“Not a thing. There are so many runaways. I had the wrong idea about London,” said George.

“Keep working but keep your phone handy,” Burim said, and hung up. He didn’t think George would cope well with hearing about the Pipeline, but he wanted him available.

To conserve battery power, Burim resisted trying to call Harry. Otherwise he merely walked the London streets as the day wore on; he couldn’t sit still. What he wished was that all this was taking place in New York, where he had real power and connections, not London.

•   •   •

JIMMY YAN HAD TO force Berman to come sit in the front of the box to watch the evening’s last event, the women’s 10,000-meter final. Berman had continued to brood, and had drunk more gin and tonics than he should have. There was a Briton in the race, and the possibility of her winning the medal had the regular Brits in the crowd cheering her name and chanting in unison.

“This race will be a good one, I can feel it,” said Jimmy.

After five laps, a pack of four women—two of them Kenyans, with the Briton and an American—were leading and pulling away from the field. The Kenyans took turns in the lead and pushed the pace of the race. Whitney cheered for the American by name, and Jimmy chided her jokingly.

“Well, the Chinese runner is way back,” said Whitney.

“Give her time,” said Jimmy. “She’s a slow starter.”

Berman saw the Chinese runner, Wei, make her move with four laps to go. It was as if she had engaged another gear, and she picked up speed smoothly and effortlessly. From near the back of the field she overtook the women one by one, until with two laps to go only the Kenyans and the American were in her way. The crowd saw her coming, and as the British runner tired, they cheered Wei’s heroic charge. On a large TV set in the suite, Berman could see Wei was running with marvelous economy. He looked across at Jimmy Yan. As the Chinese officials around him hollered and screamed, Jimmy was impassive, as if unsurprised. Jimmy looked over and caught Berman’s eye. He nodded and smiled and pointed to the track.

“Look at her go!” shouted Whitney. On the last lap, Wei caught the Kenyans and ran on their shoulder as they raced two abreast, trying to hold her at bay and block her passage to the front. Wei was undaunted. She steered a wide course around the duo on the final curve, so wide it looked as though she were running herself out of contention, but she managed to find yet another gear. First she was at their shoulder, then she overtook the Kenyans with apparent ease, and as she coasted to the win and the world championship she waved her arms over her head in joy.