Death Of A Hunter

Callan is searching for an agent called Striker (John Flanagan), in the Earl’s Court area. Striker and his colleagues, Susanne (Barbara Leigh-Hunt) and Kenny (Terry Scully), know of Callan’s whereabouts and watch him closely. Susanne makes a phone call reporting Callan’s progress, and is informed that Hunter must be killed.

Callan reports to Hunter that he has found Striker’s flat, and is ordered to take a room opposite for round-the-clock surveillance. The room Callan takes is bugged, allowing Striker and Susanne to listen in to the conversation between Hunter and Callan, in which Hunter orders a search of Striker’s flat to look for radio equipment.

Lonely is summoned to Callan’s room, where he is instructed to break into a flat opposite. He enters the flat through a window in the bedroom, and looks around. In the light of his torch, he notices an arm dangling from the bed, dripping with blood; it belongs to Striker, who is dead. Terrified, he dashes out of the window, and back to Callan to report.

Meres is woken at home by a phone call, from someone he believes to be Hunter, instructing him to arrest Callan on charges of espionage. He arrives at Callan’s room at the same time as the police, and a man named Haynes (Derek Waring), who claims to be from another security section.

Meres is confused, but not as much as Callan, who makes a move for his holster and is clubbed down and knocked unconscious, to Meres’ dismay. Haynes says that Callan must have been reaching for his gun. The phone rings, and Meres is ordered by ‘Hunter’ to get Snell, and bring him back to Section headquarters.

Taking charge, Haynes has Callan bundled into the back of the police van. Meres is baffled once more when he finds that Snell is in America. He reports this to Hunter, who seems to know nothing whatsoever of the night’s events.

Under the influence of drugs, Callan is taken to a warehouse which, in his hypnotic trance, he believes to be Hunter’s office. He is closely and carefully questioned by Haynes about his movements, and told that all the people he spoke to in Earl’s Court are known Soviet agents. He is also accused of killing Striker, who is said to be a British agent working for Hunter.

Meanwhile, Callan’s disappearance has thrown Hunter, Meres and Sir John Harvey into something of a panic. Lonely is arrested, and taken to what he believes to be a police station, where he is questioned about Striker’s death in front of Callan, and admits to have been working for Callan. Haynes tells Callan that Hunter will be there very soon, and when a man (Norman Wooland) enters, Callan sees him as Hunter. To Callan’s astonishment, ‘Hunter’ fails to back him up when he is once again accused of working against the Section’s interests.

After a severe beating, and under further sedation, Callan is told by the mock Hunter to confess to working for the Russians. ‘Hunter’ then confesses to Callan that he is the leak in his own department, and is a double agent, then threatens Callan with Lonely’s death if he does not co-operate. When Callan still refuses, Hunter sends Kenny out to kill Lonely. Three shots are heard from outside.

Susanne visits Callan in his cell and misleads him over the duration of his confinement, and pretends to be taken in by the evidence Callan presents to her against Hunter. It is clear that Callan utterly believes in Hunter’s guilt, and that Susanne is now on his side. A visitor arrives at the warehouse - the true leak in the department - Sir John Harvey.

To convince Callan of her belief in him, Susanne is ‘killed’ by ‘Hunter’. It is now necessary for Callan to escape, and to help him, Haynes has him put into the back of a van, and driven towards Section headquarters. He escapes rather easily, and manages to find his way to the old school building. With gun in hand, Callan bursts into Hunter’s office and shoots Hunter dead.

Meres rushes in, and shoots Callan down. Only as he lies dying does Callan realise he has been caught in an ingenious plot.