Northern Spy

When she next meets Eamonn, Tessa asks him about his career, where he was stationed, and if it was a glamorous lifestyle. Eamonn dispels the notion, but he admits that there was one exception: He once met a source at a luxury resort. Tessa assumes it was a woman and feels a pang of jealousy. He lingers as he helps fasten her wetsuit for her usual swim in the lough. Later, Tessa makes an apple pie that calls for firm apples, like a Northern Spy. She catches on to the term and feels self-conscious about it.

Tessa and Marian are talking at Mount Stewart and discussing the problematic nature of Catholic priests in the IRA and during Tessa’s divorce. Marian reminds Tessa that she must attend their cousin Aoife’s wedding at the Balfour hotel, even though Cillian Burke will be there, because Marian wants to plant a listening device at the Balfour since it’s owned by the IRA.

At the reception, she meets with members of her community, and one of her neighbors admonishes her for still working at the BBC. Seamus eventually finds her and asks intimate questions about Finn, which perturbs Tessa, and she tries to deflect the conversation. He praises her for lying to the police about Marian’s pregnancy. As the party goes on, Marian asks Tessa if she needs to go to the bathroom, and they use the excuse to go into a small bar room. Marian sticks a listening device behind the eye of a mounted stag’s head seconds before Cillian and another man enter the room. When asked what they’re doing, Marian uses shot-drinking as an excuse.

Marian informs Tessa that Seamus has taken an interest in her and wants to recruit her as a scout. Terrified, Tessa refuses and says she will move away instead. When she next meets Eamonn, he tells her that her decision will put Marian under suspicion and in danger. He also intimates that scouting isn’t the same thing as being a full member of the IRA, but he won’t push her to make any decisions she’s not comfortable with. Lost in thought, Tessa realizes she never checked for a bomb under her car as she usually does before driving away from her meetings with Eamonn.

Tessa meets Marian in front of Gallagher’s Pub and follows her to a backroom where Seamus, Damian, and Niall are waiting. Once seated, Seamus immediately begins to question her about her time at Trinity College and her connections to Francesca Babb’s father, an investor in an upmarket department store in London. As his questions become more pointed, Tessa understands that he is testing her honesty and, through it, her commitment to their cause. When he questions her about her interest in the IRA, she finds it easy to supply him with the answers he wants. When Damian eventually tells her to refrain from any involvement with known republican pubs, she knows she’s been accepted.

Tessa receives a package while she is at work that contains a burner phone. She carries it with her everywhere until Seamus finally calls to tell her where she must scout: a police station in Saintfield. There, she must take note of each car that comes in or out of the station. Seamus is looking for police officers to kill, and Marian tells her the IRA once used a primary school teacher to find out which parents were police officers through their children. As she takes notes on the cars, Tessa recalls some of the horrible police deaths organized by the IRA and how Seamus has plans for her since she is the perfect plant that no one will suspect. When Tom brings Finn back to Tessa that night, her house is immaculately clean and shows no sign of the dangerous life she leads.

After leaving Finn with the babysitter, Tessa meets Marian, Seamus, Damian, and Niall at the pub. She hands over her notes, and Niall wants to lead an operation on one of the cars immediately. Tessa watches as Marian and the others devolve into their usual banter patterns and struggles to find a moral difference between them and, say, a Royal Air Force division that had also killed and maimed civilians. Later that week, Damian calls for two gallons of kerosene, which Tessa procures for him. When she delivers them, Niall is the only one there, and after talking about the chore rotation, they work together to clean the back room. As she talks with Niall, who wants to buy Marian a Christmas gift, she realizes how close they all are and wonders if the term “family” for Marian applies more to this unit or to her and their mother.

