Frederick Forsyth · 2006 · thriller

Frederick Forsyth's 2006 thriller. Western intelligence learns that al-Qaeda is preparing an operation codenamed al-Isra and has no way inside. The answer is to substitute a British officer for a Taliban commander held at Guantanamo - a man who can pass as an Afghan - and send him back through Pakistan into the mountains, on a mission with no way home.

1. 1
   Guantanamo Bay

   At Guantanamo Bay a senior Taliban commander has sat forgotten for years - and Western intelligence, blind to a coming attack, conceives the desperate idea of taking him out and putting their own man in his place.

2. 2
   Peshawar

   Colonel Mike Martin, Arabic-speaking and Afghan-raised, is run in through Peshawar and the tribal country beyond, carrying another man's history in his head and knowing that a single wrong phrase will kill him.

3. 3
   Tora Bora

   In the caves and high valleys around Tora Bora he is accepted, questioned and finally trusted - passed up the chain toward the men planning al-Isra, learning a little more at each step and able to send back almost nothing.

4. 4
   The Arabian Sea

   The operation turns out to be a ship, and Martin is taken aboard and out to sea - alone, unreachable, and the only man in a position to stop a vessel that has been turned into a weapon.