Sylvia de Matteo, an American commercial photographer and single mother, is taken hostage by terrorists during a political assassination at Stazione Centrale, Milan's train station.
Moments later, a Paris-bound train with Sylvia's ten-year old daughter and fiance aboard departs the station without Sylvia.
Sylvia is seized at gunpoint, thrown into the back of a van, blindfolded, beaten, and driven to a warehouse where she is imprisoned in a cell.
When the terrorists discover Sylvia's father is a wealthy Wall Street investment banker, they demand a ransom for her safe release.

Jack Erickson is the author of international thrillers, mysteries, short mysteries, true crime, and romantic suspense novels. He is a former Air Force intelligence officer, U.S. Senate speechwriter, senior editor for a national trade association, publisher, and freelance writer for the Washington Post, Washington Star, Washingtonian, and other newspapers and magazines.Erickson is the author of five books on the early days of the craft brewing industry, including the award-winning Star Spangled Beer: A Guide to America's New Microbreweries and Brewpubs published by RedBrick Press.Erickson lives in northern California with his wife. Book Five in the Milan Thriller Series, Year of the Plague, will be published in 2023. You'll receive information about the forthcoming book if you sign up for Erickson's newsletter.www.RedBrickPress.netwww.JackErickson.com