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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’ light IDs had to be nurtured and attended to, so when one of his assumed names was checked by the Russians or the Saudis, the people doing the digging into his life were coming up with cafe owners and bartenders who said, Oh, yeah, Clement the filmmaker? I talked with him last week. The entire visit to Clement Vinier’s apartment, including buying groceries, took a shade over fifteen minutes, and in that time de Payns built details into his cover that could save his life, if they hadn’t done so already.

He thought about the discipline of his job, and the fact that not only did he owe his own life to observing the detail, but so did his family. This was his truth and his lifeline, and as he descended into the Metro to head back to the Bunker, he made a decision to maintain the discipline. With his right hand he broke down Manerie’s burner phone in his windbreaker pocket, and without slowing his stride he deposited the pieces in two garbage bins as he approached his platform. He might be on the hook to Manerie and Jim, but he wouldn’t let them undermine his basic security.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER

TWENTY-ONE

De Payns spent the evening going over financial and logistics checks for Alamut and finally got back to Montparnasse just after midnight. When he emerged from Port-Royal Metro station he immediately saw Jim on the other side of the boulevard. Something moved in him, but he followed Manerie’s offsider into a dark corner of the public park opposite the Metro stairs.

‘You deaf or you lost your phone?’ asked Jim, turning to face de Payns.

De Payns took an extra step, hit Jim in the solar plexus with a hard left hand. As the DGS man sagged, de Payns kneed him in the balls. He went straight for Jim’s pistol under the left armpit and tore it from the jacket as Jim moaned softly, on one knee.

‘Fuck, de Payns,’ panted the soldier, his face a mask of agony in the dappled streetlight that came through the trees. ‘Bad night?’

De Payns emptied the Beretta 9mm’s magazine and actioned the weapon, making it eject the round sitting in the breech. He threw the handful of steel into the shrubbery.

‘That stupid phone you gave me? It’s in the garbage, where it should have been in the first place,’ said de Payns, adrenaline pumping but keeping his cool. ‘And this is the third time you’ve contacted me in public, in the same place. That’s a danger to me and my family.’

‘You weren’t answering …’