Page 40 of End Game
‘And they’ll go on waiting if we don’t get the new distribution box in place and quickly,’ William responded.
‘With the help of your police escort, the new kit should be with you in about twenty minutes,’ said the General. ‘I’ll head for the generator room to meet them.’
‘Do you know how long it will take to install it?’ asked William.
‘I haven’t a clue,’ replied the General.
William looked at the ticking clock. ‘Either way, I’ve only got another nineteen minutes. In your view, General, what’s the worst-case scenario?’
‘If there is a power failure and you have no back up generator, the stadium will be left in total darkness, and the least of your problems will be cancelling the opening ceremony. You’ll have eighty thousand panicking spectators inside the stadium who won’t know whether they’re experiencing a technical malfunction or a terrorist attack. Not to mention countless heads of state, ambassadors and other VIPs who will assume the worst.
‘Her Majesty will be left stranded in the Royal Box like a sitting duck, while one hundred and twenty-one VIPs, including several heads of state, will begin to panic and, once the news spreads, they will all be joined by eighty thousand spectators asking questions in one hundred and forty-seven different languages.’
‘And the best-case scenario?’ asked William.
‘The cyberattack will fail, the rogue circuit breakers will be removed and the generator will be fixed in time for you to get through the next two hours without any loss of power, in which case no one will be any the wiser.’
‘Given the circumstances, General, what would you recommend I should do?’
‘I’m a soldier and trained to always assume the worst-case scenario, Commander, so I don’t envy you your choice.’
‘Thank you,’ said William, suddenly aware where the buck stopped. He put the phone down and switched back to the radio. ‘Ross, stay put in the generator room with the engineer, while I prepare for the worst-case scenario.’
•••
The Chinese Ambassador looked at his watch. ‘Sixteen minutes left before the lights go out.’
‘And by now my team should have eliminated any possibility of the power being restored,’ said Mikailov.
‘What do you plan to do when we are finally cast in darkness?’ asked Wei Ming, as he poured himself another glass of champagne.
‘Sit still and enjoy every moment,’ replied his Russian counterpart, ‘while watching panic set in all around me. I’ve even brought along a torch for the occasion, so a boy scout couldn’t accuse me of being unprepared.’
They both smiled.
‘Should I assume your press release has already been written?’
‘Yes, but embargoed until midnight,’ said Mikailov. ‘However, President Putin plans to address the nation first thing in the morning. He will open by offering his sincere condolences for the unfortunate disaster.’ He paused. ‘I spent some time considering the wordscalamity,failureanddisaster,but finally settled ondisaster, as it’s a word that’s easy to translate into any language.’
Wei Ming gave his colleague a slight bow, before he said, ‘My President will also be sending his heartfelt condolences, before going on to remind the world’s press that our own Beijing Games went without a hitch and our opening ceremony was hailed as one of the mostmemorablein Olympic history. Another carefully chosen word,’ said Wei Ming, ‘as I feel sure the same will be said about the London opening, withmemorablehaving a completely different meaning.’ Wei Ming paused before he said, ‘How long before …?’
‘Twelve minutes,’ said the Russian Ambassador, as he checked his watch and uncorked a second bottle of champagne.
•••
A message came through on William’s radio. ‘The police escort is pulling up outside the main entrance, along with two army technicians and a distribution box,’ confirmed Rebecca. ‘I’ll escort them to the generator room,’ she said. ‘We should be there shortly.’
‘How long do you think it will take them to get the generator back up and running?’ asked William.
‘Ten minutes at the most, sir,’ said a voice William didn’t recognize.
He watched the CCTV screen in front of him as two men transported the distribution box as quickly as they could towards the generator room at what seemed like a snail’s pace to William.
William checked his watch once again. ‘I’m down to seven minutes,’ he said, but they didn’t need to be reminded.
•••
A billion eyes looked up into the sky as a single beam of light tracked a helicopter that was heading towards the stadium. On the vast screens, they all saw the door of the helicopter open. The Queen appeared, with Daniel Craigstanding by her side. The crowd gasped when James Bond stood back to allow the Queen to jump out of the helicopter.
