Slough House

Spook Street / C12

Chapter 12

Book 4 Part Two 5919 words POV: Louisa Guy, River Cartwright, Claude Whelan, Patrice

Summary

Louisa and Emma Flyte end up drinking together, Flyte on tequila after eighteen hours that took in bodies, a stolen gun and a broken cheekbone. Taverner calls to berate her and order her back to the safe house to sit with Giti Rahman; Flyte tells her the man carrying the Adam Lockhead passport is River Cartwright, and that he knew the gunman as Patrice. Louisa stays, calculating that River is where the action is. River, meanwhile, is walked by Patrice to the dazzle ship HMS President, where Frank Harkness is waiting: Patrice is briefed in private and sent away, and Frank tells River that Bertrand was his brother and that he himself is River’s father — a claim River tests against Natasha’s account of an Englishwoman at Les Arbres and against his grandfather’s lifelong silence about Isobel. Frank admits the silence was bought: he stayed away, and Cartwright smoothed the way for his project. At Regent’s Park, Taverner reasons that the killers did not know Westacres was coming, and steers Whelan into agreeing to a shoot-to-kill order against Patrice and River; Whelan reaches for the phone to call the PM. Patrice, given the address Aldersgate Street, is told to kill everyone there.

Beats

  • C12S01 · Louisa — Louisa and Emma Flyte end up in a bar, Flyte putting away tequila after eighteen hours on duty. Flyte says Lamb lied about whose body he was viewing, mentions Devon Welles’s cracked ribs and Giti Rahman in custody, and then takes a call from Taverner, who orders her back to the safe house to sit with Rahman. Flyte tells Taverner that the man carrying the Adam Lockhead passport is River Cartwright and that he knew the gunman as Patrice. Louisa stays on for coffee, hoping that staying close to Flyte will bring her news of River.
  • C12S02 · River — River and Patrice walk to the dazzle ship, HMS President, on the Embankment, where a man is waiting under a shelter; Patrice greets him with a kiss on each cheek, like a soldier reporting to a general. River tells Patrice he met his mother Natasha, and is slapped and nearly struck in the throat for it. The man introduces himself as Frank Harkness, laughs at River’s accusation that he sent a killer after the O.B., and takes Patrice aside for a private word. Patrice leaves with a kiss on River’s cheek, and Frank then tells River that Bertrand was his brother and greets him as ‘son’.
  • C12S03 · Claude Whelan — At Regent’s Park, Taverner and Whelan work out that David Cartwright could have supplied the cold-body identities and that the killers are now covering their tracks. Taverner argues the sequence is wrong — loose ends would be tidied before a bombing — and concludes the bombers did not know Westacres was coming. She then steers Whelan towards a shoot-to-kill order against Patrice and River, framing it as protecting the Service’s remaining public trust. Whelan objects that River is not an enemy of the state, then reaches for the phone to call the PM.
  • C12S04 · River — Frank confirms outright that he is River’s father and says the O.B. drove a wedge between him and Isobel; pressed, he admits the wedge was a deal, with Cartwright smoothing the way for his project in exchange for his absence. River accuses him of burning Les Arbres to bury a failure and of sending his own son to kill the old man. Frank concedes only that mistakes were made and that Bertrand knew the risks, and refuses to accept blame. Asked what the mission is now, he answers that it is River.
  • C12S05 · Patrice — Patrice moves through the West End, using the nervy post-shooting mood to fall in with a group of drinkers under umbrellas and pass two policemen unremarked. He reflects that Frank has given him instructions since he was a toddler and made sure they were carried out. Frank has given him an address, Aldersgate Street, telling him it is where the young spook is stationed and that the department runs no safe houses. The instruction is to kill them all and phone when it is done, and Aldersgate Street is minutes away.

People

  • Emma Flyte — drinks tequila, is berated by Taverner, and is ordered back to the safe house
  • Diana Taverner — phones Flyte, then talks Whelan into seeking a shoot-to-kill order
  • Patrice — delivers River to Frank, is briefed, and is sent to Aldersgate Street to kill everyone there
  • Frank Harkness — the American who ran Les Arbres, who claims River as his son and orders the Slough House killings
  • Claude Whelan — First Desk, manoeuvred into agreeing to the order and phoning the PM
  • Giti Rahman — named as held in custody at the safe house
  • Bertrand — named as Frank’s son and River’s half-brother, killed at the O.B.’s house
  • Natasha Reverde — named by River as Patrice’s mother, who wants to know he is alive
  • David Cartwright — named throughout as the O.B. and as the man who made the deal with Frank
  • Charles Partner — named as the former First Desk whose ‘right hand’ Cartwright was

Places

  • Regent’s Park — the Park, where Taverner and Whelan decide on the order
  • Les Arbres — the French commune Frank ran and burned

Lines worth keeping

“Well there’s no point shooting to wound. People would only get hurt.” — Diana Taverner, proposing a shoot-to-kill order to Whelan

“He was your brother. It’s good to see you, son.” — Frank Harkness, on the Embankment, after River says he shot Bertrand’s corpse

“Right now, River, the mission is you.” — Frank Harkness, answering River’s question about what the mission is

“Kill them all. Call me when you’re done.” — Frank Harkness, his instruction to Patrice, quoted as Patrice walks to Aldersgate Street

Threads

  • Plants: Frank’s claim to be River’s father, and his refusal to say what ‘the mission’ requires of River.; The shoot-to-kill order Whelan agrees to seek from the PM, which will put armed police on River’s trail.; Patrice’s instruction to go to Aldersgate Street and kill everyone there.; Giti Rahman held at the safe house and Flyte ordered to sit with her.; Devon Welles in A&E with cracked ribs, out of the action.; River twice shooting Bertrand’s corpse, a fact Frank registers without forgiving.
  • Payoffs: River’s possession of Bertrand’s passport is explained: the half-brothers resembled each other closely enough for the impersonation to work.; The O.B.’s single word ‘Isobel’ at the end of C11 is identified as River’s mother and Frank’s lover.; The O.B.’s refusal ever to speak of River’s mother is explained by the deal he made with Frank.; Patrice’s question about ‘the dazzle ship’ at the end of C11 is answered: it is HMS President on the Embankment.; Lamb’s line that Taverner sometimes tries to have him killed is matched by her willingness to have River shot.
  • Continuity: Flyte has been up eighteen hours; her cheekbone is injured and her service weapon is now Patrice’s.; The passport name is Adam Lockhead; Taverner’s guess at the other cold-body identity is ‘Paul Wayne’.; Taverner holds the false information Whelan fed COBRA over him throughout the conversation.; Frank’s accent is American, worn down by European exile; he smokes French cigarettes.; Louisa is drinking fizzy water because her car is parked down the road.; HMS President’s dazzle pattern is a modern homage, not the First World War original.; Whelan has no authority over the Met and is told to make his call to the PM instead.

Characters

Places

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