The Gulf Conspiracy

SIXTEEN

John Macmillan was looking grim when Steven entered his office just after six.

‘It’s been a busy afternoon in the corridors of power,’ he said. ‘I don’t think I can ever remember anything quite like it.’

Steven remained silent but he listened in trepidation.

‘When I told the Home Secretary about our two friends in Leicester, he got in touch immediately with the head of MI5 and demanded an explanation. He in turn, investigated and it would appear — as you suggested — that the men did believe they were carrying out orders — Government orders.’

‘Issued by whom?’ asked Steven.

‘Their section head, a man named Mowbray, Cecil Mowbray. He’s now been suspended and is currently being held by Special Branch. Mowbray maintains that-’

‘Don’t tell me,’ said Steven. ‘He was only obeying orders from above?’

‘Something like that,’ said Macmillan. ‘He’s taking the line that in his senior position he does not have to be given direct orders but is expected to use his initiative in protecting government interests. He maintains that the development of the agent at Porton was Government sanctioned and top secret and it was his job to keep it that way in view of what happened. He has cited Sir James Gardiner as the initiator of the project.’

‘Gardiner again,’ said Steven.

‘Quite so,’ said Macmillan. ‘Apparently he’s on holiday with his wife, staying at Reid’s Hotel in Madeira; he’s due back tomorrow. Special Branch will pick him up at the airport. In the meantime, they’ve also been speaking to Donald Crowe — like I say, it’s been a busy afternoon. Not surprisingly Crowe’s singing from the same hymn sheet as Mowbray. He insists the Beta Team and their work had Government approval.’

‘What about the agent itself? Do we know any more?’

‘Although all work on it stopped after the accident at Porton, Crowe says that the team wanted to come clean about what had happened but couldn’t because of the effect it would have had on the troops about to go to the Gulf.’

‘Very public-spirited of them,’ said Steven. ‘Did he give any details about its construction?’

‘Only that it was a very early attempt at designing an agent commissioned by the government of the day,’ said Macmillan.

‘No technical details? Nothing about what it was based on?’

‘He was very vague,’ said Macmillan. ‘He said they were just trying out a few ideas.’

Steven gave a sigh and said, ‘I’ve got an awful feeling they’re going to walk away from this.’

‘I wouldn’t bet against it,’ agreed Macmillan.

‘What about the two MI5 men the Leicester police are holding?’

‘They clearly believed they were acting under orders so officially they’ve done nothing wrong,’ said Macmillan.

‘On the other hand they murdered George Sebring and Michael D’Arcy,’ said Steven.

Macmillan nodded and said, ‘It’s difficult; a moral minefield, you might say. From another perspective it could be argued that Sebring and D’Arcy were responsible for the incapacity and death of many who served in the Gulf War after what happened at Porton with the vaccine.’

‘And everyone was only obeying orders,’ said Steven. ‘Now, where have I heard that before?’

‘Maybe Gardiner wasn’t,’ said Macmillan.

‘I think I’d like to be there when Special Branch pick him up,’ said Steven.

‘No problem,’ said Macmillan. ‘The Home Secretary has agreed that we be kept in the picture at all times. I’ll have Rose inform them of your interest. She’ll text you the details of his arrival time. How did you get on with Professor Rees?’

‘Nice man,’ said Steven. ‘He thinks it might well be possible to identify the agent in Gus Maclean’s culture collection if it’s there. I’ve arranged for it to be delivered to him in Cambridge.’

‘There doesn’t seem to be much point now,’ said Macmillan. ‘We know what they were doing at Porton and what happened with the vaccine.’

‘I think I’d still like to have him go ahead,’ said Steven.

‘Why?’ asked Macmillan.

‘I think I’d be happier if we had an independent assessment of what they were making, just in case they left anything out.’

‘Like what?’

‘Just anything.’

‘All right,’ conceded Macmillan. ‘Let’s hope it doesn’t put too big a hole in our budget.’

