Story Overview

Its the end of the first Gulf war. A young Scottish boy is kidnapped from his home in the UAE. The plan goes wrong as one of the kidnappers is killed. The remaining three decide to get out of the country. Two leave by boat, taking the boy, so that he will not be found and traced back to them. The third goes to Pakistan and rejoins the Mujuardine who are trying to remove the government of Afghanistan.

The boat is shipwrecked off the coast of Oman and one of the kidnappers and the boy make it to safety. They find a small fishing village where they stay until the kidnapper comes face to face with the boy's father. He and the boy move on, firstly inland, across the mountains, to the North of the country where they find refuge with an old couple who look after the boy as family. Then they are forced to move again, this time east along the edge of the Rub al Khali, the Empty Quarter. From there they cross the border into Yemen and travel to the village in which the kidnapper was born.

Aftermath and Terrorism

Following what appears to be the end of the conflict in Afghanistan, the third kidnapper turns his attention to terrorism. Firstly, with the first bombing of the twin towers in New York, America, and then through a series of other similar atrocities, including the attack on the USS Cole in Aden.

The boy's father never gives up. His job takes him into Oman, The Sudan, and into Yemen. He follows up on any small piece of information that comes his way, believing that one day he will find his son.