Covert One 2 - The Cassandra Compact by Robert Ludlum Read Free Book Online Page B

1796 that a medical assault was mounted on the virus. A British doctor, Edward Jenner, discovered that milkmaids who had contracted a mild form of the pox virus from cows seemed immune to smallpox. Taking samples of a milkmaid's lesions, Jenner inoculated a young boy who subsequently survived the epidemic. Jenner named his discovery vaccinia--- vaccine.
     
    The last known case of the disease was reported and treated in Somalia in 1977. By May 1980, the World Health Organization had declared smallpox vanquished. The Organization also ordered the cessation of immunization programs, since there was no tangible need to subject people to even the slightest risk associated with vaccination.
     
    By the end of the 1980s, only two stockpiles of Variola major remained on earth: at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, and at the Ivanovsky Institute of Virology in Moscow. In the case of the latter, the virus was subsequently moved to Bioaparat, located near the town of Vladimir, 350 kilometers southeast of Moscow.
     
    Under an international treaty signed by both the United States and Russia, the samples were to be preserved in highly secure laboratories subject to international inspection. None of the samples could be used for any kind of experiment without the World Health Organization monitors being present.
     
    That, at least, was the theory.
     
    __________
     
    “In theory, monitors were supposed to be present,” Smith said. He glanced at Klein. “You and I know better.”
     
    Klein snorted. “The Russians gave the WHO bureaucrats some song and dance about updated facilities at Vladimir and the fools let them move the smallpox. What they never realized was that the Russians showed them only the parts of Bioaparat that they wanted them to see.”
     
    This was true. Through defectors and on-site sources, the United States had, over the years, managed to piece together a solid composite of what was really taking place at the Bioaparat complex. The international inspectors had seen only the tip of the iceberg--- the variola storage facilities, which were subsequently approved. But there were other buildings, disguised as seed and fertilizer laboratories, that remained hidden from the world. Klein had enough evidence to bring before the WHO and demand that Bioaparat be completely opened up. But politics was an issue. The current administration did not wish to antagonize Russia, which was threatening to revert to communist rule. Also, a number of the WHO inspectors were not inclined to take American-produced evidence at face value. Nor could their discretion be relied on. American intelligence agencies feared for the lives of those who had furnished him with the information, believing that if the Russians knew what information the West had, they could walk back the cat and discover who had passed it on.
     
    “I have no choice,” Klein said grimly. “I must tell the president.”
     
    “Which could make it a government-to-government situation,” Smith pointed out. “Then the question becomes: do we trust the Russians enough to go after the leak and the courier? We don't know whom we're dealing with at Bioaparat, how senior he is, or who gave him his marching orders. It's possible that this isn't some rogue scientist or researcher looking to make a quick buck by delivering a package to New York City. This could travel all the way up to the Kremlin.”
     
    “You're saying that if the president were to speak to the Russian prime minister we might be tipping our hand--- to the wrong people. I agree--- but give me an alternative.”
     
    It took Smith three minutes to lay out the contingency plan he had come up with during the flight. He noticed Klein's skeptical expression and was prepared to argue, but Klein surprised him.
     
    “I agree. It's the only course of action we can take immediately--- and that has a chance of success. But I'll tell you this: the president won't give us much time. If you don't get results