Page 1 of End Game
PROLOGUE
The London Bid
2005
July 2005
‘DO YOU THINK WE’RE INwith a chance?’ asked William.
‘An outside chance,’ responded the Hawk. ‘But don’t hold your breath.’
Commander William Warwick and his superior officer, Jack Hawksby, Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, were seated at the back of the packed ballroom in the Raffles Convention Centre in Singapore. For now, they were observers, not participants. Only if London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics would they become participants.
Five cities had made it to the final round, but only one would be returning home with the gold medal. There were no prizes for second place in this particular race. Although five cities were lined up in the starting blocks, everyone in the room knew that there were only three serious contenders left in the race. Paris were the clear favourite, having lost out to Beijing four years ago, and were now telling anyonewho would listen that the 2012 Olympics was theirs by right. Madrid was considered to be their only serious rival, while the bookies had London trailing in third place at ten to one.
During the next hour, four cities would be eliminated, leaving only one team to go home sporting the garland of victory.
The restless buzz in the convention centre was palpable, with several languages competing with each other. Most delegates assumed Moscow would be the first city to be eliminated, as they’d held the Games as recently as 1980 and were being tipped to host the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.
Another rumour William had picked up during the past few days was that if Moscow were eliminated, their votes would be transferred to anyone but London, as Margaret Thatcher had tried to boycott the Moscow Games in 1980, and Putin was someone with a long memory.
The electorate was made up of one hundred and four delegates, representing countries large and small. This meant Luxembourg’s vote was as important as China’s, which was one of the reasons no one could be sure of the outcome.
Another reason no one could predict the winner was that almost every one of the delegates would have lied at least four times during the final week, always pledging their vote to the last person they’d spoken to.
A door at the far end of the room opened, and everyone in the room fell silent as Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee, accompanied by the returning officer, entered the cauldron. They walked slowly up onto the stage, and by the time Rogge had taken his seat in the centre chair, there was pin-drop silence, aseveryone waited to find out which city would be the first to be eliminated.
A thousand eyes stared up at the President as he opened the envelope and pulled out a card with a single name on it. He tapped the microphone a couple of times before he announced, ‘The city of Moscow will not be participating in the second round.’
A few people nervously applauded, while others looked relieved. But a fifth of the audience sat in stony silence, their fate decided. In a few hours’ time, they would be boarding a plane back to Moscow. Six years of hard work dismissed in a single sentence.
‘Win or lose,’ said William to the Hawk, as they made their way out of the hall to enjoy a short walk and catch a breath of fresh air before the loser of the next round was announced, ‘Beth and I will be going on holiday.’
‘Where?’ asked the Hawk, not a man who wasted words.
‘On a Viking cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest,’ said William. ‘No gallery en route will escape our attention.’
‘With or without the twins?’ enquired the Hawk.
‘Without,’ said William firmly, as they left the Convention Centre. ‘We’re the last people on earth they’ll want to spend a holiday with. Peter’s going to Galway with some friends later in the summer, and Artemisia has a holiday planned with her boyfriend, Robert. But right now, the twins are just as nervous as anyone in that hall: they’re waiting to find out their A-level results.’
‘And what are their plans afterwards?’ asked the Hawk.
‘Peter wants to go to my old alma mater, King’s College London, and study law, while Artemisia has already been offered a place at Bristol University to read English – where she’ll join Robert, who’s already there studying politics.’
‘I recently read inThe Times,’ said the Hawk, ‘that Robert’s father has just been appointed chairman of Kestrals Bank,’ he paused, ‘thanks to you.’
‘More thanks to Ross than me,’ said William. ‘After all, he was the one who finally proved that Robert’s father was innocent of all the charges brought against him.’
‘And a fat lot of good that did him,’ spat out the Hawk.
William nodded grimly. After proving Simon Hartley’s innocence, Ross ended up being suspended for a year and demoted for his troubles, while his old adversary Miles Faulkner got away scot-free.
‘Frankly, I was surprised that Sergeant Hogan even returned to work after his demotion,’ added the Hawk.
‘Alice was able to convince him,’ replied William. ‘With Jojo and little Jack growing up fast, I suppose it was the sensible decision.’
The Hawk nodded. ‘If it’s the last thing I do,’ he said, with considerable feeling, ‘I’ll put Miles Faulkner behind bars for the rest of his life.’
