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Sir Harry makes a proposal to Paul
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The Plot
As an employee of wealthy industrialist Sir Harry Hiller, Gillian Wilmont makes Paul's acquaintance at a Riviera auto show, and brings him to meet Hiller that evening. Sir Harry tells Paul that he is desperate to add a priceless Daimler 500 to his collection, and one is owned by the deposed dictator Sebastian Peralta. Explaining that Peralta will not deal with him or any of his agents, Sir Harry offers Paul a tidy sum to obtain the priceless vehicle. As Gillian is living in Peralta's home, planted by Sir Harry, she will arrange a lunch invitation for Paul
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Paul offers $130.,000 for the Daimler
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Peralta's security team briefly hold Paul at gunpoint when he arrives as Gillian's guest.
Colonel Peralta explains the elaborate arrangements are due to attempts on his life, and says that Lt. Ortiz had not seen Paul before, as he had on television, driving at Le Mans.
After lunch Peralta shows Paul his collection of classic cars, and the showpiece of the collection, the famous Daimler 500. Paul offers $130,000 for it, but Peralta says that it's not for sale, even though the amount is twice what he recently paid for it.
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Durand reveals that Sir Harry isn't a car collector
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While dining, Paul is approached by Louis Durand who describes himself as well connected, and says that he's heard that Colonel Peralta is selling Paul the Daimler 500, adding that there are a number of people who will gladly buy it from Paul. He gives a few names, and Paul suggests Sir Harry Hiller, but Durand says Sir Harry doesn't know the first thing about cars - completely contradicting what Sir Harry told Paul.
Paul confronts Gillian, and suggests that she and Sir Harry are planning to assassinate Peralta, using Paul as part of their plot.
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Paul suggests they plan to kill Peralta
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Gillian denies that they're doing anything of the kind, but says that she'll have Sir Harry contact Paul in Antibes, and perhaps he'll explain everything.
Paul threatens to cancel the sale if Sir Harry doesn't tell him what he's up to. Sir Harry explains that Peralta wasn't overthrown by the generals who followed him, but paid to go. But Peralta made recordings of the negotiations, and Sir Harry wants to get these to overthrow the current regime, and pave a way for his companies to locate in the country.
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Paul demands to know what they're up to
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He maintains that this is for the good of the people as well as his own business.
Paul later asks Gillian how she got involved in this intrigue, and she claims that she answered Sir Harry's ad seeking an attractive girl willing to take on adventure and danger for high pay.
Sir Harry has another plant in the Peralta household, the mechanic Luis Reyes, and he confirms that Peralta will sell the Daimler to Paul, so they'll need to coordinate getting the tapes out of his safe with the payment.
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Gillian and Luis calculate where the safe is
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Luis and Gillian organize an elaborate plan to blow Peralta's safe from a neighboring room, with Gillian taking measurements while Peralta sleeps that night. They obtain the tapes, and in the morning Paul arrives with his cashier's check.
He asks to have Peralta's mechanic accompany him on a test drive, and Gillian says that she better go too, it being her last chance to ride in the dream car.
The three go off in the car, and just as they are leaving the heavily guarded front gate, Peralta goes to put Paul's check in the safe.
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Paul buys the car with tapes already hidden inside
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He finds his tapes are missing, and calls the front gate to have the Daimler stopped.
Paul and Luis need to rely on a little violence to get away, and only have a small lead when Peralta's men come after them.
All Paul's driving skills are required to negotiate the curving roads around Estoril at highest possible speed, but the only thing that saves them is that the car of Peralta's security people suddenly stops - due to some clever planning by Luis.
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