The Gulf Conspiracy (27 page)

The door closed and for a few moments there was silence in the room as no one spoke while the seating arrangements were worked out. General airport noise was largely cut out by the soundproofing although an intermittent vibration every few minutes served to remind them where they were as yet another aircraft took to the skies.

‘
Who’s he?’ said Gardiner, becoming aware of Steven’s presence.

Steven showed him his ID without saying anything and Gardiner examined it with the same disdain that he’d shown towards the Special Branch men. He waved it away with an imperious hand gesture. ‘Just what the hell is this all about?’ he demanded.

‘
We’d like you to answer some questions, Sir James.’

‘
What about? My holiday in Madeira?’

‘
We are looking into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two ex-government scientists, Dr George Sebring and Dr Michael D’Arcy. We think you may be able to help us.’

Gardiner swallowed hard but maintained his equilibrium. ‘Never heard of them,’ he said.

‘
Tell us about the Beta Team at Porton Down,’ said Steven.

Gardiner looked long and hard at him before saying, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘
We already know that you were responsible for re-activating it back in 1989,’ continued Steven. ‘So maybe we can bypass the blank denials?’

‘
1989?’ snickered Gardiner. ‘I was responsible for a lot of things back then,’ he said, leaning back in his chair and looking off to the middle distance as if enjoying a stroll down memory lane. ‘Presumably I signed some piece of paper or other. I don’t remember.’

‘
Dr Sebring and Dr D’Arcy were members of that team,’ said one of the Special Branch men.

‘
I still have no idea what you’re talking about,’ said Gardiner.

‘
Donald Crowe is in custody,’ said Steven. ‘We know about the accident.’

‘
What accident?’

‘
The one that led to the contamination of vaccines given to the troops before the Gulf War in 1990,’ said Steven.

Gardiner seemed to diminish in stature over the next few moments. All traces of arrogance and pomposity left him; he let out his breath in a long sigh and allowed his shoulders to slump forwards. ‘You do, do you?’ he said.

‘
Cecil Mowbray is also being held,’ said Steven. ‘He, of course, was not a member of the Beta Team.’

Gardiner’s eyes betrayed a darting unease as he looked up at Steven.

‘
But he was a member of another sort of team, led by you,’ said Steven. ‘Set up around the same time as the Beta Team . . . along with Colonel Peter Warner, Mr Rupert Everley and maybe a few others?’

‘
My, we have been doing our homework,’ murmured Gardiner. He affected an amused smile but Steven could see that he was considering his position, weighing his options. ‘But then, it wouldn’t be difficult for you,’ he continued. ‘We had nothing to hide. As far as I know there is still no law that prevents like-minded people from banding together to act on behalf of and for the good of their country – unless New Labour brought one in while I was away - and I wouldn’t put it past them.’

‘
It depends what these “like-minded” people get up to,’ said one of the Special Branch officers. ‘We tend to draw the line at murder.’

‘
I know nothing about any murder,’ said Gardiner, giving the officer a withering look.

‘
Sebring and D’Arcy were subject to direct action by the intelligence services,’ said Steven. He deliberately employed the euphemism as a sop to Gardiner’s sensibilities.

‘
Then you must speak to them,’ said Gardiner.

‘
Mowbray has decided that he was only acting in the best interests of the country,’ said Steven.

‘
So has Crowe,’ added one of the Special Branch men.

‘
We all have to do that,’ said Gardiner, although a note of caution had entered his voice.

‘
Did you order the deaths of these men in order to keep the accident at Porton a secret?’ asked the Special Branch man.

Gardiner looked askance and then said, ‘Don’t be ridiculous. I have had no executive power for many years. To suggest that I could issue orders these days to members of the intelligence services or even the scientific civil service is a notion that would be laughed out of court should it ever come to that.’

‘
Not if it were shown that you took it upon yourself to re-activate the Beta Team for your own reasons back in 1989 and let it be known that it had Government approval . . . when it hadn’t.’

‘
Of course it had,’ said Gardiner.

‘
At least you now remember it,’ said Steven.

‘
Can you prove that you had Government sanction?’ asked a Special Branch man.

Gardiner looked at the man as if he were mildly amused by the question. ‘Considering the number of people who have passed in and out of the ever-revolving door of ministerial power during the last decade, can you prove that I hadn’t?’ he asked.

‘
We’ll give it our best shot,’ said the officer but Steven saw that Gardiner had latched on to the one thing that would save him. He suspected that it would prove well nigh impossible to show that Gardiner had never at any stage received even a tacit nod of approval for the setting up the Beta Team. Everyone involved in the affair was going to end up claiming that he or she had only been obeying orders and the murderers of George Sebring, Michael D’Arcy and the journalist Martin Hendry, were going to walk free. The thought encouraged him to make a last ditch attempt at rattling the man.

‘
Come off it, Gardiner,’ he snapped. ‘It was you and your fascist chums who set up the Beta Team, wasn’t it?’

He saw a flash of anger appear in Gardiner’s eyes but it faded almost as quickly as better judgement prevailed and he recovered his composure before saying, ‘I suppose in your book a fascist is anyone who can read and write and string two words together without them being, “Yes Tony.”

‘
No, it’s anyone who decides to impose his will on others by using any means available to him without compunction, including murder,’ said Steven.

‘
How many times must I repeat that I know nothing at all about any murder?’ said Gardiner through gritted teeth.

‘
But the involvement of your group . . .’ began one of the policemen.

‘
We have always acted within the confines of the law!’ interrupted Gardiner. ‘The rule of law is fundamental to us. It was the very basis on which we wanted to rebuild our country – to reclaim it from the tide of mongrel trash and deviant flotsam and jetsam that has washed over us during the past decade.’

