‘Bollocks to that,’ said Pav. ‘Split it up now. Then we can go out and start spending.’

‘What on?’ demanded Dusty derisively. ‘Rotten onions? Crappy cabbage? You’ll get fuck-all else in Balashika.’

‘Funny,’ said Mal. ‘At Sandhurst it’s the other way round. It’s the students who have the money. Arabs slip their instructors gold watches to get an early look at exam papers. Here, the students are penniless and the instructors are loaded.’

Whinger, who’d been keeping quiet, butted up and said, ‘They offered Geordie a gold Rolex as well.’

‘You bastard!’ roared Pav. ‘Where is it?’

‘I told him to keep it.’

‘Bloody idiot,’ Pav cried. ‘I’d have taken it.’

‘I know you would,’ I told him. ‘But the person who needs money is Sasha. I bet that mean bugger Ivan didn’t give him anything. The poor sod hasn’t been paid in months.’

I brought up the saga of my having to buy clothes for him in Hereford, which the lads hadn’t heard, and finished with, ‘I vote we slip him a couple of grand, anyway.’

Our Chinese parliament passed the suggestion unanimously – with the exception of Toad, who, as usual, was lurking at one side of the room, outside the main circle, listening, watching. He said nothing – just gave us a sly look – so I considered him over-ruled and said, ‘Right then – here’s a couple for Sasha,’ and separated out two of the little bundles.

‘What about the rest?’

In the end it was agreed that we keep it all together for the time being, and send it back to UK as Rick had suggested.

‘All right, then,’ I said. ‘It’s going in a Lacon box for now, and the next time we go in to the Embassy, it heads for home.’

Next morning Sasha was on top of the world, beaming at everyone, bringing thanks and congratulations from Omon’s highest brass. He also brought a personal invitation.

‘My mother,’ he began, as we stood in the sunshine outside the back of our building. ‘She would like so much to meet you. She asks, please come to supper one evening.’

‘Sasha! You haven’t told her about yesterday?’

‘Konechno nyet! She knows nothing about yesterday. She knows nothing about my work. This invitation is from many days old.’

‘Well – thanks. I’d like to meet her.’

‘Good! Good!’

‘When would it be?’

‘She suggest Friday. And please, bring one friend.’

‘Thank you. That’s really nice. Now look – I’ve got something for you. Hang on there a minute.’

I nipped inside to fetch his dollars. It wasn’t the ideal moment, because it looked slightly as if I was trying to pay in advance for a couple of dinners, but I thought it best to get the presentation over with.

‘Listen,’ I said. ‘We want to give you this.’