Betrayal (2026) s01e03 Episode Script

1
Martin's not actually that boring
once you get a drink inside him.
Glad you had a nice time.
Does he hate me or
is this something else?
'Marta said some strange
man was in our garden today.'
'You've been talking
to that journalist guy.'
JOHN: 'It's him. The
General's Qasem Asadi.'
MEHREEN: 'John got a tracker
on them, so we're compromised.'
'But don't worry.'
GUNSHOTS
He can still be stopped.
- What did you say, Rudy?
- ON PHONE: 'Junction 19.'
- Where, sorry, mate?
- 'He came off at Junction 19.
'But I can't track him on ANPR
once he's off the motorway.'
- Are you sure it's him?
- '100%.
'Plate number ending
in Echo, Echo, Golf.
'What happened to the other
vehicle you were tracking?'
Ah, tracker's battery's died.
There you go, that's him.
Three cars ahead.
In front of the Mini.
- Don't get too close.
- Yes.
- Get closer.
- OK.
Shit! Quick. Left.
Left, left, left, left, left.
HORNS HONKING
Fuck.
Well done.
I'll pull into the car park.
Get the team to meet us here.
Here they are.
We've got Asadi's room number.
Four-zero-four.
And we have confirmation he
made a reservation at 2:30pm.
That's our window.
OK, let's be clear. Mehreen
will get eyes on Asadi.
John, while Mehreen has control of Asadi,
you'll gain access into his room,
install the monitoring devices.
Mehreen will let us know
if Asadi's on the move.
- Are we good?
- Mm-hm.
We're good.
MAN WITH BAG: Ta, love.
CHATTER
LOW HUM OF CHATTER
- MEHREEN: 'Eyes on Asadi.'
- John.
RUDY: 'Mehreen has eyes on.
You're clear.'
- Macallan, Single Malt.
- WAITER: Of course.
What's happening?
- Rudy?
- Must be some sort of interference.
Mehreen's audio's down, Chief.
We're getting no signal.
You're gonna have to move.
IN FARSI:
Someone I had to bring with me.
And now he's watching me.
How's his English?
Somewhere between
reasonably shit and just shit.
- Good.
- It's been a long time.
- You look the same.
- Your Macallan, madam.
Thank you.
Who is John Hughes?
He works for the Security
Service, but don't let him worry you.
Stick to the plan, and I'll handle him.
John Hughes lacks credibility.
IN FARSI:
IN FARSI:
What exactly do they know?
We continue with the ploy.
SHRILL FEEDBACK TONE FROM EARPIECE
BEEP ON MACHINE It's back on.
Thank God.
'Asadi's on the move.'
John, did you get that?
Asadi's on the move.
'Finish up!'
John, get out of there now!
DOOR UNLOCKS
ASADI SIGHS
RUNNING WATER
WATER STOPS
SHE EXHALES SHARPLY
'So, Asadi's headed
to the embassy tonight?'
Yes.
A team of Mobile Surveillance
Officers are in place?
They are.
He won't be able to squeak
without us knowing about it.
When did you notice
your kit wasn't working?
I didn't. I assumed it
was up and running.
We lost you for about four
minutes of the operation.
My kit was down for four
minutes? Jesus Christ. Really?
God. I didn't have to work
with this crap gear at Six.
What was he doing?
- Who?
- Who? The General.
He was reading a book.
I didn't see what it was.
OK, let's wait to debrief
properly at the office.
- All right?
- You all right, Chief?
- What time's he back?
- Oh, not until later, I imagine.
Here's some highlights
from before he left.
CONVERSATION ON VIDEO
- My informant's phone is still off.
- Jordan?
- Hm-mm.
- Should I get it flagged?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
Can you have a look at Mehreen's kit?
What are you thinking, guvnor?
I'm sure it's nothing, but, erm
..better to check and be sure, hey?
Thanks, Rudy, son.
DOOR OPENS
KEYS JANGLE
DROPS KEYS
BARKING IN DISTANCE
RINGING
PHONE RINGS NEARBY
RINGING CONTINUES OVER PHONE
RINGING IN HOUSE CONTINUES
VIBRATING
VIBRATING AND RINGING CONTINUES
I'm sorry, just give me two secs.
