Slough House

Slow Horses / C16

Chapter 16

Book 1 Part Two 10381 words POV: Louisa Guy, Jackson Lamb, James Webb, Hassan Ahmed, Curly, Catherine Standish, Min Harper, Nick Duffy, Larry, Diana Taverner, River Cartwright

Summary

At a café on Old Street, Catherine Standish takes charge of the three slow horses left behind — Louisa Guy, Min Harper and Roderick Ho. Ho hacks a car-hire database and finds that Alan Black hired a Volvo in Leeds; Catherine telephones Triple-D posing as Dermot Radcliffe’s sister and comes back with the number plate, then points out that the car carries sat nav. Ho’s contact in the hacking community cracks RoadWise and fixes the Volvo in Epping Forest. Across town, Jackson Lamb drives the hijacked SUV to Regent’s Park, hands his gun to Nick Duffy, and is taken up to Diana Taverner, who offers him a clean exit if he co-signs Struan Loy and Kay White’s statements blaming Black, and threatens to reopen Catherine’s file on Charles Partner. Lamb throws her waste-paper basket at the glass wall and claims a bomb is on the SUV’s back seat. The alarm brings the achievers into the building, which is what he wanted: River Cartwright has ridden in the boot. River beats Webb until he admits keeping a copy of the assessment report, finds the file labelled Fiasco — photographs of Taverner with Black — and walks onto the hub in Webb’s suit. In Epping Forest, Larry deserts, Curly hits Hassan with the axe handle, and Hassan runs; Curly trips, and Hassan takes the axe, spares him, and walks out to the road.

Beats

  • C16S01 · Louisa Guy — Watching Ho work, Louisa decides Catherine Standish has changed into the group’s leader, and that Ho is a capable hacker as well as a dick.
  • C16S02 · Jackson Lamb — Lamb parks the hijacked SUV on the pavement outside Regent’s Park; guards surround it within fifteen seconds and he tells one to fetch his boss.
  • C16S03 · Louisa Guy — Ho reports that Black hired a car in Leeds; Catherine argues it makes sense, takes down the number and goes to the payphone despite the bets against her.
  • C16S04 · James Webb — Webb, back in his office after Lamb dumped him on the pavement, weighs his fast-track career and Taverner’s patronage, and decides he can afford to annoy her.
  • C16S05 · Louisa Guy — Catherine returns with the Volvo’s number plate, got by posing as Radcliffe’s sister, and then supplies the key detail: Triple-D cars carry sat nav.
  • C16S06 · Hassan Ahmed — Hooded in the boot, Hassan hears a sat nav speaking in Joanna Lumley’s voice and understands she was never talking to him; he surfaces into the land of the living.
  • C16S07 · Jackson Lamb — Lamb hands the gun back to Duffy outside Regent’s Park, farts, and asks to be taken in to see Taverner.
  • C16S08 · Curly — Curly overrides the sat nav and sends Larry down a minor road skirting Epping Forest, announcing that they are going to cut to the chase.
  • C16S09 · James Webb — Leaving his office for the downstairs desk, Webb sees a black SUV descend the ramp into the car park and uses the doubt over who is driving it as an excuse to investigate.
  • C16S10 · Catherine Standish — Catherine, privately elated at having pointed a gun, tells the table to act as if saving Hassan’s life; Ho explains his hacker contact and his laptop bleeps with an answer.
  • C16S11 · Hassan Ahmed — The car stops in a wood; Hassan is dragged out, pulls off his hood, and Curly plants a boot on his shoulder: end of the line.
  • C16S12 · Jackson Lamb — Taverner offers Lamb a clean exit if he co-signs Loy and White’s statements, and threatens to reopen Catherine’s Partner file; Lamb throws her waste-paper basket at the glass wall.
  • C16S13 · Min Harper — Ho’s hack returns a satellite photograph of treetops: the Volvo’s sat nav is in Epping Forest, fifty seconds out of date and possibly dumped.
  • C16S14 · Hassan Ahmed — Hassan stands, sees Larry’s tripod and camera and the axe in Curly’s hand, calls them cowards and Nazis, and Larry says he has had enough.
  • C16S15 · Nick Duffy — Duffy bursts in to find a white-faced Taverner; Lamb says a handler never burns his own joe, then claims the SUV in the car park has a bomb on the back seat.
  • C16S16 · James Webb — The desk men identify Lamb as the man brought in; Webb watches five achievers pour into the car park and is then held at gunpoint in his own corridor.
  • C16S17 · Larry — Larry quits, throws the camera back and walks off down the track, leaving Curly raging; when Hassan needles him, Curly hits him with the axe handle.
  • C16S18 · Catherine Standish — The four sit over cleared plates in silence until Ho reveals he has had his mobile in his pocket the whole time; Min calls that rubbish for a communications genius.
  • C16S19 · Diana Taverner — An achiever sets Lamb’s ticking office clock on Taverner’s desk; she realises the bomb was a bluff to draw a response, because Lamb wanted someone brought in.
  • C16S20 · River Cartwright — River, dressed as an achiever, holds Webb at gunpoint and beats him until Webb stops denying he kept a copy of the assessment report, without saying where.
  • C16S21 · Hassan Ahmed — Dazed, Hassan stands and walks into the trees, watching his feet; he trips, cries out, and turns to find Curly and Larry staring at him.
  • C16S22 · River Cartwright — River works out that Webb would file the report under “Fiasco”, and is still searching the shelves when a real achiever enters and aims a pistol at his head.
  • C16S23 · Curly — Curly chases Hassan through the wood, certain of his cause and his axe, and deliberately slows his pace to savour the hunt.
  • C16S24 · Diana Taverner — Duffy reports the intruder caught in Webb’s office and Taverner promises Lamb a signed confession; River then walks in wearing Webb’s jacket and tie, a black folder under his arm.
  • C16S25 · Hassan Ahmed — Exhausted, Hassan is stopped by a branch; Curly closes in, then trips on the root Hassan avoided, and the axe lands at Hassan’s feet.
  • C16S26 · River Cartwright — River opens the file labelled Fiasco and lays out photographs of Taverner with Alan Black, proving she had him burned; Lamb promises to watch River’s back if Hassan dies.
  • C16S27 · Hassan Ahmed — Hassan rests the axe on Curly’s head and demands a reason to spare him, then tells him he makes him ashamed to be British, and walks away.
  • C16S28 · Hassan Ahmed — Hassan cuts his bonds with the axe, walks until blue lights and rushing people converge on him, and answers to his name: he is alive.

