Gidseltagningen

In Copenhagen an underground train judders to a halt and masked men take 15 passengers hostage. Philip Norgaard of the Counter-Terrorism Task Force heads a hastily convened team to lead the rescue effort. Philip is an ex-serviceman who has had his own experience of hostage taking, but his first challenge is to determine who are these men, and what they want.

Naja Toft is receiving commiseratory social media messages on having been fired, when she gets another call from Alpha asking for another interview - but this time on her blog. The intelligence team work through the mobile phones left on the train to garner as much information as possible about the hostages. Adel is striking up a friendship with co-hostage Denise who attempts to persuade him to curb his hostile acts towards their captors as it is putting everyone's lives in danger.

Philip takes full responsibility for the death of a hostage and chases up his contact for assurances that his fears of recognising the main hostage-taker are unfounded. As political pressure to end the stand-off mounts, one of the hostages is taken ill and, not willing to free him, his captors agree for a medic to attend. Daniel tells Philip that this is their chance.

A ballistics report on a bullet retrieved from the lift shows an advanced rifle only used by Danish Special Forces that may be from a batch stolen from the armoury in Aalborg two years earlier. Naja visits the waiting families and informs them that she can no longer be a part of their fundraising activities, but agrees to listen to Jonas, who tells her about his father Leon. The team investigate the lead of the stolen guns and find themselves interviewing bikers and ex-servicemen

Phillip is shown the lock-up garage plastered with news cuttings about himself, as the team continue to sift through evidence with the help of Interpol. Meanwhile, the hostages are getting restless and, overhearing that Alpha is planning another streamed interview, Joachim hatches a plan.

After the death of Bodil, the team resort to shutting off the power to the hostage takers, hoping that this will force their hand. Jonas calls on Naja, knowing that she is now suspicious of him, and resorts to violence when she attempts to make a run for it. News reports are becoming more critical of the police's handling of the affair, but Bodil's death has prompted a upsurge in money being donated to the fundraising cause.

Philip refuses to reveal to Hans how he knows one of the hostage takers, forcing Hans to assume command of the team, until chief of staff Palle Wulff arrives to provide the confidential information which also reveals to Philip that he himself has been betrayed. As the hostage takers begin to show the strain Hans decides that the time has come for action.

Philip complies with Mark's demand that he goes down in the lift to ensure the safety of the remaining hostages. Mark rings Louise to arrange for the transfer of the ransom money.