Slough House

Real Tigers / C09

Chapter 9

Book 3 Part Two 9080 words POV: Peter Judd, River Cartwright, Marcus Longridge, Louisa Guy, Roderick Ho, Shirley Dander

Summary

Peter Judd waits in a shaded square off Praed Street for Diana Taverner, untroubled by the murder of his old friend Sly Monteith and intent on learning how their tiger-team scheme went wrong. When she arrives he makes her sit, warns her that she is now in his pocket, and answers her composure with a grope that she returns. At Slough House his people work their separate angles: River identifies Sean Patrick Donovan, a decorated ex-lieutenant colonel jailed after a crash that killed a passenger, as the likely abductor; Louisa finds a conspiracy poster called BigSeanD who began posting when Donovan left prison and who believes the weather is being controlled; Ho maps Black Arrow’s properties and finds a rented building north of High Wycombe with a double-decker bus in its yard; Marcus wins at the bookies, shoots at a Service range, and drifts back to the betting shop; Shirley talks her way past the database staff before an HR newsletter reveals that the Grey Books are held at a new off-site facility west of Hayes. At the evening meeting Lamb takes Shirley’s sandwich, hears the reports, then sacks Marcus and Shirley for going AWOL and for Shirley being high. River’s phone rings, showing Catherine’s name, and Donovan is on the line.

Beats

  • C09S01 · Peter Judd — Peter Judd sat on a bench in a shaded square near Praed Street, waiting for Diana Taverner and reflecting without grief on the death of his school friend Sly Monteith. When Taverner arrived he told her to sit beside him, and she sat.
  • C09S02 · River Cartwright — River Cartwright, still sore from Nick Duffy’s beating, traced Sean Patrick Donovan to Black Arrow, where the ex-army officer had been hired under a pseudo-military title after a spell in a military prison. He found a photograph of Donovan and Benjamin Traynor flanking Monteith, and emailed the name to the other slow horses.
  • C09S03 · Marcus Longridge — Marcus Longridge left Slough House on the pretext of getting lunch and won £160 on a bet at the bookies by the station. Buoyed by the win, he released a Boris Bike with his debit card and set off for Regent’s Park instead of going back to the office.
  • C09S04 · Louisa Guy — Louisa Guy, set by Lamb to hunt Donovan through conspiracy message boards, put up with his needling about Roderick Ho’s secret task and her private life. She began trawling the sites for a poster who might be Donovan, and five minutes after Lamb left her office she cracked it.
  • C09S05 · Roderick Ho — Roderick Ho worked through Black Arrow’s records, finding two industrial properties with black vans parked outside and a substantial rent payment for a three-storey building north of High Wycombe with a double-decker bus in its courtyard. He printed off the screenshots and collected them.
  • C09S06 · Marcus Longridge — Marcus Longridge talked his way into a Service shooting range seven levels beneath a renovated swimming baths, signing the log with Lamb’s squiggle, and put ten rounds into a target thirty yards down the corridor. He came away feeling that he had turned a corner.
  • C09S07 · Peter Judd — Judd demanded to know how the tiger-team scheme had ended with Monteith dead and Taverner’s service compromised, and she answered that Donovan had gone off message and that she had never heard of him before proposing the plan. Judd warned her that she was now in his pocket, then seized her breast; she squeezed him back, and he laughed.
  • C09S08 · Shirley Dander — Shirley Dander, hungry and waiting for a lunch that Marcus had not brought, tried the Service intranet and a contact among the Queens of the Database for the location of the Grey Books and was refused. She left the cocaine in her bag untouched and rang Molly Doran instead.
  • C09S09 · River Cartwright — River stopped at Louisa’s open door and she asked him why he visited Webb in hospital, the man she held responsible for Min’s death. River said he talked to Webb about Slough House and the gap between where they had been and where they had ended up, and admitted it was not a reason; Louisa gave him a packet of stronger painkillers.
  • C09S10 · Marcus Longridge — Marcus returned the bike, bought the chicken baguette Shirley wanted and rang Cassie to say he would be late, without telling her what Slough House meant. Instead of rounding the alley to the back door he found himself in the bookies again, wallet fattened by his winnings, and told the roulette machine to bring it on.
  • C09S11 · Shirley Dander — Molly Doran told Shirley to check her inbox and hung up. Shirley found nothing but an all-Service HR newsletter, which announced that the off-site information-storage facility was operational, and her brief triumph collapsed into the realisation that there was nobody to share it with.
  • C09S12 · Peter Judd — Judd watched Taverner leave the square, aware that Ingrid Tearney now had the upper hand over him and could end his career with a word to Number Ten. He called Sebastian, his fixer, thinking that a more permanent kind of solution might be needed.
  • C09S13 · River Cartwright — The slow horses gathered outside Lamb’s office, where Marcus arrived late with Shirley’s flattened baguette and Lamb confiscated it. River briefed them on Donovan’s career and the killing of Paul Lowell, Louisa tied Donovan to the online alias BigSeanD and his weather-control theories, and Shirley revealed that the Grey Books were held at a new facility west of Hayes. Lamb then sacked Marcus and Shirley for going AWOL and for Shirley being high, and River’s phone rang showing Catherine’s name, with Donovan on the line.

