La zarpa del mal

This Spanish-language spy fiction serial features Brigitte Montfort, a CIA operative under the codename "Baby," who combines her work as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist with espionage missions. While waiting at Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport for a delayed flight to Malta to meet with Angelo Tomasini, Brigitte witnesses a suspicious incident: an elegantly-dressed older man collapses, and two pale, nervous men posing as doctors swiftly remove him from the airport. Rather than being ordinary medical responders, these men take him to Ciampino airport, where all three board a small private plane and flee. Brigitte, initially misled by suspicions of Arab terrorists, follows the suspicious activity and deduces foul play. The story, by Lou Carrigan (1978), blends espionage thriller conventions with Brigitte's physical beauty and observational acuity as defining character traits.