Secret Venture

On an airplane heading for London, professional bodyguard Ted O'Hara and renowned scientist Prof. Henrik meet and inadvertently switch briefcases. At the airport, Henrik is kidnapped by spies, who want his new formula for jet propulsion fuel. At a party that evening, Ted, who is unaware of Henrik's plight, is approached by the mysterious Renee L'Epine. Although a friend, Lola, warns him that the woman is "dangerous," Ted is lured outside by Renee, where he, too, is kidnapped and taken to see Zelinsky, the local head of the spy ring. Although Zelinsky offers Ted money for Henrik's briefcase, which contains the formula, Ted fights and escapes. Meanwhile, the apartment Ted is sharing with his friend, Bob Hendon, is ransacked, but the briefcase, which Ted left in the car, is still in his possession. Ted contacts Scotland Yard and agrees to bring the briefcase to Henrik's house the next day. There he meets Joan Butler, Henrik's attractive secretary, and Inspector Dalton, who is investigating Henrik's disappearance. After Ted remembers hearing the name "Otto Weber" mentioned by his captors, Dalton explains the threat that Weber's spy ring poses to Western security and persuades Ted to work undercover by pretending to negotiate directly for the sale of the formula with Weber, who is apparently Zelinsky's boss. As Weber is known to have a villa in Paris, Ted proceeds there, but on a train, again encounters Renee, who, with her accomplice, Dan Flemyng, seizes the documents he is carrying and disappears, leaving Ted unconscious. When Ted eventually shows up at Weber's residence, Renee and Dan have already delivered the documents to Weber, who has had time to discover they are only coded computations. After promising to acquire the key to the code for Weber, Ted returns to London, where he secretly hopes to continue working with the police. However, Dalton takes Ted off the case, saying that their scheme failed. Unwilling to drop the matter, Ted begins to suspect that Joan is working with the spies and follows her to Trafalgar Square, where he sees her hand over documents in a briefcase to one of Zelinsky's men, the wrestler Squire Marlowe. Ted follows the man and after a fight, seizes the papers. Then Ted confronts Joan with accusations of betrayal. Although she seems to be withholding information, Joan begs that Ted not interfere and claims that she exchanged the formula codes for the release of Henrik, who has been like a father to her. After leaving her, Ted is still resolved to return the documents to the police, but realizes that he is being followed. He hides the documents in his suit pocket before he is again captured by Zelinsky's men, and while the spies search the briefcase, Ted escapes. Later, when Ted reports to Dalton, the inspector explains that the codes Joan tried to deliver were fakes, as she was working with the police to get Henrik released. Ted returns to his apartment, where he finds Weber waiting for him. However, when Weber realizes that Ted is unable to tell him where the double-crossing Zelinsky is, he leaves Ted guarded by his assistant, the mute Stevens, and proceeds with Renee and Dan to Henrik's house, where he hopes to get the code from Joan. After escaping from Stevens, Ted rescues Joan, then, following a clue from Lola, he and Joan proceed to the gymnasium where Marlowe works, hoping to find Henrik. There they learn that Henrik is being held by Zelinsky on a barge docked in London. However, the information is overheard by Weber and his men, who have followed them. They kill Marlowe, then force Ted and Joan to accompany them to the barge. Although they find Henrik unharmed, Ted realizes that he is in immediate danger when he hears the mounting argument between Zelinsky and Weber, which has turned into a gunfight. Ted joins the fight, but soon the police arrive, having been alerted by a gym attendant. As Dalton's men arrest the spies and Henrik is taken to safety, Ted and Joan, who have grown close, make dinner plans.