’But, tragically, he cannot do that now. He is dead, murdered by Akaki’s men, and others who did not want his evidence to see the light of day. Akaki now has possession of this document, but I have read it from cover to cover… and even if I wanted to, I could never forget the awfulness of what I have read…’
Paata muttered an acknowledgement to somebody into his mike and pressed a button. ‘Five minutes, Nana. Keep going.’
She put a finger to her earpiece and nodded. ‘The representative in question, a personal friend to many, known throughout this land as a man dedicated to fighting the corruption that stains our country, was murdered because he had proof that six members of our government are implicated in terrorist activities, in concert with the man you see before you—’
Paata hit the button again. ‘Correction, Nana. It’s ten, repeat ten minutes. Keep going, you’re doing well. If he gets suspicious, cut the English and switch to the straight interview. OK?’
She fingered her earpiece again.
‘Yes… these six pillars of our establishment will greet President Bush when he arrives in our country this month… and the hands they will extend to him in friendship are as bloodstained as that of the mass murderer, kidnapper, extortionist and drug trafficker they are in league with…’
Charlie touched Paata’s shoulder. ‘This isn’t actually going to the States, is it?’
He shook his head without looking round. We got the idea: shut the fuck up.
‘It hardly bears thinking about, but the objective of this barbarity is to perpetuate the terrorist threat, so that the United States continues to send us aid; aid that doesn’t find its way to feeding our hungry or repairing our hospitals, but lines the pockets of expensive, western-tailored suits…’
Nana’s voice cracked again. Akaki was starting to look concerned.
‘Good news, Nana. It’s four minutes, repeat, four — maybe less.’
‘Unimaginable.’ She nodded. ‘But you must be told…’ She turned her head to Akaki and somehow managed a smile. ‘This… monster… was paid one million American dollars by these politicians to plan and carry out the massacre of sixty women and children last month in the village of Kazbegi—’
She realized immediately that she’d fucked up. Akaki’s head jerked round.
‘
Akaki had smelled a rat. He muttered something to his arse-lickers.
‘Three minutes, Nana. Hang on in there.’
‘I am now going to expose those murdering and corrupt politicians to the people of Georgia…’
Her eyes flickered to the sky.
I hadn’t heard anything inside the van, but the arse-lickers had; they ran outside and stared into the clouds.
Nana went for it. ‘Gogi Shengelia… Mamuka Asly…’
Akaki was on his feet, his expression thunderous. He swept the camera aside and charged through the barn doors.
Nana kept on going.
‘Giorgi Shenoy… Roman Tsereteli…’
The moment I stepped out of the van I could hear the beat of rotors. The helis must have stayed in dead ground until the last possible moment.
Akaki waved his arm and barked a sequence of orders. The arse-lickers tumbled into their Taliwagon. Akaki lifted his AK.
Nana was on autopilot.
‘Kote Zhvania… Irakli Zemularia…’
The Hueys were virtually overhead. Akaki tried to bring his AK into his shoulder, only to be buffeted by the downwash.
The fourth Taliwagon screamed to a halt alongside him and the arse-lickers pulled him aboard. The heli dipped its nose and headed for the field just to the side of the barn.
Nana was shaking. ‘There will be full exposure of all Zurab Bazgadze’s allegations in a special edition of
She dropped the mike to her side. By the time Paata had wrapped her in his arms, her whole body was convulsed with sobs.
‘Nana? We have to go.’
She looked over his shoulder at me. ‘I’ll help you, Nick. I’ll help you with the police.’
I shook my head. ‘No time for all that stuff. I’m taking Charlie home; there’s something he’s got to do.’
She shook her head, not understanding. ‘What can be more important than wanting to prove your innocence?’
‘Having the chance to die with your family around you…’
Charlie came up alongside me. ‘See that treeline, lad?’ He pointed to the slope behind the barn. ‘Last one there buys the kebabs.’
5
I looked through the slats. Four Hueys were touching down in the field a hundred metres away. BDU-clad bodies leaped out and took up fire positions.
Paata was out of the van, dragging the camera from its mount, ripping out all the leads. He extended the small antenna that would maintain the link with the satellite dish and keep the feed live.
There was the rattle of automatic gunfire from the high ground to our right. Akaki’s crew were putting down fire from the village.
The helis’ engines roared and they lifted sharply. The guys on the ground spun around like headless chickens. It was like watching Kazbegi all over again.
One or two shots came from the field as the BDUs began to engage. I hoped they were aimed up at the village and not towards us.
Paata rushed outside, camera on his shoulder, Nana by his side.
I grabbed Charlie. ‘Well?’
He looked at me but didn’t answer.
I ran to the barn doors. ‘Nana! Nana!’
She indicated to Paata what she wanted filmed.
‘
She turned back and I mimed the cut-away sign, finger across my throat.
The helis thundered overhead, eager to get out of the contact zone.
‘Go!’ she screamed. ‘Go!’
She turned away and got on with her job.
I skirted round the side of the barn, Charlie following at a hobble.
We scrambled up to the treeline, using the building as cover, and then turned back towards the village, paralleling the road. We had a bird’s-eye view of the chaos below us. BDUs milled around in the field, trying to take cover, not sure where. Maybe they hadn’t got to page two of the textbook yet.
American voices tried in vain to command and control as one-in-four tracer burned down from the militants’ light machine guns, thudding into the grass around their students.
One long burst arced down from the rooftops, scattering earth around the BDUs. They had no choice but to keep moving and get the fuck off the open ground.
Nana crouched against the woodpile outside the barn, talking to camera as the contact went on behind her. Paata panned across the sky as the whirl of rotor blades sounded from the high ground behind the barn.
The Huey was really close, coming in low, and swept over our heads, banking into a steep climb over the field then breaking right, towards the village. The crew were trying to get some kind of fix on the attackers.
Another burst of tracer forced the heli to bank sharp left and disappear back into the dead ground.
