Biowar by Stephen Coonts

Senator, I appreciate hearing from you,” said Hadash finally. “Yes, we’ll speak later on in the week:”
    Hadash hung up the phone, then rose and refilled Rubens’ cup.
    “So what went wrong?” asked Hadash. The blunt greeting was completely in keeping with his usual style; he would play the distracted host one second and the impatient taskmaster the next.
    “Nothing,” said Rubens. “But the situation appears considerably more complicated than we first believed.”
    The opening statement was necessary to lay the background for the real purpose of his appearance—damage control for Lia’s run-in with MI-5. The overall context must be firmly established before the diplomatic incident was trotted onto the stage and shown to be the ridiculous diversion it was.
    “How complicated?” asked Hadash. He sat down in his seat, his brow beginning to knit.
    “Well, they’ve kidnapped our operative for one thing,” said Rubens. “Mr. Dean.”
    “Kidnapped?”
    “Dean is fine. I was told on the way over that he’s on a flight to Vienna from Hamburg. We’ve lost direct contact with him, but we have one of our best people on his tail. After some difficulties.”
    That was meant as a cue for Hadash’s sympathies, but the National Security Advisor didn’t take the bait.
    “Vienna? I thought you connected this to a Polish arms dealer.”
    Radoslaw Dlugsko operated throughout the world, and there was no reason he couldn’t be in Austria. But pointing that out would do nothing to help Rubens ultimately—and besides, the fact was Vienna didn’t exactly bolster the theory that Dlugsko or UKD was involved. In truth, there was much, much work to be done.
    “We’re still gathering information,” said Rubens mildly.
    “The programs that Kegan was working on—were they compromised?” asked Hadash.
    “He hasn’t worked on germ warfare programs for years,” said Rubens. “But the FBI is reviewing what sort of exposure there is.”
    “Why was he contacted?”
    “We’re still working on it. There’s nothing new since yesterday,” conceded Rubens. “His lab work over the last few years has mostly dealt with recombinant DNA. There’s a project to breed a bacteria that will eat PCBs and other pollutants. It’s possible that this is about that.”
    Hadash made a face. Rubens himself did not believe that, but throwing out different possibilities emphasized the difficulty of the situation. Thus when the problem was solved, those who had solved it would receive sufficient credit.
    It would also put problems into the proper perspective.
    “We’ve been concentrating on finding him and, more important, tracking down the people who were trying to contact him,” said Rubens.
    “And you have nothing new?”
    “Hints, but nothing solid.”
    Hadash took a long gulp of his coffee. “How serious is the threat?”
    “Potentially, extremely serious,” said Rubens.
    “Potentially?”
    “That’s the best I can say.”
    “You’ve tracked the E-mails back?”
    Rubens realized where the NSC head was going and sank back in the chair.
    “The E-mail messages you recovered?” added Hadash.
    “Yes.”
    “You tracked them?”
    “As far as we could, yes.”
    Rubens could offer nothing else. Hadash began talking about the proposal that would provide biometric IDs as part of every Internet activity.
    “This makes a good case—an almost airtight case,” said Hadash. “If the biometric ID was in place, you would know.”
    “It could easily have been spoofed.”
    “Not if it’s properly constructed. At a minimum you would have a starting point to work from.”
    “We have starting points now.”
    “Not as extensive as Internet DNA,” said Hadash.
    Internet DNA. Good God, what a sound bite.
    “I don’t believe it’s a good idea,” said Rubens. “And this case certainly isn’t an argument in its favor.”
    “Your task force is recommending it be studied.”
    “It’s not my task force,” said Rubens quickly.