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Back The Frenchman
Chapters (76)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. DEDICATION
  4. AMIN
  5. PARIS
  6. … TWO YEARS LATER
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  62. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
  63. CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
  64. CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
  65. CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
  66. CHAPTER SIXTY
  67. CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
  68. CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
  69. CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
  70. CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
  71. CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
  72. CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
  73. CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
  74. CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
  75. CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
  76. EPILOGUE

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER

TWENTY-EIGHT

De Payns dimmed the lights of the top-floor SCIF and switched on the projector. In the room were Frasier, Briffaut, Lafont, de Payns and Garrat. The Alamut team had worked for the past week and put in an eleven-hour Monday to assemble the package that de Payns hoped would green light the next phase.

He started with the MERC itself, the images coming up nicely from deleted shadows on a CF card. He pointed to the double security fences, the barren ground and scrub between the MERC fences and the roads. He also had some good shots of the 6 p.m. queue of cars leaving the MERC, and with a laser pointer he indicated the black Mercedes-Benz waiting to enter the T-junction and turn north on the main road. Templar’s photographs of the VIP and his house were excellent. They showed a medium-height man in his late forties, with middle-management clothing worn shabbily. He had a greyish beard clipped close to his olive skin and a full head of hair, also greying and cut short.

‘We don’t have a name or a position for our person of interest, but as you can see, he is well protected.’

He clicked between the shots of the bodyguards—one was bigger in the chest and arms than the other, but they were both in their late thirties, wore black suits and white shirts, and gave themselves away with black tactical boots on their feet. Operators required to do the physical stuff liked a solid footing.

‘One bodyguard stays in the car and does random loops and circuits,’ said de Payns, clicking to a close-up of the more slightly built man. ‘The other lives in the house with our VIP.’ He brought up a photograph of a heavy-jowled man. ‘The car is registered to the Pakistani Ministry of Agriculture and the house is owned by a government agency that validates pesticides and herbicides for farm use.’

‘Anyone else of interest from the MERC?’ asked Lafont.

‘Not really,’ said de Payns. ‘This was the most expensive car exiting the facility, and from the beginning we were tracking three IMSI numbers from it. We can say this person is senior at the MERC, he’s guarded and under surveillance.’

De Payns switched tack. ‘I asked the DT to do an environnement téléphonique on this number,’ said de Payns, referring to the Technical Directorate, which along with Operations, Intelligence and Administration, made up the four directorates of the DGSE. ‘We know that on the Thursday of our operation, there was a call from one of the three IMSIs that lasted exactly ten minutes. It seemed like a trained thing to do. The DT went back for two years and found that the call occurs every Thursday at the same time, for ten minutes.’

‘And?’ asked Garrat.