What links the Royal Air Force, the Iraq-Iran War, the game of chess, and the American invasion of Iraq in 2003? The answer is A Nastia Game, a computer war game devised by the RAF as a staff training exercise in the 1970s, and sold to Iraq to test their plans shortly before the 1980-88 war. Squadron Leader James Douglas is the software specialist developing A Nastia Game for Iraq and his interest is heightened when he meets the female Iraqi officer assigned to the project – the stunning Kathab al Jised, known as Kate. James's settled life with his family in England is put on hold when he travels to Baghdad to train Iraqi officers in the use of the game. When an attempt is made to breach the game's unique security system – designed by James and based on a secret chess code - everyone connected to the game is immediately plunged into danger. With MI6 and the Iraq Secret Service playing a high-stakes game of bluff and counter bluff, James and Kate must decide where their loyalties lie. A tale of passion, suspicion and deception that sheds remarkable new light on the West's relationship with Iraq