why are you whistling?”
“Whistling calms my nerves.”
The hairs on Ned’s arm rose. “And why are you nervous, Mr Fox?”
“It’s Fox, Ned, just Fox. And I’m nervous because I know what’s going to be waiting for us on the other side of those doors.”
Which was when their giant lift came to the thirteenth and last floor of the base, the one that housed the Hidden.
They were greeted by the sight of his mum shaking her head very slowly from side to side while sucking the air in through her teeth. Her arms were folded and her foot tapping on the ground. He’d only seen her take that pose once before and the ensuing outburst had been truly terrifying. Ned’s dad, on the other hand, did not look like his dad at all. Terry Armstrong was a kind man, too kind even at times. But Ned had seen him flatten Barbarossa with a single blast from his ring and it had been in order to protect his son. His eyes were wild and his face red, and there was no doubt he was gearing up for some flattening.
The worst part, though, the part that made his predicament quite clear, was Lucy Beaumont. His friend had caught up with him and looked at Ned with such sincere sympathy that he felt that moment might very well be his last.
“Ned?” said Mr Fox.
“Yes, Fox?”
“You were very brave back there, in the forest – this shouldn’t be too bad in comparison.”
“Thanks. You were very brave too.”
“Not sure I would have been at your age, Ned, not up against those … those creatures.”
“Course you would.”
“Well, I’ll never know now, will I?”
As they waited for an onslaught of a different kind, Ned realised that the man was a true enigma, not only to Ned and Benissimo, but also to himself.