"The Emir of oil-rich Al-Kamat is in danger. His three sons are each conspiring to succeed him, and the Soviets are stirring up rebellion. Someone is plotting to hijack his plane, so Clemency goes undercover as a stewardess. But as they fly at 10,000 feet over the sandy wastes of the Empty Quarter, Clemency realises one of the crew is a traitor, and her life, and that of forty passengers, is at stake."