Adrian D'Hage - The Maya codex

‘Don’t look now, but there’s a tall guy in a beret across the road who’s got us on his radar. After I’ve left, wait until he follows me, then get a taxi to Westbahnhof. I’ll give him the slip and meet you there.’

Aleta watched the man who had saved her life jog effortlessly across the Karntner Ring towards the Imperial. As soon as O’Connor left, the thin man in the black overcoat and beret followed him down the Ringstrasse.

H oward Wiley flicked on the last briefing overhead for the new president’s first visit to the CIA headquarters. From Wiley’s point of view, the election had been a disaster: the new president eschewed the use of force in favour of negotiation. It was a language Wiley had never understood.

‘In summary, Mr President, America faces many challenges around the world. Terrorist networks are widely dispersed and growing in number. Nuclear proliferation continues to be a cause for grave concern. We know North Korea has had access to reprocessed fuel rods and enriched uranium from their reactor at Yongbyon, and increasingly sophisticated ballistic missiles are now available from international arms dealers. Caution is also required in any negotiations with Iran,’ Wiley warned. ‘Tehran will not give up on enriching uranium, and unless we act against them, in a few short years Ahmadinejad’s threat to wipe Israel off the map could be a reality.’

Wiley paused to judge the President’s reaction, but the new leader of the free world gave nothing away. ‘Despite the economic downturn, China continues to modernise her military forces, and this also poses a threat, not only to the balance of power in the Taiwanese Straits, but to our own forces in the region. Finally, while Prime Minister Putin is nominally subordinate to President Dmitry Medvedev, Putin remains in charge of the Kremlin and will likely run again for president once Medvedev’s term expires. There is no doubt Putin aims to reclaim Russia’s former position as the dominant power in Europe. We can expect the Russians to maintain a tough stance against Chechnya, the Ukraine and in Georgia, where Putin will seek to exert even greater control over the region’s oil and energy supplies.’

‘I received a briefing from your counterpart in DNI on our operations with HAARP in Alaska,’ the President said.

Wiley controlled his anger. The Directorate of National Intelligence had been set up as a result of the failure of the FBI to detect the 9/11 terrorists’ pilot training in Florida, Arizona and California. In Wiley’s view, because of the FBI’s incompetence, the CIA had lost its position as the country’s pre-eminent intelligence agency to a bunch of shiny-assed rank amateurs at DNI in Washington, who big-noted themselves to politicians on every top-secret project they had access to. Wiley had been very careful to ensure that even his own director wasn’t privy to those operations Wiley considered he alone was competent to run. Politicians who wanted to negotiate with the enemy, especially those like the newly elected president, were to be kept at arm’s length. As far as Wiley was concerned, HAARP was far too sensitive to allow wide access or briefing, and he wondered how much the President had been told.

‘What credence do you place on the Russians being able to control the weather?’ the President asked.

‘We have incontrovertible evidence that the Russians are conducting research on controlling the direction of hurricanes, Mr President, as well as increasing their intensity. They’re also conducting experiments on the triggering of earthquakes.’

‘And our own research?’

‘Our research on this goes back to the Vietnam War. Project Popeye was aimed at changing the weather over North Vietnam by seeding clouds with silver iodide and dry ice. We had mixed success back then, sometimes churning the Ho Chi Minh trail into mud, but the Russians have been at this even longer. In 1962 we discovered they were beaming electromagnetic radiation signals at our embassy in Moscow, and, more specifically, directly at the office of our ambassador. In the ’70s we discovered an extension of this experiment: the Russian Woodpecker. It was a series of electromagnetic signals in the three to thirty megahertz bands.’

‘Woodpecker?’

‘The Russians pulsed the signal at a rate of ten or twelve to the second – ham radio operators around the world christened it the Russian Woodpecker – but the signal is so powerful it is capable of disrupting communications here in the United States. We have reason to believe, Mr President, that Woodpecker was the forerunner to the Russians’ version of HAARP.’

‘And HAARP can change the weather? I thought there was a UN treaty banning those experiments?’

‘Resolution 3172, passed by the United Nations in December 1976.’ Wiley smiled condescendingly. He had anticipated the question. ‘It bans experiments aimed at manipulating the weather as a form of warfare; but, of course, that doesn’t prevent us from carrying out experiments for peaceful purposes, Mr President.’

Wiley returned to his office, satisfied that the President of the United States was none the wiser for his questions on weather wars, and that he was unaware of Operation Aether. Presidents came and presidents went, but the real power was here in the Agency, and Wiley was determined it would stay that way. His satisfaction was more short-lived than usual, though. A message had come in from the Vienna chief of station, marked for his immediate attention: O’Connor observed having breakfast with target in Cafe Schwarzenberg. Unsure whether this is part of plan to eliminate her. O’Connor departed to Imperial Hotel but has not re-emerged, although cell phone is being tracked and is inexplicably moving slowly away from the Imperial. Endeavouring to get another asset to Cafe Schwarzenberg and will attempt to regain surveillance on Weizman. Sodano’s cell phone last tracked in vicinity of Bratislava, following the Danube towards Budapest. Request further instructions.

‘Fuck!’ Wiley slammed his fist on his desk. What the hell was Sodano doing in Bratislava and why was he headed for Budapest? Wiley had been in no position to haggle over the €100 000 Sodano had demanded up front, but if the little shit had done a runner, it would be his last. For now, there were too many unanswered questions. Wiley angrily punched in a response: For chief of station Vienna: ‘Endeavouring’ not good enough. Surveillance to be re-established at all costs, including airport, train stations and border crossing. O’Connor and Weizman assigned code names Tutankhamen and Nefertiti, respectively. Berlin station on full alert and able to assist. Advise re-establishment of contact SOONEST.

Wiley had chosen the codenames deliberately. Tutankhamen and Nefertiti had both met early deaths, and neither death had ever been explained. Wiley had every intention that history would repeat itself. He buzzed Larry Davis, his chief of staff.

‘We have a situation. I want the ops room brought up to speed,’ he ordered, ‘and include the background to this Maya Codex. I’ll be down there in three minutes.’

C urtis O’Connor scanned the lower floor of Vienna’s cavernous international railway terminal. The station was busy and the announcements in German and English echoed off the marble walls. Seeing nothing untoward, he and Aleta joined the queue in front of one of the ticket windows.

‘Zwei Karten zu Bad Arolsen, Business-Class, bitte.’

‘ Single oder zuruck?’

‘ Single, bitte.’

‘ Das wird €480 bitte.’

‘ Danke schon.’

‘There’s a coffee shop upstairs,’ O’Connor said after he’d paid cash for the tickets.