‘Sutherland is keen to push your vaccine out there so we can get on with the plan.’
‘Yes, the plan. Of course – the decoy is ready. What are your target numbers?’ Neeson could feel the sweat under his lab coat. The room was temperature controlled and cool.
‘Thirteen percent. Eighteen percent max, including the margin of error. We’re not monsters. We’ve identified the population sets we want to cull, I mean . . . whatever. Are you happy to proceed?’
Eighteen percent. Men, women and children reduced to a percentage.
‘Happy?’ Neeson stumbled. ‘I . . . I was ready to proceed,’ he recovered. ‘That is, until Khan took his vaccine to another level. If he perfected his formula – and got it out there – it will shore up all your gaps in the Immunity Shield.’
‘Our gaps. You’re as much a part of this as I am. Remember that when you’re giving in to your occasional moments of moral equivocation. You sound impressed with his vaccine.’
‘It’s a game changer for us – subversive and stunning. He’s a much better virologist than me, always was. I told you we should have kidnapped him or extradited him. He would have given you the Ebola 50 vaccine by now. He has – had – this quiet vision and flair.’ Neeson collected the latest lab report from the printer.
‘His new vaccine is more than impressive, Hack. I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I want a sample.’
‘Sutherland wants it buried.’
‘Of course he does. It’s almost . . . miraculous. Noah senses it too. What are you going to do?’
‘About Noah?’ Hackman asked. ‘He went beyond his brief and definitely overstayed his welcome.’
‘He was never welcome there – who wanted him out more? Rajasuriya or ADL?’
Hackman ignored the question. ‘We’ll watch him – see what he knows, or thinks he knows. And Khan’s vaccine? How can we be sure there aren’t samples of it sitting in a freezer somewhere in Sri Lanka?’
‘It’s a freezer in the Middle Eastern Section you should be worried about,’ Neeson replied.
‘Thanks for that apocalyptic thought.’
‘Relax, I’m just messing with you.’ Neeson forced a smile. ‘He’s . . . he was a scientist. The formula wasn’t perfect yet. He wouldn’t have done anything with it until it was ready.’
‘You knew him fifteen years ago – not now. You always forget that when you defend him. There’s no way we could predict his behaviour given his condition. What if he tried to smuggle the vaccine out of the East? It wouldn’t be picked up by the scanners.’
That’s exactly right, Neeson thought.
‘Roberta could detect it,’ he replied, patting the AILA’s arm affectionately. ‘She’s shown me worlds I could never have imagined. Amir used to say, blood is a river teeming with life and endless possibilities.’
He had spilled more blood than he had meant to.
‘That sounds like regret, Neese. I hope you’re not losing your nerve.’
‘No, I’m just saying there are . . . there are other ways.’ He looked up at the camera again, and then around at the five others he knew were in his laboratory.
‘There are hardly ever other ways. That’s why we’re in this job. Are you going to be okay?’
‘Don’t worry about me.’ Neeson sighed. ‘My nerve is as strong as it was in 2025, even if my body is weak. You just get your strategy right and let me manage the science.’
Chapter 36
Hackman took the neat glass of whiskey that was held out to him. He didn’t drink but Sutherland hadn’t remembered that in all the years they’d worked together. The old man’s limousine bar was always well-stocked.
‘What will you do with him?’ Sutherland looked over the rim of his glass.
‘He’ll have another medical. If he’s fit, I’ll get the full operation debrief. He’ll need a more detailed psych eval and substantial rehab.’
‘What about a full biometric poly? It’s invasive but reliable.’
‘It’s invasive and frequently fatal. I’ve no reason to doubt him. He stayed on mission.’
‘Perhaps you and I received a different mission report then?’
‘He was supposed to investigate Khan and either uncover evidence that he was the ghost – or extract a confession. He did both and then he eliminated the threat.’
‘He did more than that, Hackman. He connected Neeson to the breaches. Sri Bodhi to ADL. He doesn’t have to be an Olympic gymnast to make the leap to both of us.’
