Dark Winter by Andy McNab Page B

probably surprised I was using words with four syllables. ‘Exactly. And because everybody is focusing on the Arabs, South East Asians are slipping through the net. See an Arab today and the public think they see a terrorist. See a South East Asian or Indian and they just think he runs a takeaway.’
    ‘So what does this stuff look like?’ Suzy asked. ‘How is it disseminated in an attack, and what protection do we need? More important, where do we start looking?’
    He kept his look of derision on me a second longer, then turned back to her. ‘Not even the government has been completely informed about this situation. The cabinet would overreact, and Number Ten leaks like a sieve – we’d have anarchy on the streets within hours. Which is why you are here. It simply mustn’t come to that.’
    The cell started to warble again, and the Golf Club disappeared back into the kitchen. The Yes Man carried on. ‘The words “plague” and “pneumonic” will not appear on any report or briefing paper. You will refer to the agent as Dark Winter. I say again, at no time will the words “pneumonic” or “plague” be mentioned. It is Dark Winter. Have you both got that?’ He pointed at Suzy and she nodded, then at me, and I nodded too. I wasn’t intending to hang around any longer than I had to, but in the meantime I needed to go through the motions. The Yes Man sat back and put his hands on his knees. ‘Your task is very simple: to take control of Dark Winter.’ As it was the mission statement, he repeated it to make sure everything was clear.
    ‘However –’ I might have guessed this was coming: there was always a ‘however’. He jabbed the air with his index finger. ‘– if you are confronted by a person or persons preventing you taking control of Dark Winter, you will react as the situation dictates to ensure the safety of the public and yourselves.’
    It was the standard gobbledygook. Expedited killings couldn’t happen legally unless either the home or foreign secretary, I could never remember which, gave the OK, and if this went wrong, the Yes Man would need to cover his arse by saying that he’d never ordered the killing of the ASU on the UK mainland.
    ‘The first thing you’ll do is contact our source. Yvette will give you the meet details later.’ He exchanged glances with the Golf Club. ‘Once our friend sorts himself out.’
    Suzy sat back and crossed her legs. ‘So no one else is involved?’
    ‘No one.’
    ‘Bit like using a nut to crack a sledgehammer, isn’t it?’
    The Golf Club got up as the Yes Man gathered together his papers. Her jacket rustled as she leant forward and pushed her arms into the sleeves. ‘This operation is somewhat more complicated than most. The service has a difficult balance to achieve,’ she said.
    It was the first time I’d heard her raise her voice.
    ‘We have got to get out there and find Dark Winter, but also keep the details of its existence and planned use from the public – which unfortunately includes the government and other agencies, plus some in the service itself. It’s the only way we can protect the public and at the same time achieve our goal. However, we have only a small window of opportunity to eradicate this problem before circumstances may make it prudent to inform the relevant agencies in the very near future.’
    It sounded like something out of Yes, Minister and I really didn’t understand a word she was saying. But I got the message: if errors were made, others would be blamed. Dark Winter had been the name given to an American exercise conducted in June 2001 with the aim of educating US policy-makers about the possibility of a bioterrorist attack. In the simulation, terrorist networks attacked American cities, including Atlanta, Oklahoma City and Philadelphia, with smallpox. Within a fourteen-day period the virus had spread to all fifty states and several other countries, making the simulation a terrorist success. Thousands of