The New Avengers investigate the sudden death of Steed's friend and colleague, Freddy mason, a man who has been acting as a paymaster to a team of informers. Wallace, Mason's boss, had set up the informers' team and then, by a series of clever and elaborate disguises, had used the operation to line his own pockets. With the knowledge Steed will dig without stopping until he has discovered who killed Mason, he hires a professional killer, named Richards to eliminate Steed.