Chapters (124)
- Cover
- About the Author
- Acclaim for Frank Gardner’s Luke Carlton thrillers
- Also by Frank Gardner
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- 95
- 96
- 97
- 98
- 99
- 100
- 101
- 102
- 103
- 104
- 105
- 106
- 107
- 108
- 109
- 110
- 111
- 112
- 113
- 114
- 115
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgements
- THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
Their first task was to extract the DNA/RNA from the samples rushed over from the Royal Free. Working through the transparent wall, they treated the samples contained in miniature test tubes by adding a number of chemicals. Both scientists were well aware of the terrifying statistics they were dealing with: they knew that each test tube contained between 1 and 10 billion infectious doses. Next, they spun them in a centrifuge to separate the DNA and RNA, which, once deactivated, could be couriered immediately around the world, to labs in Geneva, Atlanta and The Hague, for further tests and confirmation. The inert extract would also be examined in Porton Down’s own gene-sequence analyser, a process that was likely to take several hours. While that was under way, there was a further stage to be undertaken before the results could be relayed to Whitehall: electron microscopy. This would aim to ‘visualize’ what the infectious agent looked like under extreme magnification.
For a long moment Blane and Masters peered, unspeaking, at the images displayed on the computer screens linked to the electron microscope. They stood stock-still, mesmerized in horror by what they were seeing. It was Colin Masters who broke the silence.
‘Christ al-bloody-mighty!’ he exclaimed. ‘Are you seeing what I’m seeing?’ He looked across at his colleague. Her eyes were wide with fear and she was shaking her head in disbelief.
‘What the hell is that?’ she replied, her voice quavering. ‘I mean, it can’t be, it just can’t be!’
‘But it is,’ Masters insisted. ‘It’s right there on the screen. And we’ve been barking up the wrong bloody tree all this time. This is a hundred times worse than we thought.’ They looked at each other, their faces suddenly drained of colour.
Then he shook his head in disgust. ‘This could only have been engineered in a lab,’ he said quietly. ‘It’s been genetically modified. Whoever designed this – this abomination is nothing short of pure evil.’