Negotiating With Tigers

Peter Judd enjoys telling Ingrid Tearney that MI5 has failed the security test he arranged. The tiger team’s success gives him an argument for bringing Chieftain into the Service, and his connection with its boss makes the proposed solution conveniently profitable for a friend. Tearney’s authority has been challenged without a foreign enemy entering the story. The apparent exercise should now end, but Donovan refuses to hand Catherine over. Instead, he captures Sturges, the Chieftain operative sent to collect her, and creates a second hostage.

River is held by the Dogs, where Duffy punishes him for the break-in. Hobbs joins in, adding his own grievance. River understands that fighting back would provide another excuse to destroy his career, so he takes the assault while waiting for Lamb to intervene. That restraint does not make the violence less humiliating. Elsewhere, Marcus and Shirley break into Donovan’s flat and find evidence of a second stage involving the Grey Books, the Service’s collection of conspiracy material. The operation has a purpose beyond embarrassing the Park.

The search also exposes Marcus and Shirley’s own problems. Shirley uses cocaine, police arrive, and their claim to be on official business needs Lamb to support it. He secures their release but sends a blunt message that they are fired. Catherine, meanwhile, notices the children’s names and height marks in the house. She works out that the younger captors are siblings and that she is being held in their family home. Her investigation continues without access to the equipment or freedom her colleagues have.

Lamb presses Taverner for River’s release and then sends River and Louisa to Chieftain. There they discover Webb’s position in the company and the lie behind his performance on the bridge. Spider is proud of having used River to expose MI5’s weaknesses, and treats Catherine’s continuing captivity as a problem already under control. Lamb separately confronts Sly Monteith, who knows less about Donovan’s demands than his expensive organisation should. The threat of closure hangs over Slough House while its officers are still trying to recover one of their own.

Monteith sends Webb to resolve the crisis. Spider arrives with money and assumes that Donovan can be bought off. When that does not work, he talks about Alison and provokes a violent response. Donovan hits him with fatal consequences. At the restaurant where Judd and Monteith are meeting, Lamb insists that Catherine matters more than their political game. Webb’s body is dumped outside, bringing the violence directly to their comfortable table. What they had treated as a controlled test is now visibly beyond their control.