 The IMF s target is Janos Karq, a top official of an unnamed Soviet Bloc country. Briggs enlists the help of Joseph Baresh, an alcoholic performer who has a photographic memory. Baresh will pose as an agent code-named Sparrow, who has never been apprehended by the authorities of Karq s country. (The real Sparrow has died, a fact not generally known.) The idea is that Baresh will be captured and provide information implicating Karq as a traitor. Barney, Cinnamon and Willy, along with Briggs, will engage in an unsuccessful (and fake) attempt to free Sparrow. That move will encourage the authorities to believe Baresh s story, ensuring Karq s demise. But Baresh gets a look at a list of agents in the employ of Karq s nation. Now, Briggs must stage a second escape attempt, this time for real. Rollin Hand, initially passed over for this mission, will play a small, but vital, role.