Lily and Kester walked, crunching through the snow, towards the TUIL Arena’s main stand. It was dusk now. Quiet. A mist hanging on the white mountains. A skein of large black birds emerging then disappearing in the white.
Once they’d joined the rest of the Squad, Julia led them, unspeaking, into a heated room.
‘OK,’ she said. ‘There’s a lot to talk about. We’ve got half an hour to cover everything. We need all the details. Ready?’ Everyone nodded.
‘Hatty. Tell the others about Georgia.’
Hatty sighed before she started. ‘Georgia sussed us,’ she confessed. ‘And she … and she … well, she … she … helped us rule out Esenin. The Russian.’
‘How?’ Lily asked.
Hatty told them the whole story. Finding Georgia with Esenin. Challenging her. Then, in the end, using her to quiz the Russian.
‘So Esenin has been definitely ruled out?’ Kester asked.
‘He has,’ Julia said. ‘There’s no evidence to suggest he knows anything about the warhead and the threat. Unless you have any more information?’
‘We’ve ruled him out too,’ Kester said. ‘It’s Hawk we need to worry about.’
‘Is it?’ Julia said.
‘Yes.’
‘Explain.’
‘We listened in to him,’ Lily said. ‘He was in a mountain hut, in a storm. For once, I don’t think he knew we were there. He was talking about a warhead. He plans to set it off today. After the game.’
‘Where it is?’ Julia asked, her voice deep and serious.
‘We don’t know that.’
‘But you’re sure he’s planning this after the game?’
‘Yes,’ Lily said.
‘You’re absolutely sure?’
‘Absolutely sure.’
‘How?’ Julia asked.
‘Jim told us.’
‘JIM?’ Hatty, Lesh and Adnan’s voices echoed round the room. Julia’s face was calm, but interested. So Lily explained about the rescue. The hiding. The conversations.
‘Hawk has some sort of device that he’ll put a code into and that will set off the bomb,’ she said. ‘But not until after the game. And that gives us our chance.’
‘So you’ve got a plan?’ Julia frowned.
‘Yes.’
‘Go on.’
Lily looked at Kester. It was his job to explain the plan.
‘Hawk will come to watch the game. He’ll leave afterwards, setting the bomb off once he’s clear. He has it on a timer. We need to separate Hawk and his assistant during the game. Then we might have a chance.’
‘How?’ Julia pressed.
‘We lose the game,’ Lily said.
‘Lose the game?’ Adnan asked, exasperated.
‘We lose the game,’ Lily repeated. ‘We find a way of getting Hawk involved in the celebrations. Then we take out his assistant.’
‘OK,’ Julia said. ‘It sounds like a plan. Now let’s have some detail.’
Hatty saw Georgia in the hotel cafe an hour later. The other girl looked up at her uneasily from her drink and Hatty knew that she understood they had to talk.
Five minutes later, they were standing on the edge of the fjord together.
‘We need another favour from you,’ Hatty explained.
‘Really?’
‘Yes.’
‘And what favour is that?’
‘The game against the USA.’
‘What about it?’
‘We need you to help us lose it.’
The look on Georgia’s face was a picture. And Hatty couldn’t decide whether the other girl would go along with the plan or not.