The phone rang, loud and persistent. The members of the crisis team looked expectantly at one another. Who was going to answer it?

That was shortly after we heard that Alex had missed last night’s curfew and didn’t return to the compound. The guards, dozing in the tropical African heat, had failed to report anything amiss. It was several hours before anyone noticed that Alex was not in his room. So where was he?

It wasn’t long before we found out. One of the local boys heard a rumour that IS had kidnapped an aid worker. Everyone’s thoughts went into overdrive. Perhaps it wasn’t Alex – perhaps it was someone else? Remember when the neighbours said that they were being watched? Remember when the governor said that their organization couldn’t be trusted? Who was going to call Alex’s wife? Does he have children?

The crisis team was assembled in Amsterdam. IS had taken over Alex’s Facebook account (how?) to announce that someone would call at 10:00 our time. It was…