People

  • Peter Judd — Home Secretary; meets Taverner in a Paddington square, trades threats with her, and telephones his fixer.
  • Diana Taverner — Head of Ops; admits the tiger team went off message under Donovan, denies prior knowledge of him, and turns Judd’s assault back on him.
  • River Cartwright — Slow horse, battered by the Dogs; identifies Donovan and later briefs the team on his career.
  • Marcus Longridge — Slow horse; wins at the bookies, shoots at a Service range, brings Shirley a squashed baguette, and is sacked.
  • Louisa Guy — Slow horse; traces the poster BigSeanD to Donovan and explains the weather-conspiracy material.
  • Roderick Ho — Slow horse; finds Black Arrow’s properties and the rented building near High Wycombe.
  • Shirley Dander — Slow horse; finds where the Grey Books are stored and is sacked alongside Marcus.
  • Jackson Lamb — Runs Slough House; sets the tasks, takes Shirley’s sandwich, and dismisses Marcus and Shirley.
  • Molly Doran — Archive keeper; takes Shirley’s call and tells her to check her inbox.
  • Seb — Judd’s fixer and bagman, summoned by telephone at the chapter’s end.

Places

  • Slough House — The slow horses’ offices in Smithfield; Louisa’s room, the kitchen, and Lamb’s landing.
  • Regent’s Park — Service headquarters; Marcus cycles towards it and uses a nearby shooting range.

Lines worth keeping

“But when I say sit, you sit.” — Peter Judd, ordering Taverner onto the bench

“So I might be in her pocket, but you’re in mine, Diana.” — Peter Judd, warning Taverner of his leverage

“You don’t feel disappointed to me.” — Diana Taverner, answering his grope

“You really ought to check your inbox, young lady.” — Molly Doran, ending the telephone call

Threads

  • Plants: Ho finds a three-storey building north of High Wycombe rented by Black Arrow, with a double-decker bus in its courtyard.; Judd tells Taverner she is in his pocket and that his interests are now hers.; Judd telephones Sebastian, his fixer, suggesting a more permanent solution may be needed.; Tearney can end Judd with one word to Number Ten, because the tiger-team failure happened on his initiative.; Shirley still has a wrap of cocaine in her bag.
  • Payoffs: Louisa’s trawl of conspiracy boards produces BigSeanD, whose posting history matches Donovan’s release from prison.; Shirley’s inbox turns up the location of the Grey Books: a new off-site facility west of Hayes.; Marcus’s morning win at the bookies pays for the baguette he brings back.
  • Continuity: Marcus and Shirley are dismissed by Lamb for going AWOL and for Shirley being high; they are no longer employed at Slough House.; Donovan is a former lieutenant colonel, court-martialled after a car crash that killed Captain Alison Dunn; he served five years.; Marcus forged Lamb’s name on a Park register and used his Service card at a shooting range.; Catherine Standish is being held; Donovan’s call comes from her phone.

Characters

Places

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