"Congratulations on giving Cartwright the heads up," Lamb spoke from the other end of the phone.

Sasha's fingers curled tighter around the device as she leaned back in her desk chair. She knew he wasn't actually impressed, so awaited for the inevitable jibe. There was a brief pause, and what sounded like a car horn down the other line. Perhaps he'd almost been run over. What a fun thought.

"Unfortunately, whilst you may have just about scraped together a part of their plan, the tiger team's gone rogue."

Sasha frowned. "Tiger team?"

Lamb sighed; a big, long sigh, full of palpable disappointment. "Fuck me, do I have to spell this out to you like you're a child?"

Sasha swallowed any pride she had left. "Probably"

"Right. Sean Donovan, the prick you identified on the CCTV, was hired by Chieftain – private security firm, they're the twats who started all this – to grab Standish. Problem is, Donovan's now gone rogue, wants the Grey Books, know what those are?"

"I–"

"Actually don't answer that, I don't give a fuck. Important thing is, Donovan won't give Standish back until he has 'em. So I'm gonna need you and Louisa to go to Chieftain. I'll send you the address. Get their file on the op, see what you can find out."

"Okay," Sasha said. "Will do. Is River–"

Lamb had already disconnected.

With a disconcerted sigh, she tucked her phone into her back pocket and shouted for Louisa. Sasha got up and automatically reached for her jacket, which, as it turns out, was not hanging on the back of her chair like usual – because if she'd come into work in a normal outfit, she would have been wearing one! Dammit . All she had spare was the dress and heels from last night, neither of which would suffice. Unless, of course, she attempted to charm the op file out of Chieftain's men.

For all intents and purposes, she did used to have an old work hoodie. But after that got soaked in blood, she never got round to replacing it.

Louisa stepped inside. "What's up?"

Sasha was crouched down, rifling through her desk draws. "Lamb just called. He's, uh, sending us the location to Chieftain's office," Sasha informed. "We need to get a file apparently. Have you got a spare jacket? Or a cardigan, or something?"

"Why?"

"Well, it's getting late and it's a bit chilly when there's no sun."

"No, I meant why Chieftain?"

Sasha's head popped up from below the desk. "Well they're the ones who–" She abandoned her explanation, waving her hands dismissively. "I'll explain everything on the way. Have you got a jacket or not?"

"No, maybe River's got something spare?"

Sasha hesitated. Would that be weird? Just taking his stuff without permission? But the evening was drawing in, sun disappearing behind the clouds, and Sasha reckoned Chieftain's office was full of posh men in suits, so it would probably have ridiculously freezing air con, like standing in the frozen aisle of big Tesco.

Impatiently, Louisa headed to River's desk and yanked open the top draw. She searched through, and then flung a navy hoodie at Sasha. "Put that on."

"But–"

"Put it on."

Sasha huffed. "Fine." With a straight face, she pulled the hoodie over her head. It was oversized, past her waist, sleeves long enough that she couldn't see her hands. It smelled nice though, nothing too overpowering, just subtly like River's aftershave, all woodsy and earthy.

"Cute," Louisa remarked, though Sasha detected a hint of sarcasm. "I'm sure River would agree. Ready to go?"

Sasha opened her mouth to deflect the comment, but ended up spluttering a feeble, "What?"

Louisa strode out the room. "Come on, we need to stake out this place first."

"I–" Sasha fumbled around her desk for the car keys. She slotted them into her hoodie pocket as she hurried after Louisa, nearly tripping over a chair in the process. "Wait for me!"

—

Sat behind a huge glass window in Pret A Manger, Sasha sipped on her second iced latte of the day.

Shortly after arriving, she had received a call from River. He was still alive, "just about" (Sasha reckoned he was being dramatic), and had been instructed by Lamb to join them at Chieftain.

She and Louisa had passed the time eating chocolate chip muffins and making bets on the injuries River would turn up with. Obviously, they did their jobs too, and watched the Chieftain building closely. But, as anticipated, all they had observed was wanky looking men in posh suits.

The bell dinged above the shop's entrance. A throat cleared nearby. Sasha turned her head and automatically grimaced at the sight. River looked terrible. There was a huge, swollen purple bruise underneath his eye, a long scrape across the bridge of his nose, patches of dried blood in his beard, and he was certainly much paler than usual.

"You look like shit."

River took the empty stool beside her. "Thanks."

Louisa gaped at him. "What the hell happened to you?"

"Oh, just Duffy." He sniffed. "Then Hobbs."

"What? Did they beat you up?" Louisa asked in disbelief.

"Yes. Obviously."

"Wow."

