Hunter Class

July 1943. During Operation Husky, Lieutenant Daniel Nichols serves with 30 Commando, the intelligence-raiding unit associated with Ian Fleming and tasked with seizing enemy documents, codes and technical material ahead of the main Allied advance. In Sicily Nichols uncovers evidence that points towards the German T52 Geheimschreiber, a secure teleprinter used for high-level communications, while intelligence analyst Prudence Tiverton tries to turn the discovery into an operation before Axis forces can destroy or remove the equipment.

After Mussolini’s fall, the struggle for information follows the Allied advance into a politically fractured Italy. Nichols joins forces with Giacomo Moretti, a combat swimmer from the Decima Flottiglia MAS, in an attempt to secure Italian underwater technology before it passes into German hands. The novel combines the invasion of Sicily with the real wartime practice of specialist intelligence units racing to capture cryptographic systems, scientific equipment and technical experts from a retreating enemy.