‘Can I take it it’s now safe for Jane Sebring to get on with her life without any more attention from MI5?’ asked Steven.

‘Mowbray has been suspended from duty pending further inquiries and the two agents concerned have been made aware of what’s happened.’

‘That must have been a magic moment for the pair of them,’ said Steven. ‘Sorry chaps, you weren’t licensed to kill after all.’

‘Let me know what happens with Gardiner tomorrow,’ said Macmillan.

Steven took Jane out to dinner to Alfredo’s, his favourite Italian restaurant, located in a side street off the Strand. He was known there and the staff always took trouble to make his guests feel especially welcome. Alfredo, a short, stocky man with a bushy moustache and twinkling eyes — who looked more Turkish than Italian despite his proud Neapolitan heritage — took personal charge of ensuring Jane’s comfort, all the while insisting that a woman so good looking must have Italian blood in her.

Steven was pleased to see Jane smiling and relaxed after the trauma of the past couple of days. ‘He’s right, you are beautiful,’ he said as the candles on their table were lit with a flourish.

‘What is this?’ laughed Jane. ‘What are you softening me up for?’

‘How could you?’ said Steven, feigning hurt.

‘Now tell me,’ said Jane.

Steven paused to thank Alfredo who had brought them an aperitif on the house then he said, ‘We agreed from the outset that I would tell you everything that was going on. Well, that has a downside to it.’

‘Go on,’ said Jane cautiously.

‘There are some things that have to remain a secret,’ said Steven.

‘I never supposed anything else,’ said Jane.

‘Good, but that includes things that you might actually want brought out in the open.’

‘Like what?’

‘There’s a real chance that it might not be possible to bring George’s killers to justice.’

Jane’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why not?’ she asked.

‘They believed that they were acting under Government orders,’ said Steven.

‘The same men who came after me?’ said Jane.

Steven nodded.

‘But surely they weren’t?’

‘But they thought they were,’ said Steven. ‘Somewhere in the chain of command above them was a rogue element.’

‘So you can charge the rogue element,’ said Jane.

‘I’d like to think we could,’ said Steven. ‘But if you think it through it would be impossible to charge him or her without charging the two men who actually carried out the killing — and that’s where the problem lies.’

‘You mean, they will maintain that they were only doing their job,’ said Jane.

‘Yes.’

Jane appeared to think for a moment before saying, ‘Well, I suppose it serves George right for getting into such a messy business in the first place. And nothing’s going to bring him back now, is it?’

‘I hoped you might see it that way,’ said Steven.

Steven remained in the background as the Special Branch officers moved in to intercept James Gardiner at Heathrow airport. They did so just after he and his wife had reached passport control. Gardiner reacted in just the manner Steven had supposed he might, given what he’d learned about him from John Macmillan. He initially adopted an air of detached amusement as if some mistake had been made and he had been confused with some ordinary mortal but this quickly changed to outrage when the officers persisted and culminated in demands to know if the officers realised who he was. When he was eventually persuaded to calm down by the two experienced officers who had seen and heard it all before, he was given a few moments to speak to his wife before finally being separated and led off to an interview room where Steven joined them.

The door closed and for a few moments there was silence in the room as no one spoke while the seating arrangements were worked out. General airport noise was largely cut out by the soundproofing although an intermittent vibration every few minutes served to remind them where they were as yet another aircraft took to the skies.

‘Who’s he?’ said Gardiner, becoming aware of Steven’s presence.

Steven showed him his ID without saying anything and Gardiner examined it with the same disdain that he’d shown towards the Special Branch men. He waved it away with an imperious hand gesture. ‘Just what the hell is this all about?’ he demanded.

‘We’d like you to answer some questions, Sir James.’

‘What about? My holiday in Madeira?’

‘We are looking into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two ex-government scientists, Dr George Sebring and Dr Michael D’Arcy. We think you may be able to help us.’

Gardiner swallowed hard but maintained his equilibrium. ‘Never heard of them,’ he said.

