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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

As he calmed his breathing, two things became clear. Michael Lambardi was dead. And de Payns had just survived a run-in with Murad.

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER

THREE

De Payns walked south of the restaurant precinct and past a car dealership on Via Roma. He took his Nokia from inside his pack, removed the battery and put the SIM in his back pocket. Via Roma suited him because it was one-way for traffic, making it hard for cars to follow him and allowing him to focus on pedestrians.

He walked a zigzag route that would eventually bring him to the Church of St Peter and St Paul three blocks west. The ramifications of the night’s events were serious—two people dead in a popular public place. One of them was face down on the floor outside the toilets of a bar. That would bring the police and, because Sicily was an island, the airports and ports could be shut down if the police thought it was a professional job. And what about Sayef Albar? If they had the two Turkish thugs on foot and a vehicle waiting out the back of Bar Luca, then they had at least five people in the field, probably six including Murad. De Payns reckoned that translated to at least two vehicles doing the rounds of the streets and checking out hotels and bars.

Murad had known about those passports and had accelerated the timeline to avoid the trap de Payns had set. If de Payns and his team were worried about walking into a trap, that’s what they would have done—change the meet, change the parameters, change the time, take control and see what happens. But why was Lambardi killed? Either Murad had been spooked when de Payns walked into the loading zone, or they were always going to kill the migration agent. And if they were always going to kill him, did that mean the Company’s mission was blown?

The exit plan was to cleanse himself and put his sticker on the plan de support—a noticeboard at the ferry terminal—before the ferry departed. But if there was a leak from inside the Company, as he now suspected, the plan de support was compromised. To go ahead with it would bring the watchers and hinder his exit. Instead, he decided, he’d move through an IS to clear himself of tails. If he still wasn’t satisfied, he’d go into hiding and ask the Company in Paris to exfiltrate him.