"So why are we here then?" River questioned. He picked up a spare napkin and dabbed aimlessly at his beard.

"Lamb wants us to get Chieftain's file on the op for Catherine's kidnap. And background–" Sasha cut off her explanation to swipe the napkin from him. River frowned, tried to snatch it back. "–on Donovan and the team. Seems they have their own agenda beyond the initial plan."

Sasha swivelled round to face him. Her knee settled between his open legs. Observing his wounds, she carefully dabbed the tissue against his face.

River temporarily blacked out on account to their proximity.

She scrubbed at the spots of blood he'd missed.

And it hurt.

"Ow!" River hissed, hand instinctively wrapping around her wrist. "Jesus. Honestly, it's fine, I've got most of it."

Sasha pinned him with a stern look. "You were missing it by miles. Stop being such a baby."

With a sigh, River relented. "Fine." Louisa rolled her eyes – all right, maybe he had given up a little easily, but he liked the idea of Sasha taking care of him. Even if it was painful. "So are they gonna give that file to us?"

"Yeah, they are," Louisa said. "We're MI5. Who the fuck are they?"

"A multimillion-pound security firm with connections to the Home Secretary."

Sasha scoffed. "So what? It's just a bunch of toffs in suits." She removed the napkin and sat back, pleased with her handy work. "There. You look much better."

She scrunched the blood spotted tissue into a ball and passed it back to River. "Oh, thanks. Just what I've always wanted."

"You know what? I don't give a shit," Louisa interjected, standing up. "Bankrupting myself having four coffees, hanging out here watching these cocks swan in and out. So, come on."

Sasha indicated to her half drunken latte. "But my iced coff–"

"Come on."

Sasha pouted at the thought of abandoning her drink. But she slid off the chair and followed after her. River hopped down from the stool and hobbled to the door.

Spotting the limp, Sasha asked, "Hurt your ankle?"

"Sprained, I think."

She broke out into a huge grin. "Nice. Louisa owes me a tenner."

"You bet on my injur–" River cut himself off, suddenly noticing what she was wearing. His hoodie, the spare he kept his desk draws. It was definitely a size too big, and probably would have looked ridiculous on someone else. But, fuck, she was pretty. "Is that mine?"

"Um, I was cold," Sasha responded lamely. Then she zipped past him through the door and rushed to catch up with Louisa.

"It looks nice!" River called after her.

Louisa shook her head and muttered, "Idiots."

"What?" Sasha asked innocently.

"You're smart, you'll figure it out," Louisa said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Louisa stepped into the road without warning. Sasha went to follow, but halted at the speed of the oncoming car. The pause gave time for River, still hobbling, to catch up. "Hey." His shoulder bumped against hers. "Thanks for the heads up in the Park this morning, by the way."

Sasha looked both ways, waited for the traffic to pass. "You would've done the same."

"Course," said River. "Always."

They crossed the road.

Chieftain's headquarters was a sleek, modern, brick building, with large windows and a fancy swivelling door. Sasha did not like swivelling doors; completely unpractical, far too easy to accidentally get caught up in, and caused the emotionally scarring death of one of the nicest characters on The Walking Dead. So yeah, fuck swivelling doors.

She hopped into the next available gap and started to make her way around. The doors crept up fast behind her, an ever present threat. Sasha entered the building in a mildly nervous trot.

"Hey, listen, fuck!" Somebody was complaining at the receptionist's desk. But not just anyone. No, that frustratingly posh twat voice was recognisable from almost anywhere.

Spider.

Sasha hated the guy. In fact, detested him. Perhaps even more than River did. He was smarmy, and conniving, and irritating, and just...blonde.

She was convinced he was sent from the deepest pits of hell. And having to see his ugly, ghostly pale, horse-face was like torture. It was one of the few (and there were few) pros of working at Slough House – she could now escape his deriding comments in the workplace. Comments that contributed to sending her to Slough House.

"Yeah, you've kept me waiting there for hours, and I want answers. You people... You can't put me through the wringer like that, yeah, and expect it to be all smoothed over with a fucking phone call. I want money. I want moola, moola!" Spider smacked the desk in front of the poor lady on reception. "You understand?!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," River interjected. "What are you doing here?"

River and Sasha had flanked Spider's left, whilst Louisa closed in on his right.

"Oh, my God. River." Spider leaned back against the counter, in a somewhat faux disbelief. Then he set his evil little eyes on Sasha. "No fucking way. Sasha Hartley? Looking even more gorgeous than the last time I saw y–"

"It would take me less than one second to kill you."

Spider smirked.

Git.

"And the lovely Louisa."

