Charlie still seemed to be looking out for the non-existent back door, and the treeline on the high ground beyond it.
Akaki’s men took a deferential step or two back as he swept Nana to one side and strode into the barn. He stopped and surveyed the scene with wild, crazy eyes. Droplets of rain spilled from his curly black hair. He grabbed a handful of beard and squeezed out a pint or so more.
Nana was steeling herself to confront him when two blood-drenched corpses were dragged into the centre of the barn like dead dogs. They’d both taken several rounds to the torso, but the carefully positioned shots through their hands and feet told the most significant story.
Eduard and his wife had already had their interview.
Nana stormed across the barn, but Bastard was quicker. He jumped to his feet and brushed aside a couple of militants who weren’t quick enough to step out of his way. ‘Akaki, you miserable fuck!’
Akaki pulled his rain-soaked poncho over his head, to reveal a pair of Levi 501s, a US BDU jacket and the kind of woollen jumper that could only have come from the shop where Charlie and I had bought ours. He’d shoved some sort of semi-automatic into his shoulder holster and four extra AK mags in his chest harness.
He didn’t even blink as Bastard approached; just raised a hand to calm anyone shaping up to blow holes in him. The expression on his face was that of a man who’d spotted a relative he’d never much liked, but had to put up with. They knew each other all right.
‘
The Merc’s suspension groaned as he disappeared through the side door.
Akaki ripped Baz’s papers from Nana’s outstretched hand. She kept talking, fuck knows what about, but he was no more in the mood to listen than she had been ten minutes ago. He lashed out with his fist; she took the punch square on the cheek and crumpled to the floor.
Paata sprang to his feet but took the butt of an AK in the chest for his trouble. Nana screamed at him to stay put. Akaki bellowed at her and raised his hand to deliver another slap.
Bastard was firing on all cylinders. ‘Happy now, you demented fuck? Got what you want?’ He jabbed at Akaki with a sausage finger to emphasize every word. ‘I nearly got killed because of you. Now get me out of here!’ He kicked Nana in the ribs. ‘Translate! Fucking tell him! Tell him the police are coming.’
Nana did as she was told; at least I thought she did. The word ‘police’ is pretty much universal.
Akaki just laughed, and one by one his men joined in. Yep, they were really shitting themselves that a couple of blue-and-whites were on the way.
Bastard wasn’t fazed. I saw the outline of the Marriott cassette in his wet jacket pocket.
He turned his attention towards me and Charlie, as if the joke was on us. ‘You two fucks really think I was coming all the way with you?’
He came and stood inches from my face. ‘You know what? I should have gone to the cemetery and done the job myself, instead of hiring a moron with a machete to make a king-size fuck-up.’
He spotted Koba’s weapon and hooked it out of its proud new owner’s belt.
Fuck him; I wasn’t going to flinch this time when he squeezed the trigger.
I looked him straight in the eye as he closed one hand on the grip and brought the other one up for good measure.
Nana screamed Paata’s name but she needn’t have bothered. Akaki roared an order and Bastard got an AK butt on the side of the head before he even saw it coming.
Charlie kicked the Desert Eagle away as it fell to the ground at our feet.
The militant leader stormed across and started yelling at Bastard, punctuating every sentence with a good kick to the American’s prostrate bulk. The fat man only managed to crawl away as his attacker began to tire.
Nana translated. ‘He says you can take Eduard and Nato’s car. If you don’t go now, he will kill you. He says that he imagines he’s not the only person here who would like to see that.’ She paused. ‘And on that score, at least, he is telling the truth.’
Bastard reached Eduard’s corpse on his hands and knees, and delved into the bloodstained pockets like a starving man fighting for food. A set of keys glinted in Paata’s arc lights, and he staggered to his feet. His gut heaved. He stared at me, his nostrils flaring and whistling as his overweight body sucked in oxygen. He had things he still wanted to say, but he’d left them too late.
Akaki grabbed him by the roll of fat above his collar and frogmarched him all the way to the door.
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!’
2
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.’
