The Zul Enigma (67 page)

‘For sure – but of
course we have no idea where it was located.’

‘How was the virus
triggered?’

‘A high frequency radio
wave generated by a Klystron. Just like the Tribunal accused your father of
doing.’

‘They said he used the
one found at OOSA's office.’

‘The people behind this
probably planted that there deliberately to be dragged out as evidence against
him.’

‘How did it work?’

‘It would have been set
to generate a specific high frequency radio wave, which would have bounced off
the ionosphere and travelled round the world, triggering the virus.’

‘That’s possible?’

‘Sure. That’s how radio
hams pick up signals from thousands of miles away. The waves are reflected from
the ground and off clouds and upper layers in the atmosphere. See, they would
have designed the virus to activate when exposed to the specific ultra high
frequency they generated… one that would not commonly occur.’

‘That
is
ingenious.’

‘Then they emitted the
waves at the exact time it was 21st December round the planet. Since it only
took a second or so for the waves to bounce round the world the virus, causing
instant heart seizure, was triggered in everyone who was infected practically
instantaneously.’

‘Could anyone have
traced the signal?’

‘Of course, you can’t
see or hear radio waves. The only way it could have been detected was if
someone was monitoring the specific frequency at the time, which was extremely
unlikely.’

‘They were so clever,’
Rachael said.

‘The only places radio
waves can’t penetrate are heavy metal structures such as ships, submarines and
planes. And bomb shelters of course. But all shipping and planes were grounded
worldwide at the time, although not many of the world’s poor were likely to
have been on board, I wouldn’t have thought.

‘Anyhow, summing up,
when you look at the e-mails, the holovideos, the TV broadcast and the trigger
mechanism of the virus, although they were all brilliantly devised components
of the plot, the technology and equipment required was pretty easy to come by
and wouldn’t have needed a big team to set up and operate. The virus on the
other hand was a very different kettle of fish. Both the bio-engineering aspect
and coordinating the method of delivery.’

Rachael nodded. ‘So,
what’s next?’

‘The people behind it.’

‘But we don’t know who
they were.’

‘Sure, but we can make
some deductions from what we
do
know. Firstly, as you just said, they
were very, very clever. They had a finite objective but used a path to reach it
that was flexible and fluid. They had the creativity and intellect to revise
their plan and get it back on track at a moment’s notice when something went
wrong. The execution required people with expertise in communications
technology, laser technology, cosmology, virology, psychology and surveillance.
They did their research impeccably. And they knew every tiny detail about your
father.’

‘Like how Elena was
pregnant when she died, which is why they came up with the baby hologram.’

‘Yeah. And it wasn’t
just facts they knew about your father, they knew
how
he would react in
any given situation too.’

‘But why choose
him
?’

‘He was on record saying
he thought intelligent life had visited our planet before. They knew Zul would
appeal. And they designed the message to echo his worries about the state of
the world. The combination was irresistible. Plus he was a trail-blazer, who
wasn’t afraid to back something nobody else believed in. He was someone who would
promote Zul’s message with passion and integrity. They also appealed to his
ego… told him they’d picked him out not only to save the galaxy but to develop
the way the new world would operate in the future. They’d done their
psychological profiling homework, that’s for sure.’

Rachael narrowed her
eyes. ‘I can’t believe anyone could be that cruel. To frame a good, decent man
for such an abominable deed.’

‘It’s…’ but Scott’s
words petered out and all he could do was shake his grey head.

The icy wind whipped the
tree branches into a frenzy, as freezing drizzle ran silently down the outside
of the window.

‘There’s something
else,’ Scott said in a low voice. ‘I’m pretty sure a member of the team played
Zul… but regarding Astraea… I’m not so sure. I think she was an actor – I
don’t think she knew what she was involved in.’

‘Why was she so flaky?
She made my father really uncomfortable.’

‘I wondered about that
too. Zul was eloquent, calm and controlled. If he
were
an actor, he was
well directed and must have spent hours learning his script, as well as how to
field your father’s questions. That’s why I’d bet he was played by one of the
perpetrators. Astraea, on the other hand, was quite different.’

‘She
was
meant to
be fourth density – not as knowing as Zul.’

‘Sure. But in her book,
your mother says Astraea kept going into a trance-like state. And it always
coincides with when she’s imparting technical information. That made me wonder
if perhaps she’d been reading those parts from a tele-prompter. See, I don’t think
she was nearly as knowledgeable about the technical side as the Zul character.
She was comfortable with the spiritual stuff, but not with the science.’

‘So why use her? Why not
stick with Zul?’

‘Think about it. It was
a bad break that NASA came up with circumstantial evidence showing Dr Maiz
could have sent the messages to himself. That was not what the people behind
this wanted to hear. They must have been tearing out their hair. Had Anderson
successfully shipped your father off to the psychiatric hospital in Madrid, it
would have been a major setback for their plan.

‘It was critical they
got Zul into the safe house to have a real-time conversation with him. Not just
to pass on the rest of the information but because they wanted the Americans to
know your father hadn’t made the baby holovideo up and that he wasn’t acting
out Zul. But they were playing a very delicate game. They didn’t want to spook
him, because had they pushed him over the edge right then, the Americans might
have changed their minds about taking him to Vienna. They might have taken him
straight to hospital in Madrid, like they originally intended. I think that’s
the reason Zul backed off when your father started freaking out, why Zul didn’t
tell him everything then and there.’