‘I’ll deal with that.’
‘Watch him closely. He uncovered too much.’
‘You seem to have taken care of that,’ Hackman replied bitterly. Garner and Crawford were good agents.
‘Now, now – it’s not just the blood of tyrants – it’s the blood of patriots too that refresh the tree of liberty.’
‘So you say.’
‘So said Jefferson, Hackman – and who am I to argue with the Founding Fathers?’ Sutherland smiled.
‘I’m not sure this is what our third president had in mind when he said that. But we got what we wanted – Noah manipulated Khan into a confession and Rajasuriya bought it. It’s time to cut him loose if that’s what he wants.’
‘You don’t cut anyone loose. I heard rumours you were getting soft. Feeling sorry for the things you’ve done, Hackman – the deaths you’ve caused? I certainly hope not. We’ve come too far together to turn back now.’
‘No, sir, I walk this path proudly, with or without you, in fact.’
‘I’m glad to hear it. Your man is fortunate the good doctor cracked so early. I’d underestimated their bond.’
‘Noah excels at that. He reads people – knows what kind of relationship to build with his target.’
‘Perhaps. The interview footage is gruesome. I was ready to confess by the second nail. Apparently there are a lot of nerves in the nail bed.’ Sutherland looked at his manicure and then curled his hand protectively into a fist.
‘There are. It would take all ten fingers and more for Noah to break. We know that.’
‘You have a lot of faith in him.’
‘I’ve known him for twenty years, I recruited him myself, supervised many of his missions – it’s not faith, it’s professional judgement.’
‘And in your professional judgement, he was on a mission – he’ll tell you everything he knows?’ Sutherland asked.
‘Of course, he’s a patriot and a professional too.’
‘I hope so – for your sake. If he unravels, it’s on you. He’s damaged, Hackman – I trust you’ll know when to put him down.’
‘He’s okay – Sahara says he’s shaken by Khan’s death. But he’ll recover.’
‘I can’t say I care. As for Khan – there was no other way. It isn’t the first time one man had to die for the sins and aspirations of many. Ghosts are always dead. It’s better this way – more convincing, less room for rebuttal. We’ve seized and deleted his hard drives as well as everything from your over-zealous team.’
‘What about the AILA – Devi?’
‘She self-destructed, as they say. We couldn’t retrieve any data from her – which was perfect. We wouldn’t want his formula getting into the wrong hands.’
‘You didn’t want to keep it for yourself? Neeson says Khan is – was – the better virologist. He doesn’t say that about anyone.’
‘The man and the formula needed to be destroyed,’ Sutherland replied.
‘Like any other biohazard?’
Sutherland ignored him. ‘When are we ready to execute the next stage?’
‘I’m not sure – I’ll talk to Neeson today. We need a critical mass of Immunity Shield breaches – when we release the virus it has to make a decent impact on the population. The Information Shield won’t protect us forever and I don’t want to have to do this again in a decade. A sizeable cull is a good cull. I agree with your suggestion: sixty percent is the right number.’
‘Good. You know Ebola 50 would be more effective.’
/>
‘Too dangerous.’ Hackman shook his head. ‘I’m with Neeson on this. It only takes one ambassador to Turkey to fuck it up for the rest of us.’
‘You should have more faith, Hackman. When will you break the news about the ghost?’
‘Soon – so the story has time to filter through both sides of the Alliance.’
‘It’s a good story, isn’t it? A rogue virologist and his attempted Immunity Shield breaches; followed by the outbreaks.’
‘Yes. Then we both step in to reassure people that ADL and Bio has it all under control, that the GVP is vital for public safety. And all of the unconverted rush back to the true faith, scarred by pictures of children dying of Ebola in the Eastern Alliance.’
‘Sounds like a plan.’ Sutherland refilled his glass and raised it.
*
Noah struggled to swipe his pass. The security pad was impossible with his bandages. He set the cooler box down and was about to attempt the code with his elbow when the door opened.
