‘Only forty times a day,’ said Templar, zipping up and fishing a pack of smokes from his pocket as he walked to the car. He paused as he realised what de Payns was saying. ‘Oh, man. It wasn’t Shrek. No way!’

‘You know I was approached by Manerie?’ asked de Payns. ‘He wanted information on what happened in Palermo. Lots of talk about a mole.’

‘Manerie’s investigating Falcon? I thought they’d throw it to someone under him?’

‘I know—so Manerie tries to implicate Shrek, and now Shrek has been acting strange.’

‘Manerie is investigating Shrek? For Falcon? Why?’

De Payns lit a smoke. ‘I don’t know. He keeps cornering me with that gorilla Jim Valley.’

Templar nodded. ‘He has something over you?’

‘Yes, and it’s not money. I failed to declare a meeting.’

‘And he has photos?’

De Payns laughed. ‘Sure does. Gotta love those DGS guys.’

‘So how does Shrek get into this?’

De Payns thought about it. ‘He insinuates that maybe I don’t know him as well as I think. He reminds me that Shrek was the one with me on the ferry from Sardinia, and the one with me at Bar Luca. Shrek was around the passports, and he was close to the money.’

‘So were you,’ Templar pointed out.

‘I know. But Manerie is most interested in the Company’s conclusions on Falcon.’

‘And you told him?’

‘No, I deflect. I tell him that Briffaut has my report and the support team’s briefing, but Briffaut hasn’t shown me his report, which has gone to Frasier, and Frasier hasn’t finalised.’

‘Why doesn’t Manerie just ask Briffaut?’

They looked at each other for a second too long. Templar was the first to break. ‘Don’t you dare. Not Briffaut!’

De Payns jumped off the car’s bonnet and walked in a circle. ‘I know it can’t be Briffaut—yet there we were in Islamabad, in the mouth of the wolf, and Dr Death gets a phone call talking about Aguilar and the Company.’

Templar nodded. ‘So if it’s not me or you, not Shrek and not Briffaut …’

‘Brent knew some of the details,’ said de Payns.

Templar shook his head and a convoy of two trucks motored past. ‘Brent’s one of us. His grandmother’s sister was tortured to death by the Gestapo for feeding Allied airmen. He’s solid.’

De Payns kept pacing, a thought forming.

‘What’s up?’ asked Templar, his tone changing. ‘Your face tells me trouble.’

‘We thought the tourniquet would be timed for between eight-thirty and nine,’ said de Payns. ‘The end of the dinner date.’

‘And that’s what we were set up for, but you came out early,’ said Templar. ‘Very early.’

‘I know. When I was coming down those stairs I was praying your team was ready.’

‘So?’

‘So whoever made that call to Dr Death knew my schedule.’