He spent most of the day writing his report. His night with Raven was a major breakthrough—the person of interest at the MERC was Anoush’s brother, a former professor in bacterial engineering named Dr Yousef Bijar. De Payns was happy to have the information, but he believed he was not the man to carry the operation further. The next step would involve getting closer to her family and she was now scared of her relationship with de Payns—or scared of the consequences of their association for Sébastien Duboscq, at least. If she was scared of what her brother or the ISI could do to her new friend, she could easily clam up and not allow any further incursions into her life or family.

He’d called ahead and notified Briffaut, Garrat and Lafont that he was ready to brief them. He had twenty minutes before the meeting started, so he grabbed a large black coffee and headed out into the morning sun, where he lit a smoke and walked the lawns around the old fort in search of a park bench where he could relax and stretch his legs. The end of summer was a time to savour the warmth before the cold winds of autumn started. He felt tired but not exhausted, a state that affected his brain more than his body. But he focused on the events of the night before and Raven’s call to him that morning. She was an abandoned woman, in a foreign country, quite vulnerable and expected to shut up about her brother, while talking to him once a week. He knew from Poles and East Germans that the true victory of the secret police was imposing self-censorship. He sucked on the smoke and sipped at the coffee. He wondered about Romy, Patrick and Oliver. What danger was he bringing into their lives on a daily basis? If his family knew who and what he was, would they live their lives in a similar state of fear?

He saw Briffaut exit the double doors down by the gym entrance and walk towards him holding his own coffee mug. Dominic Briffaut was fifteen years de Payns’ senior, but he still walked strong.

‘One of those for me?’ asked Briffaut, sitting on the bench. ‘Saw you with that damned smoke and suddenly I needed one.’

De Payns handed them over, and when he got the pack back he lit another for himself.

‘Saw your report on Raven,’ said Briffaut, sucking on the cigarette. ‘Nice work. How do you want to do it? Work Raven to contact Bijar? Or go to Islamabad and push for a contact directly on Bijar?’

‘It has to be through Raven,’ said de Payns. ‘And it has to be in Islamabad; he won’t leave that city. But I don’t know if I’m the one to do it.’