Deep in the world’s greatest desert, the leadership of Al Qaeda, hunted and pursued, is regrouping to strike again.

In this group one man stands out. His loyalty to the cause is total. To look into his face and memorise it is to court death.

Searching for him amid the endless dunes are American and British experts in counter-terrorism. But the Outsider is no ordinary prey.

If the Outsider is allowed to disappear again, he will re-emerge in a busy western city with a suitcase designed to wreak mass murder on detonation . . .