Having received a tip-off that the Lynstead art collection is about to be burgled Mannering lies in wait with the police for the thieves but one of the officers is shot and killed by gang leader Greg Wilde,who subsequently is charged with murder and sent for trial. As the only surviving witness to the killing, Mannering is in a vulnerable position when Wilde escapes from custody and comes after him with murderous intent.

Mannering and Cordelia are in an Iron Curtain country where they are about to hand over some money at a secret rendezvous. However Mannering's contact has been caught by the police and forced to name his contact. Though warned to keep away Mannering and Cordelia fall into a trap and she is taken by the police. Mannering plans to spring her by taking his own prisoner - the chief of police.

Asano, an aging Japanese man, agrees to sell a family heirloom, a 500-year-old samurai sword, to Mannering for 10,000 pounds. When Asano delivers the sword to the antiques dealer, he bumps into Sterling, an British army officer who suffered the Japanese POW camp commanded by Asano. Sterling plans on exacting revenge for his treatment at the hands of the Japanese soldier and when Asano is found dead, Mannering must project Sterling from Asano's vengeful servant.

Delivering a consignment of Medicis to a wealthy female client,Mannering discovers the door open,the lady missing and a strange man inside. Investigations reveal that she had been giving money to a bizarre religious sect with which she had recently been involved,whose leader styles himself the Chosen One. When Mannering decides to look into the sect he finds that he has become the one they have chosen to be killed.