‘That makes sense
– but they were lucky to have the chance to get Zul in when they did.’

‘True… and that
reinforces my point about how flexible they were… that they were able to take
advantage of such a small window of opportunity.’

‘But how did they know
he’d escape?’

‘They were listening in
on your father’s secretary, remember? Most likely they were listening in on his
friends, too. That’s how they knew they might have one more chance to piggyback
in a holovideo with the last of the information, as long as Ms Stone persuaded
the secretary to let Dr Maiz accept Dr Fisher’s holovideo call.’

‘But I still don’t
understand. Why send in Astraea and not Zul?’

‘For a few reasons. They
may have thought they might jeopardise the relationship Zul had built up with
your father if Zul gave him such shocking information. Remember, by the end of
the holovideo call with Zul, your father was already getting frustrated –
you could even say exasperated. By using a beautiful woman, they confused him.
They put him off guard. They made him uncomfortable and they made him more
malleable.’

‘But they couldn’t have
briefed whoever played Astraea at such short notice.’

‘No. They would have had
her standing by all along. As I say, they were very clever. They were prepared
and they were creative enough to change course and make the best of any
unexpected opportunity that came along.’

‘If they
were
actors, what do you think happened to them?’

‘These guys were
preparing to kill nearly six billion people. I’m sure they’d have had no qualms
disposing of one or two actors. They probably gave them a dose of the free
vaccine.’

Rachael pushed her hair
out of her eyes and sighed.

‘Then there’s another
thing. Barbara always puzzled how Dr Maiz, a civilian, managed to escape from
our custody. For it to happen once would be odd. But twice? After he was
murdered, she was sure it was no coincidence.’

‘You’ve read the book,
you know how he got out of UNO.’

‘Your father’s friends
Dr Roberts and Dr Fisher put a very slick plan into motion.’

‘You think someone
manipulated them?’

‘It’s possible.’

‘What about the first
escape?’

‘That was no accident.’

Rachael shrugged. ‘But a
truck rammed the car.’

‘That was a set-up. They
knew where we were keeping your father – they’d have followed him there
after his first meeting at the White House. It would have been easy for them to
arrange an accident on his way back from his second meeting with Anderson.’

‘But why go to all that
trouble just so you guys could pick him up again in a few hours?’

‘Because they wanted to
know what was going on – which is the other reason I don’t think they had
anyone on the inside at the safe house. See, we’d had him in there for three
days during which time they didn’t have a clue what was going on. And remember
your mother said Dr Maiz heard tyres on the gravel outside the motel? I’d bet
any money that was them. After the accident they followed him to the motel, or
even followed Dr Roberts because, like Barbara did, they’d have guessed that’s
who he’d contact. Then they rented the room next door and listened in.’

‘So that’s how they
found out he’d check himself into hospital in Madrid. Either that or you’d
arrest him.’

‘That’s right.’

‘But what if you
had
planned a rendition job? Surely they wouldn’t have risked letting him get on
the plane.’

Scott frowned.
‘Rendition was never a consideration in your father’s case.’

‘But they didn’t know
that.’

He raised his snowy
brows. ‘Perhaps they got access to our flight plan. And had another
intervention ready in case we changed our minds about taking him to Vienna.’

‘Did Barbara investigate
the car accident?’

‘Sure, but only as a
matter of procedure. She wasn’t that suspicious until after your father was
killed. Of course by then the trail was cold. She never did trace the driver.’
Scott rubbed his knees. ‘Another drink?’

‘I’ll get them.’ Rachael
got up, but midway across the room she hesitated and turned. ‘I know you said
you talked about it with Barbara, but did you ever really believe that Zul
might
have been behind it all?’

‘You mean that he was an
evil version of the benign figure he portrayed?’

‘Yes. Perhaps there
are
beings out there experimenting on us.’

‘This was the problem
back in 2012 – no one knew for sure. But that December when the virus was
identified… well… it practically proved it was a human plot.’

‘That’s my point.
Practically. But not irrefutably.’

She was taking the lid
off the ice bucket when Scott said, ‘You know…’ and when he didn’t continue she
looked round, holding the tongs in her hand. ‘I don’t think the two events were
connected. At least… not at first.’

‘Which events?’

‘Getting rid of Anderson
and your father, and the global massacre.’

‘Why?’

‘Perhaps your mother was
right and there was a faction in the American military that was uneasy about
Anderson and your father jeopardising their objective to own space. Perhaps
they did want rid of them both. But I don’t believe the military was the real
bad-ass behind all this.’ Scott leaned back in his chair and it moulded to his
new position. ‘I don’t think that faction in the military had any idea where
the Zul plan was heading. I think another group engineered it. A way more
sinister group.’

CHAPTER 6

Rachael frowned. She turned back to drop ice in the glasses and pour whisky
over the cubes. She added water to Scott’s and gave it to him.

‘So what could possibly
have been more sinister than the US military?’ she asked. She settled back in
her body sculpting chair, took a sip from her glass and put it on the little
table at her elbow.

‘A group that was way
more obscure, way more powerful and way more heinous. But first let’s look at
what effect the massacre had on the way our world operated. See, after 2012,
the traditional system of individually run countries had to change. Most people
came to recognise it, even though some of the leaders wanted to cling on to the
old style of government. Truth was, organisationally and psychologically
speaking, we all needed to band together to survive.’

‘How long did it take
for things to stabilise? I read that to begin with there was a free-for-all
going on, with the resources of the decimated nations up for grabs.’