Page 42 of End Game
When the curtain finally came down, and the Queen had departed, unaware of any problems, the dignitaries were escorted back to their coaches, while the boisterous, exuberant crowd made their way out of the stadium, some singing, others dancing all the way back home.
•••
Once again, the two ambassadors sat next to each other on the coach as it made its way back into central London. The noisy chatter all around them rather suggested that the opening ceremony had been awarded a gold medal. It was some time before either of them spoke.
‘What do you think went wrong, Anatoly?’ the Chinese Ambassador eventually managed.
‘I have no idea,’ admitted Mikailov, ‘but I will have sent a report to my President long before he wakes in the morning. I will leave Mr Putin in no doubt that the failed Chinese cyberattack was to blame, while we carried out our part of the plan to the letter.’
‘I’m not sure he’ll be convinced about that, after Hu Jintao has read my report,’ said Wei Ming, annoyed by his colleague trying to pass on the blame.
‘Possibly not,’ admitted Mikailov. ‘However, I will also remind my President we still have a foolproof plan to switch the urine samples and ensure the Games will only be remembered for one thing.’
‘And should that fail, comrade,’ said Wei Ming disdainfully, ‘be assured when our pocket Exocet takes over, she will be more than a match for Warwick, or Faulkner for that matter.’
•••
When no one was left in the stands and the lights in the stadium were finally switched off, William’s phone rang once again. He picked it up to hear General Norton on the other end of the line.
‘Well done, Commander. But if I may be allowed to offer you one piece of advice?’
‘Please do, sir,’ said William.
‘Don’t tell anyone in authority what actually happened tonight.’
BOOK TWO
The Games
CHAPTER 14
Saturday, 28 July – day 2 of the Games
WILLIAM WAS SO EXHAUSTEDthat he couldn’t sleep. He toppled out of his camp bed just after five, took a cold shower and got dressed. He left the stadium before the sun had risen and began to walk slowly around a deserted Olympic Park. He would, like Ross, have run, but he found he couldn’t fully concentrate while jogging.
He began by trying to get his thoughts in some order. How close had they come to total disaster? Far too close. And if this had been engineered from high up in the Russian government, as he feared, then what was coming next? He would need to gather all the salient facts from his inner team before he could brief the Hawk.
Last night, Ross had attempted to interview the engineer they’d arrested, but with little success; so far, the man wouldn’t talk. Ross would try again this morning, but William held little hope of any real information being forthcoming. In the meantime, there was someone else heneeded to speak to: Professor Meredith, his contact at GCHQ. If there was anyone who might be able to throw some light on what they could expect, it was Meredith, a man who spent his life thinking outside the box and continually preparing for the unexpected. They had met several times in the run-up to the Olympics, and William knew he could rely on his discretion. But at what hour could he wake him?
William circled the swimming arena and began to make his way slowly back towards the stadium – a stadium that would remain quiet for another week before the starter’s pistol was fired for the first track and field event. In the meantime, the opening week of the Games would be colonized by a myriad of different sports ranging from swimming to gymnastics, boxing to weightlifting, cycling to equestrian events, fencing to … The list was endless. Forty-three world championships held in a single week in an area the size of a village: the Olympic Village. Most of the competitors had waited four years for their moment on the world stage, and for some, it would be no more than a curtain lowered, while their rivals progressed to the next round, fewer still reaching the semi-finals and only a handful the finals, leaving just three to mount the podium and be awarded a gold, silver or bronze medal. Those lucky few would bask in glory for a lifetime, while one, perhaps two, would lay claim to immortality and add their names to the scroll of Olympic history.
William checked his watch once again as he approached the stadium: 5.43. He returned to his dungeon in the basement to prepare for the morning team meeting. So many items on the agenda fell into the category of ‘contingency planning’.
William switched on the light in the Gold Suite, relieved to see the bulb obey his order. He looked up at the bank of CCTV screens. The army engineers had continued working through the night so that the public – and, more importantly, the press – would never find out there had been a problem. The generator room had been fitted with new Banham locks, while two guards were posted outside and another two inside, as well as half a dozen over-qualified electricians carrying out four-hour shifts, so it wouldn’t be necessary to once again call on General Norton’s services.
At six minutes past six, William decided he couldn’t wait any longer. He checked the name on his priority list before slowly dialling the number. Only one ring and the call was answered by a man who sounded wide awake.
‘Good morning, Professor Meredith,’ said William. ‘I hope I didn’t wake you.’
‘No, you didn’t,’ said a voice that didn’t sound surprised to find the Commander on the other end of the line. ‘I’ve been waiting for your call. Forty-eight seconds was a little too long for a blackout to have been a scripted part of the show. So, what happened?’
After William had recounted last night’s near-disaster in detail, he asked, ‘Can you draw any conclusions, Professor, that might assist us in the future?’
‘Only one of any importance,’ responded Meredith. ‘There’s someone out there whose sole purpose is to ensure that the London Games will not be remembered for their sporting prowess.’ He paused. ‘If you are able to identify who that person is, you’ll be halfway to stopping them in their tracks, if you’ll forgive the pun. You said the three men involved are all Russian, so it seems plausible to assume their government may be involved in something on such a grandscale. But somebody has to be in charge of the operation, so that’s the person you need to identify.’
‘We caught one of them red-handed,’ said William, ‘and he spent the rest of the night in the stadium’s prison cell, but, I confess, the other two got clean away.’
‘The one you caught was no doubt nothing more than a foot soldier,’ said Professor Meredith. ‘Has he been questioned yet?’
