Somali pirates hijack a sailboat in the Indian Ocean and take Americans Daniel Parker and his teenaged son, Quentin, as hostages. A tense standoff orchestrated by top US negotiator Paul Derrick ends in tragedy. The pirates are captured and extradited to stand trial in the United States, and a young man named Ismail is identified by his cohorts as the leader. Paul begins to suspect there is more to his story than zealotry and greed, but Ismail says little, fearing the truth will endanger the only person he has left in the world: his sister, Yasmin.

"Daniel and Vanessa Parker are an American success story. He is a Washington, D.C. power broker, and she is a physician with a thriving practice. But behind the gilded fac̦ade, their marriage is a shambles, and their teenage son, Quentin, is self-destructing. In desperation, Daniel dusts off a long-delayed dream of theirs--a sailing trip around the world. Little does he know, the voyage he hopes will save them may destroy them instead. Half a world away, on the lawless coast of Somalia, Ismail Adan Ibrahim is living a life of crime in violation of everything he was raised to believe--except this: the love and loyalty driving him to hijack ships for ransom and to plot the rescue of his sister, Yasmin, from the man who murdered their father. There is nothing he will not do to save her, even if it means taking innocent life. Paul Derrick is the FBI's top hostage negotiator. His twin sister, Megan, is a celebrated defense attorney. They have reached the summit of their careers by savvy, gr