THE BEIJING CONSPIRACY, page 40
It took just one shot to blast the flimsy lock off the administration building, but a search only revealed a rudimentary sales area for powdered bear bile products and a café with bear bile soup featuring prominently on the menu. A soup made from bear bile powder cost a mere US$2.50, but if the bile was fresh from the bear, the soup would set you back ten times that amount or 200 yuan. Kate and Curtis both knew price would be no obstacle to those who valued it for its supposed medicinal qualities.
‘And they want a leading place in the twenty-first century,’ Curtis muttered. ‘Fucking barbarians.’ As he turned back towards Kate, Curtis noticed blood seeping through her shirt.
‘You’ve been hit,’ he said, concern in his voice.
‘It’s just a graze,’ Kate replied, almost defensively.
‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ Curtis said, sitting Kate on a wooden bench and unbuttoning her shirt. Kate looked up at him and smiled. ‘Not now, darling,’ she whispered.
‘You’re right,’ Curtis said with a grin. ‘Although when we get out of this shitbox, there’s a first aid satchel in the car. The only place we haven’t searched is the bear compound.’
Kate felt sick, not so much from the stench of bear bile and excrement, but from the low howls of agony from the caged bears. She and Curtis had paused briefly at one cage where the beautiful creature was trapped in a mediaeval truss, bleeding from where metal had gouged the skin away. Like Maverick and the other Great Apes, there was a look of ‘Why?’ in the tortured bear’s eyes that neither she nor Curtis would ever forget.
‘They’re all here,’ Curtis said, after he’d counted the lethal vials, each with a plastic syringe attached, but neither he nor Kate felt like relaxing. Beijing was still 800 kilometres to the west.
They reached the first police Games checkpoint on the outskirts of Ji’nan, the provincial capital.
The young Chinese policeman waved Curtis to a stop, and was about to ask for his papers when an older policemen approached. A short exchange in Mandarin followed and the older man pointed to the diplomatic plates.
‘Very sorry,’ the younger policeman said with a smile, handing Curtis back his passport and waving him and Kate through. The next checkpoint was at the great Yellow River; again they were waved through.
The CIA jet was waiting for them when they arrived at Beijing’s Capitol Airport. Kate and Curtis boarded with a sense of relief, but only after they had both watched the embassy staff complete the paperwork for the diplomatic bag and they had supervised the loading into the hold.
CHAPTER 98
THREE MONTHS LATER, THE OVAL OFFICE, THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON DC
‘I know you people in the CIA have some crazy rule about not being decorated in public,’ President Davis Burton said with a warm smile towards Kate, Imran and Curtis, after they’d been shown into the Oval Office, ‘so I’ve reluctantly decided to do this here.’
‘To be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for outstanding devotion to duty and exceptional courage in the face of enemy fire. Dr Katherine Diane Braithwaite.’ It was the civilian equivalent of the military’s Congressional Medal of Honour.
Kate gasped as the Marine Corps aide stepped forward to the President with a velvet cushion holding one of America’s highest awards of honour.
‘Kate, if you’d like to step forward,’ President Burton said. He smiled broadly as he place the ribbon around Kate’s neck, a smile not entirely due to his ability to reward those who so richly deserved it. The Grand Old Party had overwhelmingly endorsed him as their candidate and if the most recent polls were anything to go by, the American public had as well. When it had become known that their President had entered into a dialogue with the Presidents of Syria and Iran and the other Arab nations, seeking the creation of a Palestinian State, as well as their assistance to stabilise Iraq, most Americans had supported the change in course.
‘Congratulations.’ The President shook Kate’s hand. ‘And I’ve had a word with the Chinese Ambassador,’ he said. ‘He’s promised me that the Chinese government will finally shut down these barbaric bear farms and I intend to insist on an international delegation being allowed in to see that they do.’
Kate felt like hugging him. She stepped back and watched the President present the Medal of Freedom to the two most important men in her life. To Professor Imran Sayed for exceptional and outstanding service to the world of medicine, often at great personal risk to his own safety, and to Curtis Brendan O’Connor for exceptional courage in the face of enemy fire and outstanding devotion to duty.
‘The country owes all three of you a great debt and my only regret is that it won’t be recognised more publicly, although these things have a way of getting out, and our policy is to neither confirm nor deny,’ the President said with a conspiratorial grin as he nodded to the Marine Corps aide to lead the way. ‘If you’d like to come with me, the First Lady and I would be honoured if you’d join us for dinner.’
‘I didn’t know your middle name was Brendan,’ Kate whispered, as she and Curtis followed the President and Imran out of the Oval Office towards the main house.
‘There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me,’ Curtis replied mischievously. ‘Fancy a nightcap after dinner?’
Kate glanced at him, her green eyes just as mischievous. ‘That depends entirely on your definition of a nightcap, Curtis O’Connor.’
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I have approached this novel as if I was a terrorist, without access to the top-secret files which used to land on my desk. All the information that a terrorist might require to launch such attacks is available on the public record. For example, when I went searching for information on harbours and the water supplies of major cities, the internet and other sources provided a wealth of detail. In some cases, authorities even included engineering designs. This is perhaps as it should be, but it underlines the difficulty of preventing this information falling into the hands of terrorists.