SIGHS
Oh! Erm
Look, John
Erm We can be grown-up
about this, can't we?
Just go downstairs.
He'll be gone in five
minutes and then we can talk.
DOOR CLOSES
I had no idea you'd be home.
That makes it OK, does it?
Funnily enough, I know how you feel.
Do you?
It really hurts, doesn't it?
EXHALES
Where are the kids?
They're at my mum and dad's.
I didn't mean it to happen.
You didn't mean it to happen?
You just shipped the kids
off to your mum and dad's
and Martin came down the
chimney on a magic carpet, is that it?
- No!
- Well, then, what?!
He called me about a work thing and
..I was upset.
Oh, just a shoulder to cry on.
Do you? Do you think
I was born yesterday?
He was a shoulder to cry on, actually.
And then you fucked him?
- I've had enough.
- YOU'VE had enough?
- Yeah, I think I'm done.
- Oh, you think YOU'RE done?
HE SIGHS
I don't even know if I like you any more.
HE SIGHS
- This is fucked.
- Yeah, it is.
This is so completely fucked.
Is that really all you've got?
What do you want me to say?
Anything!
Anything!
Oh, what? You want
tearful forgiveness, is that it?
Acceptance?
I was devastated when
you were unfaithful to me!
Well, you've got your own
back now, haven't you?
But I gave you a chance!
- No, but you never forgave me.
- Oh, and is there any wonder?
- What do you mean?
- Well, did you meet that woman?
- What woman?
- The one who texted you.
- Penelope.
- What?
Was she the one you had an affair with?
Don't turn it round onto me!
You're the one that's just
been caught red-handed!
Cos you made me feel
so shit and so worthless!
Well, I hope you're feeling
proud of yourself now,
running off to Martin.
I didn't go running off to him!
He was worried about me!
Oh, so Martin comes round in an Uber
with a bottle of wine
and a box of tissues,
and in two minutes' time
you're on your fucking back
with your knickers round your ankles!
Argh! Fuck you!
Get away from me!
- Get away from me!
- Why, because I'm not Martin?
At least Martin actually
gives a shit about me.
Oh, that's where you're going, is it?
You know he behaves like someone
who actually wants to be with me.
Well, why don't you fuck
off to Martin's house, then?
You are so vile.
I'm sure now you've had him,
he'll give you one of his houses
on the Costa Brava if you
really wanna get away from me.
I can't stand one more minute of this.
The revenue have been looking
into his dodgy dealings in Spain.
Oh, pathetic, really!
And a patient made a sexual
harassment complaint against him,
did you know that?
Do you know, any shred of
respect I had for you is gone.
This is what being a
spy has come to, has it?
Digging up dirt on Martin?
Yeah, well, I could see which
way the wind was blowing.
SHE GROANS
He was completely exonerated
in that harassment complaint.
- Was he?
- And as for those properties in Spain,
at least he's got a
sensible retirement plan.
You can't even get yourself to a doctor
to have a look at your fucking arse!
SHE PANTS
DOOR SLAMS
PHONE BUZZES
SIGHS GENTLY
SIGHS
PHONE BUZZES
MUSIC PLAYS
Ah!
So, you're half-Iranian?
- Yeah, I'm mixed.
- Ah.
Dick.
SHE LAUGHS
And what about your
extended Iranian family?
Do you see them?
No. My dad completely assimilated.
Distanced himself from them, from Iran.
Sees himself as totally British.
He even took my mum's last name.
- Really?
- You know the Askari?
- Mm-hm.
- I put that back in myself.
Just thinking
..when you were in Iran
and Central Asia for Six,
did you ever come across
Major General Asadi?
No.
I'd have said if I had, right?
- Yeah, course. It's just the tequila.
- Hm.
OK
Be honest.
Don't you think the investigation's
running out of steam?
We're looking for
things that aren't there.
Are we?
MUSIC: 'Connection' by Elastica
Oh, yeah!
Oh, I feel like dancing.
Riding on anything.
