The Red Syndrome (18 page)

I was a bit surprised that Benny had even asked me for help. This
matter was out of my league. I was chasing money launderers, not missing
operatives of a foreign intelligence service, even if it was the one I'd
served in years ago.

"Of course," said Benny. "We work through channels, and a formal
request has already been made. The director of operations - CIA and
the deputy director of the FBI have already promised their full support."

"So what could I do that they can't or won't?"

"We don't know why the operatives disappeared, although we assume
they were kidnapped. Dead operatives don't talk to their captors, so we
estimate that for the time being they are still alive. There could be any
number of reasons why we've failed here." He paused, letting me guess.
"Nothing, but nothing, is ruled out."

Was Benny implying there was a mole inside the Mossad? I found it hard to believe, given the extremely tight security the organization has
always maintained. Something else was on his mind. It was typical of
Benny, operating above- and belowboard: filing a formal request and at
the same time lobbying his friends. I realized that he hadn't answered my
question: What can I do? So I took the circular route and asked, "Tell me
what happened."

"They were a team of two: Arnon Tal, a Mossad case officer, and Dr.
Oded Regev, a biology professor and medical doctor, on loan to us from
the Biological Institute, in Nes Ziona."

The Biological Institute is a government-owned facility twenty miles
south of Tel Aviv. Citing national security, Israel has for years declined to
comment on news reports that the institute has been developing biological and chemical weapons and antidotes - research that dates to the
early 196os, when Egypt used toxic gas during the civil war in Yemen. In
the early 199os the institute, which usually avoids publicity like the
plague, gained notoriety when it was revealed that a former deputy
director, Marcus Klingberg, had been exposed in 1983 as a Soviet spy and
that his trial, conviction, and incarceration had been withheld from the
media for more than eight years.

Benny broke my train of thought. "Tal and Regev were going to meet
terrorists posing as scientists; the premise behind the meeting was that
the two teams of scientists were going to conclude a scientific cooperation agreement. Although all precautions were taken, the operatives vanished in Rome a week ago."

"Before or after the meeting with the terrorists?"

"After. The meeting went well and the parties went their different
ways, so our backup team folded and security became more lax. Tal and
Regev took a cab back to their hotel, but never arrived."

Heads will roll, I thought. Security measures should end only when the
operatives are back in their base, not when they leave the battlefield.
"What kind of cooperation was discussed in the meeting?"

"Talk to him, Gideon," said Benny as I moved to the sofa.

Gideon was visibly resentful; he didn't like the order or the tone in
which Benny had given it. But apparently junior in rank to Benny, he had to comply. It was obvious he didn't like the idea of sharing confidential
information with an outsider, even an outsider who used to be an insider.

"Benny, before Gideon says anything further," I said, "you have to tell
me if what I'm about to hear is for my ears only or whether I may share
it with my superiors. Because if I'm expected to keep the information
confidential, it'd seriously limit my ability - which isn't too great to
begin with - to help you."

"I know," said Benny. "You may share information with your superiors.
But bear in mind that the lives of two of my men are at stake, so act with
caution."

"Of course, you know me," I said. I felt the burden of the trust Benny
had laid on me.

"Okay," said Gideon. "Are you familiar with hemorrhagic fever?"

That stopped me for a moment. "Well, I know it's one of the most
infectious and deadliest diseases known. I've seen terrible footage on TV
of people dying quickly and in terrible pain. Wasn't it called Ebola in
Congo?"

"Yes, the symptoms are similar, but the causative agents are different.
Hemorrhagic fever is considered to be a potentially dangerous biological
weapon because it causes serious illness and death."

"So what about it?" I asked, although I suspected the general direction
he was taking me in.

"Before there were restrictions, many nations were researching hemorrhagic fever as one of several potential biological weapons. We know that,
until the collapse of their empire in iggi, the Soviet Union continued production of strains of hemorrhagic fever that are antibiotic- and vaccineresistant."

