Ariadne Alexandrou

**Ariadne Alexandrou** is the local Greek contact of James Bond in Kingsley Amis’ 1968 novel *Colonel Sun*.

## Biography

On his mission to find the kidnapped M, James Bond, Bill Tanner, and Inspector Crawford manage to decode a message from a deceased kidnapper. The location leads Bond to Athens, Greece. There, before Bond pays the bill for an ordered carafe of cheap wine at the bar in the Hotel Grande Bretagne, Adriane requests his help when Tzimas, a Turkish man, grabs ahold of her. Speaking "Fiye apo tho, malaka" in a commanding tone, Tzimas releases her and leaves. After enjoying some drinks together, the two stroll through Acropolis.

Sometime later, Adriane leads Bond to a safe-house on the port of Piraeus where at a table lies Soviet General Gordienko, his associateMarkos, and Tzimas where they inform Bond that there is a traitor in their organization conducting a possible war. Suddenly, a bomb erupts on the Soviet headquarters killing Tzimas and Markos. As he is dying, the Soviet leader encourages Bond and Ariadne to work together to prevent an international incident.

Sneaking through the backway of the port, Ariadne enlists an old friend, Niko Litsas, a former Second World War resistance fighter and friend of her late father, who wishes revenge on Von Richter, a former Nazi for his atrocities. Though reluctant at first to participate, Litsas allows them access to the *Altair* ship.

There, the three travel to the offices of Colonel-General Igor Arenski on the southern shore of Vrakonisi, one of the Aegean Islands, who declassifies Ariande as an active GRU agent drawn to Marxist socialism through the influence of her former boyfriend, the Number Two of the GRU directorate in Athens. She proves unable the general of Von Ritcher's plot, but he arranges a plan to capture Bond for his actions against the KGB, which fails due to Litsas's intervention. Later on, Bond then sees Sun and von Richter setting up for their attack on the Russians from Sun's neighbouring house, where they deduce M is being held.

Enlisting the help of Captain George Ionides to disguise their cover, the three set sail on the *Cynthia* motorboat to travel to Colonel Sun Liang-tan's headquarters. At night, aboard the *Cynthia*, the trio are spotted by Sun's men in which Bond unsuccessfully negotiates to leave Adriane out the situation. Abandoning the motorboat, Bond and Adriane dive into the nearby waters of Vrakonski. When Bond arrives on the shore where he meets Colonel Sun, he notices Adriane has disappeared. When Bond asks of Ariadne's status, Sun replies, "You needn't worry about her. She has not been harmed, nor will be for the moment".

When Bond asks again of Ariadne's status, Colonel Sun states Ariadne is either with De Graaf, Evgeny, or both. Bond pleads with him to release her in her morning as she is no threat to his operations, but Sun refuses to. With help from Luisa (one of Colonel Sun's assistants), Bond stabs Sun in the back and manages to re-join Litsas, who was also captured.

The two locate De Graff's room, kill De Graff, and rescue Ariadne. After defeating Sun and Von Ritcher, Bond asks Ariadne to accompany him to London, in which she refuses due to her service with the G.R.U., and the same with Bond to his service with MI6. The two decide to "enjoy their captivity" when they can.