‘It was a leverage, the need for money. We work on MICE—money, ideology, coercion and ego. You have to find one to work with, and money was his.’

‘What about his divorce?’

‘I told him that Italy couldn’t be that bad, but he said the man has to pay all the court costs and then punitive child support. He was stressed about seeing his two kids.’

‘Do you think about him?’

‘Sure,’ said de Payns, wanting to steer away from this. ‘Kids aren’t part of the life, but then again, I guess they are. I like coming home to my own kids, but Commodore chose his friends, I didn’t.’

‘Did you do enough?’

‘For France?’ asked de Payns.

‘No, for Commodore. Do you have regrets?’

That stumped de Payns. Would someone seriously ask a spy if he had regrets? The entire profession was regret-management. ‘If he was killed, it was by his own side. I didn’t select his friends,’ he repeated.

She seemed satisfied with de Payns’ answer, and flipped her compendium to a file at the back.

‘Your sense of focus is very strong, yes?’

‘I’m sorry?’ replied de Payns, confused by the change of subject.

‘At the age of twenty you were cleared by the air force for combat training on the Mirage 2000.’

‘That’s a long time ago.’

She pushed on. ‘Fighter pilots focus on what’s in front of them and they shut out everything else.’

‘I used to shut my eyes,’ he said, pretending to shudder. ‘Too much speed, too many Gs.’

She allowed herself a brief smile. ‘My point is that in your current job you’re still shutting out everything except what’s in front of you.’

‘Perhaps.’

‘It comes at a price,’ she said. ‘You know that, right?’

‘I’m not sure …’

‘Most people’s jobs don’t involve the risk of being shot in the back. You can talk about it if you want. Talking about something like that would be normal.’

De Payns smiled. ‘I thought you were here to assess me? Now we’re going to talk?’