"Go fuck yourself," Louisa shut down. Ignoring him, she leaned across the desk, sliding across her MI5 badge to the receptionist. "We need to speak to whoever's in charge of this morning's op."

The lady smiled politely. "I'll see if they're free."

"Oh, what?" Spider whirled around. "Okay. What? So you jump when MI5 ask, but Joe Public can go whistle, can he?!"

"Shut up," River muttered. He grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the desk. Spider grumbled under his breath. "Listen. So, you– you know it was a tiger team?"

"I do now, yeah. I didn't when I was standing on that bridge with a fucking sniper sight on my chest," Spider said irately. Oh, how Sasha would've loved to have seen him shit himself. "These people, they've been– they've been paid a fortune for this op. And after what I've been through, I want a taste."

A man strolled past them, carrier bags in hand, bottles clanging.

"You should get some too. Hey, do you wanna go in together?" Spider asked. "Whatever they offer we ask for triple."

"No, I'm fine, mate."

"Hey–"

"I'm here to do a job," River reminded firmly.

"Hey, I know we've had our history, right?" Spider began. River scoffed at the comment. "But for once we're on the same side. We both got played."

"You always get played, Spider," Louisa pointed out, brushing past them. She stopped to wait beside the wall.

River nodded towards her. "There's a good point."

"Did you get the file?" Spider asked.

"No," River answered. "But I coulda done. Lamb pulled me out."

"Ah."

Sasha rolled her eyes. River was always trying to prove himself to somebody, but it ramped up a notch with Spider. She didn't understand why. River was, and always would be, a better person and agent.

River diverted the questioning. "How's your sister then? Is she okay?"

"Oh, she's fine, mate. Standish okay?"

"Well, there's been a bit of a holdup." Understatement of the century. "But of course, um, can't go into that because you're not in the Service anymore. So, yeah."

River sounded very pleased with himself. Though, in an unusual turn of events, Spider actually took the hit. He didn't even have a snide come back. Strange.

When Sasha first heard Spider was involved in the bridge incident, she was suspicious. But River was so certain he wasn't involved with the tiger team, that she had no choice but to cool off. But standing there in the middle of that stupid, pristinely perfect reception, something didn't feel right. Maybe it was how uncomfortable she felt there. Maybe she just hated Spider.

Or maybe it was her instincts.

"That's told me. Talking of which..." Spider moved purposefully towards Louisa. "I know we, um... we never had a chance to chat after that whole disaster with the Russians–"

"–Save it."

"No, no, no, this is long overdue, and I...I feel terrible that I didn't reach out and say this earlier. But..." He paused, a patronising smile forming on his face. "I forgive you."

Oh Christ.

River cleared his throat. Sasha exchanged a worried glance with him. They might have to prevent a murder.

Louisa went rigid. "Excuse me?"

"I got shot while you were running security," Spider pointed out, with such a well-crafted smugness that Sasha was almost bowled over by the sheer audacity . "I forgive you."

Louisa's jaw tensed. Then she got that look on her face, the real scary you're dead one, and took a step towards him.

River was first to intervene (Sasha had purposely delayed, she wasn't bothered if Spider got punched) and quickly positioned himself between them. "Okay. Okay. He's not worth it."

Personally, Sasha would have at least let Spider squirm longer. Nevertheless, the receptionist interjected. "You can go through now. The Command and Control Executive Officer is ready to speak to you."

"God, that's a twatty title," River remarked.

"That's the private sector for you," Spider commented.

The lift behind them dinged, white doors parting. A man strolled out, suited and booted, left hand stuffed lazily in his pocket. "If you'd like to follow me. Uh, Mr. Webb, you can come through now as well."

They stepped into the elevator; pristine, cream coloured, and rather spacious actually. Sasha wasn't particularly fond of how bright and fluorescent the ceiling lights were. She kept herself out of Spider's way, at a safe distance in the corner.

"So you were a while in hospital then?" River broke the silence.

"Couple of months."

"Lucky for some," Louisa mumbled.

"I'm truly sorry for your loss," Spider said, with barely any conviction.

Louisa straightened up. "I heard you quit before they could fire you."

"Not quite in that order," Spider responded. "They gave me the option. Slough House or leave the Service. So I left. No offence."

River shook his head. "Literally none taken."

The bell dinged again, the doors opening to reveal a ridiculously large office space, full of loud chatter and suited men milling around. Like the rest of the building, it was a blinding white colour, sterile and cold, no feeling to it. Something in Latin was scribbled in blue cursive on the walls.

Private school, Oxford educated, pompous pricks.

Sasha noticed several long tables, with champagne glasses and half empty bottles – that'd be what she heard clanging in reception.

