thinking that one vial was enough to wipe out the whole of New York City. On Dolinsky’s left, another 37°C water bath had melted the even more lethal contents of vials containing millions of the spaghetti-like strands of Ebola. In the centre of the bench Kate had set up rows of plastic well plates and beside them were the small dark bottles that had come from one of several ordinary domestic refrigerators. Inside the bottles were the microscopic enzymes that were used to splice sequences of the double-stranded DNA of smallpox and reverse-transcriptase enzymes that could synthesise DNA from the single-stranded Ebola. Kate shivered again. It was a complex process that could not be seen by the human eye but over the past months, Dolinsky had produced vial upon vial of Ebolapox, a man-made virus far more deadly than any of the pathogens found in nature. Here, in the Halliwell laboratories, paid for by the taxes of the American people, the single strand had met its double. al-Falid and Eduard Dolinsky both knew that the FBI had assigned close surveillance to the Georgian scientist from the day he’d arrived in the country. Surveillance was manpower intensive and as Dolinsky never went out, that surveillance had been dispensed with in favour of bugging his apartment, although al-Falid was not taking any chances. The one place Dolinsky was free to move around was the Halliwell Laboratories, and once he had gained a clearance to be in the building al-Falid met with Dolinsky in a quiet, unoccupied office.
‘The program is on track, Amon,’ Dolinsky assured al-Falid. ‘The laboratory resources have been first class and I’ve overcome the final technical hurdles to combining smallpox with Ebola. Several chimpanzees have been tested and the results have been, how do you say it, impressive,’ Dolinsky said with a slow smile. ‘More importantly I have made progress on the vaccine and several more chimpanzees are showing immunity, but this virus is far more deadly than smallpox or Ebola on their own. Once it gets loose, unless it’s in a small area that can be contained, it will kill hundreds of millions.’
Dolinsky had no way of knowing that the Olympics were the target, and once he realised the sinister purposes his research could be put to, it would be too late.
CHAPTER 83
T he US House Sergeant at Arms cleared his throat.
‘Mr Speaker, the President of the United States!’ Senators and Representatives stood and applauded President Bolton as he marched down the centre aisle of the House towards the Speaker’s podium.
‘My fellow Americans,’ the President began, ‘we are now facing the most serious threat to our freedom since the Japanese attacked us in Pearl Harbor. Back then, the Japanese made a grave mistake, just as the Muslim fundamentalists have made a grave mistake attacking us in San Francisco, as well as in London and Australia. It was a fatal mistake to murder our President. This country is now on a war footing and tomorrow I will be mobilising the National Guard and re-introducing the draft for all eligible men and women between the ages of eighteen and twenty-six.’ There were audible gasps from the gallery but the Republicans rose to their feet and applauded. President Bolton glowered at those who remained seated and when the applause slowed, he resumed his speech. ‘I can assure those who seek to destroy all that we stand for – our democracy and our freedom – that this nation and its people will not be intimidated. I am also announcing today that I will be seeking the Republican nomination for the Presidential election so that I can lead you to a greater victory against our enemies.’
The combined Senate and House applauded again but several Senators and Representatives were doing so without enthusiasm, aware that the prestige and international reputation of the United States had sunk to historic lows in Europe and in other parts of the world. More than one member of Congress harboured private doubts that President Bolton’s ‘bring it on, go it alone’ approach would work. The view of ordinary Americans would be reflected at the New Hampshire Primaries in the not too distant future. After nearly an hour, President Bolton concluded his speech with a blunt message for the Arabs, the Iranians and the Chinese.
‘In the Middle East I have deployed no fewer than five carrier groups, one of the greatest naval task forces ever assembled. For those who think they can take on the might of the United States in space I would urge them to think again. Just as we will prevent any nation from gaining nuclear capabilities that can be used against us or our interests, so we reserve the right to deny access to space to any of our adversaries.
‘I am confident we will win this war on terror and I intend to muster every resource at our disposal to ensure victory.’
The combined House and Senate rose to their feet and applauded as the President left the building.
Richard Halliwell was in his office, wondering how Bolton’s announcement might affect his own campaign which he was about to formally announce. He would need to discuss things with Esposito. The situation on the ground in Iraq was worse than at any time since the invasion, and Esposito’s polling was showing that the anti-war sentiment was growing. The announcement of the draft might be the final straw that would put many of the President’s supporters in Halliwell’s camp, although the view that it should not only be the soldiers bearing the brunt of war but the whole of the nation was still strong and the polling over the next few days would bear careful watching. At least the Democrats were in their usual disarray, Halliwell thought to himself. The New Hampshire Primary would be like the charge of the Light Brigade. Hillary Clinton had long ago declared she was ‘in it to win’, and with Bill Clinton campaigning for her, Halliwell did not underestimate her chances. Senator Barack Obama had also captured the public’s imagination. He was black, Halliwell mused, and with a name like ‘Obama’ surely unthinkable, even to the donkey vote. No fewer than six others including Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico and John Kerry’s old running mate, the former Senator John Edwards, had entered what was rapidly becoming a very crowded field. That had its advantages as it would split the votes and increase the chance that those who had the biggest war chest would win, especially on the Democratic side. Halliwell’s war chest was vast. It was almost time for the announcement.
Halliwell turned his mind back to Beijing. The vaccines would be made available through the embassy network and, for the distribution of the Ebolapox, Halliwell had set up a secure communications line between the Triad leader and Halliwell’s office in Shanghai. He’d been assured that everything was ready.
Halliwell’s target list included Beijing’s Capitol Airport as well as the underground and key airconditioning systems. Unbeknown to Halliwell, Kadeer’s list was remarkably similar. It would come down to which of the final attackers could get their hands on the deadly vials first.
Halliwell locked the plans for Beijing in his safe and headed towards the lift. Dolinsky had succeeded in combining the RNA and DNA viruses and the chimpanzees subjected to the Ebolapox supervirus had all died violent deaths. It was time to find out if the virus had a similar effect on humans.
Halliwell paid the pound man in cash and watched him leave. After the delivery door slid back into place, he turned his attention to the first of the drug-addicted vagrants strapped to the steel trolleys – a black woman in her late twenties, needle marks visible on her arms and legs. Being black, she would have a smaller brain than her white counterparts, Halliwell mused, moving to another trolley where a second woman lay. This one had dirty matted hair and mud-stained legs and when he saw the fear in her wide blue eyes, Halliwell felt a surge of power. He paused and then decided against it. She had small breasts, and in any case, she was in her early forties. That said, the human flotsam in front of him on the trolley was white, so there would be no decision needed as to which one he would inject with the vaccine.
Halliwell began to suit up. He was particularly interested to see if, in addition to the bloody pustules of smallpox, the symptoms of Ebola might also appear – blinding headache and muscle aches, excruciating abdominal pain, nausea, searing sore throat, dizziness, tachycardia, vomiting of blood and continuous bloody diarrhoea. With the prognosis for Ebolapox and the viability of the vaccine looking promising, Halliwell felt an intense satisfaction as he wandered over to the CD player, selected Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and turned up the volume. Beethoven always enhanced his feeling of power and destiny.
In China, General Ho Feng, who was chairing the monthly Olympic Security meeting, had also watched the American President’s address with interest and derision. For this meeting, Ho Feng had chosen the Qingdao Olympic Sailing Centre. The huge banner on the wall read:
‘One World, One Dream’.
A wooden board hung beside the banner. Under the heading ‘Days to Go’ was the number 212.
‘I see the Americans are not too pleased with our space programs,’ General Ho said as he opened the
