Andy McNab - Zero hour

I dumped the Bergen in the loading bay and locked the door. I headed down past FilmNoord XXX towards the market. I felt a lot better with my boots back on. The market itself wouldn't be open just yet, but some of the shops would be.

The all-night store I landed up in could have been anywhere in the Middle East. Big sacks of spices sat alongside crates of weird fruit and veg. The Arab version of Starsky and Hutch blared out from a TV mounted over the counter. Behind the checkout a young guy, with shaved sides to his gelled jet-black hair, munched pistachio nuts and watched the car chase. Half a souk's worth of bling hung down the front of his T-shirt, and the Iranian flag hung proudly behind him.

I walked up and down the aisles and filled a basket with pitta bread, cans of salmon with ring-pulls and cartons of UHT milk that sat alongside 25-kilo bags of rice and huge aluminium cooking pots. There were cheap plastic buckets, dustpan and brush sets, ironing boards and, more importantly, kids' clothing – cheap cotton shirts and jumpers, most of them with old Disney themes like Lion King or anything else that had passed its sell-by date. There were a few things that I thought would fit her and I threw them in the basket as well. I couldn't see any decent bath towels, just small ones the size of dishcloths, but they'd have to do.

I got back to the counter as the cars drew level and bad guys with seventies haircuts and spear-pointed collars drew their weapons and fired at each other. The soundtrack sounded like belly-dancing music on steroids. A dozen or so phone cards were displayed in clear plastic wallets behind the boy with the bling. The point-of-sale poster showed little arrows aiming at all the different world flags, and a sentence or two in Dutch that I guessed told me it only cost two euros to call Iran or the USA. I grunted and pointed, as most people do if they can't speak the language, and managed to end up with a fifty-euro one.

I headed out with my shopping in thin carrier bags that dug into my fingers. The good thing about poor areas of any city, especially those with a migrant population, is that most of the phone boxes are still working. The mobile-phone network hasn't taken over completely because the locals don't have the cash.

I went into a call box and scratched the strip off the back of my brand new if slightly grubby card. I dialled the company number, and then the code. Finally, I dialled her mobile number.

I got a ringing tone, and then her recorded voice in Russian. I waited for the bleep.

'Anna – it's Nick. I'm going to keep trying to get hold of you.' I hit the receiver and rang straight back. If I'd woken her, she might have been too slow to pick up. After three rings I got the Russian version of hello.

'It's Nick.' I only told her as much about the girl as she needed to know for now. This wasn't the time for a full rundown and you never know who or what is listening. 'Her name is Angeles. She won't leave me. You have to come and pick her up.'

'She is scared, Nick. She's scared of everything and everyone – except for you right now. You're probably the only friendly face she's seen for months. I can get a cab and pick her up, but she could still run. Why should she trust me? She's probably been handed from person to person, and each one has made her situation worse. Can't you hand her over to the contact with Lilian?'

'No. I'll explain later. Could you lock her in the room?'

She thought for a few seconds. 'She is young, yes?'

'Fifteen.'

'Jesus. There's no saying what she will do. You are her only friend. Just think, Nick – chances are, the reason she is here is because of strangers. I have already called Lena. She will be able to help. She has contacts in the city. But you'll have to take her, Nick – you're the one she trusts.'

I stood with the phone to my ear while I tried to forget the pain in my arse and do some thinking.

'Nick? What do you want me to do?'

'OK, I'll keep her with me. Can you set up the meeting with Lena's people at your hotel, say three hours before the flight?'

'What flight?'

'Our flight to Moscow. We need to be away from here as soon as we can on Saturday. You should book the flights. Still got my card details?'

'Yes. But-'

'But what?'

'The other girls. What about them?'

'Don't worry. I have that sorted.'

My fingers were numb and throbbing from the carrier-bag handles by the time I got back.

She jumped off the airbed to grab them, the sleeping bag still gathered tightly around her. 'I help you.'

I let her. Why not give her the chance to feel she was earning her keep?

'Here are some clothes for you. Take a look.'

I went over to the kettle. I could hear the rustle of plastic behind me.

'My friend, the blonde woman, is going to help you – in a couple of days. But I'll be with you to make sure everything is OK, yeah?'

There was more rustling as she ignored what I'd said, pulled the gear out and tried it on.

'You must never tell anyone you were here, or tell anyone anything about me. You understand?'

I turned to see Angeles splitting open one of the carrier bags to make a kind of tablecloth. She spread it on the floor by the airbed and started tearing into the bread and opening the ring-pull cans.

'Angeles, do you understand what I said?'

All I wanted was for her to say jack-shit until I got tucked in with Anna in Moscow. After that, so what?

She looked up, her big eyes focused on mine, and nodded.

'OK, good. Start eating. Don't wait.'

She shook her head. She sat on the carpet with her legs tucked under her and waited while I poured water over another couple of Yorkshire Tea bags and added too many spoonfuls of sugar. I took the brews over and motioned her to take the mattress. No way was I going to sit down.

'Will you put some fish in the bread for me?'

She looked disappointed I wasn't joining her, but made me a salmon wrap and handed it to me. She didn't mess about after that. She gulped hers down, sucking her oil-stained fingers after each mouthful.

'Angeles, why have you got no eyebrows?' I wasn't going to tell her I'd seen what she had to do with an eyebrow pencil.

She stopped eating, mid-mouthful. Her hands, still holding the food, fell onto her lap. Her eyes followed. 'They raped us and then they held us down and shaved our eyebrows. They told us that the customers like their girls to look like that.'

'Just painted on?'

She nodded slowly, her head still down, as her mind took her back to wherever that place was.

I grabbed one of the cartons of UHT and sat down carefully beside her. She liked that.

I passed the milk over. 'What happened? How did you get here with the other girls?'

'I was walking home from school. Men came in a car when I was outside my village. Ukrainian men. They hit me, and put me into the trunk.' She looked up. Her face was a mask. 'They drove me to Odessa and locked me in a garage. In the trunk.'

She tried ripping at the carton's edge to release the milk but she couldn't do it, and it wasn't because she hadn't the strength. A tear welled in the corner of her eye and ran down her cheek. She put the carton onto the carpet as she tried to fight back. I picked it up.

'I was a virgin. I wanted to wait until I married, like my mother. But the men…'

I handed her the open carton and gave her a moment or two to gather herself. 'How did you get here?'

'I escaped from the garage. I went to the police. But they arrested me and sent for the Ukrainian men. They handed me back to them.'

I waited while she wiped her eyes. She took a swig of milk, her hands rigid with anger and distress. I was beginning to understand why Anna had felt so strongly about me not just handing her on.