"So where are you working now then?" River questioned, and immediately, as the words left his mouth, a horrible feeling dawned on Sasha. Because as Spider sauntered inside, she realised he seemed to fit into the office incredibly well.

"Well..." Spider grinned, turning around and gesturing with open arms, like a man showing off his kingdom. "Here. Say hello to your Command and Control Executive Officer."

And then he ridiculed them even further with a captain's salute. The room erupted into obnoxious cheers and whistles. Sasha wished the ground would open up and devour her.

She should have seen this coming.

"You fucking– fuck off." River's resentment had simmered to boiling point. With gritted teeth, he turned to Sasha and Louisa, head shaking in disbelief. He'd been played. Again.

"I weren't lying." Spider chuckled as he leaned against the table. "A big, fat fucking bonus!" He hollered. His colleagues cheered rambunctiously. The cork of another champagne bottle popped. "I should split it with ya, but I won't."

"How'd you know we were coming?" Louisa asked.

"Didn't. Saw you two outside staking the place out." Fuck. "Told everyone to play along if you came in, and you did...with Cart-wrong."

Spider looked unbearably pleased with himself. Sasha couldn't stand the sight; that smarmy grin permanently etched on his face, the horrid, derisive sound of his laughter, the menacing look in his stare, even his ugly brown jacket.

Spider grinned and said, "The gods are smiling on me again."

Sasha wanted to retort that it was more likely the devil smiling up at him, but what accidentally came out was far less savoury, "You really are a slimy little cunt, aren't you?"

"Ooooh."

It went quiet.

A half smile toyed on his lips. Eyes darkening, Spider took a slow step forwards, closed the space between them. Sasha fought against her instinct to pull back. She wouldn't give him any hint of leverage.

"Woah, Hartley. Not so pretty words..." He cocked his head as he reached a hand out, pad of his thumb just threatening to graze her jawbone. "From such a pretty gir–"

Abruptly, Sasha gripped his arm, hard, fingernails digging into flesh. Spider let out a pained grunt as she locked him into place. Her jaw twitched. The thought of him touching her made her skin crawl.

"Take a step back or I'll break your fucking arm," she threatened.

"Feisty," Spider remarked. He tried to pull away, but she held him tighter, firm stare battling with his. He shrank back slightly. And when she did release him, he stumbled a few paces, holding up his hands in defence. "Jeez, I'm just messing around. God, women these days."

Somehow ending up the voice of reason, Louisa flung out an arm that halted both Sasha and River. And she was right to, of course, they had to calm down. But fuck, Sasha just wanted to wring Spider's neck, or smack him in the face...with a brick.

His cronies chortled, like the whole interaction was some big joke. As if Sasha should have just taken it. Spider was aware what she'd been through at the Park, what he'd contributed to, and so he knew exactly which buttons to press.

Rage simmered inside her.

"You're pathetic," Louisa stated.

Spider cocked his head. "Am I?"

"Yeah."

"With my six-figure private sector salary, company car, and massive penis?"

Sasha glowered as the men around them continued to see humour in the situation.

Spider stepped forwards. "Thank you, River. Thank you." He continued his ridicule. River glanced down at the floor, breathing heavier. "You were magnificent. Judd wanted Chieftain to run a tiger team on the Park. They reached out to me as an ex-employee and set me the task of selecting the biggest sucker on the books. I got to say, it didn't take long. R to the I to the V-E-R!"

River inhaled sharply, lips pressing into a firm line. He took it. He always did. But Sasha could sense he was dangerously close to exploding.

"God, you know what? I almost feel guilty about accepting that huge consultancy fee for literally a minute's work," Spider carried on, inching closer to them. "I knew you'd take the bait again. Tear off and try and be a hero." Abruptly, he grasped the collar of River's jacket, breathing rapidly as he started to fake cry. "River, please believe me. Please believe me," he mocked dramatically. "They're gonna kill my sister and her–her–her kids!"

A red laser appeared in the middle of his chest. Sasha glanced behind, locating the person controlling it; tool in one hand, champagne flute in the other.

Spider burst into laughter. He pointed up to the man stood on the balcony, overlooking the scene below. "Rafer, you fuck. Come here, mate. Come here! Oh, mate." The idiot sauntered over, and the pair exchanged overzealous high-fives and a hug. "Rafer was the sniper. Show 'em your rifle."

The man imitated a gun, amused grin plastered over his scummy face. "Pew, pew, pew!"

"Nice one, mate. Oh, God." Spider took a sip of champagne.

Realisation dawned on River. "You don't even have a sister, do you?"

"No, I do. But we haven't spoken in years. She's a total bitch."

