‘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.’
SEVENTEEN
‘The word is we’re not going to be able to hold them much longer,’ said the Special Branch officer to Steven when he arrived next morning to which he replied that he already come to that conclusion himself but he wanted the chance to have a last word with Crowe and then maybe Mowbray?
‘No problem.’
Crowe was escorted into the room and as expected Steven found it impossible to discern anything about the man from his demeanour. The yellow, parchment-like skin, the tight thin lips and the eyes hidden by tinted lenses shielded any emotion that might be there. Crowe carefully angled his chair, sat down and crossed his legs languidly.
‘I understand that you will be released later today,’ said Steven.
‘About time too,’ said Crowe. ‘This has all been hugely embarrassing and totally unnecessary. It should never have got this far.’
‘You were only doing your job,’ said Steven. He said it in such a way that Crowe detected sarcasm and reacted accordingly. ‘Do you have a problem with that?’ he asked.
‘Not at all,’ said Steven. ‘The government of the day asked you to design a biological agent and you went to work. That was your job. You can’t be held responsible for any accident that happened or any of the repercussions.’
‘Quite,’ said Crowe.
‘What was the agent based on?’
‘What does it matter? It was all a very long time ago,’ said Crowe.
‘I’d just like to know,’ said Steven.
‘I’m not sure I can even remember after all this time,’ said Crowe. ‘There were a number of possibilities under consideration at the time…’
‘The early form of the agent, the one that got into the vaccine, what was that based on?’ asked Steven, leaning closer and enunciating each word clearly.
‘I really can’t say,’ said Crowe.
‘Can’t or won’t?’
Crowe made an unsuccessful attempt at a smile. ‘Can’t,’ he said. ‘Call it the effects of advancing years but I really can’t remember…’
‘And I really can’t believe you,’ said Steven.
Crowe held Steven in his dark gaze for a few moments before saying, ‘So, where do we go from here?’
Steven sat back in his chair and said, ‘You set out to create an agent in which three criteria were to be satisfied. It was to be disabling rather than lethal, undetectable through conventional means and lastly it was to be curable. Tell me about that; how were you going to make a biological agent curable without making it useless as a weapon?’
‘You know, that escapes me too, I’m afraid,’ said Crowe.
Steven noted the suggestion of challenge in Crowe’s voice. He could see that he was going to get nowhere although the fact that the man’s determination to say nothing at least seemed to confirm his fears that the agent must actually exist. ‘Very well, Doctor,’ he said. ‘I am now going to request that Porton take your lab apart.’
‘How very inconvenient,’ said Crowe. ‘Might one ask why?’
‘I think you know why,’ said Steven.
‘I’m afraid you’ve lost me,’ said Crowe.
I wish, thought Steven. The bottom of a swamp would have been his place of choice. ‘I’m not convinced that work on the agent was discontinued after the accident,’ he said. ‘I think perhaps development was continued and the agent now exists.’
Crowe regarded Steven through his tinted lenses for nearly thirty seconds before saying, ‘An interesting but altogether fanciful notion, I’m afraid. That would have been quite illegal. All work stopped after Sebring’s blunder. End of story.’
Steven nodded to the officer by the door and Crowe was led away while he sat considering whether or not it would even be worthwhile talking to Mowbray. He concluded that it would. If Mowbray proved to be as evasive as Crowe it would at least confirm that he was in cahoots with Crowe and he would have identified two of the breakaway faction.
It was immediately evident from Mowbray’s attitude when he was brought in that he was less than amused at being called for interview again. Steven presented his ID but Mowbray waved it away saying, ‘I know perfectly well who and what you are.’
‘I’m just clearing up some loose ends, Mr Mowbray,’ said Steven.
‘Still enjoying your moment in the sun, eh Dunbar? You and that Mickey Mouse operation you work for.’
‘We do our best,’ replied Steven pleasantly. ‘Even though we’re heterosexual and none of us went to Cambridge — a big disadvantage in the intelligence services I believe.’
‘Highly amusing.’
‘Tell me about the biological agent you thought worth killing for,’ said Steven.
Mowbray seemed unfazed. ‘We can’t all wear the white hats and play the Lone Ranger, Dunbar,’ he said. ‘Unlike Johnny Macmillan and his science police some of us — the professionals — have to operate in the real world and do the dirty jobs. Even you must appreciate that there are some things that must remain secret — whatever the cost.’
‘And the Beta Team’s agent was one of them?’
‘The accident with it was one of them,’ corrected Mowbray.
‘Not the agent itself?’ said Steven, watching for Mowbray’s reaction but not learning much.
‘It was an early prototype,’ said Mowbray. ‘Work on it was abandoned.’
Steven looked at Mowbray long and hard before saying, ‘Was it?’
‘Of course.’
‘What bug was the agent based on?’
‘I’m not a scientist.’
‘Are you telling me that this never came up at any of the meetings you had in the aftermath of what happened?’ said Steven. ‘It was never mentioned in assessing the potential risk to the troops?’
‘It may have been,’ said Mowbray. ‘But it wouldn’t have meant anything to me.’
‘How did they plan to make it undetectable?’
‘I’ve no idea. Probably take up to the turret room of a castle and pass a current through it at the height of an electrical storm I should think. I’m not a scientist.’
‘How were they planning to make it curable and still have it remain viable as a weapon?’
‘Sorry, can’t help you there either,’ said Mowbray. ‘It was very clever, I’m sure but it was all just scientific gobbledegook to me.’
Steven nodded and smiled. ‘Thank you, Mr Mowbray,’ he said. ‘You’ve been very helpful.’
‘Is that it?’
‘Yup.’
Steven went directly to the Home Office to voice his new fears to John Macmillan.
‘But you’ve no proof of this,’ said Macmillan.
‘Everything points to it,’ said Steven. ‘I’m convinced that was why Sebring, D’Arcy and Hendry were killed. It was to keep the origins of the agent a secret — not the accident. That’s why they’ve all been so reticent when it came to questions about its construction. Work continued on it after the accident. They actually made it.’