The Gruinard Project Chapter 45

[khandy]

Chapter 45

The Prime Minister’s Suite. Gleneagles Hotel. 01.30hrs

It wasn’t surprising Harry thought, that the Prime Minister looked tired. It had been a horrific day all round. Not only had he had to deal with the whole nightmare situation of the attack at the conference, he had been violently ill as well. He had only stayed in hospital long enough to be given some fluids which had certainly been a mistake. He looked pale and drawn, the bags under his eyes and lines on his face even more pronounced.

“Sir Harry, Nicholas, please tell me that you have some good news for me. Because I don’t mind telling you I could use some about now. I have just been informed that President Mugabe remains critical. His renal function has deteriorated and he’s going to need dialysis.”

“And my officer Lucas North, the man who was protecting you and who killed Sands the man responsible for this attack. How is he Prime Minister?”

The Prime Minister did at least have the grace to look embarrassed.

“I’m sorry Harry I am not being kept informed of his condition.”

“Well he is as critical as Mugabe. So the good news I have, may also help a man who I would say is hundred times more worthy of your attention than that African despot.”

“Harry,” Nicholas Blake’s voice held a warning.

“Home Secretary, I have lost several of my team in the defence of this country most of whom people never hear about. Take Adam Carter, blown up driving away from a Remembrance Day service. No flag draped coffin or guard of honour. No BBC news coverage. It was reported that he was a terrorist. Now I understand why that has to be the case but in private just once it would be rewarding to hear somebody ask after the people defending this country. Instead of waiting for me to tell them.” Harry was aware he was being rude but he really didn’t care

Nicholas Blake went to speak but was stopped by the PM.

“No Nicholas, Harry is right. In future I will make sure that I am kept informed directly about any security officer injured in the line of duty. Now do you have any good news?”

“One of my agents Ros Myers and the microbiologist Dr Kate Masters, who has been working with us on this case, are in Leeds, they have located a person who has been exposed to the anthrax bacteria and survived. Dr Masters believes that she may be able develop a treatment from this patient’s antibodies.”

“Exposed to it how?” the Prime Minister asked wearily, certain that he was not going to like the answer.

“Our intelligence leads us to suspect that it was tested on a group of illegal Polish immigrants. This man escaped and survived.”

“Jesus what kind of man was Sands that he would test this on humans?” The Prime Minister’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“Sands was not the head man. We are working on finding out who that is,” Harry told him.

“Ok keep me informed about that. How long will Dr Masters need to develop a treatment?”

“Difficult to say. It would be a truthful assessment to say it will be a bloody miracle if she succeeds. I suggest that you get some rest sir, it is going to be a long night.” Harry said.

“Ok, but I want to be kept fully informed of any developments.”

Communication Suite Gleneagles Hotel. 06.00hrs

Mike walked slowly behind the blonde woman. Ros, she had told him her name was Ros not DCI Thomas and that she and the others all were MI5 officers. After he had shown her where he suspected the bacterial samples were held she had told him he would have to accompany her to Scotland for his own safety. He wondered if he should be scared but he wasn’t. Excited was a better description and a little in awe of the woman Ros. Whether she was barking orders on the phone or directly at people she was always obeyed. Whatever she requested she got.

The helicopter flight hadn’t been nearly long enough. The closest he had ever come to anything like it had been in a flight stimulator. They had landed at Gleneagles less than an hour after take off. He was dawdling, overwhelmed by his surroundings; after all he had grown up on a council estate in Leeds.

“Keep up Mike. There is clock ticking over a colleague’s life and I want to know how he is.” Like all the others he obeyed the sharp instruction.

The suite they entered was unlike anything he had expected. Computers and monitors were everywhere, it was hectic and busy.

“Ros CBERN have contained the samples you found. Apparently there was enough of the bacteria to wipe out Europe.”

“Thanks Malcolm meet the man responsible for leading us to it. Mike Williams, Malcolm Wynn Jones our technical genius.”

“So you’d be Q then if this were James Bond. I have to say it’s a great disguise you don’t look like a technical genius.”

Malcolm smiled

“You best take the star struck lad to see M, I mean Harry,” Malcolm said with a wry smile.

“I will, any news on Lucas?”

A voice from behind spoke.

“Sick and getting sicker. Well done Ros I imagine whoever was behind this attack is spitting nails.”

Mike turned and looked at the man who had spoken. Like Malcolm he didn’t look like he belonged here in this strange world of espionage.

