De Payns knew what Briffaut was saying, but he still had confidence in his plan. ‘I’d rather stay low profile and slightly exposed than have teams in-country. The film company cover feels strong.’ ‘Film scouts in Pakistan? The police might buy that, but what about the ISI?’

De Payns nodded. ‘We’ll mix it up, and the legends are clever. We even have a screenplay.’

‘It’s all light ID,’ said Briffaut, poking his finger at one of de Payns’ pages. Light ID meant the names generated would pass at customs and immigration and would satisfy a cursory inspection with a call to the film company office. But there wouldn’t be bank accounts in his name or credit cards that he could use. They’d be travelling with cash. ‘And you’ll need a car,’ he added.

‘We have an honourable correspondent in Islamabad—she’ll make sure Hertz rents us a car in cash.’

An honourable correspondent was a French person living abroad who used their occupation or social influence to voluntarily assist the DGSE, but de Payns could see his boss still looked apprehensive. ‘I want you flying in next Sunday. That gives you five straight days of recon, and then I want you the hell out of there.’

‘I’ll know more when I get on the ground and have a good look, but we’re going to be very tight, very careful,’ he assured him.

‘And fast,’ said Briffaut as he ate another slice of apple. ‘Careful and fast.’

When the meeting with Briffaut wrapped up, de Payns headed into the basement level of the Bunker to see how his mission team was progressing. He found Thierry and Brent in one of the workrooms, hovering over a laptop.

Brent stood. ‘You seen these new spinners, boss?’

De Payns looked down and saw a silver Toshiba laptop with a fifteen-inch screen. It looked unremarkable.

‘That’s it?’ asked de Payns.

‘Yes,’ said Brent, smiling like a child with a Christmas present. ‘Built-in antennas, can accept multiple cell phone signals, can isolate IMSI and IMEI, and still operates as a computer. Show him, Thierry.’

Thierry’s hands flew across the keyboard, and the screen opened in a standard desktop format with apps down the side and folders on the right. There was a logo for Capital Films etched into the wallpaper.

‘Let’s see the locations,’ said Brent, and Thierry opened a folder called ‘Lake Forgiveness’—the name of their fictitious film. It contained a synopsis, a screenplay and a document called ‘Production Notes’, which itself had twenty-eight subfolders, each labelled by scene.

‘Open a folder,’ said Brent.

De Payns reached forward and clicked the folder labelled ‘Scene 22’. It opened at 22. EXT.—ISLAMABAD SUBURBS—DAY. Below were stock photographs and maps of the city, with specific buildings prominent.