Bad Actors (Slough House, #8)(67)

“What about him?”

“He left. First thing this morning.”

“. . . And did you catch his face this time?”

“Yeah.” Roddy slurped another mouthful of bright green energy. “He sort of waved, in fact. Weird.”

“So did you run him through the program?”

“Nah. Sent you the clip, though.”

“You’re an absolute star.”

Roddy shrugged. “You can owe me one.”

Ashley, who’d filled the space when she wasn’t talking by looking at her phone instead, raised her head suddenly. “Oh. My. God!”

“What?”

“Red Queen.”

All three stared. “What?”

“Red Queen!” She gestured with her phone. “It’s all over the network. Like, ‘This is not a drill.’”

“So it’s really happening?” said Lech.

“Yes.”

“Not a practice run?” said Louisa.

“No.”

“Actual Red Queen. Actually happening.”

“Yes! How many times?”

Lech said, “Okay, I’ll bite. What’s Red Queen?”

“Duh,” said Roddy.

Catherine appeared in the doorway, with a suddenness which might have been alarming if it weren’t a firmly established trope. “What’s going on?”

“Red Queen,” Roddy said importantly.

She looked at each in turn. As always, her over-neat appearance, the long-sleeved, mid-calf dress, the lace collar and cuffs, the buckled shoes, lent her the appearance of, not necessarily a governess, but of an illustration of a governess in an out-of-print children’s book. Of the four looking back at her, two underestimated her for that very reason. “Red Queen,” she repeated, instinctively reproducing the capitals. “I don’t know what that means.”

Roddy rolled his eyes. “Double-duh.”

Ashley said, “It means—”

“No, really,” said Lech. “I want to hear Roddy explain it.”

“Me too,” said Louisa.

“Yeah, no,” Roddy said. “It’s her story, not mine.”

“That’s okay,” said Ashley. “You can tell them.”

“Yeah. You can tell us, Roddy.”

“Well, it’s like—it’s like Red Queen. You know?” He looked at Ashley, shaking his head. “Unbelievable.”

“Ho, you’re a waste of bandwidth,” Lech said.

“Amusing as this is,” said Catherine, “a little clarity would be nice.”

“Red Queen’s what they call the Candlestub Protocol on the hub,” Ashley said. “Sort of a nickname.”

And now she got the shocked silence she’d been expecting.

“Candlestub,” Catherine repeated at last. “Well well.”

“Ding dong,” said Lech.

“Taverner’s gone?” said Louisa.

“Candlestub’s a suspension,” said Catherine. “Not a dismissal. Or that was the original protocol. It might have been amended.”

“What are the triggers?” Louisa asked.

Catherine frowned, recalling. “The usual. Conduct unbecoming. Criminal activity. Misuse of powers.”

“So strike three,” said Lech.

“Who’s on First?” Roddy asked. Then: “What?”

“If First Desk leaves office unexpectedly, dies or is otherwise incapacitated, interim control passes into the hands of the most senior Second Desk,” Catherine said, with the air of one quoting. “That’s traditionally been Operations. But in the case of a suspension, the chair of Limitations takes the helm. In other words, Oliver Nash. Under close supervision of the Home Office.”

“Well, this’ll be a train wreck.”

“Though not necessarily the Home Secretary herself.”

“Small mercies.”

Louisa looked down into her empty coffee cup, as if reading the future in its grounds. Diana Taverner had been around forever; had been Second Desk (Ops) when Louisa signed on, and First Desk in all but name during Claude Whelan’s tenure, whose ending she’d helped engineer. Her suspension from duty would send shock waves through the Service. And Lamb had, variously, been in Taverner’s coterie, confidence and crosshairs. If she went, there was no guarantee he’d survive her departure. And if Lamb went Slough House fell, and there’d be no safe harbour for any of them. And where was he, anyway?

She hadn’t spoken aloud, but Catherine partially answered her. “Lamb was meeting her this morning. I’ve no idea what about.”

Lech and Louisa glanced at each other.

“Though I daresay some of you have a better idea than I do. If Taverner’s suspension is fallout from whatever you’ve been up to lately, I’d be seriously worried. If she goes, everyone involved is on shaky ground. And if she stays, well. I don’t expect she’ll be looking back fondly on this episode, do you?”

Louisa said, “Nothing we’ve done has anything to do with Taverner.”

“In that case, you must be feeling particularly relaxed right now.”

She wasn’t used to Catherine being acerbic.