Crime Zero (36 page)

Kathy had since learned that the alarming similarity between Axelman's symptoms and those of the Peace Plague in Iraq had galvanized Weiss into sending Toshack in search of her. Armed with a faculty photograph from Stanford, Toshack and his men had tailed the FBI director, believing she would lead them to her. Last night, after following Director Naylor to the ViroVector campus, they had challenged and neutralized the men in Frankie Danza's van, parked a short distance up the road from them, and waited for Luke and Kathy to emerge.

Since arriving three hours ago, Kathy and Decker had time only for a meal, a scan of the discs, and some hasty introductions. Now Kathy sat back and scanned the table. Next to Decker sat the President of the United States of America, along with six other people trying to make sense of madness.

The large black man in uniform on Weiss's right was General Linus Cleaver, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To his right was a square-jawed man also in uniform. Major General Thomas Allardyce, M.D., was the commander of USAMRIID, although he asked everyone to call him Tom. Next to him was a thin-faced woman with long dark hair and quick, intelligent eyes. Dr. Sharon Bibb ran the Epidemic Investigation Service at the CDC in Atlanta. Beside her was Assistant Director Bill McCloud of the FBI. A tall, lean man with a buzz cut and a southern drawl, he had relevant experience with the bureau's Hazardous Materials Response Unit. He and Luke knew each other already. The other two men were Todd Sullivan, Pamela Weiss's new chief of staff, and Jack Bloom, who headed the Doomsday Committee. Part of the National Security Agency, the Doomsday Committee existed solely to brainstorm the bleakest of disaster scenarios and lay down plans should they arise. The very fact that he was here was implicitly terrifying.

Major General Allardyce spoke first, indicating the deck of charts in front of each of them that summarized the discs' contents. "I suggest we make sure we all understand the full implications of Crime Zero before we assign responsibilities and agree on the next steps. Kathy, since you're the closest to this, would you summarize the three phases as you see them?"

Glancing at the charts in front of her, Kathy briefly outlined the Project Conscience background. She could see Pamela Weiss grimace as she explained how Alice Prince and Madeline Naylor had used Kathy's research on Conscience to develop a gender-specific vector.

Kathy sipped at her glass of water. "Phase One was a test on six prisoners at San Quentin, including Karl Axelman. They inserted the modified genes into an attenuated viral vector, which inserted itself into the stem cells of the patient. This meant that the treatment--if I can call it that--affected only the person it was injected into. The vector targeted the cells in the hypothalamus in the brain and the testes. The new genetic instructions boosted all hormone and neurotransmitter levels to literally mind-blowing proportions, on the one hand, stimulating their aggression while at the same time racking them with suicidal guilt. The main aim of that phase was to check that the treatment would first render the patient incapable of violent deeds and then kill him in a given time frame."

"Given time frame?" asked Todd Sullivan, the President's chief of staff.

"If the vector and the modified genes within it were engineered correctly, the patient's age at death could be genetically predetermined."

"How?" asked Dr. Bibb as she checked her charts. "By using the length of the telomeres?"

"Exactly."

"What are telomeres?" asked General Cleaver.

Kathy looked at Sharon Bibb to see if she wanted to answer, but she smiled as if to give Kathy the floor. "They are the protective tips on the ends of chromosomes, like those on the end of shoelaces. As we get older, our cells divide and the telomeres erode. If the virus is so engineered, it could recognize a host's age by their length. You must understand that Alice Prince has an incredible array of vectors. She can do almost whatever she wants.

"Phase Two was intended to move from an isolated test to a real-life situation. They chose a belligerent nation because they wanted to show the power of their vision, I guess to impress people that they could stop war. After all, what greater violent crime is there?"

"I think they particularly wanted to impress you, Madam President," said Decker quietly.

Pamela Weiss frowned but said nothing.

Kathy continued. "The disc clearly shows that they used a single corrupted sample of BioShield vaccine to start the infection. Iraq, like most military powers, is a client of Vi-roVector's. It would have ordered a supply of DNA vaccines to protect its troops, and it wouldn't be hard for Alice Prince to instruct TITANIA, the computer that runs ViroVector, to insert one corrupted sample in the batch sent to them. Unlike Phase One, this vector is infectious. It's a hand-to-mouth agent, passed on by contact."

"But why didn't they use a more infectious vector right off?" asked Jack Bloom.

"I think they needed to ensure it could be contained if it misbehaved," Kathy replied. "Iraq is effectively a trial of the treatment on a larger scale, both in terms of who it affects and, as important, who it doesn't. This vector is designed to infect everyone, whereas the DNA modifier within the vector is designed to affect only men. Alice Prince and Madeline Naylor wanted to make sure that their smart assassin killed only what it was aimed at."

"According to our intelligence, that's happening," said General Cleaver. "It appears that no children or women in Iraq have caught the disease yet."

Kathy nodded and chewed her lip. "They've probably caught it; they're just carrying it without any symptoms. The brilliance of the Crime Zero vector is that it targets only what it's meant to, but it uses everyone as a carrier. Ebola and Marburg burn out because most often their victims die before they can pass it on. Crime Zero isn't like that. Phase Two lives on; there's no end zone."

"But how the hell are they coordinating all this?" asked McCloud, the FBI man. "Pandemic plagues are nightmares to contain. How do they expect to get one to do their bidding?"

"Through TITANIA, ViroVector's supercomputer," said Kathy. "Alice Prince and Madeline Naylor are the composers. But TITANIA is almost certainly the conductor, orchestrating everything, monitoring each phase before moving on to the next one. And the last phase is the really clever one. Phase Three is the killer."

