Кен Макклюр - Miasma

The head of MI6 took a deep breath and said, ‘Only in as far as saying, we believe the perpetrators of these crimes were Chinese.’

There was a long silence which made Steven remember a line from WH Auden, Stop all the clocks. It was broken by the Home Secretary asking quietly, ‘When you suggest the murderers were Chinese, are you saying that they were Chinese... or the Chinese?’

‘Impossible to say at this stage, Home Secretary, but we can’t rule out official involvement. As Sir John has pointed out, we seem to be dealing with something bigger than any of us imagined.’

‘Did you see the look on the Home Secretary’s face when C couldn’t rule out the possibility that the Chinese establishment might be involved?’ Jean asked Steven when they returned to the office. John Macmillan had stayed behind to have a private conversation with the Home Secretary.

‘That’s all he needed to hear after us falling out with the Russians over the use of a nerve agent on our streets,’ said Steven. ‘We mustn’t openly accuse the Chinese of anything without having absolute proof of who did what and why or people are going to wonder what the hell’s going on in our country.’

‘How do you think the PM will play it?’

‘I just hope she keeps quiet for the time being,’ said Steven. ‘And, please God the Foreign Secretary follows suit. We need to know more, much more. Right now, we have more questions than answers.’

‘Dare I ask who you think is going to be tasked with continuing the investigation?’ Jean asked.

‘That’s the kind of question which could keep me awake all night,’ Steven confessed.

‘I take it you don’t think this is something that will be decided this afternoon?’

‘Steven shook his head. ‘The PM and cabinet will have to be informed. Special advisors will be called in.’

‘Could be self-defeating,’ said Jean. ‘The more people involved the greater chance of a leak.’

‘If that happens, the Daily Mail will decide what needs to be done.’

‘And with that happy thought...’

The new message indicator on Jean’s computer beeped and she brought it up on her screen. ‘Interpol,’ she said. ‘The dead investment banker was one, Marcel Giroud. He worked for one of the big French banks until a year ago when he decided to go it alone and set up as an independent financial advisor.’

‘After receiving the promise of some upcoming very large commissions...’ suggested Steven. ‘People like Field and Pashley would need expert financial help when it came to being paid and hiding huge sums of money.’

‘And neither would be likely to know any investment bankers let alone dodgy ones.’

‘Also true,’ said Steven. ‘A middle man would be required. Enter Jeremy Lang. the man Russian expats in London approach to move money around and the man with Field and Pashley’s names in his book.’

‘Lang does property deals,’ said Jean. ‘Maybe he sub-contracted to a pal who did under the counter investments...’

‘A man like Marcel Giroud...’

‘I think we’re beginning to see a chain,’ said Jean.

Steven’s phone rang. He listened and replied with a simple, “Understood”

He turned back to Jean, ‘It was John, discussions are ongoing. He’ll be going home straight afterwards.’

‘That sounds like Sci-Med’s involvement might be over,’ said Jean.

‘Let’s not count our chickens.’

Steven’s phone delivered a message from Tally on his way home. She’d be late home, she was going to another meeting about the situation in DRC.

The sun came out from behind the clouds it had hidden behind all morning and encouraged Steven to find a seat on the Embankment and enjoy the feeling of warmth on his face. He wasn’t quite sure what to think about the murders, or indeed how much effort he should be putting into thinking about them now that there were so many players involved. The Met would concentrate on the crime of murder, Special Branch would be interested in the huge sums of money paid to the two English victims, MI5 would focus on foreign agents operating in the UK — as would MI6, although their interests would have an international dimension, adding French, Swiss and Israeli victims to the overall scenario and trying to figure out what exactly had made the Chinese so angry. Against this backdrop, the fact that two of the victims had been senior medical scientists seemed to pale into irrelevance. Perhaps Jean had been right, Sci-Med’s involvement might be coming to an end before it had really started.

It was after 9 pm before Tally arrived home and flopped down into a chair, kicking off her shoes and sighing as she looked up at the ceiling.

‘Would a drink help?’ Steven asked, amused at her display of exhaustion.

‘A large one.’

Steven returned with a large gin and tonic for Tally and a beer for himself. He tried interpreting the range of emotions flitting across Tally’s face but failed. ‘What’s the problem?’ he asked.

‘I’m just so angry and frustrated,’ she replied. ‘People who should know better are really not taking the DRC outbreak seriously. Officially, less than fifty people have died, but the real figure has got to be much higher. It’s being distorted for a whole variety of reasons; they’re thinking more about trade and profits than... staying alive.’

‘But surely the money and resources being poured in has achieved something?’

‘Yes, but that can only work if it has the support of the population and competent management.’

‘Are you saying it hasn’t?’ Steven asked.

‘It hasn’t been required before on this scale. It requires a culture shift,’ said Tally. ‘The DRC people are naturally touchy-feely — they’re used to hugging and shaking hands all the time so when they’re told to stop, they resist, particularly when this extends to comforting the bereaved and saying goodbye to the dead. Health workers know they have to get rid of dead as quickly and cleanly as possible and, to that end, they have trained burial squads to dispose of the dead, but this has led to families stealing bodies back for ‘proper’ respectful funerals and so spreading infection.’

‘Sounds awful,’ said Steven.

‘Happily.... and that’s not a word I use often these days... the initiative is having more success in towns than in country areas because radio and television are available to spread the word and give advice. Children attending school are taught about safe personal hygiene and how Ebola can be defeated through vaccination, but rural populations can be a real problem. Witch doctors persuade people to have nothing to do with Western medicine, assuring them that the old ways are best and Ebola is an evil invention of white people who want to steal their country’s resources. If sickness breaks out in their villages, attempts are often made to hide it so that evil white people stay away.’

Steven thought for a moment before saying, ‘You know, I can understand that behaviour if this was the first outbreak of Ebola that DRC has suffered, but it isn’t, is it?’

‘It’s the ninth,’ Tally declared.

‘The ninth!’ Steven exclaimed, ‘I didn’t realise there had been that many. With all that previous experience, you’d think that they would be much better prepared to deal with things?’

‘You have a point,’ Tally agreed. ‘But you also have to remember that there was no vaccine available in the past. It wasn’t until the 2014 — 16 outbreak that a vaccine appeared.’

‘When white folks were threatened,’ Steven suggested.

‘Not so much white as rich,’ said Tally. ‘But that’s always been the way. Pharmaceutical companies have no interest in producing vaccines for countries that can’t pay for them, people shouldn’t pretend otherwise. Like any other business, profit is what they’re about.’