“
H
e’s at an airport or a train station,” she shouted to the police, who were gesticulating and talking at loud decibels. “There was an announcement,” she said to Thierry this time. “It was not in one of the languages I speak. It sounded Turkish. And you need to follow the money trail. Carpentier gave them 300,000 euros. I imagine it was by wire transfer.”
“Gerard Louis left a note at his apartment. It’s the ranting of a madman, fully triggered no doubt by Carpentier’s death,” Thierry said, reading from his cellphone. “He and Carpentier are from the same town, Aisne, in Picardy. He blathers on about the good work of OFS in Picardy. It’s a tight knit conservative community in the North. It appears Carpentier encouraged him to apply to join SPHP. Thus, the politician’s request for him as part of his detail was not random. According to the note, he had to kill you because you constantly meddled and interfered on behalf of the enemy. He holds you responsible for Carpentier’s death. He killed Halimi as revenge for Carpentier’s death and because he had aired the video of Carpentier that led to a ‘good man’s fall.’ He also didn’t like that Halimi pointed a finger at OFS— in effect, at him, when the reporter asked who killed Frédéric Lemieux. He says he knew it was a suicide mission but he did if for Carpentier, OFS, and his country. In that order.”
Havilah blinked her eyes in disbelief. “And Didier and Eva? Does he take responsibility for their murders as well?”
Thierry continued scrolling through pages on his cellphone. He shook his head, and looked like he was rereading to confirm what he’d understood.
“Gerard Louis was not a sharpshooter. I’m looking at his SPHP jacket. The casing recovered at the Halimi crime scene matches the gun Louis was about to use on you.”
“What? What does that mean?”
“It means that Louis killed Halimi. He attempted to kill you. But he was incapable of carrying out that shooting at the Untameableable Lion or on Agent Albertin.” Thierry took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves.
“Rachid Dib.” Havilah nearly swooned.
“What else did he say, Havilah?”
“He thought Didier weak-kneed, abhorred his Catholic background, and argued that he was too soft on France for his taste. Poor Didier was pointing me towards Gaston Carpentier in case of his untimely death, but he didn’t know he had an ambitious and unscrupulous young soldier in Rachid Dib ready to take him out to assume his position. Dib blamed Didier for FBB’s current predicament. But mostly, he’s just a power-hungry bastard using Islam to marshal support. He created a power vacuum by killing Didier. He was able to sway Halimi back to his way of thinking once Didier was out of the way. And now he wants to use me as a soapbox much in the same way as Didier Gilbert had planned but differently. He didn’t want to cop to Didier and Eva’s murders. I suppose he was concerned about how his betrayal of a fellow organizer might be viewed. So he hoped it would be added to Louis’s body count. I’d be willing to wager though, in his world, killing Didier Gilbert, an infidel willing to work with the French government, will go down as smooth as rose water-infused yogurt. He said he wants to be a martyr or a hero; in any case, if he’s martyred he’ll be a hero. He said he’d help me to help him even if I don’t want to. Whatever that means. It sounds ominous as hell.” Rachid Dib is a sharpshooter after all
, she was thinking. And yet she owed him her life three-times over. She shuddered just a little.
Thierry’s cellphone buzzed loudly and repeatedly. “Havilah, he’s delivered on his promise. He’s hacked into your cloud and email. The video of Didier and Gaston has been sent to all the major news outlets in Europe from your accounts. And there’s your name in highlights: American professor recovers Islamic Liberation Front and ultranationalist French group video.
” He pointed to the multiple texts from the Silver Fox.
“Islamic Liberation Front? Did he just make this shit up?” She furrowed her brow.
“It would appear so, according to Hervé Simone. It’s a group that’s not on anyone’s radar. But it will be now. You’ll have no choice but to talk to the media. And every interview and newspaper write-up will be like a free advertisement for them. A recruitment commercial. Rachid Dib won’t get the satisfaction of martyrdom. He’ll be a hero instead. He’s escaped our nets in Europe.”