Captain Rana

by Shahid Islam

Pulling mankind from the brink of an impending catastrophe is often an undertaking best suited for global leaders. This book explains how someone seemingly insignificant can do even better. A secret decision by Pakistan's war cabinet to use a nuclear first strike against India-in a preemptive bid to stop its militarily powerful neighbor from taking over the Pakistan-controlled Kashmir-prompts Captain Rana Haider to flee the country with the codes to be used to activate the nukes. His mission is purely avoidance of a nuclear catastrophe. He flies to Paris and enters the United Kingdom while the Pakistani intelligence go berserk to bray him, dispatching secret service operatives to London in a killing mission. The British prime minister diffuses the crisis, temporarily, by having a face-to-face meeting with his Pakistani counterpart while Rana moves to Iraq to train the Iraqi army as a UN official. Portrayed as a traitor by the Pakistani authorities, his uncle betrays him, so does his cousin and fiancée, Liza. But an MI6 operative, Melissa, falls in love with him, as does an Iraqi girl, Abeda, whose father, Tarek, sacrifices his life to save Major Ryan, Rana's changed identity in Iraq.

270 pages, Paperback