Anything's good enough ♪
Who would've thought it of ♪
Someone like you? ♪
Just as they've brought me round.
Now that they've brought you down ♪
Roundaboutin' 'round about.
Who wants a life anyway? ♪
Another heart ♪
Has made the grave ♪
Forget it, forget it ♪
Forget it ♪
They don't understand
how The last card is played ♪
But somehow the vital
connection is made. ♪
MUSIC MUFFLED
PANTING
SHE LAUGHS
BOTH LAUGH
Mm.
No, wait. Wait, wait, wait.
HE EXHALES
HE SIGHS
I don't think we should.
It's OK.
SIGHS
SIGHS
HORN HONKS IN DISTANCE
WATER RUNS
HE EXHALES
That's from an old friend.
I've never quite been able
to put it in a box in the loft.
The poet Rumi.
"The truth was a mirror
in the hands of God.
"It fell and broke into pieces."
I think if you were available
..we'd be a thing.
A thing?
Yeah.
A thing-thing.
CHATTERING
What do you want?
I wanted to ask you about
Mehreen Askari-Evans.
Did you work with her at Six?
I thought this was related
to the GB operation?
It is.
I know two things.
That she worked on Iran's
nuclear programme at Six,
and she was kidnapped
while operating on the
Turkmenistan-Iran border.
It was all kept very quiet.
But she was MIA for two months,
and then for some
reason known to no-one,
she was repatriated.
Were there any security
concerns when she came back?
- Right.
- That's all I can say.
I don't want to see you again.
Seeing you has stirred
up a lot of things for me.
I felt you were all I had.
And you knew it.
And when Claire found out,
you dropped me like a hot potato.
Have you ever been
honest with your wife?
I mean really honest?
Who has the luxury of complete
honesty working in our game? Who?
It always suited you having the
Official Secrets Act to hide behind.
The routine dishonesty
of intelligence work,
it doesn't suit you, John.
What, you think I'm routinely dishonest?
You are.
I was.
It corrodes you from the inside out.
CHURCH BELLS RING
PHONE BUZZES
- Rudy, son.
- 'Chief, there's new information in
'from the devices we
placed in Asadi's room.'
He's talking about a deal to be done.
ASADI SPEAKS FARSI
He says that he's tired.
That it was a long way
to come to buy a stallion.
It's a lot of money.
Two million sterling.
The reception at the Embassy was tiring.
He says
I can't quite make it out.
Something about the
talks on denuclearisation.
Says he's flying home tomorrow.
Come on. You don't honestly
believe he's flown into the UK
to buy a racehorse? Do you
think that's why we were shot at?
I ran the audio through translation
software earlier and checked.
He's booked to fly out of Heathrow
to Tehran tomorrow morning
via Ankara.
Well, I don't know how many times
I can keep saying "I told you so"
and remain dignified.
There is no evidence
of a plot to kill anyone,
let alone using sarin.
I think Asadi's using diplomatic cover
for a face-to-face with Craig Beeston
regarding their heroin
trafficking business.
I think we're done here.
We'll pass it on to the police.
Simone, do you think somebody
could've tipped off Asadi?
I'd be careful pointing
the finger if I were you.
Greg's got it in for you as it is.
What do you know about
Mehreen's move from Six?
Mehreen? It was all done by
Five and Six leadership teams.
Six asked us if we could take her
during a difficult time
in her personal life.
She comes highly recommended
and with glowing references.
Look, I know it's disappointing
that we didn't get more
from bugging Asadi,
especially with what
happened at the airfield,
but it simply is not on to start
undermining your colleagues
with zero evidence to
substantiate those claims.
- I don't trust her.
- John!
I'm in a different place to you.
You've always been able
to play the maverick card.
My first day in the office
as a fully grown-up intelligence officer,
I was mistaken for the cleaner.
The fucking cleaner!
I've had to work twice as hard,
be twice as brilliant as everybody else,
and I have always
had to play by the rules.
Yeah, but that's what made us
such a great team back in the day.
Sorry. I am pulling the plug on this.
Apart from anything else,
we don't have the resources.
I know what you've been saying about me.
