“ | A young assistant was waiting for her at the front door. In fact he was ridiculously young - in his early twenties with fair hair slicked back and a face that had surely never been shaved. As Mrs Jones got out of the car, he watched her with watery eyes that sees to cut her to the bone. | ” |
—Owen is first introduced in Part 1 Chapter 1: The End Of Alex. |
Owen Andrews was the former Assistant of Dominic Royce, the former Permanent Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He is a minor antagonist in Nightshade.
Involvement[]
His first appearance is in Part 1: Genesis: The End of Alex, where he is taking Mrs Jones into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Main Building. His only words are, "Good morning Ms Jones, please will you come this way?" The book says his job was only to escort her to Royce's office.
The next time he appears is in Part 2: Exodus: No Way Out. Owen Is heading towards Green Park to meet Dominic Royce to brief him. He tells Royce that MI6 were not giving him any information. Royce then asks him if they were doing anything about nightshade, to which Owen replies that they seem to be doing nothing. Royce asks him about Freddy, and he informs that he has been sent to the special facility in Gibraltar. He says he got the information by intercepting a message from the Lockheed Hercules that Alex was travelling in. Finally, Royce asks about Alex. Owen admits that he still doesn't know why Mrs Jones wanted Alex for. He says he suspects that Alex isn't at the Lake District with friends, which is the cover that Jack gave Owen. He says that according to his file, Alex had no friends in the Lake District and Jack had no calls to Alex on her phone records. Royce praises him and tells him that he got a sunburn on the neck before leaving.
He appears again in Part 2: Exodus: La Máquina, when he is looking at a report on his computer. It is about a breakout from the HMS Secure Unit in Gibraltar. It says the to escapees were Frederick Grey (aka Number 9 or Freddy) and [name withheld], who is Alex undercover as Julius Grief. He is puzzled as to why MI6 let Freddy escape and who [name withheld] is. To find out what Crawley and Mrs Jones are up to, he tries to hack into Crawley's computer.
His last appearance is in Part 3: Numbers: Rouge Operation. During Jack's meeting with Crawley and Mrs Jones, they get interrupted by Royce, Owen and special agents. Royce asks who Jack was and Mrs Jones tells him that she is an agent, but Owen says she's lying, and that she is Alex's "nanny', to which Jack retorts, saying she is his friend. She gets escorted out by 2 agents and Mrs Jones demands an explanation. Royce shows her and Crawley a file about Alex being used in Gibraltar. Crawley, knowing it was taken from his computer, asks Owen if he hacked him. Royce says to Owen, "There's no need to answer that." Royce says that he is closing down MI6. Crawley disagrees and calls him 'Royce' and Dominic snaps at him saying, "You call me Mr Royce!", to which Owen smiles, enjoying the moment. Crawley threatens him, saying, "Not today, not tomorrow, but one day quite soon, I'm going to come and find you and I'm going to make you regret this for the rest of your life.", to which Owen responds, "I'm not scared of you."
He is mentioned in Part 4: Revelation: A Few Loose Ends. Royce tells Mrs Jones that Owen, as a reward for his work in interfering with MI6's work, he has been given a week's holiday, and he has gone to Costa Rica. However, he was found drunk on the beach in San José, with 500g of cocaine under the cape of a Batman costume, which could land him 10 years in prison, to which Mrs Jones replies that it was Crawley's revenge for hacking his computer.
Descriptions, appearance and habits[]
Owen is described as being ridiculously young, in his early 20's. He is later referred to as 'the twenty year-old'. He has fair hair that is slicked back and a 'face that had surely never been shaved.' His eyes are described as watery, ones that 'seemed to cut [Ms Jones] to the bone.' He wears a made-to-measure suit that 'was a little tight on him, as if it had been made to measure for his younger brother.'
He is said to have no friends. He also still lives with his parents, who he doesn't like very much. The book says that 'all that mattered to him was his career and it was this that made him so useful to Dominic Royce.' He also appears to be quite cold-hearted, smiling when Royce was yelling at Crawley. He says he is not scared of Crawley after he tells him he will regret putting him and Mrs Jones under house arrest.