BooksBarbecue
Back The Frenchman
Chapters (76)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. DEDICATION
  4. AMIN
  5. PARIS
  6. … TWO YEARS LATER
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  62. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
  63. CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
  64. CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
  65. CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
  66. CHAPTER SIXTY
  67. CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
  68. CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
  69. CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
  70. CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
  71. CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
  72. CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
  73. CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
  74. CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
  75. CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
  76. EPILOGUE

‘I’m telling you, Michael, if they are serious, they’ll respect what you’re saying. Unless you want me to have a word?’

As de Payns made to stand, Lambardi looked like he was going to shit himself.

‘No, no,’ said the Italian. ‘I’ll handle it! You stay there.’

Lambardi walked into the hallway with his minder and de Payns felt the shorter Turk eyeballing him from his perch by the main door. By the way he was seated, de Payns assumed there was a handgun in the small of his back. De Payns sensed movement from Shrek at the bar, his right hand moving to his right eye and scratching once beneath it. Then he took off his cap and placed it on the bar. The hair on de Payns’ neck stood on end. Shrek had just given the escape and evade signal—the eye scratch meant, ‘I see you’, and the cap off the head simply translated as ‘no more cover’. In other words: This is over, get the fuck out.

De Payns raised his beer and scanned the bar—who was in the game and who wasn’t? His body was coiled, Creedence Clearwater Revival asked, Have you ever seen … and Margaux approached the table with a cloth. De Payns stood and, with Margaux as cover, lifted his pack and placed Lambardi’s leather bag inside it. As he turned towards the main entrance, the shorter Turk rose and blocked his way, torso angled for quick access to his handgun.

De Payns turned and headed instead for the restroom hallway, holding his pack in front him, keeping the 9mm CZ in easy reach. As he moved into the hallway he could hear the rustling of the Turk’s footsteps directly behind him. There were two toilet doors on his left, but it was the glass door at the end of the corridor that had de Payns’ attention—through it, in the shadows of the rear loading area, there was movement. And in the door’s reflection he could see the Turk’s hand going to the small of his back. De Payns turned to deal with it, but as he did a hand gripped the Turk’s jawbone from behind and a fist slammed into the man’s neck. The Turk dropped to the floor and Shrek turned and walked straight back into the bar, as if returning from a quick visit to the toilet. Blood pumped from a pen-sized hole in the Turk’s neck as he went through his death throes.