After that Kate lay back in her chair, her face turned up to the sun. She was told to take her feet off the table by a waiter, who ignored the rowdy Georgian kids nearby, playing their music loudly on a portable speaker. ‘Dick,’ Julie said, as he departed.

Julie stared at the kids next to them with growing irritation. They looked like they were stoned or high, dancing around the table self-consciously. Kate made a mental guess as to how long her friend would last and had it right at about three minutes.

Julie marched over to them. ‘You want to turn that off?’

They were startled to have been challenged so abruptly and they instantly complied, as meek as lambs. Julie was a formidable presence.

Kate sunbathed for about an hour. Julie grew bored and wandered off down to the town. Kate borrowed a swimming costume from the hotel and did some lengths in the basement pool. It had floor-to-ceiling windows, as if the hotel’s designer had been determined that at no point should you be deprived of the magic of that view.

They met for drinks before dinner and Kate insisted they stick to Diet Coke. After dinner, they went back outside and wrapped themselves in rugs left out for the purpose. They gazed up at the stellar night sky, the snowy peak of Mount Kazbegi majestic, even luminous, in the crystal-clear air.

They had both dozed off when Mikhail shook them gently awake. ‘Sorry, sleeping beauties,’ he whispered softly. ‘Time to go.’

29

29

AS FAR AS Kate could tell, there was no one behind them. But the driver gunned through the village of Stepantsminda, as if the entire Russian intelligence community was in hot pursuit.

They roared up the hill past Gergeti Trinity Church and on into the valley behind.

There was only one house here, a set of twinkling lights high up above Gergeti, in the lee of Mount Kazbegi. They pulled through a set of security gates that seemed spectacularly incongruous in the middle of nowhere and then Mikhail led them up the stairs to the terrace above.

The house was done up in a similar style to the hotel opposite – a temple of oak, fur and glass – with a roaring fire on a giant raised hearth. A woman in a black skirt and white shirt hurried forward to offer them a drink in fluent English. They both declined. Mikhail warmed his backside against the fire. ‘How was your day?’ he asked Kate.

‘Pleasant. It’s quite a spot.’

‘We used to come here a lot when I was a child.’

‘When did you build the house?’

‘Six years ago.’

They lapsed into silence. Mikhail appeared uncharacteristically nervous. Kate went out to the wooden deck and looked back towards the rear of Gergeti Trinity Church. Julie appeared beside her and offered her a cigarette. Kate couldn’t resist. ‘I’m definitely giving up when we get back.’

‘Me too.’