Two more guardsmen appeared in the stadium at either side of the main stage. The music faded and an announcer said, 'Ladies and Gentlemen, Mesdames et Messieurs: Queen Elizabeth and the Royal Family.'

Chapter 39

THE LIGHTS ON the stage came up to reveal Queen Elizabeth the Second in a blue suit. She was smiling and waving as she moved to a microphone while Prince Philip, Charles, William, Kate, and various other members of the Windsor family flanked and followed her. the stage came up to reveal Queen Elizabeth the Second in a blue suit. She was smiling and waving as she moved to a microphone while Prince Philip, Charles, William, Kate, and various other members of the Windsor family flanked and followed her.

Knight and Jack slowed to gawk for several moments while the queen gave a short speech welcoming the youth of the world to London. But then they moved on towards that entryway.

As more dignitaries gave speeches, the two Private operatives reached the grandstand above the tunnel entry and had to show their corporate badges and IDs to get to the railing. Teams of armed Gurkhas flanked both sides of the tunnel below them. Several of the Nepalese guards immediately began studying Knight and Jack, gauging their level of threat.

'I absolutely would not want one of those guys pissed-off at me,' Jack said as athletes from Afghanistan started to appear in the entryway.

'Toughest soldiers in the world,' Knight said, studying the traditional long, curved and sheathed knives several of the Gurkhas wore at their belts.

A long curved knife cut off Denton Marshall's head, right?

He was about to mention this fact to Jack when Marcus Morris shouted in conclusion to his speech: 'We welcome the youth of the world to the greatest city on Earth!'

On the stage at the south end of the stadium, the rock band The Who appeared, and broke into 'The Kids Are Alright' as the parade of athletes began with the contingent from Afghanistan entering the stadium.

The crowd went wild and wilder still when The Who finished and Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones appeared with Keith Richards' guitar wailing the opening riff of 'Can't You Hear Me Knocking?'

With a thousand camera flashes, London went into full Olympic frenzy.

Below Jack and Knight, the Cameroon team filed into the stadium.

'Which one's Mundaho?' Jack asked. 'He's from Cameroon, right?'

'Yes, indeed,' Knight said, searching among the contingent dressed in green and bright yellow until he spotted a tall, muscular and laughing man with his hair done up in beads and shells. 'There he is.'

'Does he honestly reckon he can beat Shaw?'

'He certainly thinks so,' Knight said.

Filatri Mundaho had appeared out of nowhere on the international track scene at a race in Berlin only seven months before the Olympics. Mundaho was a big, rangy man built along the same lines as the supreme Jamaican sprinter Zeke Shaw.

Shaw had not been in Berlin, but many of the world's other fastest men had. Mundaho ran in three events at that meet: the 100-metre, 200-metre, and 400-metre sprints. The Cameroonian won every heat and every race convincingly, which had never been done before at a meet that big.

The achievement set off a frenzy of speculation about what Mundaho might be able to accomplish at the London Games. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, American Henry Ivey gold-medalled and set world records in both the 400-metre and 200-metre sprints. At Beijing in 2008, Shaw won the 100 and 200-metre sprints, also setting world records in both events. But no man, or woman for that matter, had ever won all three sprint events at a single Games.

Filatri Mundaho was going to try.

His coaches claimed that Mundaho had been discovered running in a regional race in the eastern part of their country after he'd escaped from rebel forces who had kidnapped him as a child and turned him into a boy soldier.

'Did you read that article the other day where he attributed his speed and stamina to bullets flying at his back?' Jack asked.

'No,' Knight said. 'But I can see that being a hell of a motivator.'

Chapter 40

TWENTY MINUTES LATER, with The Who and the Stones still counterpunching with songs from their greatest-hits collections, the contingent from the United States entered the stadium led by their flag-bearer Paul Teeter, a massive bearded man whom Jack knew from Los Angeles.

'Paul went to UCLA,' Jack said. 'Throws the shot and discus insanely strong. A really good guy, too. He does a lot of work with inner-city youth. He's expected to go big here.'

