Dead Lions / C12
Chapter 12
Summary
Overnight, Jackson Lamb plants himself outside Regent’s Park until Nick Duffy is sent out to move him on, then talks his way inside by holding the botched vetting of Rebecca Mitchell over Duffy’s head. In Records, the basement archive, Lamb reacquaints himself with Molly Doran and pulls the thin file on Nikolai Katinsky, the cipher clerk who died at Upshott. Molly confirms that Katinsky claimed knowledge of the cicadas, the phantom network attributed to Alexander Popov, and accepts Lamb’s proposition that Katinsky was never a minnow but a senior officer who buried himself among the small fry in the 1970s. Lamb concludes that Katinsky is Popov, that he killed Dickie Bow, and that whatever he is doing now is a fresh operation rather than the old plan. A pill bottle from Katinsky’s office proves to be a bogus internet cancer cure, which tells Lamb the man is dying and in a hurry. Meanwhile River Cartwright wakes bound to a trolley in Tommy Moult’s charge and is wheeled back to the ruined house near Upshott. Moult knows he is a spook and expects him dead shortly; River, gagged and then abandoned, works out that the fertiliser he saw in the hangar is now loaded on Kelly Tropper’s aeroplane.
Beats
- C12S01 · Narrator — London spent the night awake and watched, and a man smoking on a pavement outside Regent’s Park was left undisturbed for half an hour. A car finally drew up and its driver, recognising Jackson Lamb, told him he had taken his time.
- C12S02 · River Cartwright — River came round strapped to a trolley with a gag taped into his mouth, being wheeled by Tommy Moult. Moult warned him off struggling with the offer of another Taser blast, and River understood that the load he had found on that trolley was no longer on it.
- C12S03 · Nick Duffy — Nick Duffy, dragged from bed, faced Lamb outside the Park and refused him entry. Lamb threatened to wreck Duffy’s career over the Rebecca Mitchell vetting, and Duffy gave way and walked him to the door.
- C12S04 · River Cartwright — Moult pushed the trolley across the Upshott grounds, resting often and avoiding patrols whose routine he plainly knew. He told River they were nearly there and kept the destination to himself.
- C12S05 · Jackson Lamb — Inside the Park, Duffy took Lamb down to Records, where Molly Doran refused to have the Dogs on her floor. Lamb sent Duffy away with Katinsky’s pill bottle and asked Molly for everything she held on Katinsky.
- C12S06 · River Cartwright — River surfaced from an exhausted doze to find Moult had brought him back to the ruined house. Among the nightmare images that had passed through him was Kelly Tropper’s sketch of a lightning-struck tower.
- C12S07 · Jackson Lamb — Lamb read the thin Katinsky file and pressed Molly on whether a cipher clerk could have been a senior officer in disguise. Molly conceded that he could, and that he might be one of the names the Service lost when the USSR collapsed.
- C12S08 · River Cartwright — Moult pulled out the gag and River demanded to know what he was doing; Moult told him the name Jonathan Walker would not be needed much longer and walked off. Left alone, River bellowed for help and nothing came back.
- C12S09 · Molly Doran — Molly followed Lamb’s reasoning that Katinsky took Dickie Bow and now fronts the phantom network as Alexander Popov. She named the children’s game dead lions, and said that when the game ended all hell would break loose.
- C12S10 · River Cartwright — River found his mobile still in his pocket and stopped struggling. However his speculation ranged, it kept returning to the sacks of fertiliser he had last seen stacked beside the aeroplane.
- C12S11 · Jackson Lamb — Duffy reported Rebecca Mitchell’s account of how Min Harper was killed, and Lamb told him the vetting had been half-arsed. A technician identified Katinsky’s pills as a useless internet cancer remedy, and Lamb concluded the man was dying and this was his last hurrah.
People
- Jackson Lamb — Talks his way into the Park and works the Katinsky file with Molly Doran through the night.
- Nick Duffy — Dogs officer dragged out of bed; concedes Lamb’s leverage over the Rebecca Mitchell vetting and reports her account.
- River Cartwright — Bound to a trolley by Tommy Moult and left in the ruined house, working out what the fertiliser means.
- Nikolai Katinsky — Wheels River across the Upshott grounds, knows he is a spook, and leaves him tied up.
- Molly Doran — Keeper of Records; supplies the Katinsky file and the dead lions image.
Places
- Regent’s Park — MI5 headquarters; Lamb waits outside it and is then let down to Records.
- Upshott — The village whose grounds River is wheeled across, and where Katinsky’s network was grouped.
Lines worth keeping
“Your mistake was forgetting Min Harper was one of mine.” — Jackson Lamb, to Duffy in the car
“I won’t. Have. The Dogs. On. My. Floor.” — Molly Doran, refusing Duffy entry
“Nikolai Katinsky is Alexander Popov.” — Jackson Lamb, naming the bogeyman
“Whatever he’s up to, at least we know why. He’s dying. And this is his last hurrah.” — Jackson Lamb, on Katinsky’s pills
Threads
- Plants: Katinsky is Alexander Popov, a senior officer who buried himself as a cipher clerk; Katinsky is dying from cancer and this is a final operation; The fertiliser from the hangar has been loaded onto Kelly Tropper’s aeroplane; Tommy Moult’s role in Upshott is unexplained; Duffy’s vetting of Rebecca Mitchell was signed off under Taverner’s pressure
- Payoffs: The pill bottle taken from Katinsky’s office is identified as a worthless internet cancer remedy; Duffy’s failure over Rebecca Mitchell is named to his face
- Continuity: Min Harper’s neck was broken in an underground garage off Edgware Road and the scene staged as a bicycle accident; Katinsky was born in Minsk, worked in transport administration, and spent twenty-two years at Moscow Centre; Katinsky’s existence was first noted in December 1974 from a staff rota; Molly Doran is in a wheelchair and has not seen Lamb for fifteen years; Lamb never made an approach to Katinsky during the Cold War