"Get back on the bus!" One of the policemen was walking towards them holding his pistol. Haroun flicked on his helmet-lamp and peered in through the window of the car. Claude Gerard was dead!

When the Director of the Saharan uranium mine where he works is mysteriously murdered, 14-year-old Haroun embarks on a dangerous new role as a spy in the service of the French Government. A shocking conspiracy is unearthed - somebody is trafficking "yellowcake," a key ingredient in the production of nuclear bombs. Faced with the threat of the yellowcake falling into the hands of a rogue state, time is running out.