Page 91 of End Game
‘Just before the firework display begins, she’s going to take off her national tracksuit, while everyone else will be looking up into the sky. Beneath the Chinese tracksuit, she’s wearing the official Great Britain Olympic team kit.’ He paused. ‘She’s then going to head towards the British team and when she reaches them, while everyone is still distracted by the firework display, she’ll bend down and untie her shoelaces. She’s got several ampoules of the nerve agent, Sarin, hidden in her trainers and when she removes them to break the ampoules, the liquid will vaporize and release enough gas to obliterate most of the British team.’
William didn’t need to be told about the dangers of Sarin and the chaos it had caused on an underground station in Tokyo. Every officer in the Met had been fully briefed by Interpol and William could still remember being horrified and not just by a senseless, evil act that had caused so many deaths, but the realization that one person could hold in their hands a weapon of mass destruction that could, at any given moment, destroy a dream and replace it with a nightmare from which you would never wake.
His first thought was of his family seated in their box, but they were only part of a much bigger family he was responsible for.
Above them, the crowd continued to cheer long after ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ had finally come to an end.
‘If what you’re suggesting is true,’ said William, ‘she would be the first to die.’
Faulkner nodded. ‘But you have to remember, she’s a zealot who will happily sacrifice her own life – even those of her countrymen – to achieve her aim.’
William tried to remain calm, aware he was now in the hands of someone he’d never been able to trust in the past. But what choice had he been left with while so many lives were at stake?
‘How on earth can we identify her?’ asked William, as he stared up at the vast Chinese team bunched together, row upon row.
‘Her tracksuit,’ said Faulkner. ‘The moment she takes her top off and begins to walk towards the British team, she will be one blue and white tracksuit amongst a sea of red.’
‘Rebecca!’ shouted William, looking up at the screen.
‘Heard every word, sir,’ confirmed Rebecca, ‘and my entire team is now focused on the Chinese squad in search of a British tracksuit.’
The silence that followed seemed an eternity to William.
He considered his options once again. They were, to say the least, limited. A tannoy announcement to warn the crowd what was about to happen, followed by an emergency evacuation? A drill that had been practised several times during the past year, but this time would be for real, not a rehearsal. Out of the question, William decided. If he were to make such an announcement, Sun Anqi could release the gas before he had completed his second sentence.
And then a clear voice interrupted his thoughts. ‘Clocked her.’
‘Are you certain?’ asked William, no longer attempting to mask the anxiety in his voice.
‘She’s taking off her tracksuit, sir,’ said the officer, ‘and, yes, she’s wearing a British tracksuit underneath.’
‘Whatever you do, don’t lose sight of her,’ said William, painfully aware what might happen should any member of his team make one false move.
Twenty-six binoculars stared down from the roof, all of them focused on one person.
‘Count down,’ declared the announcer over the loudspeaker.
‘Is your team in place, Ross?’ asked William over the phone as the crowd began to chant in unison:ten, nine, eight…
‘And ready to strike,’ said Ross, not wasting a word.
‘And have you got her in your sights?’
‘She’s just left her own team and is now heading towards the British contingent.’
‘Sniper team, do you have a clear shot?’ asked William, his calm voice belying his pounding heart.
‘Negative, sir, and I must warn you the bullet could hit an innocent athlete, in front of eighty thousand witnesses.’
Several of the screens now showed a woman moving slowly across the centre of the stadium towards the British team. William hesitated, aware that eighty thousand lives were now in his hands.
‘Sir, can I give the authorization to fire?’ asked Rebecca.
The screens continued to show a joyous crowd of young athletes around Sun Anqi, who she ignored while she kept advancing towards her target.
William made a decision.
‘Negative,’ he said, before repeating, ‘Negative. Ross, how close is the target to you?’
