Catching the bus at Heathrow, Simon notices that one of his fellow passengers is receiving unwelcome attention from several men.  And since the passenger is female and attractive, the Saint simply has to step in – he can never resist helping a damsel in distress.

Jeanette (Kate O’Mara) has information about Nodiam Mataya, the new strong-man of South-East Asia.  She plans to take it to the newspapers and expose Mataya’s appalling record of human rights (which include a group of nuns held captive and awaiting imminent execution).  Simon’s foreign office contact, Randolph Smith (Neil Stacey) is polite, but noncommittal.  He tells them that the British government is continuing to explore all diplomatic avenues, but that’s all they can do.

The Saint, however, is keen for more direct action.  A key member of Mataya’s government, Surinit, is due to land in the UK shortly.  Simon suggests to Jeanette that they kidnap him and offer to exchange him for the nuns.  Jeanette agrees and Simon assembles a crack force to carry out the plan.  But when Surinit disappears after the kidnap is successfully carried out, Simon bitterly realises that he’s been used …..

Assault Force sees the Saint team up with a group of mercenaries and it’s a departure from the episodes we’ve seen so far (where Simon is either operating on his own, or with limited help).  Here, he’s the leader of a well-drilled gang who abduct Surinit with military precision.  It’s the planning and the actual raid which forms the heart of the episode, and the realisation that Surinit is actually a good guy (and the one man who can expose Mataya’s crimes) drives the story onwards to its conclusion.

Kate O’Mara is suitably histrionic as the damsel in distress, whilst Carolle Rousseau (as Colonel Dibha) is rather alluring as a woman who appears to be on the side of the angels but turns out to be working for Mataya.  Although to be honest, this probably isn’t a great shock since she does give off a rather “evil” vibe in all of her scenes!

Elsewhere, we see the Saint recruit some colourful characters, such as O’Hara (Bryan Marshall) and Morgan (Norman Bird).  Marshall sports a broad Irish accent which occasionally crosses over into parody, but he’s still convincing as a resourceful mercenary.  Bird provides some welcome comic relief as the bookish Morgan.

Although everything is resolved in the end quite neatly (too neatly, you may say) there’s still a slightly discordant note struck which implies that the new status quo may not last forever.  Simon rescues Surinit, who returns to his country as leader after Mataya’s downfall.  Colonel Dibha seems unconcerned though, as she tells Simon that Surinit is a weak man (who clearly won’t last long in the bitter and dangerous world of South-East Asian politics)

The plot is driven by coincidences which means that it’s probably best not to examine it too deeply (although that’s not going to stop me!)  Surinit arrives in the UK to testify at a Human Rights Commission in order to expose Mataya’s crimes.  It seems obvious that Mataya’s people would try and silence him (but they don’t seem to have had any plans to do so).  Instead, rather fortunately they were able to learn of Simon’s plan to kidnap him and took advantage of this.  But had Simon not run into Jeannete at the airport by chance then nothing would have happened.  If Mataya’s men simply needed to silence Surinit why didn’t they, say, put a bomb on the plane?

Minor plot quibbles apart, the “caper” feel of the episode makes it a break from the norm and earns it three and a half halos out of five.