Slough House

Slow Horses / C09

Chapter 9

Book 1 Part Two 7863 words POV: Robert Hobden, Jackson Lamb, Diana Taverner, Peter Judd

Summary

After midnight Robert Hobden, having run from his flat and the shooting, walks to Peter Judd’s house in Islington and rings until he is let in. Judd greets him warmly in front of his man Sebastian, then shuts the kitchen door and swears at him. Hobden says a spook tried to kill him; that they had copied his memory stick, which held only a dummy; and that at the Frontline Club on the night of the Euro elections he overheard Diana Taverner telling the journalist Dave Spencer that the far right was ‘on the agenda’. He concludes the Voice of Albion kidnap is a Service operation and wants Judd to spread word that the execution is a fake. Judd slaps him, calls him a has-been, and refuses to be thought a friend. Hobden then produces a photograph of Judd giving a Nazi salute beside Nicholas Frost, and Judd agrees to ‘see to it’. By the canal, Lamb confronts Taverner: Moody was her man, Sid Baker was shot with the gun he carried, and the boy’s uncle is General Mahmud Gul of ISI. Taverner offers Lamb rehabilitation and an early rescue; Lamb agrees on conditions — Moody disappears, Baker is a street victim, his people are fireproof, and she owes him. She then telephones someone about a contingency, and Judd, at his party, tells Sebastian to make calls.

Beats

  • C09S01 · Robert Hobden — After midnight Hobden rings Peter Judd’s Islington house, is kept on the step, then is shown to the kitchen, where Judd embraces him for show and then swears at him.
  • C09S02 · Jackson Lamb — Lamb meets Taverner by the canal, accuses her of giving Moody a phone and subverting his team, and tells her Moody is dead on his staircase.
  • C09S03 · Robert Hobden — Hobden tells Judd a spook tried to kill him, that the stolen files were a dummy, and that he overheard Taverner planning an op against the far right; Judd slaps him and disowns him.
  • C09S04 · Jackson Lamb — Taverner admits the operation — Moody was her man inside the group and the rescue was to be a publicity coup — and Lamb tells her to pull the plug.
  • C09S05 · Robert Hobden — Hobden sets out what he wants stopped and hints that Judd’s own past ties to the far right could be exposed; Judd threatens him, and Hobden answers that he has a photograph.
  • C09S06 · Jackson Lamb — Taverner reveals the boy’s uncle is General Mahmud Gul of ISI, offers Lamb rehabilitation and a role in an early rescue, and dangles Catherine Standish’s near-treason charge.
  • C09S07 · Robert Hobden — Hobden names the photograph — Judd saluting beside Nicholas Frost — and demands Judd spread word that the execution is a fake; Judd says he will see to it.
  • C09S08 · Diana Taverner — Alone, Taverner counts twenty-six hours to the deadline, plans to take the credit before Ingrid Tearney returns from DC, and phones an unnamed number with a contingency.
  • C09S09 · Peter Judd — Judd, at his own party, decides the plot probably is a Service operation, concludes the photograph must be neutralised, and tells Sebastian to make some calls.

People

  • Robert Hobden — Disgraced journalist; brings Judd the story and the photograph.
  • Peter Judd — Cabinet minister; hears him out, then plans to bury the threat.
  • Seb — Judd’s factotum, called Seb; admits Hobden and runs errands.
  • Jackson Lamb — Trades Moody’s death for conditions from Taverner.
  • Diana Taverner — Head of ops; author of the kidnap operation.
  • Sid Baker — Shot by Moody; discussed as Taverner’s borrowed agent.
  • Jed Moody — Dead; Taverner’s man inside the Voice of Albion.
  • Hassan Ahmed — The hostage whose rescue is the operation’s point.
  • Mahmud Gul — Hassan’s uncle; Second Desk at Pakistan’s ISI.
  • Ingrid Tearney — Away in DC; Taverner means to pre-empt her.
  • Catherine Standish — At home asleep; her near-treason charge is used as leverage.

Places

  • Regent’s Park — Five’s headquarters; the operation’s authorising centre.
  • Max’s cafe — Café where Hobden’s memory stick first fell loose.

Lines worth keeping

“What the fuck are you doing here, you stupid fucking cunt?” — Peter Judd, The instant the kitchen door shuts and the public persona drops.

“I have a photograph.” — Robert Hobden, His leverage: Judd saluting beside Nicholas Frost.

“But they’re my losers. Not yours.” — Jackson Lamb, The condition on which he agrees to run Taverner’s rescue.

Threads

  • Plants: Hobden holds a photograph of Judd saluting with Nicholas Frost; Judd claims it was destroyed; Judd tells Sebastian to make calls, sending Hobden’s warning out by proxy; Taverner’s contingency call to an unnamed party after Lamb leaves; The rescue is to be pulled forward by a day, with a legend built on Hobden’s files; Moody is to be recorded as a fall on the stairs; Hassan’s value lies in his uncle, General Mahmud Gul; Taverner’s hint that Catherine Standish’s near-treason charge has not gone away; Lamb’s own hidden reason for being at Slough House
  • Payoffs: The kidnap is revealed as a Service operation run by Taverner, with Moody inside the group; Moody’s gun and his return to Slough House are explained: he was cleaning up his own bug; Hobden’s files are confirmed as a decoy of pi, copied for nothing; The Frontline Club remark is traced to Taverner and Dave Spencer; Hobden’s flight from his flat is picked up where C08 left it
  • Continuity: Timeline: after midnight; the meet is ‘approaching two’; Taverner checks her watch at 2:35; Roughly twenty-six hours left on Hassan’s deadline; The Voice of Albion’s arithmetic: 56 tube deaths for 56 in return; Fifteen failed terrorist plots since 7/7, per Taverner; Peter Judd is forty-eight, a cabinet minister, with a nanny and a bicycle in his past; Cocaine is being used at Judd’s party upstairs; Hobden’s memory stick fell from his keys at Max’s and bounced on the table; Taverner has smoked seven cigarettes by the time she checks her watch; The canal meet is chosen because it limits the directions of approach

Characters

Places

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