Characters

A most unlikely spy, Danielle joined the British Secret Intelligence Service known as MI6 on the eve of the Second World War. Eager for adventure after finishing her university studies in history and foreign language, she uses her sharp intellect and alluring beauty to engage in the timeless spy game of deception and disguise.

A handsome Londoner with ocean blue eyes and a lanky, muscular frame, Elliott is the MI6 station chief assigned to the British Embassy in Baghdad. Fluent in several foreign languages from his university studies, Elliott is impressed with Danielle’s fluency in Arabic and Hebrew. With a talent for foreign languages himself, Elliott is conversant in Arabic, Farsi, and German, making this an ideal assignment for the intelligence service.

A tall, muscular New Yorker in his mid-thirties, Sam is well suited for his work as an investigative attorney with a specialty in antiquities recovery. Arriving in Rome for a semester-long teaching sabbatical, Sam is looking forward to a break from his demanding career. But after a newspaper reporter approaches him about a mysterious treasure map stolen from the Vatican’s Secret Archive, he becomes the target in an international hunt for the world’s greatest lost treasure.

An accomplished foreign correspondent in Rome for The Jerusalem Gazette, Rebecca has been working on a story involving the ties between corrupt land-permitting officials in Israel and an international antiquities smuggling ring. Having developed a strong relationship with the director of the Vatican’s Secret Archive while working on her investigation of a series of internal thefts, Rebecca is the first reporter to be notified of a major theft from the archive.

The founder and owner of Sharpe Security Systems, Ethan is an important client and close friend of Sam. When he is framed for a daring theft from the Vatican’s Secret Archive, he works closely with Sam to follow the clues to a dangerous ring of corporate thieves led by a rogue corporate titan.

A distinguished professor of mysticism and ancient religion at a university in Rome, Leila volunteers to help Sam and Rebecca after a mysterious treasure map is stolen from the Vatican’s Secret Archive.