The Death of Robert E. Lee

CIA agent, Curtis Dale (George Roubicek), is in London to trade some information on H-bomb tests in China, for help from the Section. He wants a Chinese agent killed, one Robert E. Lee (Bert Kwouk), who had been educated in the States, and became an American citizen when the Reds took over China, but remained a communist agent. He has recently been in Viet Nam where he killed three hundred Americans.

Hearing that Lee worships his father, but is unable to locate him, Hunter thinks Callan will be best suited for the job as some years ago he found Lee's father in Hong Kong. If the appropriate message can be passed to Lee, he will try to see Callan, giving the Section the opportunity to eliminate him.

In a restaurant, Meres and Hunter meet with their messenger, Jenny (Francisca Tu), the late Rudolph Schneider's girlfriend. This meeting is watched and overheard by another CIA agent, Joe Limburg (Thick Wilson). Dale and Limburg visit Callan and offer to pay him to kill Lee.

From what Dale tells him, Callan is able to track down Jenny who is being guarded by Meres, and demands she bring Lee to him, without letting Meres know. Knowing Hunter has the phones tapped, and to throw him a red herring, Callan phones Limburg to inform him of a bogus meeting place - Achilles’ Statue in Hyde Park. The meeting will really occur at Lonely’s cousin Arthur’s place, and it is there that Lonely takes Jenny in order to keep her out of Hunter’s grasp.

The following day, Hunter and Meres check every Lee coming through London Airport, but none are the Lee they are after. In fact, Lee has arrived in the country disguised as a nun, and makes his way to Arthur's place. Once there, he demands to know his father’s whereabouts, and Callan tells him that his father is sharing a piece of land at the top of Orchard Road in Kowloon. In turn, Lee reveals that the reason he has been sent to Britain is to kill Colonel Hunter.

Under Lee’s instruction, Callan phones into Section headquarters to draw Hunter out to his death, but when he asks to speak to ‘Charles’, he is told that Hunter is not there, so he leaves the address. The message is passed to Hunter at the airport, who realises from the use of the codename ‘Charles’, that there is trouble.

While Lee awaits Hunter’s arrival, he confides in Callan that an American college friend of his, now in the CIA, is under orders to eliminate him. That friend turns out to be Dale, who arrives at Arthur's place, bursts in and kills Lee, only to be knocked unconscious by Callan, who finds the information Hunter wants on him in the form of microdots. Later, Callan and Jenny are searched for the microdots, but none can be found, allowing Callan to strike a deal with Hunter.

At Section headquarters, Callan is paid, and he reveals the microdots to be disguised as moles on Jenny’s shoulder. As a final thought, Hunter asks Callan where Lee's father is. Callan repeats that he is sharing a piece of land in Kowloon. The piece of land is a cemetery.