Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Smiley and the other men discuss Irina’s failed attempt to defect. They wonder whether she was exposed. Tarr describes how he returned to Boris’s favorite bars and hotels to find Boris, but all he recovered was a diary belonging to Irina, hidden in a pre-arranged location. She may have intended for him to find it, as the diary provides important information about an important figure in in Soviet intelligence named Karla. The diary describes how Karla’s driver once met an agent hidden inside the British intelligence service who uses the codename “Gerald.” This undercover agent reported to Colonel Gregor Viktorov, who worked under the codename Polyakov and dealt with Gerald on Karla’s behalf. Irina’s diary outlines the complicated system of communications Gerald uses to funnel information out of British intelligence to the Soviets. In Irina’s opinion, the Circus is threatened and the people who work there are in danger. Her diary explains that she is providing this information to Tarr because she loves him, but she is worried that she is being watched by Boris and her handlers. Irina finishes her diary entries by asking Tarr whether he has told anyone about her, such as a person at Circus who might tell the Soviets about her desire to defect.