Knight took his eyes off Teeter and caught sight of a woman he recognised walking behind the flag-bearer. He'd seen a picture of her in a bikini in The Times The Times of all places the week before. She was in her late thirties and easily one of the fittest women he'd ever seen. And she was even better-looking in person. of all places the week before. She was in her late thirties and easily one of the fittest women he'd ever seen. And she was even better-looking in person.

'That's Hunter Pierce, isn't it?' Knight said.

Jack nodded in admiration. 'What a great story she is.'

Pierce had lost her husband in a car accident two years before, leaving her with three children under the age of ten. Now an emergency-room doctor in San Diego, she'd once been a twenty-one-year-old diver who'd almost made the Atlanta Olympic team, but had then quit the sport to pursue a career in medicine and raise a family.

Fifteen years later, as a way to deal with her husband's death, she began diving again. At her children's insistence, Pierce started competing again at the age of thirty-six. Eighteen months later, with her children watching, she'd stunned the American diving community by winning the ten-metre platform competition at the US Olympic qualifying meet.

'Absolutely brilliant,' Knight said, watching her waving and smiling as the team from Zimbabwe entered the stadium behind her.

Last to enter was the team from the UK the host country. Twenty-three-year-old swimmer Audrey Williamson, a two-time gold medallist at Beijing, carried the Union Jack.

Knight pointed out to Jack the various athletes from the British contingent who were said to have a chance to win medals, including marathon runner Mary Duckworth, eighteen-year-old sprint sensation Mimi Marshall, boxer Oliver Price, and the nation's five-man heavyweight crew team.

Soon after, 'God Save the Queen' was sung. So was the Olympic Hymn. The athletes recited the Olympic creed, and a keen anticipation descended over the crowd, many of who were looking towards the tunnel entry below Knight and Jack.

'I wonder who the cauldron lighter will be,' Jack said.

'You and everyone else in England,' Knight replied.

Indeed, speculation about who would receive the honour of lighting the Olympic cauldron had only intensified since the flame had come from Britain to Greece earlier in the year and been taken to Much Wenlock in Shropshire, where Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympics, had been guest of honour at a special festival in 1890.

Since then, the torch had wound its way through England, Wales and Scotland. At every stop, curiosity and rumour had grown.

'The odds-makers favour Sir Cedric Dudley, the UK's five-times gold medallist in rowing,' Knight told Jack. 'But others are saying that the one to light the cauldron should be Sir Seymour Peterson-Allen, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes.'

But then a roar went up from the crowd as the theme from the movie Chariots of Fire Chariots of Fire was played and two men ran into the stadium directly below Knight and Jack, carrying the torch between them. was played and two men ran into the stadium directly below Knight and Jack, carrying the torch between them.

It was Cedric Dudley running beside ...

'My God, that's Lancer!' Knight cried.

It was was Mike Lancer, smiling and waving joyously to the crowd as he and Dudley ran along the track towards the spiral staircase that climbed the replica of the Tower of London at the bottom of which stood a waiting figure in white. Mike Lancer, smiling and waving joyously to the crowd as he and Dudley ran along the track towards the spiral staircase that climbed the replica of the Tower of London at the bottom of which stood a waiting figure in white.

Chapter 41

AT THAT VERY moment, Karen Pope was in the moment, Karen Pope was in the Sun Sun's newsroom on the eighth floor of a modern office building on Thomas More Square near St Katharine Docks on the Thames's north bank. She wanted to go home to get some sleep, but could not break away from the coverage of the opening ceremonies.

Up on the screen, Lancer and Dudley ran towards that figure in white standing at the bottom of a steep staircase that led up onto the tower. Seeing the joy on the faces all over the stadium, Pope's normal cynicism faded and she started to feel weepy.

What an amazing, amazing moment for London, for all of Britain.

