He mounted his assault rifle to his shoulder and fired a three-shot burst into the thorn bush. The man who had been lying behind it leaped to his feet. He was turbaned and cloaked with his AK-47 slung over his shoulder and a small black box in his hand, from which dangled the thin red insulated cable.
‘Bomb!’ Hector screamed. ‘Heads down!’
Some debts can only be paid in blood . . .
When Hazel Bannock, billionaire oil tycoon, discovers her daughter has been kidnapped by Al Qaeda pirates just off the coast of Somalia, she uses all the power at her disposal to rescue her daughter – but politics and diplomacy fail her at every turn. Her only hope is her ex-military head of security, Hector Cross, an expert in surveillance, infiltration and combat. For all Hazel’s connections and wealth, Cross is the one man who is offering to find her daughter. Hazel and Cross must work together to bring Cayla home, but neither of them realise that the kidnappers are not merely interested in ransom – what they have planned is far, far worse . . .
Wilbur Smith was born in Central Africa in 1933. He became a full-time writer in 1964 following the success of When the Lion Feeds, and has since published over fifty global bestsellers, including the Courtney Series, the Ballantyne Series, the Egyptian Series, the Hector Cross Series and many successful standalone novels, all meticulously researched on his numerous expeditions worldwide. An international phenomenon, his readership built up over fifty-five years of writing, establishing him as one of the most successful and impressive brand authors in the world.
The establishment of the Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation in 2015 cemented Wilbur’s passion for empowering writers, promoting literacy and advancing adventure writing as a genre. The foundation’s flagship programme is the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.
Wilbur Smith passed away peacefully at home in 2021 with his wife, Niso, by his side, leaving behind him a rich treasure trove of novels and stories that will delight readers for years to come.
