Slow Horses

Lamb wanders into Ho’s office to see the image of the hostage. Everyone speculates that the kidnappers must be terrorists affiliated with Al Qaeda or another Islamic extremist group. The kidnappers say they will cut off the hostage’s head within 48 hours. Lamb assures everyone that the slow horses will not be involved in this assignment.

Sid and River return to their office and discuss the situation. River is frustrated that the slow horses are left out of the action, but Sid suggests that they, too, have their purpose. River decides that he will look at the journalist’s copied memory stick he took from the flash-box. He knows that it is risky, but he feels he must do something.

At the same time, Diana Taverner is in her office at Regent’s Park, thinking about the logistics of the case. Even though she is only Second Desk, she will oversee the operation moving forward because her boss is in the United States. She believes that the rescue of the hostage will boost her career. Nick Duffy appears in her office to pass on Jed Moody’s information that Lamb is running an operation with the slow horses. Taverner tells him that she was the one who assigned Sid Baker to the journalist, not Lamb. She now has the memory stick safely locked in her desk.

The hostage is intensely fearful. He knows that he does not matter to his kidnappers. Hassan is a British-born Pakistani, and he heard his kidnappers say the “colour of his skin” was their reason for taking him (112).

River looks at the information on the memory stick, but all it contains are files of the number pi. Sid interrupts him, and he hastily closes his laptop. He asks her some questions about the journalist. Robert Hobden was once well-connected, she says, but his views became increasingly fringe. When it was discovered that he was a member of the right-wing British National Party, he lost his job and was ostracized by his contacts. River asks her how she managed to retrieve his files. He also asks her if she looked at them, but she denies this. He wonders why MI5 would be interested in these useless files.

River returns to Slough House, where everyone is discussing the revelation that the hostage is a British Pakistani man. Some of them, like Ho, still believe that the kidnappers holding him are from a Muslim extremist group. Lamb says it is clearly a group of white nationalists who see the young man as a representative to be punished symbolically. The only person not in the office is Jed Moody.

Taverner is sitting on a bench, one of the few spots out of view of the surveillance cameras scattered across London. She is waiting for someone and recalling the events of the morning, when she briefed members of Parliament and the Cabinet on the situation. As she told them, Hassan Ahmed is a second-generation British Pakistani who attends Leeds University and belongs to a student organization for amateur comedians. He does not attend mosque regularly, and neither he nor his family have any ties with radical groups. He has been taken by people who call themselves the Voice of Albion. This group is known to the Service even though nobody else has heard of them. An agent has been embedded with the group. She reassured the assembled members of government that the hostage will be rescued safely. She is shown a note saying “it would appear this isn’t the random snatch we’d thought” (130), handed to someone anonymously. One of the MPs asks her why the asset did not know about this and warns her to be careful.

Jed Moody approaches Taverner on the bench. He admits that he has bugged Lamb’s office; this is why he knew that Sid Baker had taken the journalist’s files. Taverner tells Moody to get rid of the bug. He will be working for her now, though she will deny it should he be caught. She warns him not to underestimate Lamb.

River wonders if the kidnappers are associated with the journalist. He tries to discuss this with Sid, but she dismisses the connection.

Hassan tries to imagine himself freed and making jokes about his ordeal. He begins to call his captors Larry, Moe, and Curly after the Three Stooges. The kidnappers are discussing what to do with Hassan. Curly wants to film the decapitation and stream it live on the internet, while Larry cautions him against this. It would be too easy to trace the feed. Curly goes to the restroom and makes a clandestine phone call.

Lamb sits at his desk, and Catherine Standish thinks that he looks different. She remembers wanting to meet him, long ago, based on the stories she had heard. But when her former boss introduced them, she was unimpressed by his lack of manners and physical disarray. She never understood why he had asked her to work for him at Slough House after Charles Partner’s death. She sees a fierceness in him, but it is an anger hobbled by his inability to act. She thinks the young hostage would have no chance if Slough House were tasked with rescuing him.

River sits outside of the journalist’s flat, watching. He is interrupted by Sid, who has been following him without him noticing. He plans to watch the place all night, not knowing what he might discover. She decides to stay with him.

They discuss River’s connection to the Service and his grandfather’s reputation. When River asks Sid why she joined, she cites the London bombings on July 7, 2005, as her motivation. River asks her what got her sent to Slough House, but she demurs. She says that she was sent there as a plant. Her assignment was to watch River.

Before he can ask who sent her, they spy a masked figure breaking into Hobden’s house. They pursue him. At first River thinks he might be an agent sent from the Service, but he notes the man carries a non-issue firearm. The man has the gun to Hobden’s head. River opens the front door, not knowing Sid is waiting outside. A scuffle ensues as River gives chase. A gun goes off, and a figure slumps to the ground.