Chapter 6

Summary

Peter Judd summons Ingrid Tearney to his office and lets her work out that the morning’s incursion at Regent’s Park was a tiger team: a simulated attack on the Service, hired by him and run by his old acquaintance Sylvester Monteith, whose firm Black Arrow used River Cartwright as its instrument. Judd treats the lapse as proof of institutional failure, promises a waiver for the kidnapping, demands an alliance rather than a resignation, and orders Slough House closed that same day. Tearney, boxed in, says she will consider it done. In a multistorey car park, Monteith waits with Sean Donovan and gloats over a victory he believes is his, until he sneers once too often at Donovan’s background and sacks him. Donovan pins him against the van and forces out the time and place of his meeting with Judd; Monteith gives up Anna Livia Plurabelle’s on Park Lane, then wriggles out of his jacket and runs. At the restaurant, Judd drinks Chablis, awaits his late guest and reflects on his hold over Tearney, until a body in a grey suit is unloaded from a van in the street outside. He goes back in and orders lunch alone.

Beats

• C06S01 · Ingrid Tearney — Ingrid Tearney was driven through a heat-withered London to the Home Secretary’s office, where Peter Judd received her with tea and obvious satisfaction. He mentioned a rumpus at the Park, then asked whether she knew the term tiger team, and Tearney understood that he had her by the throat.
• C06S02 · Sylvester Monteith — Sylvester Monteith took a taxi to a multistorey car park and climbed to the top storey, where Sean Donovan waited beside a van. Monteith was pleased with the morning’s work and expected a celebration, but Donovan answered him flatly and would not unbend.
• C06S03 · Ingrid Tearney — Judd explained that he had hired Monteith’s firm, Black Arrow, to test the Service’s own security, and that Cartwright’s failed theft proved a serious lapse. He waved aside her objections, promised a signed waiver for the kidnapping, and demanded an alliance rather than a resignation, then told her to close Slough House that day.
• C06S04 · Jackson Lamb — Jackson Lamb settled into Catherine Standish’s chair, dropped her neat pile of reports into the wastebasket and found an unopened bottle of The Macallan in her desk. Louisa Guy told him River was under arrest and Standish’s phone had gone dead, and Lamb called the rest of them collateral damage while promising a different story once they knew who was behind it.
• C06S05 · Ingrid Tearney — Tearney asked what would become of the building and the agents, and Judd told her to sack them all, sell the building and hand Cartwright to the police. She saw the order as a display of power rather than a policy, and told him to consider it done.
• C06S06 · Sylvester Monteith — Donovan took a bottle of water from the van, then answered Monteith’s question about the woman with open contempt and called Judd a sneaky piece of shit. Monteith sacked him, and Donovan slammed him against the van and demanded the time and place of his meeting with Judd; Monteith gave up Anna Livia Plurabelle’s on Park Lane, then slipped out of his jacket and ran.
• C06S07 · Peter Judd — Peter Judd drank Chablis at Anna Livia Plurabelle’s, waited for the late Monteith and savoured the deference he had just forced from Tearney. A commotion outside drew him to the door, where a grey-suited body had been unloaded from a van and the police were arriving; he dismissed the thought that Tearney had ordered it, went back inside and ordered lunch alone.

People

• Ingrid Tearney — Head of the Service; summoned by Judd and manoeuvred into conceding the closure of Slough House.
• Peter Judd — Home Secretary; hired the tiger team, extracts an alliance from Tearney and orders Slough House shut.
• Sylvester Monteith — Runs Black Arrow, the firm behind the tiger team; humiliated by Donovan and flees the car park.
• Sean Donovan — Monteith’s ex-soldier subordinate, who turns on him and forces out the details of the Judd meeting.
• Jackson Lamb — Head of Slough House; searches Standish’s office and promises action once the culprit is known.
• Louisa Guy — Slow horse; reports River’s arrest and the dead phone, and presses Lamb to act.
• Catherine Standish — Offstage; missing since the previous night, her empty office the scene of Lamb’s search.
• River Cartwright — Offstage; under arrest at the Park for attempting to steal a file.

Places

• Slough House — The Service’s exile posting near the Barbican, which Judd orders closed.

Lines worth keeping

“Close it down. Today.” — Peter Judd, ordering Slough House shut

“Have them put down.” — Peter Judd, on the agents’ fate

“I think you’re collateral damage” — Jackson Lamb, to Louisa about the team

“It’s not always politic to fire people.” — Ingrid Tearney, on dismissing staff

Threads

• Plants: Judd hired Monteith’s Black Arrow as a tiger team to test the Service; Tearney agrees to close Slough House rather than refuse Judd; The file Cartwright was sent to steal was not a random choice; Donovan learns Judd is at Anna Livia Plurabelle’s on Park Lane
• Payoffs: The morning’s incursion at the Park is explained as Judd’s simulated attack
• Continuity: Standish has been missing since the previous night and her phone battery has been removed; River Cartwright is under arrest at the Park; Louisa Guy has already checked Standish’s flat; An unopened bottle of The Macallan sits in Standish’s bottom desk drawer; Donovan is a former soldier, bigger and fitter than Monteith; A body in a grey suit is dumped from a van outside Anna Livia Plurabelle’s

Characters

• Ingrid Tearney
• Peter Judd
• Sylvester Monteith
• Sean Donovan
• Jackson Lamb
• Louisa Guy
• Catherine Standish
• River Cartwright

Places

• Slough House