Neeson stepped forward and put his arms around him.
‘I wasn’t sure you’d make it,’ the older man said.
‘Me neither,’ he smiled briefly and then his face darkened.
‘I’m sorry about your agents, Noah.’ Neeson led him into his lab.
‘Me too, Neese.’ There were no words to express the weight of that responsibility. It never lessened despite the passing years, the number of missions, the outcomes that never really justified the losses.
‘I heard about Amir too . . .’ Neeson’s voice trailed away. There were no words for that either.
‘He remembered you with great affection and respect,’ Noah began.
‘He was a great scientist, a great person,’ Neeson replied, busying himself at a work station.
‘A great friend?’ Noah probed.
‘Yes, a dear friend.’ Neeson sat on his stool and swung around to face him. ‘We worked closely together at the . . .’
‘The School of Tropical Medicine, yes I know.’
‘Yes. And I would see him often at conferences – we shared research and often wrote papers together. I travelled with him and Aisha many times. They were keen tourists.’ He laughed, remembering something, a shared time perhaps. ‘She was lovely.’
‘He missed her very much,’ Noah replied. ‘I can understand that. In the interrogation Rajasuriya said he killed her. Do you know what happened?’
‘Sudden illness was the official story. It’s a lot easier than talking about an execution.’
‘An execution?’ Noah leaned against the bench. He was still so tired.
‘Yes,’ Neeson paused. He looked at Noah pleadingly. ‘You must understand, I helped develop the Faith Inhibitor – I thought we were doing the right thing. I thought it was the key to our salvation, as much as the Ebola vaccine. Religious wars had escalated all over the globe, threatening to wipe out communities faster than the disease.
‘The religions of the East were blamed for starting it – they were declared a virus, the Sixth Virus. Ebola and war . . . the perfect playmates. Wherever one went, the other followed.
‘Africa was already finished. But the others – the Middle East, Asia – we could have helped them. Instead, we vaccinated our people against Ebola first. We added the EBL-47 to the flu jab and other standard vaccinations in the West without telling anyone. We protected ourselves. And then . . . we allowed the pandemic to devastate the populations of the East.’
‘Allowed it or helped it?’ Noah asked.
‘It’s the same thing.’
‘Allowed it or used it?’ Noah remembered what Khan had said about influenza.
‘It’s the same Godforsaken thing,’ Neeson replied bitterly. ‘The strategy worked. The East was eventually forced to declare truce upon truce. It stopped its warring and begged for help – a vaccination, a cure, anything that would help its people to survive, its children to stop bleeding.
‘Walls have always been built between us – East and West Berlin, the East and West Bloc, the 38th Parallel. But this one was different. It used science and technology – it used medicine – these were the new weapons in a new kind of war.’
‘A new kind of peace.’
‘That’s right. When the vaccination programme was implemented in Sri Lanka, people volunteered – they lined up for days to be vaccinated. No one wanted to miss out. They were exhausted by the killing. Everyone had lost someone. They were terrified of Ebola. The vaccination programme was a condition of the peace and that was all they wanted – to stop fighting.
‘No one realised that the vaccination would make them stop believing. No one except Amir and his wife and their team at the hospital.
‘They watched the first wave of vaccinations and realised what was happening. Not immediately – at first they just thought something was wrong with it. They thought it was having adverse side effects – memory loss, disassociation, prolonged lethargy.
‘They reported it to the WHO. They ran their own trials. They pulled the vaccine apart and tried to construct it again. They realised that there was something integral to the vaccine that was targeting the brain in an unintended way.
‘Eventually they realised that it was targeting the frontal lobe in a way that was fully understood and intended by the WHO – by us. They suspected their government was part of it – a willing participant in the deception. They tried to warn people, but who would believe such a thing? That a government and WHO-sanctioned vaccination programme was damaging the faith engine of their brains? That we had found a way to kill faith, and with it, a way to kill God.
