Slough House

Dead Lions / C13

Chapter 13

Book 2 Part Two 3894 words POV: Louisa Guy, Catherine Standish, River Cartwright, James Webb, Kelly Tropper

Summary

Morning brings the day of the London protest. Louisa Guy wakes and goes to meet Marcus Longridge; together they are to collect Arkady Pashkin from his hotel and drive him to a summit at the Needle. At Slough House, Catherine Standish finds Roderick Ho has already been working: he has traced Andrew Barnett, Stephen Butterfield and Salmon back through school and other early records and found nothing, confirming that the Upshott sleepers fabricated their pasts before the web could expose them. Louisa, meanwhile, probes Marcus about his own disgrace and learns it was gambling, not lost nerve, and that he is nobody’s snitch; she also admits she meant to confront Pashkin the previous night. Pashkin, urbane and unhurried, is driven to the Needle through the gathering march and taken in through the underground garage so that his arrival goes unrecorded. Webb rehearses his pitch upstairs. Ho then tells Catherine that the newspaper profile of Pashkin is a forgery, and that the man barely exists outside it; she orders Ho and Shirley Dander to the Needle and takes River’s call reporting a possible Code September. Elsewhere, Kelly Tropper flies her Cessna toward London with a companion and an inflammatory cargo.

Beats

  • C13S01 · Louisa Guy — Louisa woke already running through the day’s tasks, ending with leave the flat, meet Marcus, collect Pashkin. She showered, dressed, drank coffee and went out, leaving the previous night unexamined.
  • C13S02 · Catherine Standish — Catherine reached Slough House to find Roderick Ho already at work on the Upshott list. Ho had found gaps in the early records of Barnett, Butterfield and Salmon, evidence that their histories had been papered over before the web existed.
  • C13S03 · Louisa Guy — Louisa met Marcus near the hotel as crowds gathered in Hyde Park for the march. Marcus remarked that someone was out for trouble, and his mobile rang as they turned the corner.
  • C13S04 · River Cartwright — Half-conscious in the dark, River cycled through the same facts: the fertiliser loaded onto Kelly Tropper’s plane, and her sketch of a tower struck by lightning. He lost his grip on the present and slipped out of his mind.
  • C13S05 · Louisa Guy — Louisa watched the rally assemble and asked Marcus whether Lamb had set him to watch her. Marcus warned that Pashkin’s bodyguards would take her apart if she moved on their boss.
  • C13S06 · River Cartwright — Griff Yates found River in the ruins, cut him loose and poured water into his mouth. River coughed and gulped the rest, and Yates told him he was a fucking mess.
  • C13S07 · Louisa Guy — Marcus explained that gambling, not lost nerve, had put him in Slough House, and that a counsellor had made him impossible to sack. He denied being Taverner’s line into the house, and they went into the hotel lobby to collect Pashkin.
  • C13S08 · Catherine Standish — Catherine rang River and then Lamb without success and returned to the Upshott paperwork, noting how respectable and well-connected the sleepers were. Ho appeared in her doorway and told her she was joking with him.
  • C13S09 · River Cartwright — Yates insisted the range prank was never meant to hurt anyone and River told him to grow up about Kelly. River saw he had to reach the hangar and raise the alarm before the plane flew, and a jeep crested a hillock as his signal returned.
  • C13S10 · Louisa Guy — Pashkin came down to the lobby as if the previous night had never happened, and they drove him through the protest towards the Needle. Their party entered through the car park on a contractor’s credentials, so that their arrival went unrecorded.
  • C13S11 · James Webb — On the seventy-seventh floor, Webb rehearsed his approach to Pashkin and chose the chair that put the view behind him. Told by Marcus that they were in the garage, he dismissed the query and went to the lobby to meet the lift.
  • C13S12 · Catherine Standish — Ho showed Catherine that the Telegraph feature on Pashkin was a fake posted on Pashkin’s own site, and that the man had almost no independent existence. Catherine ordered Ho to the Needle with Shirley and took River’s call reporting a possible Code September.
  • C13S13 · Kelly Tropper — Kelly Tropper flew the Cessna Skyhawk through clear sky with a companion and an inflammatory cargo. She looked forward to being read about and watched overhead, and tamped down any thought that what she was doing was evil.

People

  • Louisa Guy — Drives Pashkin to the Needle with Marcus and probes Marcus about his past.
  • Catherine Standish — Runs Slough House in Lamb’s absence; receives Ho’s findings and River’s warning.
  • Roderick Ho — Traces the sleepers’ false early records and exposes the fake Pashkin profile.
  • Marcus Longridge — Louisa’s partner for the babysit; admits his gambling and denies being Taverner’s snitch.
  • River Cartwright — Freed by Yates and tries to raise the alarm about the plane.
  • Arkady Pashkin — Oligarch collected from his hotel and driven to the Needle summit.
  • James Webb — Waiting on the seventy-seventh floor, rehearsing how to handle Pashkin.
  • Kelly Tropper — Flying the Cessna Skyhawk toward London with the fertiliser aboard.
  • Piotr — One of Pashkin’s two bodyguards, in the car and the lobby.

Places

  • Slough House — Catherine and Ho work the Upshott list before the day’s business.
  • The Needle — Tower where Webb is to meet Pashkin on the seventy-seventh floor.
  • Upshott — River and Yates walk uphill out of the dip where he was held.

Lines worth keeping

“There’s a plane going to fly into the Needle—our very own 9/11.” — River Cartwright, realising the target

“I’m telling you, that thing’s fake.” — Roderick Ho, on the Pashkin profile

“Shit, no. I gamble, that’s all.” — Marcus Longridge, explaining his disgrace

“Are you Taverner’s line into Slough House?” — Louisa Guy, asking Marcus about loyalty

Threads

  • Plants: The Pashkin newspaper profile is a forgery and Pashkin may barely exist; Kelly Tropper is airborne with fertiliser aboard and intends to be remembered; River’s Code September warning is only half delivered; Marcus admits he still gambles, taking calls from a bookie
  • Payoffs: Ho’s archive work confirms the sleepers’ early lives are fabricated; Marcus’s reason for being at Slough House is explained
  • Continuity: Andrew Barnett’s CV claims St Leonard’s Grammar School in Chester in the early sixties, which has no record of him; Ho traced Barnett, Butterfield and Salmon; Butterfield owned a publishing company and sat on a parliamentary commission; Code September is unofficial shorthand for flying an aeroplane into a building; Louisa and Marcus collected Pashkin the previous day and again this morning

Characters

Places

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