 A Communist Bloc operative has been arrested for the assassination of U.S. Senator William Townsend. Briggs & Co. s mission is to prove the operative did NOT kill the senator on behalf of his government. The prime suspect is businessman R.J. McMillian, Townsend s primary backer. The Secretary believes McMillian killed Townsend to create a martyr and to create momentum for a preemptive war with the Soviet Bloc. Briggs concocts an elaborate scheme which calls for Rollin to play the role of a con who springs the operative from jail, Cinammon to pretend to be a journalist and Briggs himself to pose as a painter. But, at the climatic moment, there s a twist that even Briggs doesn t anticipate.