Among the diagrams Sasha had brought with him were two of the weapons that Tiger Force personnel would be using: the Stechkin Mark 5 9mm automatic pistol, and the latest creation of the Rex Firearm Company in St Petersburg, the 9mm Gepard, a modular weapon which can be instantly adapted for use as rifle, sub-machine gun or pistol. I thanked Sasha as gently as possible for bringing them, then let him know that, as well as better diagrams, we had an actual example of the Gepard which we’d acquired via another channel. In fact I’d arranged that Johnny would give the rest of the team a lesson on stripping down and reassembling the weapon, with Sasha present.

This demo proved a big success. For one thing it gave Sasha a chance to start getting to know our guys, and for another, he hit top form during the talk, acting up and joining in Johnny’s commentary.

‘Gepard is Russian for cheetah,’ he told the team. ‘Very fast, very light.’ He made springing, bounding movements with his hands. ‘It was developed from the Ryss, which is lynx. Lynx is OK, but cheetah is faster and lighter.’

‘That’s right.’ Johnny took him up, holding the weapon across his knees as he sat at the front of the classroom. ‘It’s a beaut. It’s got everything bar the spots.’ He hefted it in one hand. ‘Extremely light. Under four and a half pounds without a mag. As you see, there’s a strong resemblance to a sawn-off Kalashnikov AK74U: more than half the parts are interchangeable. But it’s a hell of a lot more versatile. From what we’ve seen on the range so far, it’s accurate and nicely balanced. Handles exceptionally well. Looks like it could be a winner in CQB and law enforcement.’

He demonstrated how the tubular steel butt-stock could be flipped out to turn the weapon into a rifle, or downwards to form a grip for sub-machine-gun mode. Then he rapidly stripped it, removing the bolt and bolt-carrier, the return spring, the upper hand-guard and gas chamber. As he brought each component away, Sasha gave us the Russian names.

‘Two models of magazine,’ Johnny went on, having reassembled the pieces. ‘This one holds twenty-two rounds, this one forty. The selector switch here has three positions. On safe, the bolt is locked half-way back so you can just see down into the magazine. Second position, O, as you know, stands for odin – one. Odinochniy is single fire. Is that right, Sasha?’

‘Konechno.’ The Russian grinned. ‘And next position, AV, is for avtomaticheskiy – automatic.’