Chris Ryan was born in 1961 in a village near Newcastle. In 1984 he joined the SAS. During his ten years he was involved in overt and covert operations and was also Sniper team commander of the anti-terrorist team. During the Gulf War, Chris was the only member of an eight-man team to escape from Iraq, of which three colleagues were killed and four captured. It was the longest escape and evasion in the history of the SAS. For this he was awarded the Military Medal. During Ryan's last two years in the Regiment he selected and trained potential SAS recruits, he left the SAS in 1994. His work in security takes him around the world. Ryan wrote about his remarkable escape in the bestseller The One That Got Away (1995) which was also adapted for screen. He is the author of additional bestselling thrillers for adults, Stand By, Stand By (1996), Zero Option (1997), The Kremlin Device (1998), Tenth Man Down (1999) and The Hit List (2000) and others, and two previous Alpha Force titles for the RHCB list.