‘Okay. You don’t know me, Monsieur Thorens, but I work for the government. My name is Dominic,’ he said. ‘I’ll bet you there’s a team of technicians and engineers listed from Rotterdam Associates, and there is one manager whose name is Heidi Winnen.’

De Payns heard a tapping on a keyboard. ‘That is the case, but so what? She probably works for the company—you could have got that name from their website.’

‘She’s a saboteur,’ Briffaut insisted.

Thorens pushed back. ‘I don’t think you understand. This is a secured facility. For any contractor to have access to our operations area, the company must first provide their name, and the contractors themselves have to produce their passports when they arrive. It’s a totally locked-down area.’

‘Passports?’ echoed Briffaut.

‘Yes, if the name doesn’t match the passport, they don’t enter,’ said Thorens. ‘We only accept French nationals in the security area.’

‘How many?’ asked Briffaut.

‘How many Rotterdam contractors?’ replied Thorens.

‘Yes.’

The keyboard clattered and Thorens said, ‘Seven. I can read them out if you’d like—Margaret Vernier, Nasim ul-Huq, Heidi Winnen, David Keller, Clement Vinier, Pierre Bastiat and Antonie Aguirre.’

The DGSE team swapped looks, eyes wide. Five of the names used by Rotterdam Associates were fictive IDs used by the Y Division.

When the five passports didn’t materialise in Palermo, had Murad’s gang simply turned to their contact in the DGS? What had Manerie done?

Briffaut broke the shocked silence. ‘I want you to behave normally, Monsieur Thorens, but delay the contractors. We’ll be there soon.’

‘What is going on?’ asked Thorens. ‘Is this a prank?’

Claude Malle from the DGSI came on the conference call and cleared his throat. ‘Monsieur Thorens, please be advised that all the information in this conversation is classified top secret and is protected information under French law.’

Thorens agreed to the terms.

‘Have you heard of Clostridium perfringens?’ asked Malle.

‘It’s a bacterium, a nasty one, that causes …’

‘Gas gangrene,’ said Malle.

Thorens stammered slightly. ‘Well that can’t be allowed in our system. Saint-Cloud serves Paris.’

‘I understand,’ said Malle. ‘We believe these people have put weaponised Clostridium perfringens inside the final filtration canisters in place of the chloramine. Those canisters are what they’re installing at Saint-Cloud, yes?’

The man on the other end paused. ‘Yes, and that would be devastating.’

‘Okay,’ Briffaut interjected, ‘don’t frighten or approach these people. I know you have a job to do, but stand back from it until the police get there.’

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

CHAPTER

SIXTY-FIVE