Private Games (Private 3)

‘A thousand pardons,’ Teagan said. ‘Would you like some ice?’

The CGA chairman nodded as she reached around to massage her neck.

‘I’ll get you some,’ Teagan said.

She cleared the table in front of the CGA chairman, took one last look into Win Bo Lee’s eyes, and then left the glasses at the bar. Heading towards the exit with no intention of returning, Teagan was already replaying every moment of her quiet attack as if it were a slow-motion highlight on a sports reel.

Chapter 58

I AM SUPERIOR, Petra told herself as she moved parallel to the vault pit along the railing and towards the Gurkha with the thin black moustache. I am not like them. I am a weapon of vengeance, a weapon of cleansing.

She carried a stack of towels that hid her right hand when she smiled at the Gurkha with the moustache, and said, ‘For the vault station.’

He nodded. It was the third time the fat woman had brought towels to the pit, so he didn’t bother to go through them.

I am superior, Petra said over and over in her mind. And then, as it had as a young girl, during the rape and the killings, everything seemed to go strangely silent and slow-motion for her. In that altered state, she spotted her quarry: a slight man in a red sweat-jacket and white trousers, who was starting to pace as the first Chinese woman adjusted the springboard and prepared to vault.

Gao Ping was head coach of the Chinese women’s gymnastics team and a known pacer in big competitions. Petra had seen the behaviour in several films of Ping that she’d studied. He was a demonstrative, high-energy man who liked to goad his athletes to big performances. He was also a coach who had committed repeated crimes against the Olympic ideals, thereby sealing his fate.

The assistant coach, a woman named An Wu, and no less a criminal herself, had taken a seat, her face as emotionless as Ping’s was expressive. An Wu was an easier target than the ever-moving head coach. But Cronus had ordered Petra to take Ping first, and the assistant coach only if the opportunity followed.

Petra slowed in order to match her movement to Ping’s pacing. She handed the towels over the rail to another Game Master, and moved at an angle to the Chinese coach, who was bent over, exhorting his tiny athlete to greatness.

The first Chinese girl took off down the runway.

Ping took two skipping steps after her, and then stopped right in front of Petra, no more than eight feet away.

She rested her hand on the rail, intent on the head coach’s neck. When the Chinese girl hit the springboard, Petra fired.

I am a superior being, she thought as the dart hit Ping.

Superior in every way.

Chapter 59

THE CHINESE COACH slapped at the back of his neck just before his athlete nailed her landing and a roar went up from the crowd. Ping winced and looked around, bewildered by what had happened. Then he shook the sting off and ran clapping towards his vaulter, who beamed and shook her clasped hands above her head.

‘That little girl crushed that,’ Jack said.

‘Did she?’ Knight said, lowering his binoculars. ‘I was watching Ping.’

‘The Joe Cocker of gymnastics?’ Jack remarked.

Knight laughed, but then saw the Chinese coach rubbing at his neck before starting his histrionic ritual all over again as his next athlete got set to vault.

‘I think Joe Cocker got stung,’ Knight said, raising his binoculars again.

‘By what, a bee? How can you see that from here?’

‘I can’t see any bee,’ Knight said. ‘But I saw his reaction.’

Behind them, Knight heard Lancer talking in a strained voice into his radio to the arena’s internal and external security forces, fine-tuning how they were going to handle the medal ceremony.

Knight felt uneasy. He raised his binoculars and watched the Chinese coach cheer three more women through their vaults. As his last athlete took off down the runway, Ping danced like a voodoo man. Even his taciturn assistant, An Wu, got caught up in the moment. She was on her feet, hand across her mouth as the last girl twisted and somersaulted off the horse.

An Wu suddenly slapped at her neck as if she’d been stung.

Her athlete stuck her landing perfectly.