Chapter Text
“Cartwright, you’re with me.”
Those words filled River with confusion. As he followed his boss to the car, he thought of all the times Lamb chose for them to ride together after pairing off the rest of the Slow Horses. River chewed on his lip while recalling the far fewer instances of Lamb choosing another joe to be his passenger.
As a bit of a teacher’s pet, this observation should have been an accomplishment. The older man’s penchant for reminding him how “fucking useless” he is however, left River a bit wary.
He couldn’t be the most pleasant employee to be cooped up with either. Louisa was far more capable at remaining silent to appease their boss, while River’s curiosity tended to get ahold of him.
Surely, Lamb didn’t believe River needed supervision… right?
He had a tendency to run off on his own, trying to solve the nation’s problems himself. But the last thing Lamb could possibly want was to be his babysitter. If River really needed watching, Lamb could have tasked one of the other Horses to do it, and enjoyed a pleasant ride in silence. Sure, Lamb didn’t trust the rest of his staff much either, but like all good managers, he didn’t shy away from delegating.
He couldn’t want to ride with me… right? The two had a habit of leaning into each other in conversation, more than discretion deemed necessary. But Lamb survived the Cold War. Joes didn’t make it out of East Berlin alive without an inclination for caution.
But Lamb had a history of antagonizing the young Cartwright. The older man loved to call him names, assign other Slow Horses to the jobs River did best, and push him into new, unfamiliar territory. If River didn’t know better, he might call his boss’ actions teasing.
At the end of the day, however, no matter how much criticism spewed from the drunk’s mouth, River knew Lamb had his back.
And as much as Lamb’s words tried to get his staff to resign, his actions seemed to suggest he wanted to keep River around.
As Taverner said, there was a reason Lamb lasted long enough to become a burnout.
As good as a spy that River was, he could never be sure that his boss wasn’t better at hiding his own agenda.