Kathy flicked through the deck of charts in front of her, her hands trembling as she came to the last charts. "The Phase Three vector overrules everything that went before. If a person has been exposed to Phase Two, Phase Three will overwrite any genetic changes with its own. This vector is a piece of genius. Like Phase Two, it infects everyone but affects only some of the population. And even those effects differ according to the age of the victim. This combines the best of Conscience and the worst of Crime Zero. It's frighteningly clever."

"Explain," said Weiss.

"OK. First of all, this vector is designed to infect females of all ages but not give them any symptoms. They carry the viral vector in the cells lining their respiratory tract and can pass it on, but they remain healthy save for a mild cough. This means the virus won't burn itself out. With male children under the age of puberty their genome actually changes but only in the way that the Conscience vector modified genes. It won't kill them. Infected prepubescent boys have their genes recalibrated to make them less prone to violence regardless of their natural predisposition. It will also affect their germ cells. This means that they will pass on these modifications to any children they sire. But they're lucky compared with any male over puberty who becomes infected."

She paused for breath.

"As with the Phase Two vector, every postpubescent male who catches the Phase Three virus will first be rendered emotionally incapable of committing violent acts and then will die. But with this virus, guided by the telomeres on a target's chromosomes, the timing of death will be determined by the victim's age. Essentially the young will die first. Postpubescent men under about twenty-five will die in a few months. The last to go will be the older men, those who are the least violent and have the most knowledge to pass on. They will die in about three years. The other key thing about this vector is that it is based on the influenza virus, which means it's spread through respiratory aerosol. It's airborne. Just breathing in the vector can infect a person. With modern air travel it'll spread around the globe in twenty-four hours."

There was a moment of silence. Then Sharon Bibb spoke. Her voice had the monotone of someone in shock. "Can I just put this into context? The greatest pandemic to date occurred in 1918 after the First World War. Influenza spread like wildfire throughout Asia, America, and an already exhausted Europe. We all know that millions of men died in World War One, but that number was dwarfed by the fifty million who died of Spanish flu. Twenty million died in India alone. But this would make even those figures seem small. If Phase Three got out, almost two and a half billion people would die over three years."

"All men," added Decker. "You can't fault the logic. Violent criminals cause violent crimes. Violent criminals are men. So no more men equals no more violent crime. Only females and boys with modified genes would remain on the planet. Violent crime, wars, and all acts of senseless violence wiped out at a stroke, by one enormous act of violence. Within a few decades a new stock of peaceful males would grow up, and violent men would just be a memory." He let out a deep sigh. "You can't say it lacks vision. And, President Weiss, I think they've chosen you as part of that vision."

Pamela Weiss turned to Luke, a look of horror on her face. "In that case can I make them see sense?"

After he had listened to the others discuss the three phases of Crime Zero, it became increasingly obvious to Luke Decker what role the President was meant to play in Madeline Naylor and Alice Prince's brave new world.

Project Conscience wasn't just a precursor to Crime Zero. It had also been a means to get her elected. Although Prince and Naylor planned to stagger the deaths over three years, the logistical implications alone would still be enormous. They needed someone strong and female in charge to provide continuity and prevent the world and particularly the United States from sliding into chaos when the mass deaths began.

"Why haven't Prince and Naylor been arrested yet?" asked Jack Bloom of the Doomsday Committee.

"Because the third disc doesn't say how or where the airborne virus is going to be set off," said Deputy Director Mc-Cloud. "For all we know, they could have numerous devices geared up to go. What we do know is that according to the strict timing plans on the disc, Phase Three isn't due to be released for at least a few more days. Director Naylor is one smart woman. We've got her and Alice Prince under surveillance, but I don't want to jump them until we're sure how to handle them."

Bloom frowned. "But they could be releasing it now. Surely the risks of taking them in and neutralizing them are less than letting them run free."

Decker shook his head. "I think Bill's right. The only thing in our favor at the moment is that Naylor and Prince don't know that we know. They aren't in any hurry, and that's to our advantage. They don't see themselves as terrorists or psychopaths, but more as physicians curing a great disease. They've planned this meticulously and won't have any knee-jerk reactions unless we force them to. They don't want to destroy the world; they want to save it. They think they're the good guys."

"So what do you suggest we do?" asked Weiss. "Just wait until they save the world?"

Decker smiled. "No, Madam President, I think you should talk with them face-to-face. They're partly doing this for you, and they want you to help them. Don't alert them before the meeting that you know anything. Use the pretext of the Peace Plague to call a meeting with them both. Appeal to them as friends. Focus on Alice Prince; make her realize the human cost of what she is doing. She's the weak link. My guess is that Naylor is committed to this, and you won't move her. From what I know Prince likes the concept of Crime Zero but shies away from the real implications. Is she

particularly fond of any of your family?"

Weiss blanched. "My third son, Sam, is her godson."

Decker nodded. "How old is he?"

"He's over puberty if that's what you mean. Thirteen." Weiss took a deep breath. "He would be one of the first to go."

Decker nodded again. "Use that. Show her your pain. Make Alice relate your potential loss to the loss of her daughter, Libby. Make her realize in no uncertain terms that she would be murdering your child as brutally as Axelman murdered hers. If Alice connects, she might help us control Naylor and stop the genie before it gets out of the bottle. She might even help with the Peace Plague."

Weiss's face was expressionless, as if frozen. "I'll meet them both at ViroVector," she said.

"Good idea," said Allardyce. "We could cordon off the campus, containing them and any hot agents they might have on-site. Then regardless of how your meeting goes, we'll have them in custody."