Joe got the message. The electrics started winding down.
Awaale carried on talking. ‘Mr Nick, please, all is good.’ He swivelled and began walking backwards, talking coolly to his crews and motioning for them to lower their weapons.
‘That’s good, mate. It’s high time your lads took their chill pills.’
I could hear another aircraft’s electrics winding down in the distance. I peered into the gloom at the bricklike silhouette of the Skyvan.
‘Awaale — who the fuck are they?’
‘Just guys waiting to pick someone up, I suppose. Like you are doing, Mr Nick. It happens all the time.’
We now stood equidistant between the Cessna and the technicals. ‘OK, everyone, listen in!’ I felt like I was trying to marshal a school trip. ‘Everyone’s getting a bit too sparked up so we’re going to have a change of plan. This is what’s going to happen. I’m going to get the bags and bring them back here, to where we are standing right now. Have we got that so far?’
Awaale translated for his crews and Mr Lover Man mumbled away at Genghis. Frank’s lads still kept their weapons in the shoulder, no matter what the other fuckers were doing. The crews now had theirs down, held by the magazines or slung over their shoulders. A couple lit up. Another two even got on their mobiles again.
‘OK, once I start walking back with the bags, BB, Stefan and Tracy come over and meet me here. Has everybody got that? Awaale, make sure these people understand what’s going on. Shout at them, mate. I don’t want to leave any room for doubt.’
I spun round to Mr Lover Man. ‘Your friend getting this?’
He muttered something to Genghis and nodded.
Awaale went into Alexander the Great mode, rallying his troops while another cloud of cigarette smoke drifted from the back of Erasto’s technical.
BB couldn’t help himself. ‘Nick, you’ve got to fucking grip these boys. We—’
‘BB! Shut — the — fuck — up!’
The crews fidgeted. The shouting was making them uneasy. Awaale kept giving them commands, but it was turning back into an argument.
I raised my hands again and slowly brought them down, as if that was going to steady the situation the way Awaale had. ‘Everybody stay calm. Keep your weapons down.’
I turned and pointed at Mr Lover Man and Genghis. ‘That’s you as well. Fingers off triggers, lads.’
One fucking slip and this all went to rat-shit.
19
I gave it about fifteen seconds after Awaale had stopped, everybody had calmed a little and AKs were lowered. ‘OK, I’m going to start walking … now.’
I moved towards the money and lifted each bag in turn, one over the right shoulder, one over the left, making a point of hooking a finger through each of the ring-pulls. I looked at Awaale, and then at everybody else, to make sure we were all on the same page. ‘OK, let’s get walking.’
I took the first few paces towards Awaale, making sure I could see the other three coming towards me.
We all converged beside Awaale. I bent at the knees and placed the bags on the tarmac. I kept my fingers threaded through the ring-pulls.
Awaale unzipped each bag in turn and checked their contents.
‘Nothing’s changed, mate. Check the wrappers — look at where you sliced them with your thumbnail.’
‘It’s all there, Mr Nick. We trust you. It’s all there.’
I let go of the ring-pulls and tucked them inside the bags.
‘OK, mate, now you start heading to Erasto, nice and slow, nice and controlled, and then you get your crews out of here.’
‘No problem, Mr Nick, no problem.’ He lifted the bags and we both turned to go our separate ways.
‘Tracy, BB — nice and slow towards the aircraft, when I say. Tracy, don’t cross in front of the lads. Keep well to the right of them.’
If it went to rat-shit I didn’t want her in the way of their arcs of fire.
I pointed at Lover Man and Genghis. ‘We’re coming towards you.’
Five or six paces from the Cessna I turned to see the back door of Erasto’s technical open and Awaale passing over the bags. The first technical started to roll the moment the door closed again. Bob Marley filled the air once more.
Erasto’s wagon followed, but stopped level with Awaale’s. Erasto wanted to have a good look at the two Georgians. They were still on their arses on the flatbed, bollock naked, backs against the cab. The two crew guarding them laughed and pointed. Erasto’s vehicle moved off.
Mr Lover Man screamed at Joe, ‘The engine, let’s go, let’s go!’ He leant through the cargo-hold door, laid his M4 on the floor and turned to help Tracy.
Tracy ignored him and ran straight for me.
‘Nick, thank you, thank you, thank you.’ As the electrics wound up once more, she threw her arms around my neck and planted kisses all over my face. Her own was one big scabby grin.
‘Nick, thank you, thank you …’ The prop began to turn. Her words were now almost drowned by the engine.
She hugged me tighter, pulling me down so her chin rested on my right shoulder.
Awaale was waiting to exchange contact details and say goodbye but he stood back to let Tracy show her love and appreciation. Maybe he thought it was going to be his turn next. Everybody did love him so.
Her tone changed the instant her lips were at my ear. ‘BB is working with the two Georgians. That plane is theirs, Nick. They want Stefan, but he says he will kill him if I tell you. They want my baby. Please help us … Please …’
The navigation lights strobed under the fuselage. Everything unfolded around me like a series of rapid-sequence still photographs.
The Skyvan’s props were turning.
Stefan’s little legs were a blur as he struggled to get back to his mother.
BB’s eyes were fixed on the Skyvan.
‘Nick, please do something …’
Genghis was looking into the hold of the Cargomaster.
Now BB was moving.
Gripping Stefan tightly in front of him, he ran hard into Genghis’s back, using the boy as a battering ram. Genghis stumbled and fell.
BB grabbed Mr Lover Man’s M4 from the doorway and jammed the short barrel into the back of Stefan’s head. His shouts were almost lost in the prop-wash but their message was clear. ‘Stand still, everybody. No fucker move!’
The boy’s clothing was flattened against BB by the force of the propeller. BB moved out of its way.
The M4 barrel was firmly jammed into the base of Stefan’s skull.
20
Genghis quickly recovered, weapon back up, but BB kept moving away from the aircraft, making any shot Genghis might take a whole lot harder.
Tracy screamed and lunged towards her son. ‘My baby! My baby!’
I gripped her. I shouted to Genghis above the blast of the turboprop. ‘No fire! Don’t fire!’
He might be able to hit him, but he couldn’t guarantee that BB didn’t have enough pressure on his trigger to take the boy out with him. I had no doubt that he would. BB might be an arsehole, but he knew exactly what he was doing. If he was in a corner and going to die anyway, he wouldn’t give a fuck.
If I screwed this up and the boy got killed, Frank’s lads weren’t going to give a fuck about us — or anyone else they opened up on as they made their exit.
Mr Lover Man jumped out and I pushed Tracy towards him. ‘Take her. And tell your mate not to fire!’