"Are you gonna give us your files on Donovan and the team?" Louisa pressed.

Spider took a deep breath, ambled a few paces, then exhaled dramatically. "Nah. You can kiss my unwashed anus."

"Jesu– They're not letting her go, Spider," Louisa snapped, directing them back to what they came for. The files. Amongst all the theatrics, it had almost been forgotten. They were there for Standish, potentially to save her life.

"All under control," Spider assured, straightening his jacket lapels.

"What do you mean under control?" Sasha butted in. "They won't fucking give her back."

"It's all under control," Spider repeated, slower that time, as if she were an idiot.

Sasha seethed. He didn't give a shit about anyone, or anything, but himself. And she didn't trust him for one second.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, the boss and I have a lunch with the..." Spider trailed, intentionally clearing his throat. "Home Secretary. I'm gonna be part of an advisory committee on improving MI5's efficiency. Do you wanna know my first recommendation? It's a good one." Sasha knew exactly what was coming. With a lop sided smirk, he said with vigour, "Shut down Slough House."

River chuckled bitterly. Jaw clenched, he spared a glance at the floor, then took a confrontational step forwards. "I'm gonna fucking break your neck you fuck–"

Anticipating the move, Sasha hurried to step between the two men. She set a hand on River's tense bicep to stop him. "He's not worth it."

Spider laughed, and derided, and mocked...until Sasha had enough. She turned around, and slammed her knee into his crotch.

The laughing stopped.

Spider wheezed, a venomous, "bitch" leaving his mouth barely above a pained whisper. So then she caught him square in the face with a right hook. And that shut him up entirely.

Sasha shook her hand out, muttering a string of curses under her breath. Her knuckles would certainly bruise. But it was worth it.

Spider had doubled over, one hand on his balls, the other clutching his face.

She almost grinned.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He rasped, a fresh flow of blood from his nose seeping between his fingers. "I'm gonna fucking–"

River was moving before his brain fully kicked into gear, stepping in front of Sasha. Whether it was protective instinct, or simply preventing her from causing any more damage, he wasn't sure. The fact it was his automatic response probably said more about it than he wanted to accept.

Still hunched over, Spider pointed between the pair with a bitter, breathy laugh. A taunting look flashed in his eyes. "Oh, I see how it is."

Louisa interjected before the situation could escalate any further. "All right. Let's go."

River turned away from Spider, his attention landing on Sasha. Her chest was rising and falling heavily, an almost euphoric glint in her eyes. He touched her elbow, prompting her to move. She threw a harsh glare at Spider one last time before whirling around and following.

The adrenaline surging through her body was unreal.

"You should be thanking me!" Spider shouted. He moved his bloodstained hand away from his face. Sasha realised the injury wasn't even that bad, just a small stream pooling from his nostrils. Nothing broken. She should've punched harder.

"You don't want to be there, River, mate!" Spider called after him. "Time to move on to your true calling...Shoving fruit up your arse on OnlyFans!"

River grimaced. Behind them, the office fell apart into laughter. He stopped momentarily to let Sasha into the lift, hand on her back, guiding her inside in case she'd thought about turning around again. (She had.)

Furiously, Louisa slammed her fist against the control panel. Metal clunked as the doors slowly nudged shut.

"If you ever want a job, Guy, just drop me a line," Spider called after them. "You'll at least get an interview. Microphone drop!"

And that was the last thing they heard, and saw him do...mimic a microphone falling from his hand. What a fucking loser.

"It's mic drop you–"

The doors closed.

Sasha slumped against the wall. Louisa flung her head back against it with quite a vigorous thump.

River ran a hand through his hair . "Shit." After a few moments, he turned his head and asked Sasha, "How did that feel?"

"It was..." She closed her eyes, a slow smile etching across her lips. "Fucking biblical."

"Nice."

"You shouldn't have done it," Louisa piped up. "Both of you were too wound up."

"Uh, he deserved it," Sasha defended.

"Doesn't matter. This wasn't the right time."

The lift opened. Louisa stormed ahead of them. Sasha and River followed closely behind. They waited for the spinning doors.

"Fucking Spider," River muttered, marching into the next available space.

"Fucking you," Louisa corrected.

He rounded on her. "What?"

"It was Spider, again. You should have known."

With a look of sheer disbelief, River whipped around once more. He faced her, his back to the door, which continued moving. "What do you mean I should've known?"

Louisa barged past him, slipping through the open gap to get outside. "So fucking humiliating."

About to go round the doors for a second time, though completely oblivious to it, River took a step to follow. "How did–" And then he smacked into the glass. "Fuck!"