It is always instructive to visit writers in their homes and explore their offices, whether baroque, such as the bunker near Locarno, Switzerland, of Patricia Highsmith, where she lived surrounded by her cats, or the house London House of Baroness PD James, in Holland Park Avenue; sealed, like the Parisian apartment of a Françoise Sagan in a hurry to finish with us, pointing to the couch on which she was working, “lying down” (“All the doctors will tell you, by the way, it’s a very good thing, the blood irrigates the head….”); sporty, like Jean-Christophe Rufin’s Savoyard chalet; silent, such as Michel Tournier’s presbytery in Choisel or the former enclosure of Jules Roy’s Ursuline convent facing the Vézelay basilica. But let’s stick with memories and action!
Precisely, it is a question of action, with Laurent Combalbert, former elite police officer of the Raid, negotiator of his state, “refugee” 2 hours from Paris. No blindfolds to reach from Joigny (Yonne) the lair of the 53-year-old boss of The Trusted Agency which publishes Milo After Nego (Blood for Blood Dard prize) and The Organization (all from Calmann-Lévy), so many thrillers which allow him to apply the tricks of the trade while drawing inspiration from his 3,000 negotiations of all kinds (kidnapping, extortion of funds, social tensions). In his entrenched camp which hides its game well with its appearance of a quiet campus lodge, nestled in 12 hectares of forest, but which we quickly realize is full of cameras and satellites, Combalbert, accompanied by his wife, Stéphanie , director of operations, resolves crises, organizes training… And writes, from 4:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m., standing or sitting depending on her mood.
It was at this rate that he completed Milo in four weeks, he tells us. It is because his hero, the private negotiator Stanislas Monville (Stanislas like the Borowitz/Belmondo of Cop and thug and Monville, name of his grandmother), this time has the mission of saving Céline Cluzel, a brilliant surgeon from the army health service on mission for an NGO, kidnapped in Haiti, a country well known to the author for having worked there on five occasions. Céline is not kidnapped like the others (there are around 1,000 per year in Port-au-Prince, plagued by gangs), she must operate on Elena Orasca, the ex-wife of Milo Louchenko ready to testify to the horrors perpetrated by this Franco-Russian mafioso whom the anti-terrorist investigating judge will have to release if Elena cannot appear. Time is running out.
In Port-au-Prince, surrounded by his loyal team – Moïse, a former Mossad, Nathalie, a former psychologist within the Quebec police – Stan begins talks with the kidnappers, conducted with “simple” principles: lay down the limits from the start of the negotiation, demand to speak to the hostage to, in particular, instill hope and say no to the first request (in this case a million dollars) in order to give value to this which we will then give in to. “According to statistics, we pay from 0.5% to 12% of the ransom requested,” confirms the polyglot author (he speaks English and Spanish perfectly), who “admits” a rate of 100 % success on its missions with vital issues – danger of death or arbitrary arrest – thanks, in particular, to its network of some 300 people around the world and to the agency’s 40 French team members, former members of elite units for the most. But back to Milowhich devours itself. There is no doubt, the Combalbert metronome can continue to get up early.