During the early stages of researching this book, I wondered whether I should write it, conscious that it might give terrorists ideas. But during my discussions with some of the world’s leading virologists, it became clear that the possibility of genetically engineering a super virus is now a chilling reality, well known to both sides. The genie is out of the bottle. I have therefore written the novel as a warning of what we might face if we don’t change course. While most of the characters in this book are fictional, the scenarios are very real.
The weak points in any great city are also well known, and they include the underground railways, aircraft on takeoff and landing, tunnels, water and power supplies, and air conditioning systems. During the Sydney Olympics for example, in addition to the police, there were over 5,000 troops hidden around the city, yet despite this and other measures, which included sampling the air and the use of sophisticated mobile laboratories, we could not guarantee we could prevent an attack. Cities can never be completely protected, which underlines the need for intelligence. That intelligence will not be forthcoming if foreign and domestic policies alienate and isolate different ethnic and cultural groups.
Those Muslims who misinterpret the Qu’ran and Jihad and use violence in their efforts to create a pan-Islamic world are to be condemned; but so, too, are the Christian fundamentalists who would have us believe that the Messiah cannot return until all of Palestinian land is returned to Israel, that Islam is an evil religion, and that God is somehow directing Christian nations and foreign policy against the rest. It would be a very strange God who would create a world as diverse as ours, only to turn around and say, ‘You Christians are okay, but the rest of you – sorry, unless you convert, I’m finished with you.’ The same can be said for Allah, and Yahweh; yet we are increasingly ready to wage war on behalf of various versions of a god who share the same lineage of revelation traced back to Abraham. As my CIA agent, Curtis O’Connor, puts it: ‘The world is going barking bloody mad.’
As a former soldier, and now a research scholar at the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, I am of the view, and many far more distinguished soldiers than I share this view, that the invasion of Iraq by the United States, Britain and Australia has been an unmitigated disaster. Iraq spans an area of 432,000 sq km, four-fifths the size of France yet, arrogantly confident of post-war success, we invaded with just 140,000 troops. When the much-respected Chief of the US Army, General Eric Shinseki had the temerity to disagree over the numbers of troops it would require to stabilise Iraq, he was sacked. To go in with so few troops was not, as the American Secretary of State would have us believe, a minor ‘tactical mistake’ but a strategic mistake of the first magnitude. In terms of winning the hearts and minds of the population subjected to our invasion, we have learned little from the war I and my brothers-in-arms fought in Vietnam. As I write, every month more civilians die in Iraq than were killed in the attacks on September 11. Iraq is now a haven for terrorists and an inspiration for suicide bombers all over the world; and having destroyed the country and its infrastructure, the West is telling Iraqis that if they don’t do more to sort it out, we’re out of there. As a result of one of the most poorly planned operations in modern military history, and our refusal to even talk with countries like Iran and Syria, the peoples of the West are now at much greater risk of attack, especially in our big cities.
Unless we develop not only greater tolerance but acceptance of different cultures, race and religion, the attacks portrayed in The Beijing Conspiracy are not only possible, but probable.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A great many people have helped me unstintingly with the research for this book, but a number of them did not wish to be acknowledged. You know who you are, and I am indebted to you all. I consulted with distinguished and internationally recognised professors of microbiology and virology, as well as nuclear scientists, who are very worried, but many of them are unable to speak out. As I write this in early 2007, the incumbent governments of the United States, Britain and Australia, the original trio of the coalition of the willing in Iraq, do not take kindly to anyone who is critical of their policy, especially foreign policy in the Middle East.
In no particular order, I am indebted to: my editor, Jody Lee. A good editor generates spirited discussions, and our discussions have been very spirited. My thanks to the highly professional team at Penguin, who have all given me tremendous support, amongst them: Bob Sessions, Ben Ball, Belinda Byrne, Sally Bateman and designer Dave Altheim who, as usual, has produced a fantastic cover. Thanks also to proofreader Sharon Nevile for her wonderful eye for detail, and to my agent, Jane Adams.
A big thank you to Kate, Nic and the team at The Stockmarket Café at Leura, where advice is freely given on characters and plot, and the problems of the world are constantly solved, if only the politicians would listen. To the wonderful staff at Megalong Books in Leura for tirelessly meeting my requests for maps and arcane books on far-flung corners of the planet. To Lisa, for long discussions, and to Lou for her wonderful insight and her work in the world of the Great Apes. To the highly trained tugboat crews, it was a pleasure to meet you. To the air traffic controllers, Australia is very fortunate to have men and women of such high calibre; Air Services Australia can be justly proud of their calm professionalism. To the staff at Qantas, I was privileged to spend time in the 747 simulator, and I am not surprised that the airline’s safety record is second to none. To Jack Pommeato, for things that go bang in the night. To Ian Deeds, for advice on aviation matters; Rob Ennever, for reviving my love of languages; Leon Andrews, for computer hacking 101; Ivan McTavish, for his intimate knowledge of matters maritime and Sydney harbour; for all those at ‘Fighter World’, near Richmond Air Base; Caroline Ladewig, for her insightful views on characterisation; Chris Cameron, who read one of the early drafts; Antoinette and friends; Mark and his partner Amanda, whose insight into the female mind is always illuminating; and to Dobie and Carolyn, for discussions over excellent red. Clare Forster worked with me on the earliest ideas, and her advice was, as always, much valued. To Jill Robinson, Animals Asia and the many others who are working so hard to free the Chinese moon bears, caged for life in shocking conditions on bear farms in China – thank you.
