Had you met Simon Gervais over the years, he might have told you he was an unmarried professional poker player. Or a reporter. Or a dental clinic manager.
All of it was lies.
As a member of some of the RCMP’s most secretive units — including its air marshal program and VIP counter-surveillance team — Gervais often had to invent cover stories as he kept watch for evildoers looking to blow up planes or do harm to dignitaries.
But last September, Gervais, 35, of Ottawa, decided to uncloak himself. He turned in his badge and gun to bust out onto the literary circuit as a full-time writer of political thrillers.
His debut novel, The Thin Black Line, is out in April. It follows a husband-and-wife team, Mike and Lisa Walton, as they seek to avenge the enormous loss they suffered in a terrorist attack masterminded by Sheik Al-Assad, whose actions have brought the Western economy “to its knees.” The couple is recruited by a shadowy organization operating outside of official channels, the International Market Stabilization Institute, to carry out a secret operation.
In an interview with Postmedia News, the Montreal native said while the book is fiction, much of its contents were inspired by his experiences as a Mountie. From fistfights to firefights, “my action scenes are very realistic,” he said.
After serving as an infantry officer, Gervais joined the RCMP in 2001. After a short stint in border enforcement, he was assigned to the federal enforcement section at Toronto’s airport, where he once witnessed a young girl rat out her drug-mule mother who had swallowed several cocaine-filled pellets. He had to wait for the mother to have a bowel movement so he could fish them out.
From there, he was off to Ottawa where he’d spend four years crisscrossing the globe, from Miami to Tel Aviv, as part of the air carrier protective program.
Becoming an air marshal requires training in expert marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat and knife combat. It also requires knowing how to deal with an improvised explosive device in mid-flight.
In a worst-case scenario, Gervais says he would place a bomb next to an exit and build a barrier around it using suitcases and wet towels so the force from the explosion would be directed out the door.
Why not place it in a washroom? A plane can still fly without a door, he said. That’s not as likely with a hole in the middle of its fuselage. “Don’t try it.”
Gervais always had a cover story in case another passenger started quizzing him. Some days he was a professional gambler — he’d know where the casinos were located and what kind of card games were played at each. Other days, he was a writer or reporter.
Flights were usually uneventful, which allowed him to read or watch movies, though never with both earbuds in.
But a flight to the Middle East once got his heart racing. A passenger hit his wife and then stormed to the front of the cabin insisting he be let into the cockpit. Gervais locked eyes with his partner. Should they intervene?
They decided to let the flight attendants handle it. You never know who on the plane might be conducting surveillance on you, he said. Once you reveal yourself as an air marshal, you’re an “easy target.”
Never, he says, did a passenger blow his cover.
Gervais’ debut novel, The Thin Black Line, is due for release in April. [Ben Nelms for Postmedia]
Before a major event, they’ll sweep the site to look for anything out of the norm. Why is that window washer there at this hour? What’s up with that parked car? It’s stolen? Move it.
They know where all the entrances and exits are. If protesters are anticipated, they’ll set up an area for them. Depending on the threat level, they may call in snipers.
Foreign dignitaries bring their own bodyguards — and their own way of doing things. Gervais said he once witnessed Chinese bodyguards punching and jabbing at protesters. “If I did that here, I’d be criminally charged,” he said.
But he couldn’t complain about it, unless he wanted to start an international incident.
Gervais also spent a couple of years with the RCMP’s small counter-surveillance squad. Working in plain clothes, the unit gathers intelligence about possible threats to the prime minister and other dignitaries.
At the prime minister’s residence, he might log the licence plates of vehicles in the area. If the prime minister was attending an event at a hotel, he might look around for anyone suspicious, maybe engage them in a conversation. In this role, Gervais assumed various identities, from dental clinic manager to a homeless person.
Throughout his 12 years on the force, Gervais couldn’t shake his itch to write. On a flight back to Ottawa from England, he put pen to paper and began drafting a story based on this premise: “How cool would it be to be part of an organization in which the officers didn’t have to go through so much red tape in order to hit a terrorist’s hideout?”
With a manuscript in hand, Gervais went in search of an agent. Eric Myers of New York-based The Spieler Agency says he receives at least a hundred queries a year from first-time authors in the thriller genre and typically signs one or two. Myers said he was impressed by Gervais’ confidence and ability to sell himself.
“In today’s publishing industry, we have to consider whether a writer is able to present himself well in order to promote his book,” he wrote in an email.
“He (also) knows how to pare a plot down to its essence and to keep the story moving.”
With a two-book deal signed, Gervais quit the RCMP in September. “As much as I love this organization, you work in a box. … Now, it’s artistry. I do whatever I want. I create something.”
While creating The Thin Black Line, Gervais didn’t forget his roots. The husband-wife protagonists are from Canada and much of the action unfolds in Canada and Europe.
“The hero is an ex-RCMP officer, as well,” Gervais said. “I kind of based him on me a little bit.”
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Simon Gervais
Age: 35
Hometown: Montreal, now lives in Ottawa
Family: Married with two children
Career: Retired in September from the RCMP, where he worked as a drug investigator, air marshal, VIP bodyguard and in the counter-surveillance unit. His debut novel, The Thin Black Line (publisher: The Story Plant), is due for release in April.
Favourite authors: Robert Ludlum, Tom Clancy, Vince Flynn, Steve Berry and David Morrell.
Dquan(at)Postmedia.com
Twitter.com/dougquan
