The MacKintosh Man

Rearden arrives in London where MI5 officer Mackintosh and his deputy Mrs. Smith recruit him with a plan to steal diamonds transported by the postal service. They outline how the diamonds will move through the mail system, and Rearden carries out the theft, punching a postman in the process.

Rearden completes the postal diamond theft, triggering the next phase of the operation. The act is sudden and brutal, with him punching a postman in the process.

Two detectives visit Rearden's hotel room, questioning him and connecting him to the missing diamonds. The encounter foreshadows the legal jeopardy he faces and raises the stakes for the sting operation.

At the trial, the judge laments the failure to recover the diamonds and sentences Rearden to 20 years in jail. He begins to blend in with the other prisoners and is assigned to laundry duties.

Rearden settles into prison life, taking on laundry duties as part of routine. There he encounters Ronald Slade, a former intelligence officer kept in high security after being exposed as a KGB mole.

An inmate mentions an organization that can spring him from prison in exchange for a cut of the diamonds. Rearden agrees to the arrangement, setting in motion the escape plan.

Two days later, a diversion is staged with smoke bombs over the walls. Rearden and Slade are lifted by a cargo net and driven away, only to be drugged and taken to a secret countryside location.

After awakening, they are told they will be kept there for a week until the hunt dies down. Meanwhile, Mackintosh monitors Rearden's progress from London, validating the sting as an attempt to flush out the organisation.

In the House of Commons, Sir George Wheeler MP attacks the handling of the escape. Mackintosh suspects Wheeler and warns him to stay silent, but Wheeler is revealed to be a KGB agent who tips off the head of the organisation.

Before action can be taken, Mackintosh is run down by a car and dies, removing the key officer who was pursuing Wheeler. Rearden's pursuit intensifies as the net closes around him.

Rearden comes under renewed attack by the escaping organisation, who beat him and set a guard dog on him. He fights back, escapes a burning building, and drowns the dog to throw pursuers off track. He ends up on Ireland's west coast and makes contact with Mrs. Smith in Galway.

Mrs. Smith flies to meet Rearden in Galway and they head to Valletta, Malta, where Wheeler is heading, hoping to locate Slade.

In Malta they attempt to infiltrate Wheeler's party and identify Slade's whereabouts. Wheeler recognises Mrs. Smith—Mackintosh's daughter—and drugs her, taking her aboard his yacht.

Rearden tracks Wheeler and Slade to a church where Mrs. Smith is held. Wheeler and Slade try to bargain for safety, but Mrs. Smith shoots them, avenging Mackintosh’s murder. She then abandons Rearden for not following orders.