IT'S not unusual for a part time tradie to pick up other jobs. But for Mike Daly, those "other jobs" help stop terrorists.
Mike is a counter terrorist contractor the Pentagon call "Big Unit".
And in new book The Contractor, Mike tells journalist Mark Abernethy about six, completely true stories about his jobs.
He seems to be a typical tradie - running a building site, driving a ute and loving a cold beer. Unlike the rest of his crew, he swaps his nail gun for a Colt M4 on his days off.
After leaving behind a career in domestic and foreign intelligence organisations, Mike returned to his first trade as a builder.
But he soon discovered his work was still needed, the good guys still needed a James Bond in Blundstones.
"I fix things. I can build you a house or remodel your bathroom. I can also make bad situations - and bad people - disappear," Mike says to Mark in the book.
From going undercover to save a family trapped by an ISIS-run drug cartel in the back streets of Northern Pakistan to terrorist-besieged Paris to a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with Australia's most wanted murderer, Mike is the best contractor for the job.
Lovers of thrillers and true crime will not be able to put this book down.
- The Contractor, Pan MacMillan, is available in all good bookstores and online. RRP $29.99.
