The Maddalena Project

“You still don’t understand, do you Daniel?” he said. “The Maddalena is a good organisation. It sorts out the messes politicians make. Without us the world would probably have destroyed itself long ago. The Cuban missile crisis, the end of the cold war; you name it, the Maddalena sorted those things out. We’ve changed the world; made it a better and a safer place. The Maddalena is too important, too necessary to risk being exposed for what it does.”
“I don’t care,” said Daniel angrily. “If the Maddalena’s filled with men like you who are prepared to kill just to keep their operations secret, perhaps the world is better off without it.”

Having just retired from the police force, Detective Chief Inspector Charlie Watts is unexpectedly called upon to help his friend, Daniel Rankin of MI6. One of their agents has gone missing in Venice and Daniel wants Charlie to find her. The search takes him to the order of the Maddalena, a secret international organisation with links to the Brotherhood of Freemasons. However, if the Maddalena is to preserve its power and continue influencing world affairs, it is essential that its true nature remains totally secret and the public never becomes aware of the covert operations it carries out.

The missing MI6 agent, an inexperienced new recruit, has accidentally stumbled across evidence of the Maddalena’s current project. They are planning an operation to secure energy to the West for the next fifty years, a project that will involve changing the map of Eastern Europe and forge controversial new political alliances. Some members of the Maddalena believe the agent’s discovery means she should be silenced but not everyone wants her dead and she finds help in the most unexpected of places.

As she goes on the run for her life, an ambitious KGB Major in Belarus makes an alarming find. He begins an investigation which leads to the highest levels of government and the Secret Service, uncovering a conspiracy which is going to alter the destiny of his country. The Major knows he has to act quickly if he is to prevent the start of a revolution but, now he has identified some of those involved, he doesn’t know who he can trust to help him.
This exciting, fast-paced thriller takes the reader on a chase through Italy and Eastern Europe. It is a race against time and people are going to die as the Maddalena tries to keep its existence and its operations secret whatever the cost.