‘Amir and Aisha resisted. They fought back – I told them not to. But they both . . . they loved each other so much. And they loved God, Noah. They believed that God inhabited the core of the cells they worked with every day.’
‘What happened to them?’ Noah asked.
‘They shot her,’ he replied. ‘Amir was in Mumbai, speaking to the Minister for Health there. He was afraid to leave her – Rajasuriya had already threatened them and he doesn’t make empty threats.’
‘Then why did Amir go?’
‘Because I said I would look after her,’ he whispered. ‘He trusted me. They both did.’
‘You were there? Oh my God, Jack – what did you do?’
‘Not enough. I loved her and Amir. Maybe I loved her too much, I don’t know. I begged her to stop their work, to recant – if I could have convinced one to persuade the other . . . I even begged her to leave him – to come back with me. Of course she refused.
‘Then they came for her. It all happened so fast. I wasn’t ready. They took her to the courtyard at the hospital and made her kneel down.
‘I saw the pendant on her neck swing forward. She held it to her chest. They told her to put her head down, but she looked straight at me.’
Neeson remembered: He was screaming and crying. There were soldiers holding him – Western Alliance soldiers holding him back. Orders from Bio to remove the threat.
‘“Don’t cry, Jack,” she said. “Tell Amir I know whose I am and I know where I’m going. Tell him I will see him soon.” That was all she said. She closed her eyes, held the pendant tighter and began to pray. They shot her in the back of the head.’
‘Why did they let him live?’
‘He was a talented virologist. They needed him,’ Neeson said simply.
‘Presumably Khan was given the vaccine?’
‘Yes, of course. As soon as he returned from India. They told him she was dead, knocked him unconscious and did it the easy way.
‘I did it the easy way. I couldn’t look in his eyes while I was poisoning him. I left Sri Lanka and never went back. His wife and his faith were taken away from him at the same time. I don’t know how you keep living after that but he did. He carried the loss – one he could remember and one he couldn’t. He carried the loss but he didn’t let it kill him.’
‘No, I killed him,’ Noah stated flatly.
Neeson turned to face him. �
�He was a good man. Thank you for what you did.’
‘Thank you? I killed him,’ he repeated.
‘He was ready. He had done as much as he could.’
‘He knew whose he was and where he was going?’ Noah said bitterly.
‘Yes, something like that.’
‘And how about you, Neeson – whose are you?’
‘I’m a company man, Noah, you know that. You?’
‘Me? Whose am I?’ He looked at the AILA moving around the lab, tidying up experiments. It was just like Devi, but faster. It would do. He had learnt enough from Khan; and Neeson could do the rest now.
‘My father said, “Man is made by his faith – as he believes, so he is.”’
‘Your father knew his scripture well. So do you.’
Noah shrugged. ‘After all the death we’ve wreaked – do you still believe in God?’ He didn’t dare ask more in the lab.
‘Deeply. I have faith in something more than my world, something more than life and death.’
‘I thought we killed faith?’ Noah replied. He looked at the camera embedded into the far corner of the ceiling. There were eight more in the room that he could identify. Others he couldn’t.
‘All things find a way to survive. Nature adapts to changes and threats. It finds a way to survive and thrive – to worship and be worshipped. Sometimes it needs more time. If we could just give Nature more time . . . Like people, Noah – if you give them enough time, they recover. I’m a scientist – I don’t believe anything can be truly eradicated.’
‘So a wise man once told me,’ Noah replied. He thought about the tumour – maybe Nature was finding a way.
‘Was he a scientist too?’
He shook his head and riffled through his cooler box. ‘An explorer. I have something for you.’
Neeson didn’t look at the cameras in the room. ‘I believe you do,’ he said carefully.
‘Lychees – I had to work for them.’ Noah reached forward with a small sack of fruit and revealed the vaccination welt on his hand.
Acknowledgements
I’ve realised now that it takes a village to publish a book. I am hugely grateful to the people who have helped develop The Barrier from a collection of Post-it notes to a book that I can hold in my hands and hover next to in book shops.
The Barrier Page 27
