AustLit

'The Assistant Commissioner treats Bluey to a movie ... but it's no comedy. It is news footage, a series of quick shots show a beautiful girl, a left-wing rebel in the new state of Ketua. Shots of James Conder, a mercenary, and adviser to the Government, who captures and interrogates the girl. Shots of her tortured body found an hour later. And now this hired killer, Conder, is here, somewhere in Melbourne!

'It is most probably [sic] Conder is on the run and the last thing Foreign Affairs, Immigration, ASIO, and State authorities want is Conder to be executed in reprisal while he is in Australia.

'Bluey, as usual, gets the dirty job. He has to find Conder and keep him alive long enough to get him out of the country.

'When two further illegal visitors, Henri and Jules, appear hot on the trail of Conder, Bluey realises he is running out of time fast. He calls on his undercover man, Truscott, but even with Truscott's help Bluey cannot prevent Henri and Jules getting the upper hand in the race to Conder.

'Gary, Bluey's assistant, has a far more personal and urgent reason to find this "wild goose" (as mercenaries are known), for Gary's girlfriend, Jo, is missing and it's possible the disappearance is somehow connected with the chase.

'Bluey finds himself fighting a foreign Government, a multi-national and other forces he can't even identify. The odds look just too great - even for Bluey and Department B.'

Source: Synopsis held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection (RMIT).

The script held in the Crawford Collection in the AFI Research Collection contains the following character notes (excluding regular characters):

'JAMES CONDER: 30's, English-born, tall, formidable, charismatic. He's been a mercenary for fifteen years and is now the storm-centre of an international outcry over atrocities in a Melanesian civil war. Outwardly, he enjoys the role.

'HENRI: 30's, French colonial, deeply tanned, soldier-like. A lot of charm, but underneath it all, a fairly cold fish.

'JULES: Very much the same mould as Henri. Drives.

'SKATEBOARD KID: About 15, lanky, long-haired, smart as paint and a regular skateboard wiz.

'SOUTH MELBOURNE SGT: A solid, competent policeman.

'NEWSMAN: American, professional, incisive, unemotional.

'ANDREE DELONGES: An attractive 20-year-old French colonial guerilla. We see her only briefly, never hear her speak, but her presence dominates the story.

'TWO DRINKERS: A couple of the local lads who can handle themselves in a fight -- usually.

'POLICE CONSTABLE #1: Young, straight, competent. Clobbered by Conder.

'1ST BARMAN: Normal country barman.

'2ND BARMAN: " " ".

'3RD BARMAN: " " ".

'IDENTIKIT BLOKE: Good-natured, professional.

'FARM BOY: About 10, smart, clean-cut, country kid.

'FARM WOMAN: About 30. His mother. Attractive, believeable as a widow running a farm.

'COUNTRY BAR PATRONS: Three.

'FRENCH COLONIAL TROOPS: Two.

'DIVVY VAN POLICE: Two.

'THE VOICE OF VKC'.