Slough House полностью

‘And I plan to join them under it before the evening gets much older. So I hope you’re not going to spoil everyone’s enjoyment.’ He studied her for a moment. ‘Kazan has brought a smile to the trousers of every red-blooded Englishman—’

‘Who gets to hear about it,’ she put in.

‘And that’s more than you might think. There are whispers on the internet. And when the history books are written, you’ll be there. The woman who avenged her nation’s honour. And did so without expectation of glory, which should make wearing the laurels so much sweeter. More?’

She nodded.

He refreshed their glasses from the decanter at his side, and as he poured said, ‘I gather you’ve been gifted a nice little mews property.’

‘Not me personally.’

‘Of course not. Heaven forfend. No, the Service, I should say, now has a little hideaway entirely off the books, which I’m sure will come in useful.’ He set the decanter down. ‘How did you explain that to the Limitations Committee, if you don’t mind my asking?’

She said, ‘Oliver Nash can be very understanding.’

‘Can he indeed? Can he indeed? But I imagine even he finds it difficult to get a grasp on something when it’s not actually put in front of him.’

She said, ‘All right.’

He feigned innocence. ‘I’m sorry?’

‘It didn’t go before Limitations. As you apparently know.’

And she’d have given a lot to discover how he’d come to do that.

He said, ‘And nor was it intended to. It was an outright gift, the point of which was to allow you a little leeway. There’s a reason they’re called safe houses. And what’s the point of having new … sponsors, if they’re not able to show their support? Were Limitations to become involved, or any one of the other ludicrously overpopulated oversight committees you’re subjected to, you’d be back where you started, unable to muster the resources you need, unable to mount operations like the one we’re all so happy to celebrate this evening.’

‘… Thank you. You’ve made your point.’

‘Have I? Because it seems to me you may not have fully grasped the import of what’s happening. These good people you see around you, they’re here for a reason, they’re patriots. They want to help. And what do they want in return? Nothing outrageous, Diana. Nothing that might cause you to regret having accepted their largesse. But the fact is that, alongside the very warm feelings they get when they see their nation’s security service prospering, they might also desire a little reflected glory themselves. A little oomph.’ He swirled the glass in his hand. ‘It’s not like we’re asking your joes to wear team shirts. We appreciate that that might be counterproductive.’

‘You think?’

‘But it would be a little … disheartening if the Limitations Committee, or, as I say, one of the other myriad parasites you’re victim to, were to be presented with the full details of our little venture and find them not to their taste. What do you imagine the outcome would be? A slap on the wrists? Naughty Diana, don’t do it again?’

‘I hope that’s not intended as a threat, Peter.’

‘I’m simply indicating that this is not a good stage at which to start questioning our arrangement’s efficacy. Lot of miles to travel yet. And who wants to turn the clock back on what’s already been achieved?’

She thought about that, and about the humiliations of the previous year; the murderous assault that had taken place on her watch; the ‘Who, me?’ poses thrown in Moscow. Authorising reprisal on the slimmest of nods – look into the possibilities, Diana, run the numbers, let’s examine the viability – had been risky, but not enough to deter her in the end. Because it mattered too much. It was the difference between apologising to the bully for being in his way and smacking him in the nose. That the bully was bigger was a given. But you shouldn’t, couldn’t, back down. Not unless you wanted it all to happen again.

And if taking Judd’s privately organised shilling had been the only way to facilitate it, well: so be it. He was right about not turning the clock back. The time had been too well spent. She took a sip of brandy to fortify herself for the coming ordeal, that of admitting she more or less agreed with him, but he was gazing at nowhere in particular, a smile crawling across his pouty lips.

He came back to earth. ‘Forgive me,’ he said. ‘Wool gathering.’ He raised his glass in her direction. ‘Something about that phrase “naughty Diana” sent me off into dreamworld.’

‘You never change, do you?’ she said. ‘Dog whistle politics and wolf whistle mindset.’

‘You’ve been reading my reviews,’ he said.