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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

Now, as they approached the runway in Paris, he tried to clear his head. He knew the reputation of the DGS, but the suddenness of Manerie’s appearance and the bluntness of his request was a shock. Shrek?! It didn’t seem possible. He remembered the first time he’d worked with Shrek. An opposition party figure from Syria was hiding out in Libya, wanting all sorts of gifts from the French government in exchange for information about the Syrian economy, weapons programs and intelligence activity—all the usual bargaining chips that Middle East politicians and generals used to get foreign governments on their side. Shrek had been on the mission team, not the least because of his academic background in the area of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor and the ‘Stans’—Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan. De Payns and Shrek had formed a friendship at the Bunker during the briefings and they bonded over their love of beer and a shared Templar lineage. While France was the home of the Enlightenment and European liberalism, it was still a nation of secret societies, old family ties and undeclared oligarchy. The Templars were the oldest and most powerful of France’s secret societies and many people in de Payns’ world claimed a Templar lineage. His friendship with Shrek would have been nothing more than a professional association if it hadn’t been for the after-events of the Libya operation. The Syrian politician was conditionally accepted by France, but during the intelligence debriefings the Syrian must have picked up on a line of questioning and realised that his past actions were going to expose him, which would force the French to drop him. He’d obviously decided to cover his tracks and eliminate those who could divulge criminality to the DGSE, because a week after the debrief a French honorary consul was assassinated in Beirut. She was a banker who also worked for the DGSE and was popular at the Company. As it transpired, she had been the Syrian politician’s private banker and knew all his offshore accounts and various trust structures. She’d been executed to keep the politician a ‘cleanskin’ in the eyes of the French.