'WE'VE GONE TO A LOT OF TROUBLE TO GET YOU HERE. THERE IS ONE VERY IMPORTANT THING THAT YOU MUST UNDERSTAND: NOTHING OF WHAT YOU SEE OR HEAR CAN EVER BE REPEATED. OFFICIALLY, THIS PLACE DOES NOT EXIST.'

As an eighteen-year-old called up for National Service, John Urwin thought his would be an ordinary tour of duty. He had no idea that when he was posted to Cyprus he would be recruited into a top-secret unit called 'the Sixteen', whose task was to assassinate key figures throughout the Middle East.

He has never spoken about this elite unit in the 40 years since it was disbanded, but now he breaks his silence to tell their full amazing story.

No government has ever officially confirmed the existence of the Sixteen and nothing has ever been revealed about this mysterious group. Their training in unarmed combat and weaponry was said to have surpassed that of the SAS.

His description of their four key missions is explosive and a riveting account of the turbulent 1950s in the Middle East. The Cold War was approaching its height and there was a very real fear that there might be a nuclear conflict between the superpowers. When there was a mission to be undertaken that no government could be seen to endorse, the Sixteen would do the job. They underwent unique training to ensure they had completely eliminated all fear

Long after he left the Sixteen, John Urwin continued to use his skills in the unarmed combat courses he ran, but nothing compared to the heart-stopping action he saw while in active service. This is an extraordinary account – no previous depiction of a military group, in book or movie, has remotely compared to the secrecy, skills and sheer professionalism of the Sixteen.