Well, if it makes you feel any better,
the concerns I had no longer apply.
And in my book, that
makes you an utter wanker.
And you, my son, are a fucking cock.
You think you intimidate me?
That I didn't take the physical
aspects of basic training seriously?
Or that I haven't got
years of judo in my bones?
I don't wanna fight with you, Greg.
I don't wanna hug you, either,
but I certainly don't wanna fight.
You're going to face an
internal inquiry into your actions.
I'm making sure it happens.
And I will be giving evidence,
even if no-one else will.
Like I give a fuck.
You used your personal phone
to contact Ehsan. Everyone knows.
You will lose your job,
your pension rights.
You will be on your own.
If the organisation thinks
a crime was committed
when you killed Ehsan's attacker,
then the file will be
handed on to the police.
So who's clever now?
There you go.
TV: - 'The Prime Minister offered
to meet the aides of the United States
'and Iran to try and revive
negotiations on denuclearisation.
'Sources at Number 10
described early communications
'as "cautiously optimistic",
'with both sides agreeing
to further dialogue.
'The UK Government says its role
'is to try and build a working
relationship between the two sides.'
- John.
- Martin.
If you have a moment, perhaps
we could go to my office
I don't wanna be late
for my appointment.
Man to man.
I wanted to say I'm sorry.
- I am sorry.
- Fuck off, Martin.
Are YOU sorry?
For how you've hurt Claire? No?
You don't know anything
about my marriage.
I know you took her for granted, John.
But you only think
about yourself, don't you?
Listen, now's not the time or place.
But I want you to know,
I think you're a prize
"see you next Tuesday".
- What's a "see you next Tuesday"?
- You'll work it out.
Please take a seat, Mr Hughes.
KEYBOARD KEYS CLACK, MOUSE CLICKS
CLAIRE: Course, he says
he's feeling tired as well.
MUFFLED CHATTER
The nurse will do your blood test today.
DOOR SHUTS
I'll message her.
Dr Stratakis will be testing for anaemia,
which could indicate
something more worrying.
But there are lots of possibilities.
Could just be an
infection or, erm, an ulcer.
Diverticulosis.
I know you can't forgive me
because you don't know what went on.
It was Penelope.
It started in Iraq
and then continued when
we came back to London.
It ended years ago.
And I only saw her
recently because I had to,
related to a work thing.
Did you love her?
I think I felt like
I did at the time.
HE SIGHS
Have there been other affairs?
SHE SNIFFLES
Fuck you.
SHE BREATHES SHAKILY
Fuck you.
SHE SOBS
WESLEY: What do you
want me to do about his mum?
She's driving everyone
fucking nuts, asking where he is.
BEESTON: I know.
Here you are. Manage the situation, yeah?
It's locked.
Use his face.
PHONE CLICKS, WESLEY CHUCKLES
"All right, Mum?
"I'm in"
- Turkey.
- "..Turkey."
"Love Jord."
KARLSON LAUGHS
RUDY: The kit Mehreen used isn't faulty.
And the transmitter is working perfectly.
Fuck.
Now, I wondered if Asadi had
used some kind of jamming device,
but there was no other signal
issues reported from the hotel,
so it must have been
a very localised block.
I think Mehreen's kit was placed
in some kind of Faraday pouch.
Now, if you've not got one of
these, you can improvise with tin foil.
Just watch this.
It's not one hundred percent, but
BEEPING
See?
Mm-hm.
Now, all the live audio was recorded
through the operation as usual.
And I know Mehreen's was
pretty much a dead end, but I
You had a look anyway, chief?
I had a look anyway, chief.
Now, visually, you can see these
occasional spikes in the audio.
But if I run it
through the XPO5 filter,
you get something we can decode.
HEAVILY DISTORTED SPEECH
And if we run that
through our AI software
DISTORTED: 'John
Hughes lacks credibility.'
We couldn't do the whole conversation,
but I cleaned up another
spike in the audio.
HEAVILY DISTORTED SPEECH
DISTORTED: What exactly do they know?
JOHN SIGHS DEEPLY
This stays between us.