And finally, to my two boys, David and Mark, who though they may have scratched their heads at times over what their father was up to, have always encouraged my desire to make a difference, and in their own ways make a greater contribution – the former as a senior fireman, the latter as a detective.
Table of Contents
Cover
About the Author
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
THE BEIJING CONSPIRACY
BOOK ONE: TOWARDS THE FINAL SOLUTION
CHAPTER 1: THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON DC
CHAPTER 2: THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
CHAPTER 3: GEORGIA SPORT SHOOTING ASSOCIATION, ATLANTA
CHAPTER 4: THE HINDU KUSH, PAKISTAN–AFGHANISTAN BORDER
CHAPTER 5: THE SITUATION ROOM, THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON DC
CHAPTER 6: ATLANTA, GEORGIA
CHAPTER 7: HALLIWELL TOWER, ATLANTA
CHAPTER 8: THE HINDU KUSH AND PESHAWAR
CHAPTER 9: HALLIWELL TOWER, ATLANTA
CHAPTER 10: CIA HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA
CHAPTER 11: HALLIWELL TOWER, ATLANTA
CHAPTER 12: BEIJING ORGANISING COMMITTEE FOR THE OLYMPIC GAMES COMMITTEE TOWER, BEIJING
CHAPTER 13: DETROIT INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, WAYNE COUNTY
CHAPTER 14: CIA HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA
CHAPTER 15: UNITED STATES ARMY MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES, FORT DETRICK, MARYLAND
CHAPTER 16: CIA HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA
CHAPTER 17: THE OVAL OFFICE, THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON DC
CHAPTER 18: UNITED STATES ARMY MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES, FORT DETRICK, MARYLAND
CHAPTER 19: THE OVAL OFFICE, THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON DC
CHAPTER 20: UNITED STATES ARMY MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES, FORT DETRICK, MARYLAND
CHAPTER 21: THE OVAL OFFICE, THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON DC
CHAPTER 22: DELTA AIRLINES FLIGHT 1874, WASHINGTON
CHAPTER 23: UNITED STATES ARMY MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES, FORT DETRICK, MARYLAND
CHAPTER 24: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
CHAPTER 25: THE OVAL OFFICE, THE WHITE HOUSE, WASHINGTON DC
CHAPTER 26: ATLANTA, GEORGIA
CHAPTER 27: UNITED STATES ARMY MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES, FORT DETRICK, MARYLAND
CHAPTER 28: HALLIWELL TOWER, ATLANTA
CHAPTER 29: CALIFORNIA
CHAPTER 30: CIA HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA
CHAPTER 31: THE VINEYARD COUNTRY CLUB, CALIFORNIA
CHAPTER 32: THE NATIONAL RECONNAISSANCE OFFICE, CHANTILLY, VIRGINIA
CHAPTER 33: CIA HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA
CHAPTER 34: THE VINEYARD COUNTRY CLUB, CALIFORNIA
CHAPTER 35: THE VINEYARD RESORT, CALIFORNIA
CHAPTER 36: PESHAWAR, NORTH-WEST FRONTIER
CHAPTER 37: CIA HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA
CHAPTER 38: PESHAWAR, NORTH-WEST FRONTIER
CHAPTER 39: CIA HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA
CHAPTER 40: PESHAWAR, NORTH-WEST FRONTIER
CHAPTER 41: PORT OF MONROVIA, LIBERIA
CHAPTER 42: UNITED STATES ARMY MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR INFECTIOUS DISEASES, FORT DETRICK, MARYLAND
CHAPTER 43: CIA HEADQUARTERS, LANGLEY, VIRGINIA
CHAPTER 44: THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
CHAPTER 45: PESHAWAR, NORTH-WEST FRONTIER
CHAPTER 46: MOSCOW
CHAPTER 47: HALLIWELL LABORATORIES, ATLANTA
CHAPTER 48: DOBRILY DYEN HOTEL, KOLTSOVO
CHAPTER 49: ATLANTA, GEORGIA
CHAPTER 50: ALTAI MOUNTAINS, SOUTHERN SIBERIA
CHAPTER 51: HALLIWELL PHARMACEUTICALS, ATLANTA
CHAPTER 52: ISOLATION WARD, THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL, ATLANTA
CHAPTER 53: HALLIWELL PHARMACEUTICALS, ATLANTA
CHAPTER 54: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
CHAPTER 55: ISOLATION WARD, THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL, ATLANTA
CHAPTER 56: HALLIWELL TOWER, ATLANTA
