Andy McNab - Agressor

Charlie broke the silence that followed.

'Nana, we didn't do it. We can prove it. We have papers. That affidavit everyone's after? I've got it here – and a tape of this fat fuck setting the whole thing up.' He turned to Bastard. Their heads were just a couple of feet from each other. 'Pipeline security, my arse.'

The tape started to spin in the console.

Koba now had the three of us lying down beside the Merc's open door, but we could see everything we needed to. We had a pretty good view of one of the monitors; Koba and his Desert Eagle had a very good view of us.

To start with, Paata and Nana seemed more interested in what the fuck had happened to Eduard. I was getting the hang of this Paperclip now. Where was he? But then they went quiet as he concentrated on the screen and she flicked through Baz's papers.

The picture quality was nothing to be ashamed of, given what it had been through. It was a bit gritty and fucked up by the mud, but it was clearly and unmistakably Jim Bastendorf coming into Charlie's hotel room at the Marriott.

The little 10x8 screen didn't do full justice to Charlie's disguise, but it still brought a smile to my face. He'd remembered to keep his back to the lens, which was a smart move, given his outfit. He'd draped a towel over his head and shoulders, like a boxer, but no-one was going to confuse him with Muhammad Ali. He'd topped off the whole ensemble with a shower cap.

Somebody said something, but the sound quality was poor. Paata rewound the tape a few frames and turned up the volume.

We all listened to Bastard telling Charlie the reason he needed him to get into the house on Saturday night. 'The fuck's away until Sunday.' He pointed a finger at the bathrobe in front of him. 'So it's got to be Saturday night, you got it?'

I flicked my eyes from the screen to the open barn doors. The rain-drenched track was beginning to look more like a duck pond. How long would it take for the police to arrive? And where would they come from? If there was a station in Borjomi itself, we could be seeing blue-and-whites any minute.

Koba was still standing, rock solid, a very professional three metres from our backs. What were the odds of gripping him and that.357 before we heard sirens? We had to be in with a chance. There were three of us, counting Bastard, and I guessed he'd pitch in. He'd gone far too quiet for my liking, but I knew he wouldn't want to be lifted any more than we did.

Nana looked across at me. 'Do you know what this says?'

I shook my head.

I had another go at explaining why we'd been in Baz's house, but she just carried on reading. I wished now that I had taken action when Koba had kicked us to our feet and walked us the dozen or so paces to the van. No matter what, she was going to wait for the police.

But what the fuck, I told her everything I knew; how Bastard came into the story, why we were at the house – and how the tape proved not only that Bastard was part of the operation, but that we didn't even know Baz was going to be there…

'Hey, lady,' Bastard chipped in. 'I just do what I'm told. I knew nothing about that killing shit. I didn't know he was gonna come home…'

He was wasting his breath. We both were. Nana's head was down, and less than halfway through the second page she lifted a hand to silence us.

The folder was on her lap. I watched a tear fall from her cheek and land on the page.

'Oh my God.' She stifled a sob. 'Oh my God…' Her hand reached out and gently touched Paata's back. 'We must go live with this – right now.'

Nana's eyes devoured the remaining pages, and she had to keep wiping her face with the back of her hand to stop more tears from falling and smudging the ink.

Colour bars flickered to life on all three screens as Paata rigged up the dish just outside the barn doors. Koba sparked up behind us. I guessed he wanted to know the same things as the rest of us – what was wrong, what did it say?

The screens flickered. A woman in a blue jacket materialized in front of us, sitting at a desk in an empty studio. She pulled on her set of headphones and the speakers crackled. Sure enough, we were going live. 'Nana? Nana?'

Nana cut the sound and pulled on her own set of earphones and boom mike. She took a moment to compose herself, then started talking in low, urgent tones. Baz's name came up again and again as she looked down and quoted long chunks from the document. The woman in the studio looked horrified. Behind us, Koba was building himself into a rage. This wasn't good; Baz's text was supposed to help us.

When she reached the bottom of the last page, she closed the folder with a snap and shoved it into the side pocket of her Gore-Tex.

She exchanged a closing word or two with her colleague in the studio, who got up from the desk and disappeared off-screen.

Nana's eyes were still full as she removed her headphones. 'We planned to address parliament with Zurab tomorrow.' She was trying hard not to break down. 'We were going to film him presenting the contents of this document to us in front of his government colleagues, in front of the very men he was going to expose.' Her head shook slowly from side to side. 'But none of us had any idea… no idea that these revelations would be so… so…' She really had to search for the word. 'Abominable' was what she came up with, but I could see from her expression it still didn't fit the bill.

The word seemed to hang in the air, then her hand came up to her mouth again. I didn't know what to say – how could I? I hadn't a clue what it was she'd just been reading. All I knew was that Nana was a tough one, but Baz's stuff had turned her into a mess. And that it didn't look as though the document was going to help us get off the dirt and away from here.

'Nana, you believe us now? You need to let us go before the police come. Nana?'

She still wasn't listening. 'He wouldn't tell me… He thought it would put me in too much danger…' She turned to face us again, with red, hate-filled eyes. 'Believe you? Why? Why should I believe you? Explain it to the police. See if you can persuade them.'

'Listen, lady. I wasn't there. I just got told to deliver the bag. Don't you lump me in with these murdering fucks.' Bastard was nothing if not persistent. I almost found myself starting to admire him.

'You! Shut the fuck up.' Charlie clearly didn't feel the same.

We had to try to convince her before the uniforms arrived. It was unlikely they'd be speaking our language. 'Nana. Why would we give you this stuff? We've told you what happened. Did you see me kill him? No. All we were there for was the papers. If we were part of it, why would we tape this fat bastard?'

It wasn't working. She turned back to the monitors. They were rerunning the bulletin. The girl in the studio was talking, but there was no sound. At least, not from the screen. But we'd all heard the noise outside.

'Police.' Nana sounded relieved.

Paata came running back into the barn, screaming in Paperclip. I only managed to pick up one word, and it didn't sound good news to me.

I turned my head. Koba was still behind us. He looked like he hadn't enjoyed hearing Akaki mentioned any more than I had.

The scream of engines got louder. Koba got more and more agitated. Three or four wagonloads of militants, by the sound of it, and only one of him. I could see his dilemma.

Nana tried to calm him down, but it wasn't happening. The Desert Eagle was still pointed at us, safety off, and the muzzle waved alarmingly from side to side. His eyes brimmed with tears of rage.

Bastard just lay there. He seemed to be almost enjoying it. What the fuck was the matter with him?

Charlie turned onto his back.

'Calm down, Koba lad. Or point that fucking thing somewhere else…'