Spy Trade

A captured CIA veteran. A hostile desert with no leads. One off-the-books operative racing against the clock.

When a mission goes awry in Syria, senior CIA officer Bob Oakland is captured by aspiring members of ISIS, who demand the release of one of their own, Arzam Saud, in U. S. captivity. Chained in a windowless room, the veteran faces a brutal countdown as video ultimatums leak online.

With satellite sweeps drawing a blank across northern Iraq, Langley's director turns to an outsider beyond official oversight. When their hands are tied by Washington's refusal to negotiate, the CIA turns to MI6 officer Will Cochrane to find out what's really going on.

Behind closed doors in Washington, officials scramble over ultimatums while Cochrane tracks a paper trail behind the ambush. Bypassing conventional searches, he digs into the captive's dealings, tracing offshore transfers that point far beyond the desert.

The threats are escalating quickly, and in order to save the CIA officer, Cochrane must uncover why Saud is truly so important . . .

• Race Against Time: With a four-day execution deadline ticking down in the Syrian desert, Bob Oakland must survive mock hangings in a makeshift chamber while captors broadcast his agony to force the White House to act.


• Covert Operations: Operating without official backup or diplomatic cover, Will Cochrane partners with a paranoid investigative journalist in Scotland's Outer Hebrides to pry into secret overseas business registries.


• Political Conspiracy: The White House is paralyzed between a strict policy of never negotiating with terrorists and the public outcry over an abducted veteran, pushing the president into backchannel gambits with JSOC and foreign intelligence.


• Global Manhunt: An investigation stretches from the acoustic heights of London's Royal Albert Hall to high-security financial towers in Dubai and the secluded paths of a Moscow park, where a lethal hitman eliminates anyone asking questions.


• Also by This Author: Spycatcher, The Spy House and A Soldier's Revenge.