In the Hour Before Midnight - Jack Higgins

Stacey Wyatt knows the power of the Mafia. He has seen what its brutal vengeance and sinister corruption can do. But when he is broken out of prison and brought to Sicily, his only choice is to enter the Mafia's shadowy world of treachery and death.

His was a simple job - rescue the daughter of a wealthy businessman from the Sicilian bandit who had kidnapped her. The money was big, and the risk was worth it.