ever got into the wrong hands. Kate and Curtis were sitting two rows from the front and both listened attentively as Imran opened the conference with a warning.
‘Not to put too fine a point on it, the human race now stands at the edge of a vast precipice. Too often the western world has resorted to war as a first, rather than a last resort. Unless we change course, bioterrorism will provide other cultures with a means of retaliation that may well destroy a significant part of our civilisation. Later on in this conference the Chinese delegation will be giving a presentation on the security they are putting in place for the Beijing Olympics. One of the greatest threats facing the world today comes from Islamic fundamentalists and the Beijing Olympics is a prime target,’ Professor Sayed said. ‘As a result of the West waging a war in Iraq that has taken the lives of hundreds of thousands of Muslims, support for the fundamentalist cause has risen immeasurably and al-Qaeda have an inexhaustible supply of suicide bombers. People in the United States, Britain and Australia are much less safe than we were before we invaded.’
It was a rare departure from the more polite form of public address for which the Professor was known. His frustration at western politicians’ reckless commitment to war was palpable.
‘I am a Muslim and I have nothing but contempt for Islamic fundamentalist groups who completely misinterpret Jihad to suit their own evil purposes, but by creating chaos in Iraq we’ve played right into their hands.’
Michelle Gillard, a young, accredited Sydney Morning Herald journalist sitting next to Kate was furiously taking notes.
‘As tragic as this American, British and Australian invasion of Iraq has been,’ Professor Sayed continued, ‘it’s a sideshow compared to that which awaits us. Many of you will have seen the warnings from Dr Khalid Kadeer. The West brands him as a terrorist and we refuse to discuss his grievances, but to him and his followers those grievances are very real. To cite just two examples, from where he sits, we are seen to be favouring Israel at the expense of the Palestinians. I happen to think he’s right.’ Imran paused to emphasise his point. ‘And the presence of American forces in the lands that contain the two most important cities in all of Islam, Mecca and Medina, is a grave affront to Kadeer. It’s akin to us having to put up with an Islamic army camping on the shores of the Potomac around Washington, or around the harbour here in Sydney. I think we should at least sit down and talk with him.’
Michelle Gillard wrote the quote down word for word. Coming from such a distinguished Muslim professor, it would be a front page story.
‘The White House isn’t going to like that, but I think he’s right,’ Curtis whispered to Kate.
‘Nor is the Australian Prime Minister,’ Kate replied.
‘Not so long ago,’ Professor Sayed said, ‘someone published the entire genome of bird flu on the internet, which enabled every bioterrorist in the world to download what would normally take twenty years of research to decipher. An Islamic fundamentalist, or any other terrorist with a PhD in microbiology, can now alter that virus to suit their own dark ends. Our friends from China who are responsible for protecting everyone at the Beijing Olympics have every right to be both alert and alarmed. If the Islamic fundamentalists and other terrorist groups are ever to be defeated it will take the combined efforts of the West, the Han Chinese, and the moderates in Islam, but we need to sit down at the negotiating table. Fighting unnecessary wars will lose those few friends we have left in the Islamic world.
‘I wish you all well for what will be one of the most important conferences of the modern era, and I make no apology for a simple concluding observation. It is but one example in the devastating scenario of untold misery that awaits us if we don’t come to our senses as a species. Filoviruses like Marburg and Ebola have no cure and we’ve never been able to develop a vaccine. The only saving grace is that they’re not easily transmitted from human to human, other than through close personal contact. Were these viruses ever to be combined with another more easily transmittable pathogen, the death toll could be in the hundreds of millions.’
Imran’s closing statement highlighted the frightening truth. Advances in science meant the threat from bioterrorism was a terrifying reality.
CHAPTER 60
‘T he boatshed is upriver,’ Jamal said, as he and al-Falid left the warehouse near the airport and headed towards the city, ‘but I thought you might like to see the target at close range.’ Jamal turned onto the road that led to the tunnel under the harbour. He headed north up the gradually rising exit and negotiated a route through the satellite city on the northern shore, turning off to a fashionable harbourside suburb.
Jamal parked near a small ferry wharf and they both got out of the Pajero and walked down to the harbour’s edge. al-Falid stared up at the underside of the massive bridge that connected the northern and southern shores.
‘The area on this side of the harbour together with that one over there are two of the most populated suburbs in the city,’ Jamal said, pointing across the harbour past a naval base to the high-rise apartments on the southern shore. A distant rumble grew louder and louder. A train was going across the bridge and al-Falid looked back at the massive pins securing the steel arch to their stone pylons.
‘You were right, Jamal. The infidel’s design is good, but if Allah, the Most Kind, the Most Merciful is willing, we will still succeed.’
Thirty minutes later Jamal unlocked a wire gate that opened onto a path covered with oyster shell leading down the side of a big wooden boatshed upriver from the main harbour.
‘We’ve rented the boatshed from a deceased estate,’ Jamal explained, unlocking a big padlock that secured a small door beside a wooden ramp. A river cat sped past, its wake rippling against the concrete pylons supporting the ramp and the two rusting rails that led from the boatshed into the water.
Jamal switched on the lights hanging from the roof of the shed to reveal a huge ocean-going fishing trawler supported by old and scarred wooden blocks on top of a rusty but well-greased slipway trolley. Two gleaming silver shafts protruded from the trawler’s hull, connecting with twin bronze propellers either side of a recently refurbished rudder. The hull had been freshly painted with salmon-coloured anti-fouling paint, and ‘LFB 15011’ was painted prominently either side of the bow and on the stern. al-Falid nodded approvingly at the name Destiny that was painted beside the wheelhouse, but it was the inside of the trawler that interested him most. He followed Jamal up the paint-spattered wooden ladder that was leaning against the transom.
‘We’ve remodelled the deck and the bow to accommodate the change of plans,’ Jamal said, leading al-Falid down a narrow steel ladder into the hold. Steel sheets had been fastened to the sides and the keel and welded together into a cone at the bow. ‘We will begin filling the hold tonight. When it’s detonated all of the force of the explosive will be directed through the cone in the bow.’
‘And the anti-tank rockets?’ al-Falid asked.
‘We’ve engineered the mountings for the rockets just aft of the bow,’ Jamal explained, leading the way back up to the deck, ‘and we’re using the infidel’s own rockets,’ he said, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction at the irony of it all. The disappearance of Army M72 anti-tank rockets had caused a huge storm in the media, but he had assured al-Falid that the police would never trace them to the boatshed. His brilliant young pupil was truly deserving of his place in heaven, al-Falid thought.
‘On the day of the attack two of the infidel’s anti-tank rockets will be secured in the mountings and covered with old tarpaulins until the last minute,’ Jamal said. The wheelhouse was crammed with sophisticated equipment that included radar, depth sounders and a plethora of electronics.
‘What’s that?’ al-Falid asked, pointing to a black laser screen mounted on the marine ply.
‘A screen for showing the position of the laser beams,’ Jamal explained. ‘I will be at the helm in the final attack, but before we detonate the fishing boat I want to make sure I’ve breached the hulls of the tanker. Because it’s a double hull the missiles must arrive at the same point a split second apart; that way, the first missile will breach the outer skin, and the second will breach the inner hull that protects the crude oil. The camera mounted on the roof is wired into the aiming systems of the missiles,’ he said, ‘and the first missile will be fired when the laser dots come together on the screen. The second will be fired a fraction of a second later; and tonight, we will position
