Andy McNab: Agressor

Bastard disappeared from view, but he was still determined to have the final word. When Akaki's boys had finished applauding their beloved leader's most recent show of strength, his voice echoed along the rain-soaked track.

'I want those fucks dead! Kill them!'

I was starting to get the hang of Akaki; he wasn't a big fan of the long game.

He towered over Nana, pummelling her shoulder as he let her know what was on his mind.

Paata kept a watchful eye on the AKs just inches away from them as he translated for us. 'He wants an interview, right here and now. He has an important message for his fellow Georgians, and wants his words to be recorded for posterity.' He somehow managed to talk as calmly as if he was discussing overtime rates.

The three of us watched Nana's hands emphasize every word of her response. She wasn't backing down.

It was turning into quite a show. Even the guys guarding us were crowding round and tuning in.

'He's rambling,' Paata said, as Akaki turned up the volume another couple of notches. 'He says he wants to tell the world of his fight for freedom and against corruption. He says he will work to continue this battle, until victory – or until he meets God.' An edge of concern crept into his voice.

Charlie nodded. 'He knows he can come out with any old bollocks he wants to now. He's got the papers, and Baz isn't here to disagree.'

I was worried about Nana. 'Why don't you guys just let him have what he wants? What's she giving him a hard time about?'

'She's telling him it's a great idea, but we should go and film him in the village. He needs to be seen out in the open, among his people, not cowering in a cattle shed… She says his film needs to have an epic scale; anything less would not do his message justice. She'll do the edit when she's back in Tbilisi.'

'Yeah, right. I bet he's really buying into that.'

'She has to try.' He sighed. 'He only tolerates people like us as long as we're of use to him. And when we no longer are, or if we do something that offends him…'

'We're history?'

Paata nodded. 'He slaughtered a French crew not so long ago…' He cocked his head. He'd heard something he didn't like. 'Oh shit… He's talking about the dish. He knows we can go out live.'

His eyes flicked anxiously between us and Nana. 'She's insisting they tape it, and in the village, not here… She's trying to give us a chance to escape, I'm sure of it.'

I glanced back at Akaki. His arm was raised, ready to give her the good news again. 'What's his take?'

'It's not good. I'm sorry.' The blood had drained from his face. 'She was calling him murdering barbarian scum on camera last week…' Paata's voice tailed off.

'Didn't go a bundle on it?'

Paata nodded gloomily.

Nana was turning away. She knew when to concede. Akaki gave her a parting kick in the small of the back to help her on her way. It must have been agony, but she was determined not to show it.

She limped the remaining five or six paces to the bench. 'Here's the deal…' The left side of her face was livid red and swelling. 'No pre-record. We go live or he kills us all now. He wants to sit right here on the bench and address not just his fellow Georgians but the USA too – and he wants to do it live.' Her eyes bored into Paata. 'Go and fix up the link.'

Paata hesitated. He knew there was one thing missing from her instructions. I grabbed him as he stood up. 'Take your time, mate.'

'No.' Nana was adamant. 'Get it rigged, and set up the link. Tell them who we have.' She looked him in the eye. 'We – need – the – cavalry… Understand?'

We all did now.

Akaki had some more stuff on his mind. He charged over like a wounded bull, with two of his arse-lickers in tow. Up close, he wasn't any prettier than he'd seemed from a distance. He was probably still in his thirties, but looked older, partly because any skin on his cheeks not covered by beard was badly pockmarked.

He raised one of his field labourer's fists and pushed the others out of the way to get to me. His eyes burned into mine.

His two arse-lickers demonstrated how hard they were by grabbing Nana and forcing her to translate as he went into another major-league rant.

'The murdering scum is telling you that he will kill the servants of the infidel crusaders as surely as we will kill their kings… He says he does this to avenge those of God's children they kill.'

Akaki prodded me so hard in the shoulder I reeled backwards.

'He says America has made many accusations against him; they have said that he is a man with a hidden fortune… These are infidel lies… He says that this is what he wants to say to the people of America.'

As I recovered my balance, I saw the screens in the Merc flicker into life again.

The two standing guard behind Akaki saw them too, and started gobbing off to their boss.

'Excellent.' Nana tried to look pleased. 'Charlie and Nick, help me with the camera and lights.'

I returned her smile. It wasn't all doom and gloom round here then. She was starting to call us by name.

Akaki sat, smoked and brooded as we helped Nana lug the camera and lighting gear over to the bench. Several AK muzzles tracked our every move.

The barn roof was no longer being pelted with rain, and the big red puddle around Koba's head was almost still. The sudden silence inside the barn only seemed to make it harder for Nana to ignore the bodies of Eduard and Nato. Her eyes kept straying back to them. I knew she felt responsible.

I glanced at them once or twice myself. They looked as though they'd been crucified. If the Georgian Times had thought Baz's body was grisly cargo, I couldn't wait to see what their headline writers would make of this.

I was pretty much resigned to the fact that, at this rate, we'd be joining them on the inside pages, dangling by the bollocks from a barn door. But there was still a chance. There was always a chance. When Nana's cavalry arrived, so would the mother of all gangfucks.

It wasn't long before everything was rigged, even with two of us on the job not really knowing what we were doing. It couldn't be helped. There's a limit to how much you can tear the arse out of a task before it's obvious you're doing fuck all, and on that front, at least, I was an expert. I'd been an infantryman for ten years.

Akaki groomed his beard with a gap-toothed plastic comb, preparing himself for TV stardom. There was a light either side of him and the camera right in front. He liked what he saw.

Nana fiddled about with the lens for a bit and altered the height of the tripod, but she knew as well as we did that she wouldn't be able to put this off for much longer. She stuck in an earpiece and plugged it into the camera.

Akaki handed his comb to one of his minions. It looked as though it had recently been dipped in goose fat. The expression on his face said he was ready, and ready right now.

But Nana wasn't, not quite yet, anyway. She moved to his side and murmured quietly in his ear. He looked at her and tugged thoughtfully at a handful of beard.

After a few more tugs, he started bellowing again, but this time Nana wasn't his target. Ponchos were going back on. AKs were being shouldered.

Charlie and I were busy looking busy, making needless adjustments to the kit. Nana came back over to us, pointing at the lights and conveying a series of highly technical instructions with her outstretched arms.

'I've told him that if this is to go out live to the US, I need to do a series of links to camera in English. These will be used as trails, to guarantee the biggest possible audience… I've also suggested he send some men to scout exterior locations, and round up enough locals for a crowd scene. He understands it's very important we get this right. We're going to meet them at the village hall once we've closed down the link.'