The Lazarus Strain Read Online Free PDF Page B

interpretation of such alerts.’
    The Home Office minister turned to a man wearing army uniform and said. ‘Colonel Rose, as the current information emanates from Defence Intelligence Services, perhaps you would care to take over?’
    ‘Thank you, Minister, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. In recent weeks DIS have correlated from a number of impeccable sources information that leads us to believe that al-Qaeda are becoming increasingly active in the UK.’
    ‘Would these be the same ‘impeccable’ sources that gave us weapons of mass destruction and 45 minute deployment?’ asked John Macmillan, head of the Sci-Med Inspectorate. The comment attracted glares from several of the others round the table.
    ‘I think that was uncalled for, John,’ said the Home Office minister.
    Macmillan acquiesced with a slight hand gesture, which did not quite amount to an apology.
    ‘Please continue, Colonel.’
    ‘On the face of it, we appear to have been successful in diverting a 9/11 style attack on Canary Wharf and a planned second offensive on Heathrow Airport.’
    ‘You’ve made arrests?’
    ‘We have had a number of suspects undergoing interrogation for the past two weeks,’ replied Rose. ‘As a result of these interrogations we were able to reach certain conclusions.’
    ‘Then congratulations appear to be in order.’
    ‘Unfortunately, we think not,’ said Rose. ‘In fact, we think we’ve been had.’
    ‘How so?’
    ‘None of the people we picked up are, in our view, capable of planning or executing such attacks. Without exception, they were all low-level operatives, foot soldiers who knew very little . . . except for the targets.’
    ‘And that makes you suspicious?’
    ‘It makes us think that we have been fed false information. We now believe that al-Qaeda have sacrificed a number of foot soldiers, fresh from their training camps, in an effort to create a diversion. But the million dollar question is for what? What are they going to do while we sit congratulating ourselves on smashing a planned attack that never was?’
    ‘Are you absolutely sure that you’re reading the situation correctly, Colonel?’ asked a commander in the Metropolitan Police. ‘I mean, can you afford to ignore any threat to Canary Wharf and Heathrow?’
    ‘That is not up to me,’ replied Rose. ‘I can only offer DIS’s reading of the situation.’
    ‘And that is why we would like your input, ladies and gentlemen?’ said the Home Office minister. ‘To a certain extent, al-Qaeda’s success on September 112001 has played against them. You can’t really follow up something like that with a few car bombs and a couple of home videos. To maintain credibility they have to top 9/11 in terms of impact on public consciousness. Or at least equal it. Now that President Bush has been re-elected the pressure is really on them to do something sooner rather than later. Are they really going to try for a second 9/11 or do they have something else in mind . . . equally big?’
    ‘We need more information. Do we have any?’
    ‘No,’ said Rose. ‘The people we’re holding know nothing.’
    ‘You’re sure of that?’
    ‘We’re sure.’
    ‘Well, I don’t think we can completely ignore the threat even if DIS does think it’s a bluff,’ said the London Fire Brigade representative.
    ‘Deciding what to ignore is of course, a perennial problem,’ said the Home Office minister. ‘But with so many threats coming in on an almost daily basis . . . difficult decisions have to be made. We can’t give priority to all of them.’
    ‘We can still heighten security at Westminster, airports, military establishments . . .’ said the police commander.
    ‘We’re just covering our backsides by doing that,’ said John Macmillan. ‘If Colonel Rose is right about the threat being a diversion – and I for one believe that he is - it will do nothing at all to help determine what al-Qaeda really has in mind.’
    ‘But of course, a general