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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

They used the secured vehicle entry at the Cat, on Boulevard Mortier. The Citroën’s licence plates were scanned by cameras, and when the armoured doors swung open Templar drove the car into a bomb-proof box with cameras pointing up from the floor. Now they were trapped until the DGS guardians decided otherwise. A voice over the speaker system told the occupants of the car to wind down their windows and the two men in the front seats handed their IDs to one of the two blue-suited DGS men who approached. Templar told them that de Payns was without ID, so the second DGS man produced an iPad with a camera hooked on the top and took a photo of de Payns’ face, which was then scanned. The process took seven seconds and the DGS man was close enough that de Payns could smell the gun oil of his MP5, but not so close that he could grab the weapon.

‘OT number?’ asked the man with the iPad, referring to the officier traitant number that was issued to a DGSE operative when first commissioned. When de Payns’ answer matched with the DGS file, the security doors opened in front of the car and they drove into the compound.

There was a below-ground car park, where a lot of vans and motorbikes were housed, but Templar drove them alongside the lawn quad in front of the main three-storey stone building and around the side of DGSE headquarters to an outdoor car park.

The three of them walked into the employees’ area off to the side of the Cat’s secured reception. De Payns noticed the unintroduced man was physically fit, slightly taller than de Payns’ own one hundred and eighty-two centimetres, and carried a sidearm under his left armpit, making him a right-hander.

They entered the officers’ anteroom. De Payns walked to his safe, entered a PIN and retrieved his lanyard. There was a rule at the Cat: no swipe card, no entry. If you lost your swipe card it invited drawn-out interrogations from the DGS, who immediately suspected the employee of being compromised. It didn’t matter how you lost it, the replacement would see one hundred euros missing from your next pay packet—but only if the DGS allowed you to regain your clearance.