‘Tell us about the Beta Team at Porton Down,’ said Steven.

Gardiner looked long and hard at him before saying, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘We already know that you were responsible for re-activating it back in 1989,’ continued Steven. ‘So maybe we can bypass the blank denials?’

‘1989?’ snickered Gardiner. ‘I was responsible for a lot of things back then,’ he said, leaning back in his chair and looking off to the middle distance as if enjoying a stroll down memory lane. ‘Presumably I signed some piece of paper or other. I don’t remember.’

‘Dr Sebring and Dr D’Arcy were members of that team,’ said one of the Special Branch men.

‘I still have no idea what you’re talking about,’ said Gardiner.

‘Donald Crowe is in custody,’ said Steven. ‘We know about the accident.’

‘What accident?’

‘The one that led to the contamination of vaccines given to the troops before the Gulf War in 1990,’ said Steven.

Gardiner seemed to diminish in stature over the next few moments. All traces of arrogance and pomposity left him; he let out his breath in a long sigh and allowed his shoulders to slump forwards. ‘You do, do you?’ he said.

‘Cecil Mowbray is also being held,’ said Steven. ‘He, of course, was not a member of the Beta Team.’

Gardiner’s eyes betrayed a darting unease as he looked up at Steven.

‘But he was a member of another sort of team, led by you,’ said Steven. ‘Set up around the same time as the Beta Team… along with Colonel Peter Warner, Mr Rupert Everley and maybe a few others?’

‘My, we have been doing our homework,’ murmured Gardiner. He affected an amused smile but Steven could see that he was considering his position, weighing his options. ‘But then, it wouldn’t be difficult for you,’ he continued. ‘We had nothing to hide. As far as I know there is still no law that prevents like-minded people from banding together to act on behalf of and for the good of their country — unless New Labour brought one in while I was away — and I wouldn’t put it past them.’

‘It depends what these “like-minded” people get up to,’ said one of the Special Branch officers. ‘We tend to draw the line at murder.’

‘I know nothing about any murder,’ said Gardiner, giving the officer a withering look.

‘Sebring and D’Arcy were subject to direct action by the intelligence services,’ said Steven. He deliberately employed the euphemism as a sop to Gardiner’s sensibilities.

‘Then you must speak to them,’ said Gardiner.

‘Mowbray has decided that he was only acting in the best interests of the country,’ said Steven.

‘So has Crowe,’ added one of the Special Branch men.

‘We all have to do that,’ said Gardiner, although a note of caution had entered his voice.

‘Did you order the deaths of these men in order to keep the accident at Porton a secret?’ asked the Special Branch man.

Gardiner looked askance and then said, ‘Don’t be ridiculous. I have had no executive power for many years. To suggest that I could issue orders these days to members of the intelligence services or even the scientific civil service is a notion that would be laughed out of court should it ever come to that.’

‘Not if it were shown that you took it upon yourself to re-activate the Beta Team for your own reasons back in 1989 and let it be known that it had Government approval… when it hadn’t.’

‘Of course it had,’ said Gardiner.

‘At least you now remember it,’ said Steven.

‘Can you prove that you had Government sanction?’ asked a Special Branch man.

Gardiner looked at the man as if he were mildly amused by the question. ‘Considering the number of people who have passed in and out of the ever-revolving door of ministerial power during the last decade, can you prove that I hadn’t?’ he asked.

‘We’ll give it our best shot,’ said the officer but Steven saw that Gardiner had latched on to the one thing that would save him. He suspected that it would prove well nigh impossible to show that Gardiner had never at any stage received even a tacit nod of approval for the setting up the Beta Team. Everyone involved in the affair was going to end up claiming that he or she had only been obeying orders and the murderers of George Sebring, Michael D’Arcy and the journalist Martin Hendry, were going to walk free. The thought encouraged him to make a last ditch attempt at rattling the man.

