Thirty-eight days after Sudanese rebels ambushed his Red Cross plane when it touched down and dragged him and his crew away at gunpoint, American pilot John Early began to wonder if he’d ever see his loved ones again.
Early, his Kenyan co-pilot and an Australian nurse were confined to a mud hut guarded day and night by rifle-toting teenage boys. The hostages survived on pumpkin and goat meat while their captors tried in vain to trade them for millions of dollars in ransom money.
The Sudanese rebels were starting to run out of patience when Early received a surprise visit at the ragged camp where he was being held.