Fat, Wet and Hot: ‘Hey! Are you in the bedroom Red Hot Chili Pepper? Speak to me!’ al-Falid maintained his silence and simply remained online, invisible, anonymous and dangerous. Despite the billions of dollars the CIA and other intelligence agencies spent researching and acquiring the latest technology, the anonymity of a chat room was something that even the most sophisticated monitoring systems had so far been unable to penetrate. al-Falid typed in his invitation.
Red Hot Chili Pepper: ‘Can I interest you in a private chat, Bald Eagle?’ It had amused al-Falid to assign the American symbol of power for his son to use as a nickname.
Bald Eagle: ‘Sounds better than what Fat, Wet and Hot’s got to offer!’ al-Falid smiled grimly. He had trained all of his operatives, including his son, to use the infidel’s language. Some al-Qaeda cells failed because they didn’t blend in. If blending in meant drinking in an infidel’s bar that was permitted. If it meant using foul and suggestive language in a chat room in pursuit of the greater cause, Allah, the Most Kind, the Most Merciful, would forgive that too. The next exchange from ‘Fat, Wet and Hot’ prompted a mild rebuke from the chat room’s automated controller.
Fat Wet and Hot: ‘Blow your chili pepper out your arse, faggot!’
Itzy: ‘Be polite Fat, Wet and Hot.’
Fat, Wet and Hot: ‘Blow it out yours too!’
Itzy: Fat, Wet and Hot is being disconnected now.
Red Hot Chili Pepper: ‘You have arrived?’ al-Falid asked when they were in their private chat room.
Bald Eagle: ‘Yesterday, and we are planning to leave within the hour. The weather looks good, and after we complete other activities, we should arrive on schedule.’ al-Falid looked at the screen and nodded to himself in understanding. Malik had learned the lessons well. Always assume the infidel was watching, even in an anonymous chat room. Keep any transmission short and to the point, but vague. Within Malik’s banal conversation, a wealth of information had passed between them. Malik’s message told al-Falid that the refueling at Surabaya had gone without a hitch, and that the ‘other activities’, the stinger missile training, was on track and the Montgomery and the Wavell would arrive on the same schedule as the Jerusalem Bay.
Red Hot Chili Pepper: ‘Mummy is looking forward to being reunited with her chickens.’ al-Falid had already been in a chat room with ‘Mummy’, the Jerusalem Bay, several days earlier, before the mother ship had left Monrovia with her deadly cargo stacked on her decks, en route to the target city 21,000 kilometres to the east.
Bald Eagle: ‘May the force be with you.’
It was code for ‘Allah be praised’.
CHAPTER 55
T he small light glowed green as the state of the art security camera matched Professor Sayed’s iris with the records in the computer bank and Imran passed through into the outer area of the Level 4 ward. He looked at his watch. The Secretary of the United Nations had asked for a personal briefing on the threat of bioterrorism and he was due in New York later that night, but he needed to check in on Kate before he left. Professor Ian Jaegar, CDC’s consulting physician on the treatment of Level 4 viruses, had personally overseen and applied every viral test known to modern medicine to Kate’s blood. Apart from slightly low white and red blood cell counts, the latter of which the Professor had attributed to a minor iron deficiency, there were no indications that the virus had gained entry through the cut, but Kate still had a fever.
Imran walked into the small isolation ward office to find it very crowded. Professor Jaegar, the duty sister and Curtis O’Connor had also arrived. Ian Jaegar greeted Imran with a smile. He had known both Imran and Curtis for years.
‘We’ve moved her out of Level 4 and back into a normal ward, Imran. I’ve still got her in isolation but it’s been over two weeks now, and I’m confident she didn’t contract the virus.’
‘The fever?’ Imran asked.
Professor Jaegar smiled. ‘I don’t know what sort of a program she’s involved in,’ he replied, looking at Curtis, ‘but I suspect she’s been working far too hard.’
Curtis grinned, but said nothing. Even though Professor Jaegar also had positively vetted clearances above top secret there was no need for him to know, and the P LASMID Compartment would remain tightly sealed to anyone who didn’t have a reason to be directly involved. On instructions from Esposito that also included the Secretary of State.
‘You think the fever was just a coincidence?’ Imran asked.
Professor Jaegar nodded. ‘A lowered immune system, coupled with the considerable stress involved in the loss of what I understand was one of her favourite chimpanzees may have left her vulnerable. I’m confident that her symptoms were nothing more than the onset of a fever-based flu, something I suspect she may have had before she was exposed in the necropsy room.
Imran nodded, a sense of relief flooding over him. He recalled that Kate had complained of not feeling well the night before, but in the middle of the incident in the hot laboratory that detail had been forgotten.
‘May we see her?’ Curtis asked.
‘Of course. Sister will take you down.’
‘Has Dolinsky settled in, Imran?’
‘As well as I can judge, although he doesn’t say much,’ Imran replied as they followed Sister toward the isolation ward. ‘Keeps to himself outside the lab, but we’re all due to have lunch with Halliwell when Kate gets out of here so perhaps I’ll get to know him a little better.’
‘Any idea how far Dolinsky’s got with his research?’
‘In the first few days I got the impression that he’s probably a lot closer to being able to combine the viruses and develop a vaccine than we might have thought. I’ve helped him insert the primers and the results are frighteningly impressive.’
’A while back I received a couple of invites to next month’s international bioterrorism conference in Sydney, Imran. The Chinese are sending a delegation so it will be interesting to see if they canvas a biological attack as a possibility at the Olympics. I was going to invite you to join me, but I see you’re down to give the opening address. Have you been to Sydney before?’ Curtis asked as they reached Kate’s isolation ward.
‘No, and unfortunately I won’t be able to make the whole program. I’ve got some urgent things to tidy up at the World Health Organization in Geneva so I can get a clear run at the Halliwell research. If you’ve got a spare invite why don’t you take Kate? Sydney’s her home town.’
‘You think she’ll want to stay on the program after this? I would have thought a Level 4 laboratory would be the last thing she’d want to go back to.’
‘You might be surprised,’ Imran replied, and he smiled his thanks to the duty sister as she showed them into Kate’s room.
‘You had us worried there for a while,’ Imran said. ‘Feeling any better?’
‘Much, although I’m beginning to wonder who I’ve got to influence to get off this show! Do I really have to stay here another week?’ Kate’s face was still a little pale but her green eyes had regained their mischievous sparkle.
Curtis and Imran exchanged glances. Dr Kate Braithwaite was clearly back to her old self.
‘I’ll see what I can do,’ Imran promised. ‘In the meantime, I’ve got to get to the airport. The Secretary of the United Nations has asked me to brief him on a few things, so get well soon,’ he said, blowing Kate a kiss, then turning to shake Curtis’ hand.
‘I am well, Imran, that’s the problem,’ Kate grumbled. ‘Safe trip.’
Curtis sat down on the edge of Kate’s bed. ‘Given what’s happened I will understand if you want to pull out,’ he offered.
‘This has only made me more determined to stay, Curtis. What we’re attempting to do is extraordinarily dangerous, but beautiful creatures like Maverick shouldn’t be sacrificed in vain.’