People

  • Catherine Standish — Takes the lead; poses as Radcliffe’s sister; suggests the sat nav
  • Louisa Guy — Watches the group change; bets on Catherine succeeding
  • Min Harper — Reasons about the cars; reads the sat nav map over Ho’s shoulder
  • Roderick Ho — Hacks the hire firm and RoadWise through his contacts
  • Jackson Lamb — Drives the SUV in, bluffs a bomb, refuses Taverner’s deal
  • Diana Taverner — Offers Lamb a cover-up, then orders him taken downstairs
  • Nick Duffy — Takes Lamb’s gun; ordered to arrest him; hears the bomb claim
  • James Webb — Sidelined suit; keeps the Fiasco file; beaten by River
  • River Cartwright — Enters in the SUV’s boot; takes the file; wears Webb’s suit
  • Hassan Ahmed — Dragged into Epping Forest; takes the axe; spares Curly
  • Curly — Axe-wielding kidnapper; abandoned by Larry; left alive
  • Larry — Deserts Curly rather than commit murder; walks away
  • Alan Black — Dead; named as the man who hired the Volvo
  • Charles Partner — Dead traitor; Taverner threatens to reopen his file on Catherine
  • Sid Baker — Named by Lamb as Taverner’s plant watching River
  • Jed Moody — Dead; his balaclava and gun are worn by River
  • Struan Loy — One of the two whose statements Taverner wants Lamb to co-sign
  • Kay White — The other witness against Lamb

Places

Lines worth keeping

“I think we act as if we’re saving his life, not finding his body.” — Catherine Standish, She takes command of the search and names the only workable assumption.

“A handler never burns his own joe. It’s the worst treachery of all.” — Jackson Lamb, Lamb accuses Taverner of doing to Standish what Partner did.

“You make me ashamed I’m British.” — Hassan Ahmed, The line with which he chooses not to kill Curly.

Threads

  • Plants: Catherine’s phone call to Triple-D as Radcliffe’s sister; The sat nav fitted to hired Volvos; Lamb’s claim that a bomb is on the SUV’s back seat; River hidden in the SUV’s boot as it enters the car park; Webb’s remark that he prefers to call it a fiasco
  • Payoffs: The RoadWise trace puts the Volvo in Epping Forest; The bomb is Lamb’s wooden office clock, delivered ticking to Taverner’s desk; The file labelled Fiasco holds photographs of Taverner with Alan Black; The photographs explain why Taverner had River failed at King’s Cross; Lamb names Sid Baker as the plant sent to watch River; River’s shirt-swap with the unconscious Webb gets him onto the hub
  • Continuity: Lamb made the team trash their phones, but Ho still has his mobile; Catherine’s cover story is that their mother is in hospital; Taverner says Limitations will call a dismissal a retirement; Black is dead; Curly and Larry are still at large until the wood; Ho’s laptop is the team’s only equipment

Characters

Places

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