‘Come off it, Gardiner,’ he snapped. ‘It was you and your fascist chums who set up the Beta Team, wasn’t it?’

He saw a flash of anger appear in Gardiner’s eyes but it faded almost as quickly as better judgement prevailed and he recovered his composure before saying, ‘I suppose in your book a fascist is anyone who can read and write and string two words together without them being, “Yes Tony.”

‘No, it’s anyone who decides to impose his will on others by using any means available to him without compunction, including murder,’ said Steven.

‘How many times must I repeat that I know nothing at all about any murder?’ said Gardiner through gritted teeth.

‘But the involvement of your group…’ began one of the policemen.

‘We have always acted within the confines of the law!’ interrupted Gardiner. ‘The rule of law is fundamental to us. It was the very basis on which we wanted to rebuild our country — to reclaim it from the tide of mongrel trash and deviant flotsam and jetsam that has washed over us during the past decade.’

‘Adolf was a big believer in law and order,’ said one of the Special Branch men after a silent pause.

‘Saddam is too, I believe,’ said his colleague.

‘How dare you!’ said Gardiner.

‘Tell us about the accident,’ said Steven.

‘I’m no scientist,’ said Gardiner. ‘All I know is what I was told at the time. Someone on the Beta Team gave the wrong thing out in response to a request from colleagues.’

‘The wrong thing being the agent that the Beta Team had been commissioned to design,’ said Steven.

‘Yes.’

‘Tell us about that.’

‘I say again, I’m no scientist,’ said Gardiner.

‘But you knew the basic characteristics,’ insisted Steven.

‘We — the government of the day, that is,’ said Gardiner with a nuance of self-satisfaction in his voice, ‘thought it politic to look into the possibility of designing a biological agent that was not just an outright killer but a vector for achieving population control in a hostile environment.’

‘Why?’ asked Steven.

‘I understood that science had progressed to a point where it could do more than simply design killing agents. The potential was right for investigation.’

‘Go on.’

‘The team was commissioned to design an agent that was to be disabling but not lethal, undetectable by conventional means and, in the long run, curable.’

There it was again, thought Steven, the third criterion, curable. ‘What was this agent based on?’ he asked.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Presumably they weren’t being asked to create a new life form out of fresh air. Which bacterium or virus was used as a starting point?’

‘I’ve no idea,’ said Gardiner. ‘Not my field I’m afraid.’

‘If they were to be curable, wouldn’t that defeat the whole purpose?’ Steven asked.

‘I think there was more to it than that,’ said Gardiner. ‘But I’ve no idea what. I have to keep telling you, I’m not a scientist. What does it matter now anyway? The whole venture was abandoned after the accident.’

Steven nodded to indicate to the Special Branch men that he was finished questioning Gardiner.

‘Can I go now?’ asked Gardiner.

‘I’m afraid not, Sir James,’ said one of the Special Branch men. ‘We’re going to have to hold you for further questioning. ‘If you’ll come with us, please…’

Steven watched as the two officers led away the protesting Gardiner and he was left alone and feeling dejected in the empty interview room. The words, ‘Population control in a hostile environment’ were uppermost in his mind. Was this a plausible aim for a Government sanctioned initiative? And would a court of law believe that it was?

The answer seemed to be affirmative in both cases. It could be argued that such technology might also be attractive to subversive or terrorist groups but Gardiner’s insistence that the government had been behind the project would probably win the benefit of the doubt — not that it was going to come to that, he was convinced. The smart money was on the whole thing being dropped.

As he drove back into the city Steven found himself wondering if Gus Maclean’s cultures had arrived safely at Rees’s lab in Cambridge and if Rees had begun work on them. Thinking this made him suddenly wonder why it should still be necessary to start from scratch. Despite admissions all round about the purpose of the Beta Team back in 1990 and what they’d been trying to create, not one technical detail had emerged about the agent’s construction. D’Arcy had died — no, he had been murdered — before he could supply the information, Crowe had been vague when asked by John Macmillan, and Gardiner had just pleaded complete ignorance of science.

