Dead Lions / C11
Chapter 11
Summary
River comes to under the tree in the ruin with a small man in a red cap standing over him: Tommy Moult, who sells seeds outside the village shop, and who tells him Griff has gone. Moult walks River back up the slope, says the artillery never targets the ruins or the bronze-age barrows, and explains that Griff only meant to frighten him because he has been in love with Kelly Tropper since childhood. At Slough House, Ho reports that seventeen families moved into Upshott between March and June 1991, none of them connected to the airbase, and Lamb is briefly lost for a reply. Lamb and Catherine reason that the network was mothballed and its members left to live ordinary country lives, and that someone now means to wake them. Moult leads River not home but to the flying club’s clubhouse, where he produces frozen vodka; Catherine phones with the list of names, which does not include Moult. River searches the hangar, finds three canvas-covered sacks on a trolley, and is struck in the neck. Lamb breaks into the Wentworth Academy, finds Katinsky’s rooms empty but lived in, and pockets a pill bottle marked Xemoflavin.
Beats
- C11S01 · River Cartwright — River came to under the tree in the ruined building with his head full of noise and found a small man in a red cap standing over him. The man said Griff had long gone and hauled River to his feet, and River recognised him. The man told him they should move.
- C11S02 · Roderick Ho — Ho brought his printout to Lamb’s office after midnight and told Lamb and Catherine that seventeen families had come to Upshott between March and June 1991. None of them had any connection to the airbase, and there was nothing else in the village to attract them. Lamb, for once, had no immediate reply.
- C11S03 · River Cartwright — Tommy Moult walked River up the slope and explained that the artillery did not target the ruins or the bronze-age barrows, so he had not been in real danger. He said Griff had only wanted to scare him, because Griff had been in love with Kelly Tropper since she was a child. Moult then led River away from the road, saying they were going to find the only thing round here worth finding.
- C11S04 · Catherine Standish — Lamb sent Ho back to work, ordering him to hunt for flaws in the sleepers’ paperwork and to run a background check on Pashkin. Alone with Catherine, Lamb argued that sleepers operate solo and that the network had probably been mothballed and sent to the countryside after the Soviet collapse. Catherine suggested the sleepers might have become who they had pretended to be, and said someone should tell River.
- C11S05 · River Cartwright — Moult led River past a patrol and through the fence to the flying club’s landing strip and clubhouse, where he took a frozen bottle of vodka from the fridge. River studied the photographs on the fridge, including one of Ray Hadley, and a calendar with several days crossed out. Catherine Standish then phoned him.
- C11S06 · Jackson Lamb — Lamb closed his window, poured a whisky and sat still, working at why the network had been sent to Upshott. He concluded the choice had been deliberate, made by someone who thought in images of England. He put on his coat and left Slough House, heading west.
- C11S07 · River Cartwright — Catherine read River the seventeen names, which included Butterfield, Hadley, Tropper and Morden but not Moult, and told him the cicada network appeared to exist and to be in Upshott now. She added that the woman who ran Min over might not have been an accident. River hung up, entered the hangar, found three canvas-covered sacks on a trolley, and was struck in the neck by what felt like a pair of darts.
- C11S08 · Jackson Lamb — Lamb picked the lock of the Wentworth Academy and searched Nikolai Katinsky’s office, finding a folded camp bed, an abandoned love letter and a diary with no appointments. In the back room he found Katinsky’s clothes, food and a stash of unlabelled pill bottles, one marked Xemoflavin, and pocketed it. Katinsky himself was not there.
People
- River Cartwright — caught in the barrage, then led by Moult to the flying club
- Nikolai Katinsky — elderly Upshott man in a red cap who finds River and guides him
- Roderick Ho — brings Lamb the discovery about the seventeen families
- Jackson Lamb — questions the Upshott choice, then breaks into Katinsky’s rooms
- Catherine Standish — works through the implications with Lamb and phones River with the names
Places
- Upshott — the artillery range and ruined farm buildings where River is caught
- Slough House — where Lamb and Catherine spend the night reasoning
Lines worth keeping
“What you probably ought to know is that Griff’s been in love with young Kelly Tropper since she took the stabilisers off her bike.” — Tommy Moult, explaining Griff’s grudge
“Seventeen families. And they all arrived in Upshott between March and June, nineteen ninety-one.” — Roderick Ho, reporting his discovery
“Sleepers operate solo. They don’t have handlers, just a call-code.” — Jackson Lamb, correcting Catherine’s assumption
“He just wanted to scare you shitless.” — Tommy Moult, on Griff’s intentions
Threads
- Plants: Seventeen families arrived in Upshott within a few months of 1991, and someone may now intend to wake the network.; Three canvas-covered sacks sit on a trolley in the flying club hangar, cold like the aircraft.; River is struck in the neck by what feels like a pair of darts inside the hangar.; Katinsky’s rooms are lived in but empty, with a stash of unlabelled pill bottles including Xemoflavin.; Tommy Moult is not among the seventeen names.; The clubhouse calendar has several days crossed out in red, including tomorrow’s.
- Payoffs: Griff’s hostility on the range is explained: he has been in love with Kelly Tropper since childhood.; Moult explains why the barrage did not kill River: the artillery avoids the ruins and the bronze-age barrows.
- Continuity: Ho’s finding dates the arrivals to between March and June 1991.; Lamb’s rule is that sleepers operate solo, with no handlers, only a call-code.; Katinsky lives in the Wentworth Academy’s offices above a stationer’s off High Holborn.; River’s mobile still works on the range and Catherine can reach him on it.