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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

De Payns heated up a breakfast of pain au chocolat for Patrick and Oliver and made a coffee for Romy as she emerged from the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel. He ate with the boys and they had a laugh at SpongeBob while Romy checked her emails. He made a full round of hot chocolates, kissed his wife for six seconds and ducked out of his building’s side entrance, hitting the street at 8.06 a.m. He headed east for two blocks to a small lane which ended in a stone staircase that rose under a building to a cross street. He slowed as he arrived at the stairs, and at the top of them turned to his right, giving him a view of the two hundred metres he had just walked. There was no one behind him.

He took a bus, changed to the Metro, and when he emerged in the southern part of the thirteenth arrondissement, he walked to the Company’s changeover house. He removed his phone and battery, his watch and wallet, and his Ray-Ban sunglasses, and placed them in what OTs called the ‘life box’—the section of his secure locker that contained his genuine effects. He looked down—he was wearing grey NB trainers and blue Levi’s. They could stay. He took off his dark blue polo and replaced it with a pale green button-up shirt from the locker. Removing his black windbreaker, he turned it inside out and put it on again. Now he was wearing a cream windbreaker. He poured the contents of the Clement Vinier manila folder onto the tallboy shelf in the locker, and, checking the Vinier wallet, he found a Metro card which had around thirty euro on it, a sheaf of cash, a genuine driver’s licence with his fake address and a membership card for the SRF, the Société des Réalisateurs de Films. He picked up the Clement Vinier Nokia, took a battery from the charger, and kept them separated in his windbreaker’s inside pocket. He would not fire up a phone until he was well clear of the safe house.

He caught a bus to Charenton and plunged into the narrow side streets, eventually entering an unfashionable building with the sign Café Internet over the door. Inside he dished out five euro and asked for computer eleven, which was near the back of the shop, out of range of the security CCTV.