They drew closer and de Payns observed ‘Fazel’. He looked to be around thirty, clean-shaven with cropped dark hair. He could have been from Iran, Pakistan or Afghanistan, and was connected to all sorts of tubes and machines. De Payns saw that a Middle Eastern man in his twenties was standing beside Frasier.

‘French military entered a village two days ago,’ said Frasier. ‘Thirty-seven people dead—the only one still alive was Fazel here. The unit’s medical officer attended some of the bodies and suspected some sort of agent had been used because of the extensive haemorrhaging. The unit evacuated the one survivor to hospital in Kabul, but he became steadily sicker and the medical officer suggested he be brought to France, where we might like to question him about his condition.’

‘Why did he survive?’ asked Briffaut, nodding at Fazel.

Frasier shrugged. ‘He’s been in a coma but we’re going to kick him out of that and we have a translator to help us. Our DO medical team is in the lab a few doors down, testing his blood.’

The translator standing beside Frasier nodded at the group as Frasier walked to the door and called in the doctor. ‘We’re ready,’ said Frasier.

The military doctor entered the room and walked to the patient, checked the vital signs on the monitors, then produced a large syringe.

‘Give it about two minutes,’ said the doctor to Frasier.

They waited as the patient opened his eyes, blinked several times and gradually focused on his surrounds. The doctor checked him with a torch in the eyes and then Frasier cleared his throat.

The doctor looked up. ‘All yours,’ he said, and he left the room.

Frasier turned to the translator. ‘Tell him we’re friendly, he’s in France and he is safe now.’

The translator rattled it off and Fazel shook his head as he responded.

The translator said, ‘He asks what happened to the village.’

‘The village? Doesn’t it have a name?’ asked Frasier.