Gideon paused for a moment, as if he was studying my face and
attempting to gauge my reaction. But I didn't move a muscle. He continued. "The virus can survive for days and even weeks in decaying animal
carcasses. An analysis of dead mice, rats, squirrels, and rabbits can sometimes indicate the existence of the hemorrhagic fever virus."

I was beginning to lose my appetite, which I'd been hoping to satisfy
with Benny in a kosher deli nearby after our meeting.

"Any human could contract the disease through bites of infected
insects, handling infected animals, drinking contaminated water, or
exchanging body fluids with an infected person. Hemorrhagic fever is so
contagious that even scientists examining an open culture plate could
contract it unless they wear protective gear."

"How do you spread it, making it a bioweapon?" I asked.

"As a weapon, it's not considered particularly effective, because although
it's very contagious, contamination is usually made from case to case. One
virus carrier infects others. But for bio-weapon purposes, an effective biological agent must be able to kill twenty to forty thousand people in a
short period of time. So if hemorrhagic fever is intended for use as a bioweapon, the virus has to be altered to enhance both its ability to spread
rapidly and its killing potential - thousands of dead and hundreds of
thousands incapacitated. In its current form, the virus cannot do that."

I felt my stomach move, this time not from hunger. "Is death certain?"

He nodded. "It's likely; the survival rates are fairly low. Immediate
diagnosis could increase survival chances, but the problem is identifying
the syndrome and treating it on time. You could do it with one or two
cases, maybe even a hundred, but not with three hundred thousand cases
breaking at the same time."

"Syndrome?" I repeated.

"Yes, a group of symptoms that collectively indicate or characterize a
disease affecting the body gradually or simultaneously. In this disease,
your blood vessels melt. You die of internal hemorrhage."

Benny gave me his characteristic no-nonsense look. "Got the picture?"

I nodded.

Gideon must have seen the expression on my face, so he paused for a
moment before continuing. "You become sick within three days of exposure to the virus. Once infected, you can pass the infection to others for
up to two to three weeks, even if you don't have symptoms."

"Now, if you thought that was bad news," said Benny, "here's the worst
part." He nodded at Gideon to continue.

"Although hemorrhagic fever is a killer, it's difficult to use as a
bioweapon because under normal circumstances, the virus attacks a few dozen people until medical measures and quarantine put a halt to widespread contamination. Also, the virus is aerobic: It needs oxygen to survive, and it's vulnerable to environmental threats such as heat, cold, acids,
and the like."

"So what's the bad news?" I wondered.

"If you genetically alter the virus to increase its potency and resistance,
thereby amplifying its contagiousness, then you have created a weapon,
not just a disease. You can kill thousands in a short period of time."

"Has anyone done that?"

"Theoretically," said Gideon.

"Meaning?"

"If you could successfully match the hemorrhagic fever virus with a
pathogen like E. coli, then passing the disease on becomes much easier,
because E. coli thrive in environments that would usually kill the hemorrhagic fever virus."

"Isn't E. coli connected to contaminated food?" I asked, thereby
exhausting my knowledge in this matter.

Gideon nodded. Here were the basic facts as he outlined them: E. coli was
a foodborne illness that, in the United States alone, led to nearly seventyfive thousand annual cases of infection and more than sixty deaths.
Symptoms included bloody diarrhea. If left untreated, the disease could lead
occasionally to kidney failure. Most cases resulted from eating undercooked
and contaminated ground beef, but person-to-person contact in families and
child care centers could also transmit the infection, as could drinking raw
milk or swimming in or drinking sewage-contaminated water.

E. col's symptoms were quite different from those of hemorrhagic
fever; you vomited, had abdominal cramps, and severe bloody diarrhea.
Therefore medical treatment usually focused on these symptoms. But if a
contaminated person contracted the altered virus of hemorrhagic fever
mixed with E. coli, the first symptoms would look like E. coli, not hemorrhagic fever. That would give the deadly hemorrhagic fever extra time to
spread in the body, beyond the point - which was limited to begin with
- at which any medical assistance could contain the disease. Death was
almost certain, and excruciatingly painful to boot.

