Private Games (Private 3)

‘I didn’t even consider the possibility,’ Knight admitted. ‘But they both served with NATO in the Balkans during the mid-1990s, they both had issues with the modern Olympic Games, and there’s no denying the DNA results.’

Lancer said, ‘Now that we know who they are, it’s only a matter of time until they’re caught.’

‘Unless they manage to strike again before they’re caught,’ Jack said.

The LOCOG security adviser blanched, puffed out his lips, and exhaled with worry. ‘Where? That’s the question I keep asking myself.’

‘Somewhere big,’ Knight said. ‘They killed during the opening ceremony because it gave them a world audience.’

Jack said, ‘Okay, so what’s the biggest event left?’

Lancer shrugged. ‘The sprints have drawn

the most interest. Millions of people applied for seats in the stadium this coming Sunday evening – the final of the men’s 100-metre sprint – because of the possibility of a showdown between Zeke Shaw and Filatri Mundaho.’

‘What about today or tomorrow? What’s the ticket everyone wants?’ Knight asked.

‘Has to be the women’s gymnastics, I’d think,’ Jack said. ‘Carries the biggest television audience in the States, anyway.’

Lancer glanced at his watch and reacted as though his stomach had just soured. ‘The women’s team final starts in less than an hour.’

Anxiety coiled through Knight as he said, ‘If I were Cronus, and wanted to make a big statement, women’s gymnastics is where I’d attack next.’

Lancer grimaced and started heading for the lift, saying, ‘I hate to say it, but I think you may be right, Peter.’

‘What’s the fastest way to the gymnastics venue?’ Jack demanded, hustling after the LOCOG member.

‘Blackwall Tunnel,’ Knight said.

‘No,’ Lancer said. ‘Scotland Yard’s got it closed during the competitions to prevent a possible car bombing. We’ll go by river bus.’

Chapter 55

AFTER CHECKING IN with Petra’s immediate supervisors, the sisters scouted out the seats for which she would act as usher. They were low and at the north end of the O2 Arena, just off the vault floor. Teagan left her sister at that point, and found the hospitality suite to which she’d been assigned as a waitress. She told her team leader there that she would return after a quick trip to the loo.

Petra was waiting. They took stalls next to each other.

Teagan opened the seat-cover dispenser in her stall and retrieved two slender, green CO2 canisters and two sets of plastic tweezers that had been taped there.

She kept one and passed the other under the partition that separated the stalls. In return, Petra handed Teagan two tiny darts, scarcely as long as a bee’s sting, with miniature plastic vanes glued to tiny insulin needles and stuck to a small strip of duct tape.

Next came a six-inch length of thin clear plastic tubing with miniature pipe-fitting hardware at either end. Teagan took off her ring and then screwed the male fitting into one of the silver pits on the back of the ring.

Satisfied with the connection, she unscrewed it and coiled the line back to where she’d attached the CO2 cartridge. She taped the cartridge and coiled gas line to her forearm, and then slid on the ring.

She’d no sooner finished than Petra pushed the vial from the insulin kit under the partition. Teagan used her tweezers to grab one of the darts. She stuck the tip of its needle through the rubber gasket into the vial and the liquid it contained, drew it out, and inserted it vane first into a tiny hole on her ring opposite the gas connection.

After dipping the second tiny dart, she blew on it until the liquid dried, and then stuck it ever so carefully into the lapel of her uniform in case she needed a second shot. With utmost care, she drew down her blouse sleeve before flushing the loo and leaving the stall.

Petra appeared as Teagan washed her hands. She smiled uncertainly at her older sister, but then whispered, ‘Aim twice.’

‘Shoot once,’ Teagan said, thinking that this felt like part of a dream already. ‘Do you have your bees?’

‘I do.’

Chapter 56

UNDER A SPITTING rain an unseasonal fog crept west up the Thames to meet the river bus as it sped past the Isle of Dogs, heading towards the North Greenwich peninsula and the Queen Elizabeth II Pier. The boat was packed with latecomers holding tickets to the team gymnastics finals, which were just a few minutes from starting.