DOOR SHUTS
DISTORTED SPEECH PLAYS
DISTORTED SPEECH PLAYS
DISTORTED SPEECH PLAYS
DISTORTED SPEECH PLAYS
'What exactly do they know?'
'John Hughes lacks credibility.'
You were held hostage for two months
on the Iranian border by the
Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
But for some reason, they
let you go. Why was that?
- You have to come clean now.
- I don't work for the Iranians.
- Don't lie to me.
- I don't work for Qasem Asadi.
Qasem Asadi works for us.
He's an agent for MI6.
Major General Qasem Asadi
is Six's jewel in the crown.
No-one in Five knows about
Asadi's true loyalty to us.
Only half a dozen people
know about him at Six.
Look at me.
- You know I'm telling the truth.
- So, then
..what was your job?
Just to get in the way
of my investigation?
Qasem's been undercover within
the hardliners' faction for two decades.
And the regular intelligence
he's provided is gold, John.
- It's gold.
- He really belongs to Six?
But when his hardline
masters wanted him to utilise
his business relationship with Beeston
to assassinate Fatemah Feyzi, well
he was caught between
a rock and a hard place.
So is the attack happening?
He needs to make it look
like he's going ahead with it.
It has to be convincing.
But at the crucial moment,
the device won't work.
Well, then, why even pretend to do it?
Israel took out most of the
high-ranking Revolutionary Guard,
and because Asadi
survived the bombings,
he's a suspected traitor.
The hardline faction's testing him.
But he's given me his word
the attack won't happen.
And Qasem Asadi's word has been
good for as long as I've known him.
- So it's all just a matter of trust?
- It is.
I've worked with him for ten years.
He saved my life when he
secured my release on the border.
He's risked his own life to
provide us with intelligence
that's saved hundreds
of thousands of lives.
But you you wouldn't let it go.
Qasem's our man. He's
one of the good guys.
Don't blow this, John.
This will have
repercussions for you, for me,
for peace and security in
Iran and the Middle East.
You have to keep this to
yourself, because if this gets out
..then we're all totally fucked.
GLASS BOTTLE CLINKS
BOTTLE OPENS
RINGING TONE
- Mum.
- 'Is that you, John?'
Hiya.
'Is Claire all right? Are
the children all right?'
Yeah, everything's all right.
'Oh, it's late.
'I thought something
terrible had happened.'
No. Everything's fine.
I just missed you, Mum. That's all.
'Oh, I miss you, son.
'Sometimes, I could cry all day.'
Oh, don't say that.
'Oh, I know you're all
busy in London and that.'
It's just hard to get up with
so much going on at work.
'Don't worry about me. I know you try.
'Every time I see the Home
Office come on the news,
'I say to myself,
"They work my John hard." '
STRAINED: I was
speaking to Claire,
and we wondered if you wanted to
come down to London at Christmas?
'Do I want to come to
London at-at Christmas?'
Yeah.
HE SNIFFLES
All the family can be together.
'That'll be lovely. You've made my day.
'And Claire, she's
all right with it?'
Yeah, she's she's really
looking forward to seeing you.
'That's made my year, that has!'
All right, well, I'll come
up and pick you up.
'You'll do no such thing.
'I'll get myself a taxi to Lime Street,
'and you can pick me up from Euston.'
HE SNIFFLES
Sound.
Well, listen, I better go.
- I love you, Mum.
- 'I love you too, son.'
PHONE BUZZES
Yes, Rudy.
'That flag on Jordan's
phone, it's come good.
'It was switched on for
two minutes last night,
'but I managed to get
a fix on the location.
'One sec.'
JOHN GROANS
'It's near Warrington.
I'll drop you a pin.'
VIDEO GAME CHIMES
KARLSON: Come on. Jesus Christ!
BIRD FLAPS WINGS
BEESTON: Karl!
- Karl, let's go!
- Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah, we're leaving.
We'll see you at reception.
ENGINE STARTS
METALLIC SCRAPING
MOUSE SQUEAKS
Oh!
HE SIGHS
MOUSE SQUEAKS
INSECT BUZZES
Sub extracted from file & improved