‘He backtracked Commodore’s movements—and, we think, Murad’s—to a warehouse behind the Palermo docks. The warehouse was abandoned but he took samples of some unusual granules in a drain,’ said Frasier. ‘They’re mainly chlorine but with very faint traces of Clostridium perfringens on them. Our lab says they match with the Afghan village samples, so they’re the manipulated …’ He glanced at the CP pair for help.

Ackermann obliged. ‘Epsilon toxin type D, sir.’

‘Afghanistan?’ asked de Payns, slightly stunned by the Palermo connection. ‘What’s this got to do with Afghanistan?’

Frasier handed over to Ackermann, who said the samples had been tested six times. ‘Every test has come up with the same result. The chlorine samples are now sealed in an infectious diseases vault, but I can confirm they’ve been exposed to a virulent strain of Clostridium perfringens that is not consistent with natural formations.’

‘Which means?’ prompted Briffaut.

‘It means it’s been enhanced, manipulated,’ said Ackermann. ‘These samples are the epsilon toxin, which occurs naturally in goats but is death to us—humans have no defences. It turns our insides to mush and results in gas gangrene.’

Briffaut stared at the anxious scientist. When he became serious his large physique seemed to expand. ‘It was found in Palermo? What the hell has Operation Falcon got to do with this gangrene bioweapon?’ He turned to de Payns. ‘Tell me—how does a fake passport operation get its hands on a bioweapon?’

De Payns shrugged. ‘I have no information that connects Commodore with something like this. He was a useful idiot who sold fake identities to terrorists, that’s it.’

Briffaut asked, ‘Do we know who made this toxin?’

Ackermann shrugged and Lafont stepped in. ‘Only a handful of countries have ever developed ETX as a weapon. The Russians and South Africans stopped their programs in the eighties, and the North Koreans have developed it in the past but they’re now focused on nukes. That leaves Pakistan and Iran, but Iran’s programs are predominantly sarin and ricin, and they’re also throwing their resources into nukes.’

Briffaut nodded. ‘So we’re back to Pakistan? That means the MERC?’

Lafont continued. ‘Can’t confirm, but most likely. That’s certainly where Russian intelligence is looking.’

Frasier looked from one face to another. ‘So we are fairly certain there’s a bioweapons program at the MERC in Pakistan and the Russians think it’s clostridium. We’ve got weaponised clostridium testing in an Afghani village, and now we have weaponised clostridium confirmed in Europe—the same strain we found in Afghanistan.’

‘How do they use it?’ asked de Payns.

‘It seems to be optimised for water,’ said Ackermann. ‘The lab people need some outside help, because they say the epsilon toxin type D strain they can identify has itself been modified.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘We’re finding out.’

‘Looks like the game just got bigger,’ said Briffaut, looking at Frasier. ‘Any theories?’