‘I don’t like it,’ said Briffaut, leaning forward. ‘Surely we can get some comms into her flat?’

‘If the ISI do a sweep of the place just before I arrive and find the intrusions, I’m fucked,’ said de Payns.

‘It’s worth the risk,’ said Garrat.

De Payns shook his head. ‘Not to me it’s not.’

They were waiting for him near the exit of the Port-Royal RER station. De Payns could see Jim Valley through the century-old glass-panel doors that had recently been renovated. Jim saw him and exited through another door, putting on his cap as he left: Follow me. They walked north for five minutes—with a decent gap between them—until they were in the Jardins des Grands Explorateurs. Jim walked past the famous fountain featuring the women holding up the world, taking off his cap as he did: Stop following me. De Payns saw Philippe Manerie seated on a park bench, walked over and took a seat, leaving a big gap between them.

‘Still too close to my neighbourhood, but an improvement,’ said de Payns, lighting a smoke. ‘What do you want?’

‘Nice to see you too, Alec,’ said Manerie, who was wearing a dark grey felt hat in the Paris sunshine. ‘Perhaps I didn’t clarify our relationship—you were to report to me on this hunt for the mole in the Y Division.’

‘I told you, Manerie, I’m not privy to that investigation, and—as your own people will tell you—I’m suspected of selling passports to Sayef Albar for three million euros.’

‘Nice deflection, Alec. But you missed an important fact about your friend.’

‘Shrek?’

‘I’m told he was sent back to Sicily.’

De Payns hissed out a plume of smoke and looked at the fountain. ‘I haven’t seen his report.’

‘I didn’t ask for his report.’

‘So?’

‘So, why was Monsieur Tibet in Palermo?’

‘You work in the same building as Lafont—why not ask her?’

De Payns watched Manerie’s face change. The pale eyes hardened and for a second de Payns saw the mask of the special forces soldier. ‘Lafont, you say? So, this is not Operation Falcon?’

De Payns knew he’d made a misstep. He now had to tread carefully. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen the report.’

‘Stop with the fucking report,’ snapped Manerie. ‘Falcon is not Lafont’s operation. What’s her interest in Palermo?’

‘I don’t know, Director. I haven’t spoken to Lafont or Tibet about the Palermo job.’

‘But you know he was working for Lafont? What would she be looking for down there?’

De Payns shrugged, but Manerie was on to him. ‘Marie Lafont is Counter-Proliferation. She would not deploy someone like Guillaume Tibet unless it was important. It’s not like he’s a scientist or an engineer. So tell me, what is the Y Division doing snooping around in Palermo?’