He supposed it was just possible that John Macmillan, not being a medic, had not asked the right questions. But if Crowe could be persuaded to provide some simple technical answers it would undoubtedly save Rees a lot of time and trouble. By the time he had reached the safe house where Jane was, he had decided to go see Crowe himself next morning. He called Sci-Med to ask that they arrange it.

‘Good day?’ asked Jane.

‘I’ve known worse,’ smiled Steven. ‘Good news and bad news.’ He told her of Gardiner’s response to the charges put to him.

‘So he’s going to get away with it too?’ said Jane.

‘It would be impossible to prove beyond doubt that he did not have Government approval,’ said Steven.

‘And the good news?’ said Jane.

‘You can go home tomorrow and get on with your life,’ said Steven.

Jane smiled ruefully and said, ‘Good, I’m not sure it’s ever going to be the same again.’

‘It’s in our nature to get over things,’ said Steven.

‘Sounds like a variant of, “Time’s a great healer”,’ said Jane.

‘I suppose,’ agreed Steven. ‘Let’s go out to dinner.’

‘Shouldn’t you be feeling pleased with yourself, or is there something you have to tell me?’ asked Jane, very much aware of Steven’s preoccupation throughout dinner.

Steven smiled and said, ‘I’m sorry, no, it’s nothing like that and the only thing I have to tell you is that I am so glad I met you.’

Doubt remained on Jane’s face. ‘Then what?’ she asked.

‘There’s something about the whole thing that’s bugging me and it’s not just the fact that your husband’s murderer is not going to be brought to justice. There’s something I just can’t put my finger on.’

‘Maybe you are one of these people who just can’t let go?’ said Jane.

‘You missed out “these annoying bloody”,’ said Steven with a smile.

Jane smiled and said, ‘Are you going to come up to Leicester with me tomorrow?’

Steven said not. He was going to question Donald Crowe. He confessed that one of the things still puzzling him was the fact that there had still been no mention of any construction details about the agent the Beta Team had been making.

‘Well Crowe must certainly know,’ said Jane. ‘After all, he was in charge of the whole damned thing. Dreadful man.’

‘He must,’ agreed Steven. ‘But he managed to avoid saying anything about that when he was interviewed. Strange.’

‘Well, it was all a long time ago, I suppose,’ said Jane.

‘Mm,’ said Steven.

‘You see something sinister in it?’ said Jane.

Steven shrugged and said, ‘Maybe, maybe not. It’s hard to see why he would want to keep that a secret when we know exactly what happened.’

‘It’s hard to see why they would want to kill my husband and the others in order to keep a twelve-year-old accident a secret too,’ countered Jane.

Steven looked at her unseeingly as the hairs on the back of his neck started to rise. He had been about to point out that the financial repercussions of having to admit liability to the Gulf War veterans would have been an obvious reason when he saw an alternative explanation. ‘Sweet Jesus,’ he murmured under his breath.

‘What’s the matter?’ asked Jane, sounding concerned at the change that had come over Steven. ‘You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.’

‘They didn’t abandon it,’ he said.

Jane appeared bemused. ‘Didn’t abandon what?’ she asked.

‘The construction of the agent,’ said Steven as his mind raced ahead of him. ‘I’d been assuming it was the accident itself that they wanted to keep secret because of the financial fall out but that’s not it at all. It’s the agent they want to keep secret. They didn’t abandon it! They went on working on it.’

‘Tell me this is just an academic exercise you’re going through in your head,’ said Jane.

‘The more I think about it,’ said Steven, the bit now between his teeth, ‘the more it begins to make sense. Disabling, undetectable and curable. They succeeded! That’s why they want to keep it a secret.’

‘But you can’t be sure about this,’ said Jane. ‘It could just be your imagination. Please God, it’s just your imagination!’