"Is there a treatment for E. coli?"

Gideon was uncertain, "Well, most patients recover without antibiotics or other specific treatment in five to ten days. But we don't know if
the combined hemorrhagic fever and E. coli virus will respond to any
treatment."

"That's a sinister tool," I agreed. "But how do you spread a genetically
engineered virus, making it a bioweapon?"

"By lacing commercially sold food and drink. Since the altered virus
can survive in canned food and drink, every can of soda, soup, or tomato
sauce would be suspect; every sausage, hot dog, or hamburger could be
infected."

"The bastards who kidnapped Regev and Tal need the technology they
believed Regev developed to alter the virus. They want to use it to spread
death. There could be no other reason for kidnapping him," said Benny,
clenching his teeth.

"I'm lost. How, or rather why, did they make contact with Dr. Regev?"
I asked.

"Dr. Regev wrote a scientific article about a successful genetic engineering experiment combining the deadly characteristics of hemorrhagic
fever with the strong capacity of E. coli to withstand the effects of
harmful environmental agents," said Benny.

I knew Benny too well. I saw the glitter in his eyes. "Was the scientific
research real?" I asked. "Is there really such an engineered virus?"

"No," he said with half a smile. "There was research on precisely this
topic, and Regev is a legitimate scientist. But the article he wrote - with
some changes we suggested - created a misleading picture. And the
journal with this article was circulated only to individuals whom we knew
that were looking for potential bioweapons as part of their effort to support terrorist organizations."

"You mean you actually enticed them to use bioterrorism?"

"Of course not." Benny was adamant. "We had prior intelligence that
they were actively looking for know-how and materials to disseminate
bioterror. This edition of the journal was limited. We couldn't risk circulating it to bona fide scientists who might become suspicious. We simply wanted to make the intended recipients use our phony stuff rather than
real materials. Their intentions are imminent and real, and the worst
thing about it is that we don't know if we've opened a window of opportunity for them" - there came that certain spark in Benny's
eyes-"and whether our offer is their only opportunity. Obviously, they could be
trying to get it from other sources as well. We knew that we were playing
with a wild tiger, but we took measures to contain it, if it got too wild."
Knowing Benny, I sensed he had something else hidden up his sleeve.

I could easily think of a situation where other Western foreign intelligence organizations might be using the same stratagem on these terrorists; the bad guys would have a hard time separating the gold from the
dross.

I could also understand why the Mossad had hoped to close the deal as
quickly as possible: If the terrorists bought into the story, they presumably wouldn't look to other sources - at least until they realized they'd
been duped, which, we hoped, would take awhile. I had other questions
for Benny, such as what "information" had been included in the article to
make it more attractive to the terrorists.

"Easy enough," said Benny. "The article stated that the altered virus
could be used as a biological weapon and that it was resistant to known
treatment. This, Dr. Regev reassured me, was not true. Yes, the virus carried the disease, but no respectable scientist would alter it so that it could
kill millions if it escaped."

"So it's not true?"

"Basically, no. Obviously, the virus carries the disease, but we made sure
that nobody in the scientific world could alter a virus that could wipe out
a huge chunk of the world's population if it escapes." He saw my puzzled
eyes and added, "Don't ask me how."

"Still," I said, sensing there was more to the story, "most scientific journals wouldn't have gone along with Mossad's plan; how did the Office
pull it off?"

"True." Benny smiled again. "Most journals wouldn't have gone along
with it. Their reputations are critical. But when you're the publisher of a
journal, you can do what you want." Under Benny's direction, it seemed, Mossad had started a new scientific journal, filled it with genuine
research papers, and then planted the "engineered" article. Circulation
was limited; they'd printed only one hundred copies with the phony
article. It was a small investment, and a worthwhile one, from their point
of view, given the possibility of luring terrorists with the bait.