As Carter boards the flight in New York his cover story is questioned by airline representatives and he is almost killed in a botched assassination attempt. Carter assumes that the Chinese paymaster is on board with him and spends the trip trying to identify him. On board Carter receives a coded message from Hawk that his cover has been blown. He is ordered to meet an MI5 contact in London for an update. At his meeting, Carter learns he is a “festered lily” – a man marked for death by Chinese intelligence. The MI5 agent is killed by a sniper before he can tell Carter anything more.