The Beijing conspiracy

CHAPTER 47

K ate followed Imran through the airlock into what would be her home for however long it took to prove or disprove the theory that smallpox could be made to jump species. If they were successful, the gentle chimpanzees would be used as a test bed for developing a vaccine for India-1, and then Ebolapox.

Although the meeting with Richard Halliwell was still a couple of days away, they had already received comprehensive briefings on the layout of the Halliwell laboratories and had been through the security indoctrination; a security that was similar to that at the Centers for Disease Control. The transfer of the viruses and the chimpanzees had gone without incident, although Kate knew that neither the vet nor the chimps were happy. It was almost as if the chimps sensed something was about to happen.

‘I take it we’re going ahead with this?’ Dr Richard Myers was shouting to be heard above the air that was rushing into his spacesuit.

Imran and Kate nodded.

The anger on Richard’s face was visible through his heavy plastic face shield. Kate could only sympathise with the Centers for Disease Control’s longest serving veterinary surgeon as he made his way back towards the animal room.

Imran and Kate shuffled over to one of two vaults that now housed one half of the world’s repository of smallpox. The other half was still in Koltsovo in the wastes of the Siberian desert. The big stainless steel vault that was clearly visible was a decoy. If anyone did manage to break in without setting off the sophisticated Variola alarms, they would find a freezer that contained nothing more than smallpox vaccines. A smaller vault behind held the critical freezer.

Imran inserted the special key that partly deactivated the alarm system to the smaller vault, then he stepped back to allow Kate to insert hers. The keys were kept apart and the vaults always had to be opened by Imran and Kate together. Imran dialed in one combination and again stepped back to allow Kate to work on the second tumbler. Kate turned the stainless steel wheel and swung the big door open. At the back of the vault, chained to the floor, was another innocuous-looking stainless steel container on wheels, about the size of a dirty dishes trolley that might be found in any canteen. Kate shivered involuntarily as she fumbled for another key that would unlock one of the huge padlocks.

Imran and Kate pushed the trolley over to the area that was assigned for preparation of the strain of smallpox they would be using on the chimps. The big heavy cylinder set in the middle of the trolley had been fuelled with liquid nitrogen which kept the temperature down to minus 300 degrees. Icy fumes wafted from the container as Kate very gently eased the cover off. Employing a pair of long forceps with the precision of a heart surgeon, Kate located the small plastic box that held the cryovials of the deadly strain of smallpox. It had first been called India-1 by the Russians after a strain that had been discovered in India in 1959 when a Russian tourist had returned to Moscow, infecting nearly 50 people before Russian doctors and scientists had been able to successfully quarantine the outbreak. India-1 was not only the most virulent strain of smallpox, it was more resistant and retained its infectiousness longer than any other, making it an excellent choice for any rogue State that wanted to weaponise it. Kate and Imran prepared the vials of the deadly pathogen for transmission to the monkeys. It was going to be a long, painstaking and very dangerous process.

Maverick, the alpha male, was vocalising loudly towards the other cages as Kate and Imran shuffled into the monkey room, Kate carefully pushing a stainless steel transfer trolley that contained the prepared batches of India-1. Dr Richard Myers and his assistant, Karl Stanford, a postgraduate student, had been unsuccessful in their attempts to calm the small community of Gabon chimpanzees and the floor around the cages was strewn with the biscuits and fruit the chimps had thrown at their captors. Kate connected her suit to an air hose close to Maverick’s cage, and as she plugged the red hose into her regulator, Maverick’s eyes met hers and something passed between them. The gentle giant calmed and he slowly sashayed over to the front of the cage and grabbed the bars, keeping his gaze on Kate.

Kate fought to keep her emotions in check as she reached for a needle of anaesthetic. She waited while Richard and Karl pulled a stainless steel squeeze screen forward on its rollers, gently bringing the screen up behind Maverick and pinning him against the front bars of the cage. Kate could still feel Maverick’s eyes on her as she very carefully moved to his left side. A hot-zone laboratory was not the place to suffer a needle stick, she reminded herself. As gently as she could, she slipped the needle into Maverick’s thigh and depressed the syringe.

No one spoke, and the rest of the monkeys became quiet. One by one, Dr Richards and his assistant rolled the squeeze panels forward and Kate anaesthetised all ten of the chimpanzees that made up the community. By the time she’d finished, Maverick was lying on his side, twitching uncomfortably under the anaesthetic and Kate shook her head as she shuffled back to the transfer trolley. She carefully counted all of the anaesthetic needles and placed them in the specially marked biohazard sharps bin, which would be subjected to extremely high temperatures before it was removed from the lab. Working slowly and deliberately, Kate began to prepare a vial of the India-1 smallpox for aerosolisation.

Richard and Karl carried Maverick over to the aerosol chamber where Kate was waiting. Once they had Maverick on the stainless steel table, Kate closed the Perspex cover over him and switched on the aerosol spray. Maverick was lying with his head towards the nozzle, his eyelids twitching as millions of particles of India-1 drifted into his nostrils. After three minutes, Kate switched off the empty aerosoliser and stepped back to allow Imran access to Maverick. The scientists’ movements had all been rehearsed. Even though Maverick had been subjected to far greater doses of smallpox than any human would ever be exposed to, it had never taken an animal as a host. For this experiment to have any chance of success, Kate and Imran had agreed they would also administer the deadly pathogen intravenously. The intravenous needle contained millions of the Variola virions, and in the same way that the military only ever allowed one person to work on a ticking bomb, only one scientist would administer to the chimpanzee.

Kate watched as Imran searched for another good vein on the chimp’s thigh. Maverick moved and gave out a high-pitched groan. Imran froze and waited for the big primate to settle. He slowly pushed the intravenous needle into the vein and then connected a vial of the smallpox virus to the tube and injected Maverick with India-1. When the vial was empty, Imran disconnected it and turned slowly towards the other three scientists. In a pre-arranged signal, they all nodded, indicating they understood what he was about to do. Imran very carefully turned back and slowly withdrew the needle from Maverick’s thigh. The end was dripping with blood that contained India-1. Even though all of them had been inoculated against smallpox several times, the vaccine would be no use against this strain. A needle stick would mean certain death.