‘
Adolf was a big believer in law and order,’ said one of the Special Branch men after a silent pause.

‘
Saddam is too, I believe,’ said his colleague.

‘
How dare you!’ said Gardiner.

‘
Tell us about the accident,’ said Steven.

‘
I’m no scientist,’ said Gardiner. ‘All I know is what I was told at the time. Someone on the Beta Team gave the wrong thing out in response to a request from colleagues.’

‘
The wrong thing being the agent that the Beta Team had been commissioned to design,’ said Steven.

‘
Yes.’

‘
Tell us about that.’

‘
I say again, I’m no scientist,’ said Gardiner.

‘
But you knew the basic characteristics,’ insisted Steven.

‘
We – the government of the day, that is,’ said Gardiner with a nuance of self-satisfaction in his voice, ‘thought it politic to look into the possibility of designing a biological agent that was not just an outright killer but a vector for achieving population control in a hostile environment.’

‘
Why?’ asked Steven.

‘
I understood that science had progressed to a point where it could do more than simply design killing agents. The potential was right for investigation.’

‘
Go on.’

‘
The team was commissioned to design an agent that was to be disabling but not lethal, undetectable by conventional means and, in the long run, curable.’

There it was again, thought Steven, the third criterion, curable. ‘What was this agent based on?’ he asked.

‘
What do you mean?’

‘
Presumably they weren’t being asked to create a new life form out of fresh air. Which bacterium or virus was used as a starting point?’

‘
I’ve no idea,’ said Gardiner. ‘Not my field I’m afraid.’

‘
If they were to be curable, wouldn’t that defeat the whole purpose?’ Steven asked.

‘
I think there was more to it than that,’ said Gardiner. ‘But I’ve no idea what. I have to keep telling you, I’m not a scientist. What does it matter now anyway? The whole venture was abandoned after the accident.’

Steven nodded to indicate to the Special Branch men that he was finished questioning Gardiner.

‘
Can I go now?’ asked Gardiner.

‘
I’m afraid not, Sir James,’ said one of the Special Branch men. ‘We’re going to have to hold you for further questioning. ‘If you’ll come with us, please . . .’

Steven watched as the two officers led away the protesting Gardiner and he was left alone and feeling dejected in the empty interview room. The words, ‘Population control in a hostile environment’ were uppermost in his mind. Was this a plausible aim for a Government sanctioned initiative? And would a court of law believe that it was?

The answer seemed to be affirmative in both cases. It could be argued that such technology might also be attractive to subversive or terrorist groups but Gardiner’s insistence that the government had been behind the project would probably win the benefit of the doubt – not that it was going to come to that, he was convinced. The smart money was on the whole thing being dropped.

As he drove back into the city Steven found himself wondering if Gus Maclean’s cultures had arrived safely at Rees’s lab in Cambridge and if Rees had begun work on them. Thinking this made him suddenly wonder why it should still be necessary to start from scratch. Despite admissions all round about the purpose of the Beta Team back in 1990 and what they’d been trying to create, not one technical detail had emerged about the agent’s construction. D’Arcy had died – no, he had been murdered - before he could supply the information, Crowe had been vague when asked by John Macmillan, and Gardiner had just pleaded complete ignorance of science.

He supposed it was just possible that John Macmillan, not being a medic, had not asked the right questions. But if Crowe could be persuaded to provide some simple technical answers it would undoubtedly save Rees a lot of time and trouble. By the time he had reached the safe house where Jane was, he had decided to go see Crowe himself next morning. He called Sci-Med to ask that they arrange it.

‘
Good day?’ asked Jane.

‘
I’ve known worse,’ smiled Steven. ‘Good news and bad news.’ He told her of Gardiner’s response to the charges put to him.

‘
So he’s going to get away with it too?’ said Jane.

‘
It would be impossible to prove beyond doubt that he did not have Government approval,’ said Steven.

‘
And the good news?’ said Jane.

‘
You can go home tomorrow and get on with your life,’ said Steven.

Jane smiled ruefully and said, ‘Good, I’m not sure it’s ever going to be the same again.’

‘
It’s in our nature to get over things,’ said Steven.

‘
Sounds like a variant of, “Time’s a great healer”,’ said Jane.

‘
I suppose,’ agreed Steven. ‘Let’s go out to dinner.’

‘
Shouldn’t you be feeling pleased with yourself, or is there something you have to tell me?’ asked Jane, very much aware of Steven’s preoccupation throughout dinner.

Steven smiled and said, ‘I’m sorry, no, it’s nothing like that and the only thing I have to tell you is that I am so glad I met you.’

Doubt remained on Jane’s face. ‘Then what?’ she asked.

‘
There’s something about the whole thing that’s bugging me and it’s not just the fact that your husband’s murderer is not going to be brought to justice. There’s something I just can’t put my finger on.’

‘
Maybe you are one of these people who just can’t let go?’ said Jane.

‘
You missed out “these annoying bloody”,’ said Steven with a smile.

Jane smiled and said, ‘Are you going to come up to Leicester with me tomorrow?’

Steven said not. He was going to question Donald Crowe. He confessed that one of the things still puzzling him was the fact that there had still been no mention of any construction details about the agent the Beta Team had been making.

‘
Well Crowe must certainly know,’ said Jane. ‘After all, he was in charge of the whole damned thing. Dreadful man.’

‘
He must,’ agreed Steven. ‘But he managed to avoid saying anything about that when he was interviewed. Strange.’

‘
Well, it was all a long time ago, I suppose,’ said Jane.

‘
Mm,’ said Steven.

‘
You see something sinister in it?’ said Jane.

Steven shrugged and said, ‘Maybe, maybe not. It’s hard to see why he would want to keep that a secret when we know exactly what happened.’