The Churchill had been successful in picking up a consignment of eight teletherapy heads from the port of Arica in Chile and another six teletherapy heads from Wewak in Papua New Guinea, as well as a much larger load from al-Falid’s contacts in Georgia. There was enough for six large backpack bombs – two for each of the three cities Kadeer had ordered to be attacked if the West ignored the second warning.
As he closed the curtains to shut out the bright lights and the noise on the streets below, al-Falid fervently hoped the West would ignore the next two warnings. Beijing would not have been his choice for the final attack, but the Olympic Games was a huge drawcard and al-Falid was confident that the Beijing authorities’ predictions would be close to the mark. For a critical two weeks, more than 3 million spectators, athletes and team officials would be concentrated in the city. With the exception of the devoted warriors of Allah, the Most Kind, the Most Merciful, who would be vaccinated, the western world and other unbelievers would be wiped off the face of the Earth.
CHAPTER 74
F orty-eight hours after the attack on Sydney, the news of the US President’s flying visit to Canberra was being greeted with mixed views.
‘For security reasons, the Americans don’t want the visit announced until the last minute,’ the Prime Minister said, looking around the cabinet table, ‘so for now it doesn’t go outside this room.’
‘Bugger me,’ the Liberal Party’s campaign director muttered from his seat against the cabinet room wall. He had an election to worry about and with Sydney in ruins, a visit by the American President was the last thing he needed. ‘A couple of things, Prime Minister,’ he said, resolving to do what he could to put the visit on hold, but wary of his boss’s stubborn allegiance to Australia’s great and powerful ally. ‘My research is showing that President Harrison is not going down too well in the electorate, which will play right into the hands of the Opposition. Given the preparation for one of these visits we’re not going to be able to keep it a secret for long.’
‘The White House wants the President’s visit kept quiet, and that’s what I’ve agreed to,’ the Prime Minister replied angrily. The strain of the past two days was clearly evident.
Sydney had been brought to a standstill. With the CBD effectively isolated from the north shore, the transport system was in chaos and traffic was in gridlock. The huge Royal North Shore hospital was isolated, as was the North Sydney business district. Thousands of people had been laid off work and divers were still recovering bodies from the flooded tunnels. The Australian stockmarket had plunged based on fears of further attacks and Wall Street and London had also fallen sharply. The State’s economy was in tatters, threatening to have an impact on the national economy. Anger over Australia’s close ties to the United States was growing, but the Prime Minister stubbornly refused to distance the country from President Harrison’s policies.
‘There’s to be no announcement on President Harrison’s visit until I say so,’ the Prime Minister added, closing the meeting.
The next day, alongside the pictures of the fallout from the carnage in Sydney, The Sydney Morning Herald carried a companion story on the front page: PRESIDENT HARRISON TO VISIT CANBERRA
Michelle Gillard was one of the best-connected journalists in the country. She had had an exclusive scoop, much to the annoyance of the rest of her colleagues in the Parliamentary press gallery. News of the impending visit only served to further alienate Australians, already in a state of shock over an attack launched against them because of Australia’s unswerving support for an American Administration that was increasingly despised in many parts of the world.
Ahmad Rahman picked up the papers from his local newsagent at the Ainslie shops. For the past eighteen months, al-Falid’s young recruit and the other two members of his cell had been renting a house in the quiet leafy suburb near the Australian War Memorial. They had kept to themselves, working shift work at a call centre, never missing a rent payment and making sure that their lives appeared perfectly normal. To the neighbours they were just ordinary, fit young men with an interest in bushwalking.
As Ahmad read Michelle Gillard’s report on President Harrison’s impending visit, he sent a silent prayer of thanks to Allah. The chance that the five cells around the world had all been preparing and praying for had come to him. Ten days from now the President of the United States would be in Canberra for just 24 hours, but Ahmad was sure it would be long enough. The President will be accompanied by a 650-strong entourage and is expected to attend an official dinner hosted by the Prime Minister at The Lodge, a short distance from the American Embassy where he will be staying. The following day, before flying out from Canberra in the afternoon, the President will address a joint sitting of Parliament. The Australian Federal Police are refusing to comment and Defence didn’t return The Herald’s calls but sources close to those involved in the planning have indicated there will be more than 500 police officers on duty, supported by members of the military’s Special Forces Tactical Assault Group, as well as other military and police personnel trained to deal with any chemical and biological threats. Protesters are expected to number in the thousands but they will be kept well away from the official residences and from the Parliament which will be closed to the public for the duration of the President’s stay. The Prime Minister’s office is refusing to confirm or deny the visit.
Ahmad smiled. Whenever a government refused to confirm or deny it was a sure sign that a story had credibility.
CHAPTER 75
T he drive to Qingdao in the Province of Shandong, nearly 800 kilometres to the south-east of Beijing took a full day, but al-Falid wasn’t concerned. He’d insisted on a very early start and his driver handled the chaotic traffic around Beijing with ease. Clearing the thick smog of the capital they travelled south-east across the vast flat areas of the North China plain where for centuries the peasants had grown wheat, cotton and maize. They reached Huang He, the great Yellow River, at midday and shortly afterwards, the city of Ji’nan, the province capital. To the south- east, the sacred Taishan Mountain rose majestically, and further south lay Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius. After a short break and fried dumplings at a roadside stall near the main railway station, they turned due east towards the bustling port of Qingdao.
It was after dark by the time they wound their way down into the foothills of Lao Shan, an ancient Taoist mountain 40 kilometres to the east of the port. Kadeer had been right, al-Falid mused, as the driver veered off onto a track that eventually led through a thick pine forest. A bear farm would be the last place authorities would be checking for terrorist activity.
The next morning, al-Falid rose early and went for a walk to explore his surroundings. The 2-hectare compound was situated on the side of Lao Shan and hidden from view. The sleeping quarters were in a low, dirty building at the top of the slope. Pines ran all the way to the bottom far corner of the property where the bear compound was surrounded by an earthen wall. The site had once been an ammunition bunker when the Germans had occupied Qingdao at the time of the Boxer Rebellion. Now it was the site of even more unimaginable suffering for the gentle moon bears, imprisoned in cages in which they could neither stand nor sit, their bile ducts kept permanently and painfully open.
In the far left-hand corner of the compound another dirty building housed the administration block. Most of the staff were Han Chinese workers, including the farm manager, Peng Yu, a short, cruel and thoroughly corrupt Han peasant who’d been around bear farms since he’d left school at the age of ten. Today the staff had been given the day off and the accommodation had been taken over by ten of Kadeer’s best men who had been entrusted with organising the teams that would be trained to distribute the lethal Ebolapox into airconditioning systems in dozens of key buildings in Beijing. They were yet to be vaccinated. This would be done as soon as the vaccines arrived along with the deadly vials of Ebolapox.
‘I trust you sleep well, Mr ’Flid,’ Peng Yu said in broken English as he met al-Falid in the compound outside
