When she’d found a photo of Placido in the Italian paper, Il Messaggero, wearing exactly the same coat, she’d danced over to Frank’s workstation singing, Now That I’ve Found You, by The Temptations.
It was all they needed. And it was a helluva story.
Without telling anyone and by way of some insurance, Sam had warned off the 'Ndràngheta that Forester was going to ‘dob them in’ - sometime soon. And, although she had no idea it would work out this way, her text had saved her life.
Andrea Placido knew where to find Freddie Forester. They were partners in crime. And he had travelled to Davos to kill him. Once that act was complete, and in Mafia tradition, he had turned the assassination into a statement: metal stakes ‘n all.
And then, in typically southern Italian, patriarchal fashion, he’d found a woman in distress, untied her, wrapped her in a 3,000 euro coat and called the police.
As a result he’d saved Sam’s life.
Again.
In some way Frank had a certain respect for Andrea Placido and was pleased he was still on the run.
Because that meant that Sam was still with them.
And now she was with him.
Sipping her tea.
And still staring out the window, which had attracted an oval of condensation from the steam rising from her mug.
‘Shall I put the telly on?’ He was never sure if she watched what was on, or just stared at the moving pictures.
Sam let her mug drop below the level of her kneecap.
She nodded, the shortest of nods.
‘OK. And I’ll go and make our tea?’ A light question.
There was no answer. He didn’t expect one.
He stood.
And then Sam surprised him. She held her mug by its rim with her left hand and reached out with her right. She gently touched his wrist. A small electrical pulse raced up to his arm and lit a small fire in his head.
She mouthed, ‘Thank you’.
He smiled.
‘You’re welcome, Sam.’
Sam Green books by Roland Ladley:
Unsuspecting Hero
Sam Green’s life is in danger of imploding. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after horrific injuries and personal tragedy in Afghanistan, she escapes to the Isle of Mull hoping to convalesce. A chance find on the island’s shores interrupts her rehabilitation and launches her on a journey to West Africa and on a collision course with forces and adversaries she cannot begin to comprehend.
Meanwhile in London, SIS/MI6 is facing down a biological threat that could kill thousands and inflame an already smouldering religious war. Time is not on anyone’s side and Sam’s determination to face her past and control her future, regardless of the risks, looks likely to end in disaster. Fate conspires to bring Sam into the centre of an international conspiracy where she alone has the power to influence world-changing events. Blind to her new-found role, is her military training and complete disregard for her own safety enough to prevent the imminent devastation?
Fuelling the Fire
Why are so many passenger planes falling from the sky? Why are two ex-CIA agents training terrorists in the Yemeni desert? Why is a religious cult transferring millions of dollars to unattributable bank accounts around the world? Are these events connected? If they are, is this the mother of all conspiracies?
MI6 analyst, Sam Green, desperately wants to establish why her only surviving relative died in the latest plane crash. But can she put aside her grief and make sense of it all? Or is the clock ticking just too quickly, even for her?
The Innocence of Trust
Sam Green’s been promoted. She’s now working out of Moscow as an SIS ‘case officer’ and hates it. She loathes her boss, feels out of place among SIS’s elite and loses her only Russian informant to a bomb that also had her name on it.
On the verge of jacking it all in, Sam promises a beautiful stranger that she will find her boyfriend’s murderer. That promise propels her into a web of top-level industrial crime and savage international terrorism. With reliable friends and colleagues in very short supply, Sam starts something she cannot stop. And this time, she’s going to need more than an expert analyst’s eye and a complete disregard for her own safety to prevent the most lethal terror plot since 9/11.
For Good Men To Do Nothing
Someone’s messing with the Global Positioning System and no one knows who, or why. The CIA has intelligence of a major terror attack planned for the Middle East, but they have no idea of when and where. And the ultra right-wing Christian sect, The Church of the White Cross, is back doing what it does best: laying down carnage and inflaming anti-Muslim hatred.
Sam Green’s been fired from SIS/MI6 for being a maverick operator and is trying to get her life back together. Skiing on a shoestring in Austria, she spots a face in the crowd. And it’s a face that doesn’t want to be recognised. But it knows she knows - and that can’t be allowed.
Then someone lets slip the dogs of war.
Sam’s back; this time without SIS support. Pursued from Europe to Venezuela, via The Bahamas and Miami, her enemies are seemingly one step ahead. With a single act of terror the world could be plunged into a religious war that would last for decades. With only the help of her old German hacking pal, Wolfgang, together can they prevent Armageddon?
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Find Roland Ladley’s books here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roland-Ladley/e/B010MAOZOE
And keep in touch via his blog here: https://thewanderlings2013.wordpress.com/
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On the Back Foot to Hell Page 45