“Mike this is Sir Harry Pearce he is head of counter terrorism and our boss.”

Mike found himself standing a little straighter realising he was in the presence of somebody with immense power.

“Mike.” Harry held out his hand. “The country is indebted to you. You have shown great initiative and awareness.”

Mike’s hand trembled as he shook Harry’s hand.

“Thank you. I wish I had seen something earlier maybe this wouldn’t have happened then.”

“When this situation has settled down I want to talk to you at length. Lucas North spoke very highly of you.” Harry said.

“Lucas North?”

“You knew him as Pete Wellings,” Ros explained.

“Oh right. He was really very good to me. Scared the shit out of me and then told me I had done a good job. Wait Lucas is the agent who is sick?”

“Yes he is.”

Ros turned and waved another man across to them.

“Mike this is John he is one of our field officers.hH is going to baby sit you until this is over ok?” Ros explained.

“Yeah I guess I have no choice. Am I in danger Ms Meyers?”

“We are not sure but we are not taking any risks. John, Malcolm has arranged a suite so you two head off now.”

Harry called her over to where he stood talking to Jo.

“We have discovered that Sands went to Paris for a meeting with our Mr Big. Ruth is trying to trace his movements. It’s a slow task, the French do not have as much CCTV footage as the British.” Jo updated the others. “I have got a team trying to see if we can work out where he came from to get to Waterloo.”

“Good work keep it up I want this man. He has played with us like a cat plays with a mouse and I don’t like it. Ros you are with me we need to brief the Prime Minister.”

The Western General Hospital. 10.00hrs

It was strange in the last hour things had become less clear. Things? What he meant was sounds. The clarity of what he was hearing was much worse than it was earlier. He was exhausted, it was weird that he felt exhausted; did others on life support think that as well? He knew he must have a temperature as he was burning a while ago. He had shook violently as if he was freezing cold and shivering, but now he was hot. He thought the nurse had called it a rigor but he couldn’t be certain as he wasn’t hearing properly. He was so desperately scared and lonely as well. The one person he wanted to be here was busy looking for a cure.

He didn’t need to hear them to know he was even sicker, he could feel that he was. Kate had said that the hearing was the last of the senses to go and his was failing fast. He just wanted her to be with him when he died. Was that selfish he wondered?

His heartbeat had been racing for the last hour or two he could tell but now it seemed different. He couldn’t think why just that it did. The best description he had was that it seemed out of sync.

Voices around him seemed frantic and he thought he could hear his mother screaming. Suddenly and without warning he felt a huge pressure on his chest as if somebody was jumping on him. Sweet Jesus what the hell was happening to him now?

“His heart rate is very fast 130 and his pressure is down to 80 over 35.” The nurse seemed to be the calm in the storm.

Gelofusin 500 stat and let’s increase the dopamine to see if we can get his pressure up.” Dr Phillips moved to Lucas’ side. “Mr North I want you to take your wife into the waiting room please she shouldn’t see this it’s distressing her.” he continued.

Philip had to almost drag his wife into the relatives’ room.

“No I should be there, what if he dies? I don’t want him to be alone?”

“He is not alone and the people with him are trying to save him.”

The monitor started alarming.

“No output, Start cardiac massage, please and call the crash team.” Dr Phillips called.

The crash team converged on Lucas’ bed.

“Let’s try some adrenaline please.”

The team of doctors looked at the monitor to see if the adrenaline had made any difference.

“VT let's shock him, charging and everybody clear.”

They worked on him for ten minutes continuing the cardiac massage as more adrenaline was given.

“Come on Lucas don’t give up on me now,” Dr Phillips spoke, as he continued the cardiac massage. The people not actively involved in the resuscitation all seemed to be holding their breath. Suddenly the alarm on the monitor stopped and was replaced by a steady methodical beep.

Dr Phillips face split into a wide smile as he said.

“Sinus rhythm, thank you everybody, for the time being we have got him back.”

The jolt shot through his body, for one wild moment he thought he was back in Russia and was being tortured. He could hear people more clearly again, discussing him and saying that his heart had stopped. He wanted to tell them it hadn’t, it was racing like crazy. The pressure on his chest was accompanied by rhythmic counting. Somebody was massaging his heart. Then once more the shock was sent through him. He seemed to jolt off the bed and then return back down. His heart had slowed, he could feel the steady rhythmic beat. His hearing seemed better, he could quite clearly hear the voice saying we got him back.

