‘Look, I don’t want to speculate on that right now, Michelle. The important thing is that we take immediate steps to ensure the people of Brisbane are safe and then investigate this thoroughly before we draw any conclusions.’
‘Can you accept that as a result of Iraq we’re a bigger target now, Prime Minister? Khalid Kadeer wants to negotiate. Shouldn’t we at least meet with him?’ shouted another journalist.
‘We don’t negotiate with terrorists and now is not the time to cut and run from places like Iraq,’ the Prime Minister replied angrily, closing his folder and finishing the conference. The vision moved back to the CNN reporter beside the Brisbane River.
‘With what looks like radioactive bomb attacks on the cities of London, San Francisco and Brisbane in the countries that first invaded Iraq, as well as poisoning their water supplies, this has all the hallmarks of Khalid Kadeer’s final warning, Efram, and the attacks on all three Chinese Embassies and Consulates contain a terrifying warning for a country staging its first ever Olympic Games.’
‘Thanks, Kimberley,’ Efram responded and the camera switched to Monika Spalding.
‘We have with us in the studio, Professor Edward Barton, Professor of Nuclear Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. Professor Barton, thank you for joining us.’
‘Pleasure, Monika.’
‘Professor, we’ve seen the earlier reports from San Francisco and the death of the bluegill fish at the Millbrae water treatment plant. What’s the risk of nuclear radiation from the water supply in the Bay City?’
‘It depends on the strength of that radiation, Monika. While there appears to be no doubt that caesium chloride has been introduced into the San Francisco water supply as well as London and Brisbane, and we know that caesium chloride is one of the most water soluble radioactive substances on earth, it would take a substantial amount of this powder to affect other than the area immediately around the treatment plant itself.’
‘Some of the staff at that treatment plant have been hospitalised, Professor, and given that London and Brisbane have also been blanketed in a radioactive cloud, it will be a huge issue in those countries. What are the actual dangers of exposure?’
‘Again it depends on the dose that people receive but gamma radiation from 137-caesium chloride causes the cells of the body, or at least the atoms that make up those cells, to become electrically charged. Our white cells that fight infection and the crypt cells of the intestine are especially vulnerable. People will experience the nausea, vomiting, headaches and dehydration symptoms that have been reported in all of the affected cities. We can expect the more serious cases – and unfortunately there may be thousands or perhaps tens of thousands in this category – to develop further symptoms, including rapid heartbeat, internal haemorrhaging, a darkening of the skin, hair loss and shortness of breath. If the radiation is severe, and by that I mean greater than ten sieverts or joules per kilogram, death can follow in a matter of days.’
‘For those who have perhaps suffered a lesser dose, are there any long-term effects, Professor?’
‘Unfortunately, yes. I’m sure most of us are familiar with the meltdown of the Russian nuclear reactor in Chernobyl in the Ukraine in 1986. Already there’s been a significant increase in cancer cases in the Ukraine, and in the surrounding countries of Belarus and Russia. The long-term effects are still being felt as cancers from exposure to radiation tend to show up about ten years after the event.’
‘Professor, thank you for joining us at such a difficult hour.’ al-Falid flicked off the coverage he’d been watching on the computer in his office. ‘Allah, the Most Kind, the Most Merciful be praised,’ he whispered. Compared with what he had organised for Beijing the dirty bombs were insignificant, and with the reckless President Bolton in the White House al-Falid was convinced there would be no negotiations. At last Islam would rise to its rightful place in the world. He turned his mind to the final solution and the vaccines al-Qaeda would need to protect the organisation. It was time to meet with Eduard Dolinksy to check on his progress.
BOOK FOUR
CHAPTER 82
A s the full impact of the worst attacks on the West since September 11 became clear, for those in the United States, Britain and Australia the ‘Year of the Chinese Olympics and the Greatest Games Ever’ had opened in an atmosphere of fear and apprehension, and that apprehension was not confined to the West. The messages of Khalid Kadeer and the attacks on the Chinese embassies and consulates around the world had not gone unnoticed in Beijing.
The central business districts of London, San Francisco and Brisbane were still largely deserted as the authorities struggled to decontaminate tens of thousands of square metres of office space, rail and bus stations, parks, hotels, swimming pools and public buildings. Thousands of people still didn’t trust the water supplies, tourism was non-existent and thousands more people had lost their jobs. Losses on the stock market threatened a recession and economic confidence was at its lowest since 1929.
In Sydney, the burned-out hulk of the Ocean Venturer grounded under the Harbour Bridge was a grisly reminder of Kadeer’s first warning. The state government had wisely abandoned the initial spin of ‘it could have been much worse, had it not been for the bravery of the Commandos’ in favour of concentrating on getting the stricken city back on its feet. In the months since the attack, progress had been painfully slow. The intense heat from the burning tanker in the harbour had caused severe structural damage to the bridge and the engineers were unwilling to give an exact date for the re-opening. The news on the tunnels was a little better, with engineers confident they could replace the damaged sections, but that was going to take time and both the harbour tunnels remained closed, as did the M5 at the Cooks River. The trains were running, but only on either side of the harbour and the government had hired as many additional ferries as the harbour could accommodate. Hundreds of businesses had gone under and thousands of people were out of work as well. Worse was to come with the American President’s State of the Union Address that would send shockwaves through Arab, Muslim and western communities alike. Evangelicals like the Reverend Jerry Buffett and other Christian leaders were warning millions of their followers of the approaching Armageddon, an Armageddon that was being quietly orchestrated right under their noses.
Dr Eduard Dolinsky inserted first one key and then the other into the specially designed locks on the Halliwell vault. It was a breach of procedure that would never have been tolerated at CDC. The reasoning was to guard against a rogue scientist having access to pathogens for which there was no cure, so access to the CDC smallpox vault always required two scientists.
Imran and Kate helped Dolinsky with the stainless steel trolleys. Kate put an insulated mitten over her spacesuit glove, opened the freezer and stepped back as a cloud of liquid nitrogen vapour poured over the sides of the portable freezer, swirling around her boots and the trolley wheels. At Halliwell, the filo virus Ebola was stored in the same trolley as smallpox. At CDC there had been a strict protocol to keep the two viruses separate for safety.
Kate could see the look of concern on Imran’s face as they watched the Georgian virologist. There was no doubt that Eduard Dolinsky had already done a considerable amount of work towards combining the harder to catch but more deadly single-stranded RNA Ebola virus with the much more easily transmittable but not quite so deadly smallpox. With India-1 smallpox, only 90 per cent of those who contracted it were likely to die.
On Dolinsky’s left, Imran had placed the seed vials of smallpox into a specially designed water bath that was kept at a constant temperature of 37°C, the same temperature as the human body. Dolinsky carefully took out one of the vials and held it against a bench light, checking to see that the frozen liquid had completely melted. Kate shivered involuntarily. No matter how often she looked at prepared slides of the crinkly bullet-shaped pox viruses under an electron microscope, or handled the live viruses in their shimmering pale pink soup, Kate couldn’t help
