Real Tigers / C16
Chapter 16
Summary
Jackson Lamb meets Diana Taverner on a bench in a square near Paddington and lets her lay out the aftermath: Traynor and Donovan dead, Black Arrows and two of Duffy’s men killed, Duffy himself with limited brain function. Taverner concedes that the tiger team was her idea and that she sold it to Judd, and explains Project Waterproof, the black prisons Tearney denied using to parliamentary committees and paid foreign states to keep, which is what Alison Dunn learned in New York and died for. She expects the evidence to be buried, Tearney retired and herself made First Desk, with Judd’s path to Number Ten smoothed in return. Lamb warns her that Judd is a tiger by the tail, then hands over the folder River took. Alone, Taverner opens it and finds a blank topsheet marked V-for-Virgil over a copy of the Angling Times, and calls Judd to report the worst case. A storm breaks over Aldersgate Street and an unseen presence moves through the empty rooms of Slough House, past Ho rehearsing a line and Louisa turning a man down; it takes shape at Lamb’s door as Seb, Judd’s man, and Lamb, awake with his gun, shoots him and reaches for the phone.
Beats
- C16S01 · Diana Taverner — Jackson Lamb met Diana Taverner on a bench in a square near Paddington and let her run through the aftermath: Traynor and Donovan dead, Black Arrows killed, Duffy brain-damaged. Taverner admitted the tiger team was her idea and set out Project Waterproof, the black prisons Tearney had denied, and the promotion that would follow Tearney’s retirement. Lamb handed over the folder and warned her she had a tiger by the tail in Peter Judd, and once he had gone she opened it to find an Angling Times under a blank topsheet and telephoned Judd to say the worst case had happened.
- C16S02 · Narrator — A storm broke over Aldersgate Street while an unseen presence moved through the empty rooms of Slough House, past Ho practising a line, Louisa turning a man down and the room Catherine Standish had left. It found the closed door on the top floor and took shape there as Seb, Peter Judd’s man, come to kill the sleeping Lamb. Lamb was awake with his gun in his hand, and having shot him he reached for the phone to have the body dealt with.
People
- Jackson Lamb — Trades the folder, warns Taverner about Judd, kills Seb.
- Diana Taverner — Admits the scheme, takes the folder, finds the decoy, calls Judd.
- Peter Judd — Takes Taverner’s call; his man is sent to kill Lamb.
- Seb — Judd’s sleek enforcer, shot dead in Lamb’s office.
- Roderick Ho — Rehearsing a line to Louisa in his room.
- Louisa Guy — At a bar, turning down the usual approach.
- River Cartwright — Visits Webb’s emptied bedside, then his grandfather.
Places
- Slough House — The empty building the unseen presence moves through, and where Seb dies.
Lines worth keeping
“You licensed a small war, Jackson. There are going to be questions.” — Diana Taverner, on the body count
“Besides which, you’re overlooking something. You don’t have the evidence. I do.” — Jackson Lamb, holding the folder
“All the more reason to have him inside the tent pissing out.” — Diana Taverner, on managing Judd
“You stupid, stupid man.” — Diana Taverner, finding the Angling Times
Threads
- Plants: The real evidence is still with Lamb; Taverner has only a decoy.; Taverner tells Judd the worst case has happened, and Seb is sent.; Catherine Standish’s resignation is left unresolved.
- Payoffs: The folder Donovan died for is revealed as a decoy.; The tiger team’s purpose is explained as Taverner’s route to First Desk.; Seb, the man who watched Taverner in the pub, is killed.
- Continuity: Donovan and Traynor are dead; Duffy is brain-damaged; the Arrows are scattered.; Catherine Standish has quit; the sackings of Marcus and Shirley have been reversed.; Lamb keeps the genuine documentation.