‘Somehow I don’t think so,’ said Steven. ‘If Crowe doesn’t come clean about everything tomorrow when I ask him outright that’ll be proof enough.’

‘More Government intrigue?’ said Jane.

‘Quite the reverse I think,’ said Steven. ‘I think we could be looking at private enterprise here.’

‘Gardiner and his gang?’

‘Gardiner made a big thing about his group always acting within the law,’ said Steven. ‘He said at one point that he was contemplating disbanding the group because he felt they weren’t getting anywhere.’

‘What exactly were their objectives?’

‘Oh, a misty-eyed return to England for the English, warm beer, cricket on the village green, bobbies on the beat, kids behaving themselves and everyone leaving their doors unlocked.’

‘Sounds good to me,’ said Jane. ‘If he can combine that with Santa Claus being real and the tooth fairy dealing with next month’s Visa Card bill I just might join up.’

Steven was still deep in thought.

‘You’re serious about this, aren’t you?’ said Jane.

The look on Steven’s face answered her question. ‘Maybe some other members of the group have different ideas about how they should go about achieving their aims.’

Jane’s eyes opened wide. ‘You’re suggesting that they might actually use the agent?’ she gasped. ‘But how? How would you use something like that?’

‘You’d have to come up with a way of infecting a sizeable proportion of your target population before you could begin to exert any control over them,’ said Steven. ‘Designing delivery systems for biological weapons is a hi-tech-science in itself. It’s as difficult as designing the weapons themselves. You can’t just infect one person and depend on them passing on the disease. You have to contaminate a large number of people at the same time. Saddam used missiles with non-explosive heads to create air bursts over his intended targets. Crop duster aircraft can be used in much the same way but each organism throws up different problems when it comes to turning them into aerosol mists or even powder form. Some of the most lethal organisms on earth are actually fragile little creatures in their own right. They don’t like being exposed to hostile environments and they die very quickly. Then there are the limitations imposed by the vagaries of wind and weather. A sudden change in the wind and you can end up infecting your own troops.

‘It makes me ill to think of this,’ said Jane.

‘Throwing up our hands in horror is no defence.’

‘What is?’ asked Jane.

‘Intelligence is all-important,’ said Steven. ‘Knowing what agent is being used is paramount. If you know that you can vaccinate against viruses or give antibiotic umbrellas against bacteria.’

‘But if you don’t know what’s coming…’ said Jane.

‘You’re in real trouble,’ said Steven. ‘Vaccination is not much use after the event and antibiotics will be fighting a losing battle — always assuming you can come up with a suitable one or combination in the first place. Bio-weapons are nearly always designed to be resistant to antibiotics.’

‘If you are right about the existence of this new agent and it being in private hands…’ said Jane.

‘We need to know exactly what it is and how to detect it — not easy if it has been designed to be undetectable — and finally how to treat it,’ said Steven. ‘But it was designed to be treatable…’ he added as a puzzling afterthought.

‘I can understand how something like smallpox or plague can be used as a weapon,’ said Jane. ‘They will obviously create fear and terror and will kill a lot of people but I’m not so sure about this new thing?’

‘The idea was first mooted at an international conference on biotechnology about fifteen years ago,’ said Steven. ‘If you can create conditions where the majority of the target population are ill most of the time and feel generally run down and under the weather they will start to turn against the social structure that they’re living in. They will blame their government for their miserable state and embrace any promise of radical change on offer. It’s a modern day variation on brain- washing. In that state it’s possible to change people’s whole political philosophy.’

‘Don’t they just pretend?’ said Jane. ‘In order to get away from their captors, I mean.’

Steven shook his head and said, ‘No, they really believe it. You can still see this happening from time to time at big religious rallies. People get swept up in the contrived emotion of it all. Some — the most vulnerable — become so disorientated that they become hyper-receptive to the ideas on offer and experience “miraculous” conversion.’

‘They see the light,’ said Jane.

‘Yes, but they’ve been brainwashed,’ said Steven. ‘They just don’t realise it.’