The Camry rolled out, Danny driving and another man in the front seat, leaving the silver Passat.

‘Where’s Danny going?’ asked de Payns, walking to the toilet.

‘He’s got his own route. It’s just you and me.’

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

CHAPTER

FIFTY-FOUR

When de Payns returned to the Passat, Templar was sitting in the driver’s seat, an orange envelope in his hand.

‘You’re now Georges Morel,’ said Templar, hitting the map light.

‘Great—where are we?’

‘Afghanistan.’

De Payns opened the envelope and found a French passport in the name of Georges Antoine MOREL, with his photo in it. There was an EU identity card and a French driver’s licence, along with a Nokia phone and charger.

‘Let’s get the old ID off you,’ said Templar.

They went through his wheelie cabin case and tore up the Sébastien Duboscq passport, and destroyed boarding passes, receipts and baggage barcode stickers from his flights, and a tourist map from New Delhi. Then Templar made him turn out his pockets and consigned to the rubbish bin every piece of paper that de Payns was carrying. He took his shirt and windbreaker and dumped them, and gave him a black sweatshirt and a brown leather jacket that was badly aged.

‘The Company has a Facebook account for you, and apparently if you search Georges Morel on the internet, Google has you at the fourth ranking. You’re listed as a journalist who is interested in social justice and climate action.’

‘I like me already,’ said de Payns.

‘You came across the border yesterday from Turkmenistan, and you were travelling with me. I’m the photographer,’ said Templar. ‘You’re a freelance journalist who is currently researching the effects of climate change around the region.’

‘Okay.’

‘If anyone asks, northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan have some problems with aquifer mismanagement. There’s salt coming to the surface and the livestock don’t like the groundwater.’

De Payns was always surprised by what his friend could pull out of a hat.

Templar asked, ‘Does it sound plausible?’

‘You had me at hello,’ said de Payns. ‘What magazine are we writing for?’

‘A webzine called Socialist Climate Action,’ said Templar. ‘You’ll fit right in.’

De Payns laughed. ‘Have they run our stuff?’

‘Brent did a thing back at the Bunker,’ said Templar. ‘When you search the SCA webzine, you’re sent to a mirror site where our photos and stories are featured. It won’t last longer than a week, but that’s all we need.’

‘Who wrote the stories?’

‘Remember how Thierry put together our script for Lake Forgiveness?’

De Payns nodded.

‘Well, he did his AI trick again and he came up with a story on plastic bottles in the ocean, saving the whales and how great Cuba is.’

‘You’ve got some photos?’ asked de Payns.

‘Back there in the camera,’ said Templar. ‘Charlie’s taken care of it.’

‘Who’s Charlie?’ asked de Payns.