Pope looked over at Finch, her editor. The crusty sports veteran's eyes were glassy with emotion. He glanced at her and said, 'You know who that is, don't you? The final torch-bearer?'

'No idea, boss,' Pope replied.

'That's goddamn-'

'You Karen Pope?' a male voice behind her said, cutting Finch off.

Pope turned to see and smell a scruffy bicycle messenger who looked at her with a bored expression on her face.

'Yes,' she said. 'I'm Pope.'

The messenger held out an envelope with her name on it, spelled out in odd block letters of many different fonts and colours. Pope felt her stomach yawn open like an abysmal pit.

Chapter 42

AS THE FINAL torch-bearer climbed the Tower of London replica, the entire crowd were cheering and whistling and stamping their feet. torch-bearer climbed the Tower of London replica, the entire crowd were cheering and whistling and stamping their feet.

Knight frowned and glanced up at the roof of the Orbit and the guardsmen flanking the cauldron. How the hell were they going to get the flame from the top of the Tower of London replica to the top of the Orbit?

The final torch-bearer raised the flame high overhead as the applause turned thunderous and then cut to a collective gasp.

Holding his bow, an arrow strung, Robin Hood leaped into the air off the scaffolding above the south stage and flew out over the stadium on guy wires, heading for the raised Olympic torch.

As the archer whizzed past, he dipped the tip of his arrow into the flame, igniting it. Then he soared on, higher and higher, drawing back his bowstring as he went.

When he was almost level with the top of the Orbit, Robin Hood twisted and released the fiery arrow, which arced over the roof of the stadium, split the night sky, and passed between the Queen's guardsmen, inches over the cauldron.

A great billowing flame exploded inside the cauldron, turning the stadium crowd thunderous once more. The voice of Jacques Rogge, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee rang out over the public address system: 'I declare the 2012 London Games open!'

Fireworks erupted off the top of the Orbit and exploded high over East London while church bells all over the city began to ring. Down on the stadium floor, the athletes were all hugging each other, trading badges, and taking pictures and videos of this magical moment when each and every dream of Olympic gold seemed possible.

Looking at the athletes, and then up at the Olympic flame while chrysanthemum rockets burst in the sky, Knight got teary-eyed. He had not expected to feel such overwhelming pride for his city and for his country.

Then his mobile rang.

Karen Pope was near-hysterical: 'Cronus just sent me another letter. He takes credit for the death of Paul Teeter, the American shot-putter!'

Knight grimaced in confusion. 'No, I just saw him he's ...'

Then Knight understood. 'Where's Teeter?' he shouted at Jack and started running. 'Cronus is trying to kill him!'

Chapter 43

KNIGHT AND JACK fought their way down through the crowd. Jack was barking into his mobile, informing the stadium's security commander of the situation. They both showed their Private badges to get onto the stadium floor. fought their way down through the crowd. Jack was barking into his mobile, informing the stadium's security commander of the situation. They both showed their Private badges to get onto the stadium floor.

Knight spotted Teeter holding the US flag and talking to Filatri Mundaho, the Cameroonian sprinter. He took off across the infield just as the American flag began to topple. The flag-bearer went with it and collapsed to the ground, convulsing, bloody foam on his lips.

By the time Knight reached the US contingent, people were screaming for a doctor. Dr Hunter Pierce broke through the crowd and went to the shot-putter's side while Mundaho watched in horror.

'He just falls,' the ex-boy soldier said to Knight.

Jack looked as stunned as Knight felt. It had all happened so fast. Three minutes' warning. That's all they'd been given. What more could they have done to save the American?

Suddenly, the public address system crackled and Cronus's weird flute music began playing.

Panic surged through Knight. He remembered Selena Farrell Farrell turning crazed in her office, and then realised that many of the athletes around him were pointing up at the huge video screens around the Olympic venue, all displaying the same three red words: turning crazed in her office, and then realised that many of the athletes around him were pointing up at the huge video screens around the Olympic venue, all displaying the same three red words:

OLYMPIC SHAME EXPOSED