"Nuclear Alert"
(Original air date 09/13/74)
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Steve tries to uncloak the identity of a spy ring with designs on
selling a nuclear bomb to a foreign country
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Writer:William Driskill
Director:Jerry London
Aboard an airborne private jet, a small congregation of delegates (Michael Kane, Ben Frommer, Sig Haig and Noel DeSouza) are gathered to bid on the purchase of a nuclear bomb for their respective country. When his offer is beat, the third party goes to the OSI and barges into Oscar’s office to drop the bombshell.
Oscar convenes an urgent meeting with nuclear experts to discuss the situation. He learns that several thefts of components and chemicals involved in the making of a nuclear bomb had been committed in recent weeks, but that in all evidence the conspirators were missing the crucial and highly intricate device of the bomb, which is the detonator. One of the member, Dr. Clea Broder (Carol Lawrence), receives an urgent note notifying her of the imminent arrival of that device in question.
Steve and Oscar meet with Tom Carlson (Thomas Bellin) to learn more on the detonator’s mechanism. Steve suggests switching places with the current driver of the truck delivering the device in order to smoke out the conspirators and dismantle their entire network. Oscar approves the plan once Steve reminds him of the small transmitter that Rudy implanted in his hand, which will enable Oscar to track his whereabouts from the mobile lab.
Meanwhile, Dr Broder gets a surprise visit from her associate, Ted Swenson (Fred Beir). What starts as a friendly conversation ends with a kidnapping.
Steve locates the driver in a small diner. His new instructions are to hand the keys over to the new man who will finish the journey in his place.
Once Steve gone the driver goes to his employers with the sudden change of plans that will likely throw a wrench in their own. The two enemy agents order their pawn to create an accident along the road to block out traffic to thus enable them to catch up with the truck without any interference from the OSI.
On the road, Steve contacts Oscar with news of the switch and that he will proceed to neutralize the detonator once he reaches an isolated area. After choosing a quiet spot to do the job, he tears a hole in the roof, jumps in and follows Dr. Broder’s instructions specifying the removal of a small transistor to disable the device.
Oscar informs Steve of Dr. Broder’s abduction before he could insure her safety. He promises to investigate the obvious leak while Steve continues his journey. As scheduled, Steve stops at another checkpoint along the road to place a call to Oscar. Two men wait for him outside the phone booth to inject him with a deadly poison in the right arm. They toss him in the back of their car and drive off in the truck.
Steve takes off after them and manages to catch up with the truck. He climbs to the roof and slides inside to hitch a ride to their destination. They pass a weigh-in station and notice that they are carrying extra weight in the back. One man deduces that they must have picked up a passenger along the way.
They drive to the Wakefield airport and as they stop to open a gate, Steve sneaks out of the truck and continues on foot inside a warehouse where the men are poise ready to apprehend the extra cargo. To their astonishment the back is empty, save for the crate that Swenson orders to be unloaded while Dr. Broder is taken to a safe place.
In the meantime, Oscar exposes the situation to General Wiley who has sealed off the area where Steve was last seen on the radar. They unfortunately lost his signal when they were forced to stop on account of a road accident, one that, unbeknownst to them, was provoked by the former driver.
After contacting Oscar to inform him of his current location, Steve proceeds to break Dr. Broder out of the locked room. Unfortunately they are spotted before they could escape quickly discovered and taken aboard an aircraft. Swenson orders his pilot to override the airport security clearance to take off immediately.
Dr. Broder is flabbergasted to see the actual bomb aboard the plane. Swenson grins triumphantly at his achievement that is now worth 60 millions. He now needs her to arm the giant with the detonator before he delivers it to his client.
When they arrive too late to stop the plane from lifting off, General Wiley is impelled to deploy jet fighters to stand by on his command to shoot down the plane. Oscar pleads with him to allow Steve more time to find a way to overpower the conspirators, but his request falls on deaf ears, for the safety of an entire nation is now at stake.
An alarm sounds aboard the plane, warning Swenson that the detonator is defective. He threatens Steve to hand him the missing component. He has one of his men search him to finally find the transistor in his breast pocket. Now the bomb is fully operational.
Swenson contacts General Wiley ordering him to recall his fighters or he will launch the bomb. Steve confirms that the device is indeed armed and operational. General Wiley is now faced with no other alternative but to destroy the plane, much to Oscar’s dismay.
As time winds down, Steve severs his restraints and kicks the door open to depressurize the plane, thus creating a commotion that enables him to take control of the situation.
After subduing the pilot, he goes to neutralize the bomb, bionic style, much to Clea’s astonishment.
He then takes over the command of the plane on auto-pilot and gets on the head phone to Oscar in the nick of time to assure him the worse has been avoided.
Back in Washington, they toast to their good fortune.
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