Back in the city center, Tessa walks down the road to Marian’s old apartment and realizes that her sister must be exhausted after seven years of secrecy, of having to work both as a paramedic and with her unit, of not having any privacy now that she can no longer return to her apartment. Tessa buys her trinkets and herbs from the natural food store she loves, deciding that while she is still furious with her sister, she still wants to love her the best in either of her families. When she gifts her the items, Marian reveals that she knew she would never be able to hold on to her apartment for long and that all the social and fun things she was able to do for the last seven years were stolen moments. She believed it was only a matter of time before she would be caught and sent to prison. Even given the opportunity to leave the country, Marian believes she would remain in Northern Ireland because her sense of attachment is too strong.

When Tessa next meets Eamonn, he implies that Marian may have been sent to him and MI5 to spread disinformation. He mentions how Marian had given them details about an arms drop in an orchard in Armagh. But when drones were sent to investigate, there was nothing there. He also states that the listening device in the Balfour has not produced anything noteworthy. People above Eamonn are doubting her intentions, and Tessa states that she will not spy on her sister for him before she leaves.

The next time she sees Marian, Tessa tells her that Eamonn suspects she is giving them disinformation. Marian claims that she is genuine about protecting the peace talks. She explains that there wasn’t one moment that made her defect from the IRA; instead, there were a number of them, one of which was Tessa’s miscarriage. It proved to her that there was already enough pain in the world without her and her unit adding to it. She promises Tessa that she’ll prove herself to her. As Tessa drives back home, she remembers the horrors of her miscarriage, how distraught she was over losing her baby girl, Isla, and how she fixated on a pregnancy book through her grief. Nothing could console her at the time, despite her family’s best efforts, and when she became pregnant with Finn, her anxiety was at an all-time high until she heard his heartbeat for the first time.

During a meeting in the back room of the pub, Seamus asks Tessa about Lord Maitland, an aristocrat who had a manor in Northern Ireland. As they discuss his details, Tessa learns that one of her coworkers, Colette, is also working for the IRA and has been feeding them the information of every important guest that has come through the BBC studio. Plans are made, and Tessa is chosen to go to Glenarm to surveil Maitland while he’s on holiday so they can plant a bomb. Later, she tells Marian how she feels like her great-grandmother, who served men like Maitland from the age of 12 for pennies. Though Marian tells her it’s not about saving Maitland but the bigger picture, Tessa still can’t shake the idea that if she were to tell this story when she was old, they might think Seamus a hero for rebelling.

When the forecast calls for a hurricane in Northern Ireland, Seamus changes the plan. He’s received orders from Cillian to proceed with the assassination, so they decide against bombing Maitland, and Damian is instead told to use his sniper rifle. Tessa panics, but she has no choice but to go along with them to avoid suspicion. Marian tells her she’ll contact Eamonn about the change in plan. As they finish packing a hasty travel bag, Tessa leaves with Damian for Mallow. There, they carry out a devious con: They appear as a couple on vacation, and rather than leave the premises after the assassination, they will return to their expensive hotel to avoid suspicion. Throughout their first night’s stay at the hotel, Tessa anxiously looks for someone from MI5 to contact her. But no one does. After confirming with Seamus that Maitland’s fishing guide has been paid off, Tessa worries about the future since she knows Maitland’s death will have drastic consequences.

On the morning of the assassination, Tessa and Damian pack their gear and leave traces of themselves all over the hotel, so people will assume they never left the property. They head for the woods near where Maitland will be fishing, and while Tessa remains behind as lookout, Damian goes to commit the deed. When he comes running back after some time, he tells her he missed when he shot Maitland.

News of the failed assassination attempt made the rounds. When they return to be debriefed by Seamus, he asks Tessa about the conditions leading up to and after the attempt. Damian, however, is not suspected of defecting since his entire family is in the IRA. When she goes into work soon after, Tessa and her colleague Clodagh hear a large thump sound, as if something heavy had been thrown against the wall. Cautiously, she follows Clodagh into the hall and then into the news room, where everyone is standing and shouting. The IRA, Tessa learns, has called a cease-fire.