Edinburgh University. 13.00hrs

The webcam link was excellent which meant that Harry’s face was very easily read. There was something in his eyes that told her he was about to give her bad news. Her hands were gripping the desk so tightly that her knuckles stood out like polished ivory. Ordering herself to breathe she wondered if Harry could see she was shaking.

“He’s alive Kate.”

The shaking got worse, probably reaction to the relief. She was being stupid and not thinking properly. She blamed her exhaustion. She had no idea what she was running on, adrenaline she supposed. Harry would never tell her over the internet that Lucas was dead. Something was wrong though, so what was it?

“Ok thanks for that but you have bad news I can tell.”

“Yes I do. Lucas has suffered a cardiac arrest. They have stabilised him for now but the situation is critical. Kate how close are you to a cure?”

She looked at the results at her side, was this it? Was this the breakthrough she had been looking for?

“I am not at all sure that what I have come up with is going to work and I certainly have no time to try anything else. When the anthrax toxin was exposed to Andre’s blood it started to produce antibodies. The antibodies were triggered by one of the smallest proteins in the anthrax toxin; to a scientist these are called peptides. The indications from the test results are that when the antibodies bind themselves to the peptide that these peptides then start producing more antibodies on their own. It seems that this reaction prevents the white blood cells called macrophages, which are part of our immune system, from dying. Thus allowing them to destroy the anthrax toxin.” She paused and looked at Harry.

“Well I haven’t understood half of what you said but it sounds technical and impressive. So what do you need to do now?”

“In a perfect world I would inject some of the peptides into laboratory animals and watch and monitor the effects. If it was successful we would then replicate it synthetically and produce a vaccine. However I don’t have the time. So I guess we have to decide whether to take this huge leap of faith and inject this directly into Lucas?”

“If we do worse case scenario?” Harry asked.

“He will die.”

“So we are between the devil and the deep blue sea?”

“Yes we are but the odds are slightly better with this than without.”

“Ok you meet me with these, what did you call them pet…?”

“Peptides Harry.”

“You meet me at the Western General and Kate bring enough for Mugabe.”


Great Western Hospital 14.00hrs

Harry held the door open and allowed her to walk in first. Philip stood up when he realised who had entered the room and the others turned. Kate realised that they were all exhausted as well, the strain evident in their pale faces. Lucy North looked close to breaking down, her eyes blood shot from crying. Eyes that like everybody else’s held a question.

Her own eyes moved beyond them to Lucas. He seemed strangely shrunken somehow. Small and vulnerable. His hair normally so vibrant was lank and dull. The dark circles under his eyes like deep bruises. His skin, thin and translucent barely covering his bones, was a strange grey tone tinged with yellow. Above the sound of the ventilator his chest rattled.

She moved to his side and took his hand in hers.

“Hey stranger did you miss me?” she whispered. “I see you’ve been worrying your Mum again. You know that has to stop.”

She reached across and squeezed Lucy’s hand.

“Kate can you help him?”

“I won’t lie to you. I have been working on something that in a test tube shows encouraging results. In reality it needs a lot more studying. The one thing we don’t have is time though.” She held up the serum. “This is the only answer I have.”

“And you think that I am going to allow you to inject some unlicensed and untried drug on my patient?” Dr Phillips had entered the room after Harry.

“It’s not a drug it’s a vaccine. It is based on research being done by the Albert Einstein college of Medicine.” Kate turned to face the Doctor.

“Have you tested it outside of a test tube?”

“No as I explain I don’t have time. However the antibodies that I used have come from somebody exposed to this strain of anthrax who survived.”

“It is completely unethical. I can’t let you do this.”

“Edward Jenner was unethical but without him we might still have no cure for small pox.” Kate said quietly. “If I could test this I would but I don’t have the time. From where I am stood we have no other option. As I said to Harry, Lucas could die if I give him this but he will die if I don’t.” She looked at Lucas’ family.

Philip nodded.

“Do what you have to Kate.”

“Mr North this is not your decision to make it’s mine and I am saying no. Now I am going to have security move these people.” Dr Phillips moved towards the door.

Harry stood in front of it.

“In which case I am going to have to detain you.” He withdrew his gun and motioned for the man to sit down. “Kate do what you have to.”

[HellsBells]

Wonderful attention detail makes this story so compelling. Lovely mention of Ros and Adam.
Come on Kate just give Lucas the vaccine!!!