‘Yes. As it stands, this should be completely containable if the Norwegians act quickly, which they are. They’re already testing, tracking and tracing on Svalbard and there is no evidence the disease has reached these shores, so I see no cause for alarm.’ He tilted his head to one side. ‘It’s true there is about a ten per cent mortality rate for bubonic plague, but—’

‘Treated or untreated?’ interrupted the health secretary.

‘That’s treated, ma’am. Untreated, it’s obviously going to be a lot higher, especially if it develops into pneumonic plague and spreads to the lungs. But with modern antibiotics, like gentamicin and so on, I would expect a full recovery. However …’ Holmes paused and removed his spectacles, blinking, mole-like, as he did so ‘… I should just caution that we don’t yet know what this pathogen is. The symptoms described certainly match bubonic plague, but we won’t know for certain until we get the full spectrum lab read-out from Porton Down.’ Holmes glanced at his watch. ‘We expect the patient to be retrieved and quarantined within the hour. We should get the first results back from pathology before the day’s out.’

‘You’re referring to Dr Mackenzie, right?’ Jay Spelling again. ‘But she’s not the only patient, is she, Brendan?’

‘Well, we can’t be certain at this stage. Of the three UK nationals up there on Svalbard who came into contact with the source of the pathogen in the hut, she is the only one said to be showing symptoms. Her colleague …’ he looked down at his notes for the name ‘… her colleague Chris Coppinger reports feeling symptom-free, but, of course, he’ll have to be screened thoroughly. We were originally intending to send them to Porton Down for testing, but it’s quicker and more convenient to hold them under observation at the Royal Free, here in London. Now, the third scientist, Victor someone – I don’t have his surname to hand – has gone AWOL. All we know is that he fled the site of the original infection. I understand the Norwegians are trying to track him down, but, frankly, I don’t rate his chances out there in the snow.’

‘Director CT?’ The foreign secretary turned to the MI6 director of International Counter-Terrorism, standing in for his chief today. ‘You wished to add something?’

For a large man, Sid Khan spoke surprisingly softly, but Holmes could see that everyone’s attention had now switched to him. Khan was looking up from a tablet he held. ‘I have some sad news to report,’ he said. ‘As of a few minutes ago, Victor Skeet, the third scientist, has indeed perished. I can also tell you that in the last few minutes our Norwegian military intelligence partners, the NIS, have reported that the man they found in the hut is also dead. The Norwegians have labelled him “Patient Zero”.’