De Payns looked down the list and saw that they were all existing IDs, so his team would have to do some gardening and ensure their addresses were viable, that mail was being delivered there, and that their social media was up to date. De Payns would again be using his Clement Vinier ID, that came with a business front, Capital Films.

Templar asked if he would be going into Islamabad to establish the équipement de ville, which was the design of the jeux de rendez-vous and points de passage obligés that the Company used to check for surveillance of their OTs when they were in the field. The jeux de rendez-vous were a set of clandestine tools that allowed the team to see one another with no collusion visible to outsiders. They included hand symbols and coloured gommettes, but also included where to meet up in case of emergency, meeting points for transmitting documents clandestinely, dead drop boxes and agreed timings.

De Payns shook his head. He and Briffaut had agreed on a fast, four-man recon and technical surveillance operation, and while they’d use basic tradecraft to check for surveillance, there’d be no ISs or tourniquets. They’d need vehicles with no connections to the French government, and they’d have to be careful sneaking the spinning machine in-country and driving around with it. Pakistan’s secret police and ISI both operated with impunity. There were no legal consequences for a Pakistani intelligence agent getting it wrong and seizing on French filmmakers inside their country.

Looking at his watch, de Payns stood up. The initial meeting was over. There’d be more, and the DA—the administration people at the Cat—would come up with final budgets and disbursements. Daily living money would only amount to less than twenty euros per meal, if an OT was not in contact with a target. And even then, you needed to bring back a receipt. It was a vexed issue, because in many circumstances asking for a receipt could complicate an already-complicated situation. As the operatives often joked, the DGSE had forgotten to put the Aston Martin in its staff packages.

De Payns collected his materials as the team filed out. He noticed Templar waiting by the door.

‘Seen Shrek?’ asked Templar.

‘No,’ said de Payns. ‘Not since Falcon.’

‘I think he’s been doing ISs,’ said Templar, voice low. ‘And not just down south.’

‘Here?’

Templar looked at de Payns and dropped his voice to a whisper. ‘I hear he was trapped in Saint-Denis, kept pulling out of the IS.’

‘Shrek plays it safe, that’s all. Especially after that thing with DGSI.’

Two years earlier an officer of the DGSI—the internal French security service—had walked into his house in Paris to find Russian GRU agents holding his wife and daughter. The event had been a wake-up call to people like de Payns, Shrek and Templar—always check the last mile; never relax your security.