Kate and the other civilian scientists half rose in their chairs as the military members snapped to attention.
‘At ease!’
Jesus Christ, I’m in the middle of a military circus, Kate thought, suppressing a grin. The circus ringmaster immediately reminded her of some sort of latter day Napoleon, except this one was even shorter. She didn’t dare look at Imran for fear of getting a fit of the giggles.
Colonel Wassenberg snapped open his folder that was embossed with a blue and gold Marine Corps seal. Without speaking he scrutinised those on the left and right of the table, then he did a slow visual inspection of the advisory group sitting along the walls.
‘I’m still not satisfied with the standard of dress on this base,’ he said finally, looking directly at Kate. Innocently she blinked her green eyes at him, which infuriated him as she knew it would. Here they were in USAMRIID on the cutting edge of research into some of the most dangerous pathogens on the planet and all this dickhead could find to worry about was what people wore.
‘I want an instant improvement,’ the Colonel demanded, looking around the room again before glancing down at his notes. The first item on the agenda was his newly instituted requirement for a daily report from Heads of Departments.
‘Epidemiology!’ Wassenberg snapped, glaring at Professor Sayed.
‘No change from yesterday, Colonel,’ Imran replied quietly and pointedly, but the message went straight over Walter Wassenberg’s closely cropped head.
‘What do you mean “no change”?’ the Colonel demanded, his face colouring.
‘Dr Braithwaite returned this morning from the CDC and I’m sure she will be able to brief you on her work, but other than that our programs are all proceeding on schedule.’
Colonel Wassenberg turned towards the advisors, singling out Kate with his stare. In the silence that followed, Kate again blinked at the Colonel with a calculated touch of insolence. As soon as he’d walked into the room she’d concluded that he was the type of man who would be very uncomfortable around women. It was an advantage she was determined to press.
‘And what have you got to add, Ms Braithwaite?’ the Colonel demanded.
‘It’s Doctor, actually,’ Kate replied icily, any sense of mischievous amusement extinguished. She was not sure what the Army could have been thinking when they appointed him, but at a place like USAMRIID a military automaton could be a disaster.
‘As I’m sure you’re aware, Colonel, research into areas like Variola major does not normally herald daily results. I’ve responded to your memo on smallpox and I’ve sent it back unsigned with a recommendation that we strongly support the World Health Organization’s efforts to have the world’s smallpox stocks destroyed. I’ve also requested that the series of experiments on the Great Apes not go ahead.’ Colonel Wassenberg looked as though he was about to give birth.
‘I’ve not signed mine either, Colonel,’ Professor Sayed said, taking the heat away from Kate. ‘And I know there are many other scientists in this room who think along similar lines. The World Health Organization has voted on no fewer than three occasions to have the last remaining stocks of this virus in Atlanta and Siberia destroyed; first in 1994, then in 1996, and again in 1999. Each time the United States has been instrumental in delaying that destruction. If smallpox ever falls into the hands of terrorists, Colonel, with thousands of aircraft criss-crossing the globe every day, the resulting epidemic could kill hundreds of millions of people. It would make 9/11 and bird flu look like child’s play. Smallpox is one of the most deadly diseases on the planet, one that took D. A. Henderson and others a lifetime to eradicate,’ Professor Sayed added pointedly. He was wasting his breath.
‘I’ll remind you all that the United States of America is at war. At war!’ Colonel Wassenberg slammed his fist on the table. ‘Those stocks of smallpox are vital to the protection of this country and they’ll be destroyed over my dead body!’ Wassenberg glared again at Professor Sayed before turning his attention back to Kate. ‘The experiments on the monkeys are essential for the development of vaccines and not only will those experiments proceed but I want fast results!’ Wassenberg’s face was flushed with anger as he unknowingly exposed his total lack of knowledge of the painstaking nature of research involving deadly viruses. He fixed Kate with a stony stare. ‘I’ll see you in my office, Braithwaite, tomorrow at 1700 hours.’
At the end of the morning briefing Colonel Wassenberg marched back to his office and sat behind his desk. His anger was still at boiling point. Impertinent woman. Far too sure of herself and her clothing was appalling. Her relationship with that Muslim professor had not escaped him either; too cosy by half. A far more disciplined approach was needed for the entire base and where others had so obviously failed, he, Colonel Walter Wassenberg III, would succeed. In the light of the feedback from the Surgeon General’s flunky he would have to tread warily, but at the first opportunity he would find a way to get rid of both of them.
CHAPTER 21
‘T here’s something else you might like to think about, Mr President,’ Dan Esposito said, after the Vice President and the Secretary of Defense had left. ‘Your second term still has a while to run, and you will have left this country and the world an enduring legacy, but we need to give some consideration as to who you’re going to support to succeed you in this office. If the Democrats run someone like Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, we’re going to need a candidate who is tough and uncompromising on the war on terror, someone who represents the values of the American people.’
‘Do you have anyone in mind?’
Dan Esposito nodded. He’d already quietly canvassed the idea on the Hill and when he’d put forward Richard Halliwell’s name the response from the Republican heavyweights, already nervous over the war in Iraq, had been overwhelmingly positive. Esposito’s research had revealed that Richard Halliwell had started his career working in CDC’s Level 4 labs as a biochemist. The President’s advisor had noted that it hadn’t been long before Halliwell had been attracted by the bigger bucks on offer in private enterprise. Paralleling the staggering rise of Enron, in a little over three decades, Halliwell had taken a medium-sized biotech and turned it into the world’s biggest pharmaceutical. Halliwell had a reputation on Wall Street for being a ruthless, successful and mega-wealthy businessman and ‘ruthless’ was something Esposito understood and could work with. The Halliwell conglomerate was more than a match for GlaxoSmithKline and the rest of Big Pharma combined, and Halliwell shares had just reached a new high of $141 on the New York Stock Exchange.
There was something else that attracted the politically astute Esposito, who was forever looking for an advantage over the Democrats. Esposito had discovered that Halliwell was a prominent Southern Baptist and a member of one of the largest churches in the country; the Buffett Evangelical Center for Christ could seat 15,000 worshippers. America was overwhelmingly a Christian country and Esposito’s latest research indicated that over 50 per cent of the population were Protestant, 25 per cent Catholic, and another 11 per cent described themselves as Christian without specifying a denomination. Esposito had separate plans for the Catholics, but he knew that with evangelical preachers like Jerry Buffett on side a big part of his next election campaign could be fought from the pulpit. In a country where voting wasn’t compulsory, voter apathy was an ever-present danger but if the evangelical right were convinced a candidate was one of them, several thousand preachers could be brought into play. The growing power of the Christian Right could be harnessed to get over 30 million evangelicals, who were in church on a Sunday, down to the polling booth the following Tuesday.